Reset The Pieces

I have an old and dear friend who throws a large party every year. A lot of you may not know that I also play music. In fact, I’ve been playing longer than I have been painting…so I’ve been playing for a long time! I bring this up because I have been playing with these friends since we were sophomores in high school and, every year, we get together to play at this party.

Now I do admit to two facts, I am a bit older than I was when we started and, since I have been working hard at painting over the last number of years, I don’t practice my playing as often as I used to. So, when the party annually rolls around, I have to get out me axe and limber up my fingers which takes away from time out painting.

Were we any good you wonder? Surprisingly…not too bad! But I guess that’s what happens when you play with guys you have been playing with for the better part of your life. That’s me on the left in the first picture and all 5 of us in the second.

Sunday morning, thankfully, meant a return to painting and I felt secure in the knowledge that I could safely put my guitar away for another year. And the first painting on Sunday?…a scraper! In fairness to the panel I was painting on I couldn’t get that waste of paint scraped off of the canvas fast enough. I once read that when the great chess genius Bobby Fischer lost a game (which was rare) he would become very agitated and want to reset the pieces immediately for another game. I think I know how Fischer felt and, after lunch and some very unkind words to myself, I set out again late in the afternoon to reset the pieces.

Rottkamp’s Farm is not far from my house. I wanted to head over there because I like rolling farmland and also because we had overcast skies that day and I was in the mood to paint a nice sky. The forecast for the pumpkin crop is grim this year owing to all of the rain we have had…but I managed to find a few which would add a nice note of color in the foreground.

"Pumpkins~Rottkamp's Farm" 9 X 12 oil on canvas. Available for sale. Click the following link:Pumpkins~Rottkamps Farm

To sum up the last four days…a whole weekend with only one painting to show for it. But I am very happy with the result and am happier still that I got to spend some time making music with old friends who are very dear to me.

Note that all of these small sketches are available for sale directly from me via this website. Simply click on the “Paintings and Prints” tab and then on “Available Paintings”. The price includes shipping costs.