First Inning Artworks

Back to the drawing board

2008-12-18T10:24:00.005-05:00

I stopped posting on this site about a year ago when we got First Inning Artworks up and running, but I have found that this web log is still drawing some traffic, so I thought I would start putting things here again. I hope those who show up will enjoy what's here -- and, of course, I appreciate the attention.

Much of the art efforts this fall -- what there have been -- have been devoted to some pen and ink drawings of some 19th century guys.

William Tecumseh Sherman
Nathan Bedford Forrest
John Singleton Mosby
Abraham Lincoln
Charles Dickens

You will see a few of these guys floating around this post.

These were completed to support some posts that I did for another web log: the Writing Wright. And, of course, I will be using them elsewhere.

A good friend and artist of considerable note told me one time that pen and ink is the most honest medium. He's right. Even line is visible. Nothing is hidden.

I find it extremely satisfying as a medium, and when I am away from it for a while and then return, I always think, "What took me so long to come back to it?"

Heads and Faces: An Animoto video

2007-12-29T08:55:00.001-05:00

I recently found this service, Animoto, that creates slick slideshows while-u-wait on the web. The 30-second shows are free. Something longer than 30 seconds will cost $3 , and there's a subscription rate that is not very steep.

It is very easy to create these things, but you don't have too much control over the outcome. All you have to do is upload the pictures. You can upload your own music or select from several things they have on the site.

If you don't like what you get, you can remix at the click of a button. What you see below is the second take on this thing.

Heads and faces

2007-04-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

A couple of months ago I posted a link to some heads and faces that I had put onto Google photos, just to see how things worked.

I have taken some of those drawings (and some others that I have scanned since then) and have put together a video with some music. Then I uploaded the video to BrightCove, YouTube and Motionbox, just to see how things works.

Here are links to the BrightCove and YouTube videos.

The Motionbox video is shown above. I like it because because it was the fastest upload and quickest to get optimized, and the tagging feature -- which you can use right on the site -- is very cool. I continue to be less than impressed with the quality of the YouTube video. I like the other two much better. Still, the YouTube will probably get the most hits. We'll see in a few days.

Meanwhile, enjoy!

(By the way, the music on the video is licensed by Magnatune.com, a great site for a variety of music from folks you didn't know about. The group playing is Heavy Mellow.)

Opening Day

2007-04-01T18:10:00.000-04:00

Finally, it's here.

Opening Day of the baseball season.

Time Begins on Opening Day. That is the title of Tom Boswell's book and a saying that has been around for a long time. Baseball and its Opening Day used to be a much bigger deal for Americans than it is now. Opening Day occurred long before there was a Final Four or a Super Bowl.

But that's neither here nor there. Tonight the St. Louis Cardinals -- World Champion St. Louis Cardinals -- host the New York Mets to open this year's Major League season. The Cards and the Mets have their two aces starting on the mound.

The first two or three weeks of the season can be tentative and are usually not indicative of how things are going to go. Practically nothing can be discerned from the first game. Still, it will be good to have baseball back.

And, thus, the painting above.

About the painting

Opening Day 2007

A runner tries to elude the catcher and the tag at home.

10 x 14 watercolor on 140 lb. cp

(This is an original, not a print.)

Price: $100

One week away

2007-03-25T07:09:00.000-04:00

The long winter is almost over. Opening Day is one week away.

Watch for more.

The watercolors above have been seen previously here at First Inning Artworks:

Old Time Slide

Old Time Hitter

Old Time Pitcher

Old Time Fielder

Tennessee Tobacco Barn

2007-03-18T11:17:00.000-04:00

Seems like it has been a while since I posted any recently completed landscapes. That's because it's been a while since I have completed anything I could post. So here's something, inspired by a striking photo in this month's Tennessee Home and Farm magazine. (The featured photos in this publication are eye-catching and usually give me something to think about -- if not to paint.)

Tobacco barns different from storage or cattle barns in that they are taller and thinner and their sides open up at different levels to help the tobacco dry or "cure." These "flaps" give the barns an unusual visual flavor.

About the painting

15 x 22 inches, Watercolor on Arches 140 CP paper.

This painting is not offered for sale since it is a derivative work from someone else's original work. It is available for a contribution to a charitable organization, however.

University of Alabama paintings and drawings

2007-03-16T06:07:00.000-04:00

Spend 25 years in a place and you get to know it fairly well. That was my privilege in being at the University of Alabama for a quarter of a century. That time produced lots of sketches, drawings, paintings and the like. Below is an album on PicasaWeb of a sample of what I did:

University of Alabama campus - paintings and drawings

Even though we no longer live in Tuscaloosa, I like to remember it particularly at this time of year when I know that it is full flower. The town, and especially the campus, can be spectacularly beautiful and a joy for the next month or so before the oppressive heat and humidity set in.

Note: None of the paintings and drawings in this album is for sale. They're here simply for your viewing pleasure (I hope). Enjoy.

The Handoff

2007-03-09T20:24:00.000-05:00

Football is becoming a distant memory, but before it fades completely and we get to the serious business of baseball, here's one for the road. The quarterback is the center of the action in football. You can't win without a winning quarterback. The Super Bowl winner this year is the latest example of that tenet.

So, let's devote one more memory to football.

Baseball is coming. And so are some new pieces of art.

About the painting

The Handoff, 11 x 14 inches, watercolor on 90 lb cold-press paper

Price: $125

Heads and faces

2007-02-24T10:38:00.000-05:00

A few drawings from over the years.

Click on the picture below.

. . .

Heads and faces

(This is a bit of an experiment. I am trying out Google photos, and clicking on the face will take you away from this page.)

The catch

2007-01-07T19:03:00.000-05:00

The football season has about a month to run, but this is probably my last football painting of the year (maybe).

College football will wrap things up tomorrow night with the big game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Florida Gators. It's some bowl somewhere, but I have lost track of the name or place. It's really the national championship game, and that's about all you need to know.

In honor of these two teams, I have deviated from the usual orange and crimson and donned these players with the colors of those schols -- more or less.

The catch -- 10 x 14 watercolor

Price: Not priced (make an offer)

About the painting

I had this sheet of watercolor paper in a stack of paper, and I'm not sure of the brand. It must be pretty cheap (Strathmore, maybe) because of the way the color surrounding the player has dotted up. That part of the painting was thoroughly wet when I painted it, and that is a characteristic of cheap paper. Still the figures turned out fairly well, and color within them is bold and has a range of values. So, all in all, I am pleased with the way this one turned out.

Roses in a vase

2007-01-03T06:48:00.000-05:00

My wife says I should do more still lifes. So, that's one of my New Year's resolutions: "Do more still lifes."

Here's the first:

I gave my wife a Waterford crystal vase for Christmas. We moved into a new house this fall, and we have a dining room in the front of the house that gets a lot of morning sun. I thought the vase would look good there, catching a lot of sun rays.

Sally bought a couple of roses, set it all in the middle of her grandmother's diningr oom table, and I got inspired. I did one painting, which was ok, but I wasn't satisfied with the background, so -- in a rarity for me -- I did it again. I am more satisfied with this one.

I need more practice at this still life thing.

About the painting

The paper for this painting comes out of a book of Daler-Rowney 200 lb. paper that I caught on sale at the end of the summer. The paper is very nice to work with -- good absorbancy and transparency both.

8 x 10 watercolor, 200 lb paper

(The painting is a bit brighter than it shows up in this photo.)

Price: Not for sale

Art of Football

2006-12-29T18:22:00.000-05:00

Click To Play

It's be hard to escape football for the next week and a half, so here is something to inject a little culture into the TV chips and dip.

Christmas cards present (2006)

2006-12-22T09:38:00.000-05:00

Now that the Christmas cards for this year are in the mail, they can be revealed to the world:

This year's cards, like many of those in years past, reflect a place that I have been during the year that has made a real impression on me. This year it was Vermont. I went there in late September to visit some good friends, Celeste and James Bernard, and to consult with some of the folks at World Learning.

I stayed at the Green River Bridge House, which is owned and run by a remarkable woman named Joan Seymour. The house would be on the other side of the river just behind the covered bridge in the painting (if I had chosen to include it). She tells a remarkable story of her two-year rennovation of the house, which is worth the night's stay alone. But what is really special is the setting that includes both the covered bridge and the old Anglican church. The church, looking at the covered bridge painting, is on a hill across the river to the left of the bridge.

I didn't know when I was there that I was going to make these two items into Christmas cards. When I was there, the leaves were just beginning to turn for what happened to be a normally gorgeous fall season. As usual, I waited until late November to begin thinking about the cards, and I happened to come upon the pictures that I took while I was there as I was rifling through stuff trying to get an idea. The idea for these cards is the most important thing -- and the hardest.

When I saw these pictures, I tried to imagine them in the dead of winter and with snow all around (which, ironically I am told, hasn't happened much so far this year). Getting the design together some shortly after the idea phase, and I did that with a couple of sketches (below). The sketch of the church was made when I was sitting in our end of the semester faculty at the University of Tennessee.

The other sketch came from my looking directly at one of the pictures that I took while I was there. I had taken several good ones, but the angle of this one was good enough to give a clear idea of the bridge. My big problem was cutting a lot of things out, including the guest house.

The next step in the process is getting an outline of the picture I am doing on tracing paper (right). This allows me to maintain the proportions of the sketch as I transfer it onto the watercolor paper that I am using. Here is the ssecret to doing a batch of cards (the 20 to 30 that I normally do). Each is individually painted, but the sketch or drawing is essentially the same, which saves loads of time.

Thus, a good idea equals a good drawing, which eventually equals a good sketch. It has to be simple. There's not a lot of time or space to do details. But it also needs to be expressive so that the viewer will react is some way -- positively, we hope -- to both the scene and the interpretation.

And finally, we hope that it will wish them a Merry Christmas -- as I do to the viewers of the blog.

To you all, the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of New Years.

Jim Stovall

Christmas card review

2006-12-18T19:01:00.000-05:00


If static paintings aren't enough, I have put together some of the cards into a video slide show with a little Christmas background music.

Christmas cards past (part 5)

2006-12-17T20:14:00.000-05:00

(See Christmas cards past, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)

This year was our first in Emory, Virginia, after having lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for 25 years. The cards reflected our change of location.

The top painting is of the Mountain View United Methodist Church in Smyth County, Virginia. We happened on this church while driving around during the first fall we lived in the area. The church is pretty enough itself, but it is located with one of the most spectacular views that I have ever experienced. In three directions from the high hill on which the church sits, you can see for miles, over valleys and hills. Looking east is a long mountain chain. I tried to imagine the place covered with snow and at sunset.

Lower left is a hidden but dramatic waterfall in Hayter's Gap that, again, we just happened to come across when we were driving around one afternoon. This painting shows only part of the falls, and as with the church, I don't feel like I got anywhere near the full impact of the place in the painting.

The other painting uses a mill that we visited a good bit, but it's in a different setting. I tried something different with this painting -- a night scene with the moon creating a glow and shadows on the snow. I think that worked out, and even my wife had unsolicited good words for this scene.

Each of these paintings exhibits one of the things I often attempt with watercolor and don't always achieve -- contrast. Obtaining good contrast in watercolor requires a bold approach, and I am not always so confident.

I paint multiple copies of these scenes and usually wind up sending our 20 to 30 cards. People seem to like them, and some tell me they have the whole collection, although my wife says they are just being nice.

I'll be posting more shortly.

5 x 7, watercolor on Arches 140 CP

Price: not for sale

About the paintings

I usually do three or four of one scene at a time. They take about an hour to draw and paint.

Christmas cards past (part 4)

2006-12-16T06:24:00.000-05:00

(See Christmas cards past, part 1, part 2, part 3)

The Christmas cards I painted to send to friends in 2002 were another eclectic (and inexplicible) collection of subjects that ranged from Scotland to western Alabama, with a couple of stops in the Great Smoky Mountain national park in between.

The waterfall is pretty much a creation of my head, but it is something like several you might see in the Smokies, most notably Abrams Falls.

The red church is a delightful building in Prairieville, Alabama -- an Episcopal church that was built in the 19th century. My friend Guy Hubbs knows all about this stuff in that area, and he took us there one day.

I can't really explain the Interlochy castle painting except that I once lived in Scotland and spent a lot of time in the Highlands. I was trying to capture the richness of the scenery there, but I'm not sure that I was very successful. Still, it was worth a try, and some of my long-suffering friends must have opened this one and scratched their heads.

I paint multiple copies of these scenes and usually wind up sending our 20 to 30 cards. People seem to like them, and some tell me they have the whole collection, although my wife says they are just being nice.

I'll be posting more shortly.

5 x 7, watercolor on Arches 140 CP

Price: not for sale

About the paintings

I usually do three or four of one scene at a time. They take about an hour to draw and paint.

Christmas cards past (part 3)

2006-12-14T20:24:00.001-05:00

(See Christmas cards past, part 1, part 2)

The Christmas cards sent out in 2000 reflected the great travel experience that I had that year -- a trip to England in October to see my son Jeff, a student at the University of Evansville studying at the University's Harlaxton campus.

It was the first time I had been to Great Britain since 1978 when I lived in Edinburgh and worked on my dissertation in that wonderful city. I was happy to get back there after so many years, and I wanted my friends to share some of that experience.

The trip must have sparked my imagination because I did six scenes, not the usual three or four. Five of the six are places that I saw in England: top left, West Gate, Trinity College, Cambridge; top right, the church in Tattersall; middle left, bridge near the West Gate, Trinity College; middle right, King's College chapel, Cambridge; bottom right, Mathematical Bridge, Cambridge; bottom right.

The one non-English scene is the painting on the bottom left, the Pilgrim Statue, Central Park, New York City.

A month after my trip to England, I found myself in New York City. I had been invited to be at the Associated Press New York headquarters to watch and participate in the Election Day coverage. I had a good bit of time to wander around the city, and I took lots of pictures and did a few subsequent drawings and paintings.

As usual, my wife said none of these looked like Christmas. As usual, she was right.

I paint multiple copies of these scenes and usually wind up sending our 20 to 30 cards. People seem to like them, and some tell me they have the whole collection, although my wife says they are just being nice.

I'll be posting more shortly.

5 x 7, watercolor on Arches 140 CP

Price: not for sale

About the paintings

I usually do three or four of one scene at a time. They take about an hour to draw and paint.

Christmas cards past (part 2)

2006-12-14T08:45:00.000-05:00

(See Christmas cards past, part 1 below)

The 1998 set of Christmas cards that I painted to send to friends was an eclectic collage of scenes that had come to mind over at least a couple of years of experience.

Possibly the oddest of the bunch is a little sketch of the Tribune Tower in Chicago. The building is the home of the Chicago Tribune where I had spent the summers of 1998 and 1999 working in the news graphics department on a faculty internship. I did a few of these to send to my more journalistically oriented friends.

Also odd in the bunch is the lighthouse, which is no particular lighthouse -- just something I put together mainly because I wanted to experiment with the colors in the sky. And the scene itself was fairly simple to do.

As my wife would say, neither the Tribune Tower nor the lighthouse are very Christmas-y. And my answer is that you can always use your imagination.

The two churches are the Presbyterian (top) and Episcopal (lower) churches in Gainesville, Alabama, a little town in deepest southwest Alabama that my friend Guy Hubbs introduced me to the year before. Gainesville is close to a ghost town now, but in the 19th century, it was a thriving port on the Tombigbee River. There were still some interesting structures in Gainesville, these two churches being among them.

Finally, there is the three birches painting with the barn in the background, half hidden by the snow. That says winter, but not necessarily Christmas.

I paint multiple copies of these scenes and usually wind up sending our 20 to 30 cards. People seem to like them, and some tell me they have the whole collection, although my wife says they are just being nice.

I'll be posting more shortly.

5 x 7, watercolor on Arches 140 CP

Price: not for sale

About the paintings

I usually do three or four of one scene at a time. They take about an hour to draw and paint.

Christmas cards past (part 1)

2006-12-13T12:14:00.001-05:00

For several years now I have been painting small Christmas card scenes that I have been sending to special friends as Christmas cards. I can't remember exactly when I started doing this, so I did not save some of the early scenes that I did.

Along about 1997, I started doing a little better in this regard and began to save the various scenes that I would do. I think I did this to try to make sure I did not repeat scenes from year to year.

In that year I had visited New York City in November, and I decided to make that the theme of the cards. So here they are from that year: top to bottom, Washington Square, a path in Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, and another view of Central Park.

I paint multiple copies of these scenes and usually wind up sending our 20 to 30 cards. People seem to like them, and some tell me they have the whole collection, although my wife says they are just being nice.

I'll be posting more shortly.

5 x 7, watercolor on Arches 140 CP

Price: not for sale

About the paintings

I usually do three or four of one scene at a time. They take about an hour to draw and paint.

Christy Mathewson

2006-12-03T10:09:00.000-05:00

One of baseball's early 20th century superstars was Christy Mathewson.

In an era when most baseball players were rough and tumble blue collar guys, Mathewson was a cultured and well educated player, who had an unhittable fast ball and who looked good on the field -- and even better in front of the camera. He was tall and had striking good looks. Some of the photos of him are amazing.

Mathewson was what the lords of baseball wanted all of their players to be -- cultured, well-mannered, modest and discrete. Fortunately, that did not happen, and instead we got personalities like Ty Cobb and John McGraw, along with the likes of Mathewson.

Still, there was no denying that Mathews had an "it" about him that few other players possessed on the field and in front of the camera.

And that's probably he has inspired more than one painting or drawing from this artist.

11 x 14, watercolor on Bristol board

Price: $75

About the drawing

I was experimenting a bit with color here and am not sure this works. But, still, it has an appeal, at least to me. If it doesn't sell by New Year's, I think I'm going frame it for my office wall.

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Diagonals and triangles

2006-11-30T08:56:00.000-05:00

OK, this is a drawing of a baseball batter and probably should not be titled "Diagonals and triangles." It has that name because it demonstrates a couple of the things that I have learned about drawing over the years. First, the diagonal like conveys excitement, action and movement to the viewer. (This is not a new revelation, of course. Artists have known this for centuries.) Second, for realistic portrayals, capturing light and shadows is essential, and the artist needs to think in terms of triangles. This little drawing has lots of triangles, and when I am drawing something like this, I am constantly reminding myself that I should be thinking about triangles.

11 x 14, Pencil on Bristol board

Price: Unlisted

About the drawing

This is something I did in about an hour last night as I was listening to one of the jazz stations on my XM radio. I was inspired by a picture I had seen in this week's Sports Illustrated. I was fascinated by the movement of the player and wondered if I could capture some of that movement in this rendering.

This drawing is not listed for sale, but if anyone is interested in having it, let me know.

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Memorial Chapel, Emory and Henry College

2006-11-26T10:30:00.000-05:00

One of the most exquisite structures on the beautiful Emory and Henry College campus is Memorial Chapel. The building is striking for the design and height of its steeple. Even more striking is its sanctuary (something I had always meant to paint but never got to it), which is the soul of simplicity and elegance. From 2003 to 2006, I was privileged to be on the faculty of Emory and Henry, a small Methodist College in the mountains of southwest Virginia, about 25 northeast of Bristol. The campus has been on that spot since its founding in 1836. It is one of uncommon beauty, as is the surrounding area. The place inspired many paintings, one of which was put on this site in August. Another three are located just below this entry, and here is a fourth.

10 x 14, Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold press paper

Price: Not for sale

About the painting

This painting is one of a series that I have donated to Emory and Henry College.

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Wiley Hall, Emory and Henry College

2006-11-24T09:58:00.000-05:00

For almost the entire existence of Emory and Henry College,, there has been a Wiley Hall. During the Civil War, the college was closed, but Wiley Hall served as a hospital for Confederate and Union soldiers. That building burned early in the 20th century and was replaced by the one shown in the painting below. From 2003 to 2006, I was privileged to be on the faculty of Emory and Henry, a small Methodist College in the mountains of southwest Virginia, about 25 northeast of Bristol. The campus has been on that spot since its founding in 1836. It is one of uncommon beauty, as is the surrounding area. The place inspired many paintings, one of which was put on this site in August. Another two are located just below this entry, and here is a fourth.

15 x 22, Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold press paper

Price: Not for sale

About the painting

This painting is one of a series that I have donated to Emory and Henry College.

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Byars Hall, Emory and Henry College

2006-11-23T10:59:00.000-05:00

Byars Hall, on the campus of Emory and Henry College, serves as the home for the theater, art and music departments. From 2003 to 2006, I was privileged to be on the faculty of Emory and Henry College, a small Methodist College in the mountains of southwest Virginia, about 25 northeast of Bristol. The campus has been in existence on that spot since its founding in 1836. It is one of uncommon beauty, as is the surrounding area. The place inspired many paintings, one of which was put on this site in August. Another is located just below this entry, and here is a third.

15 x 22, Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold press paper

Price: Not for sale

About the painting

This painting is one of a series that I have donated to Emory and Henry College. More of those paintings will appear soon.

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Kelly Library, Emory and Henry College

2006-11-22T09:13:00.000-05:00

From 2003 to 2006, I was privileged to be on the faculty of Emory and Henry College, a small Methodist College in the mountains of southwest Virginia, about 25 northeast of Bristol. The campus has been in existence on that spot since its founding in 1836. It is one of uncommon beauty, as is the surrounding area. The place inspired many paintings, one of which is already on this site. Here is another.

Old time slide

2006-10-26T06:08:00.000-04:00

Baseball produces a series of set plays that make it exciting for the fan. The slide by a runner trying to beat a throw to a base is just one of those plays, and it always draws the attention of the crowd. The slide was developed early in the history of baseball as a way of avoiding the tag and the out. As this painting depicts it, the slide was just as exciting during an old time baseball game as it is today.

11 x 14, Watercolor and pen and ink on Bristol board

Price: $75

About the painting

This piece is the fourth of a series of four rendered with pen and ink and watercolor. (See below.) They all examine baseball players as they looked more than 100 years ago. They can be purchased individually or as a set (with a generous discount).

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Old time pitcher

2006-10-20T06:56:00.000-04:00

Everybody knows that pitching, ultimately, beats hitting in baseball. It was that way last night when the Cardinals pitchers beat the Mets hitters to win the National League pennant. It was true a hundred years ago when this big, burley hurler delivered a high hard one to his batting opponent. Think about a ball from this guy coming at you at 90 miles per hour. No wonder Ted Williams said hitting a baseball was the hardest thing to do in any sport.

11 x 14, Watercolor and pen and ink on Bristol board

Price: $75

About the painting

This piece is the third of a series of four rendered with pen and ink and watercolor. (See below.) They all examine baseball players as they looked more than 100 years ago. The last one will appear in the next few days. They can be purchased individually or as a set (with a generous discount).

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Old time fielder

2006-10-15T20:49:00.000-04:00

With fielding percentages and Golden Glove awards -- as well as ESPN highlights -- the ability to catch the ball seems like it is finally getting its due after decades of neglect. But good fielding has always been valued by players and fans alike. Players such as Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb established themselves in their fielding positions as well as at the plate. That's what this painting honors.

11 x 14, Watercolor and pen and ink on Bristol board

Price: $75

About the painting

This piece is the second of a series of four rendered with pen and ink and watercolor. (See below.) They all examine baseball players as they looked more than 100 years ago. The others will appear in the next few days. They can be purchased individually or as a set (with a generous discount).

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Old time hitter

2006-10-07T07:39:00.000-04:00

Pitching is the most important part of baseball, but there is nothing that personifies the game more than the hitter. The hitter is the nexus of almost all the action of the game, and he is endlessly fascinating to this artist. Here we have a turn-of-the-century (last century) slugger laying the wood on the ball. The hitter sports a thick gray uniform but no batting helmet, no batting gloves, no shinguards. Just hitter, bat and ball.

11 x 14, Watercolor and pen and ink on Bristol board

Price: $75

About the painting

This piece is the first of a series of four rendered with pen and ink and watercolor. They all examine baseball players as they looked more than 100 years ago. The others will appear in the next few days. They can be purchased individually or as a set (with a generous discount).

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Baseball again - Three Hitters

2006-10-06T19:54:00.000-04:00

Oakland has made it through to the second round, and the Cards and Mets will try to make it there tomorrow. So here's another baseball offering. And speaking of the Cards, does the big guy remind you of anyone?

11 x 14, Watercolor on Bristol board

Price: $75

About the painting

This and other other paintings posted earlier (here, here, and here), are part of a number where I have tried to minimize the detail and emphasize the light and shadow. This has been fun for me, and I hope they are fun for the viewer to look at.

And look for more like this one soon.

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

OK, back to football for the moment . . . Power Against Power

2006-10-04T20:17:00.000-04:00

We're into the baseball postseason -- the most exciting time of the year for the baseball fan. Still, we need to glance at football at least for a moment. Some big contests are on tap over the next couple of weeks. Attention should be paid.

11 x 14, Watercolor on Bristol board

Price: $75

About the painting

Like other paintings posted earlier (here, here, and here), this is a watercolor rendered in a loose, suggestive style. A lot here is left to the viewer's imagination. The big question is: Who wins this contest -- the guy in red or the guys in orange. The orange boys seem to have the upper hand, but we are looking at the middle of the play. We can only imagine (as we should) what happens next.

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Ready to deliver

2006-09-24T07:55:00.000-04:00

The summer baseball season is winding down, and the sport is about to enter its second season, the playoffs and World Series. Over the past few years, these October games have produced some gripping moments -- memories of which have carried some of diehard fans through the winter and into spring training.

11 x 14, Watercolor on 90 lb. India watercolor paper

Price: $95

About the painting

The pitcher is the most important player on the field. And this is particularly true in the playoffs. Mediocre pitching can trump good batting, and it usually does. This is a truism of the game that dates back to the 19th century.

In honor of that, the painting above is offered today.

It was inspired by a famous picture of the incomparable Christy Mathewson, the New York Giants righthander who defined the best qualities of the game -- skill, competition, and a genuine sense of humility to the game itself.

This is another use of the 90 lb. India watercolor paper that I recently acquired. (See note on the painting below.)

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Deep in the woods

2006-09-23T17:04:00.000-04:00

A friend last week told me he was headed into the woods last weekend because a canoe was the only way he could get to one of his favorite fishing spots. I was inspired by his description and tried to imagine what it would be like.

11 x 14, Watercolor on 90 lb. India watercolor paper

Price: ??

An artist's note

Sometimes, as a painter, I just want to experiment. I caught this watercolor paper on sale last week and wanted to try it with a familiar subject. The paper is thinner and softer than what I usually use (I'm an Arches 140 lb. man normally), but I thought I would give it a try. The paper buckles when wet since I don't pre-stretch. So, while that can be irritating if you want to maintain complete control, it can also have interesting effects.

I'm not a good judge of my own work. Sometimes things I like or am satisfied with draw yawns (or worse) from others. Sometimes things I find mediocre get a big thumbs up. Is this one any good? You be the judge.

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Looking for an opening

2006-09-22T20:42:00.000-04:00

Saturday in September means football, but it's getting late in the month, and baseball is resurging. Look for more baseball sets soon.

11 x 14, Watercolor on Bristol board

Price: $75

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Another Football Saturday . . .

2006-09-09T15:36:00.000-04:00

11 x 14, Watercolor on Bristol board

Price starting at: $75

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

The Pitcher

2006-09-08T09:51:00.000-04:00

11 x 14, Pen and ink on Bristol Board
(image size 4 x 9)

$75

The uniforms of 19th century baseball players are not much different from the ones worn today, and yet there is a different look and character to them. This pen and ink drawing appeared as an illustration for the book Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.

Wear's Valley Barn

2006-09-02T07:23:00.000-04:00

15 x 22, Watercolor on Arches CP, 140 lb

$150 (Sold)

This landscape was painted several years ago, and I'm not sure it exists any more. Wear's Valley runs along the western edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and during the past 10 years it has been discovered by developers. The scenes such as the one in this painting were once abundant but are now few and far between.

Football's about to begin

2006-09-01T10:39:00.000-04:00

11 x 14, Pen and ink on Bristol board

Just joined . . .

2006-09-01T09:49:00.000-04:00

First Inning Artworks has just joined the Rocky Top Brigade, a group of Tennessee bloggers.

Walt Whitman, portrait

2006-08-30T14:36:00.000-04:00

11 x 14, Watercolor

Not for sale

This portrait was inspired by a photograph of the poet taken late in his life.

Toumey Hall, University of Alabama

2006-08-29T13:08:00.000-04:00

11 x 14, Pen and ink on Bristol board

Price: $125

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Toumey Hall was constructed in 1888 and is currently the home of the Blount Undergraduate Initiative at the University of Alabama. For more than 70 years, from 1926 to 1999, it was the home of the University's Army ROTC unit.

Carriager Hall, Emory & Henry College

2006-08-28T14:23:00.001-04:00

15 x 22, Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. CP

Carriager Hall is a building contructed more than 100 years ago on the campus of Emory & Henry College, Emory, VA.

(This painting is owned by Emory & Henry College.)

Righthanded pitchers

2006-08-28T14:18:00.000-04:00

11 x 14, Watercolor on Bristol board

Price: $75

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Lefthanded batter

2006-08-28T14:16:00.000-04:00

11 x 14, Watercolor on Bristol board

Price: $75

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

The Hit

2006-08-28T09:09:00.000-04:00

11 x 14, Watercolor on Bristol board

Price: $75

This is an original piece, not a print.