Sweetvalley In The Fall

Went by Sweetvalley the other day.   It was gorgeous!



Sweetvalley is owned by my little brother.  He used to live there all the time but work took him away.  Now he rents it out to folks who like to get away to quiet places with great views and see nature at it's best. 

He always has a flag flying.  And that big white, round rock in the front yard is an old gris mill stone.  It traveled a long way to get here - all the way from Henderson, Tennessee where our grandparents had a farm.  When John was just a little boy, he would stand on this old stone to get on his horse. 

This is an art print I did of the road in front of his house.  I titled it "Lake Cove" which is the name of the road.  I really love it this time of year with all the leaves on the road.  I like to drive through there with the windows down.  There's just something really neat about driving through all those leaves. 

I like this friendly sign over the front door. 

And this gorgeous wreath.

And the decorated mailbox ... which is a dead give-a-way that my sister,

Anne has been over there decorating.

And I really love the kitchen window.  Don't know why I haven't noticed this before.  Couldn't resist creating another art print - "Sweetvalley Window." 

To learn more about Sweetvalley, go to  http://sweetvalleykentuckylake.com/default.aspx

 



Paris Twilight

Trying something a little different here in the latest addition to my "Windows On The Square" series.  Going for sort of an old world look.  Can't decide if I like the horizontal or vertical version best. 

Paris Twilight - Horizontal

Paris Twilight - Vertical

Horizontal - vertical - can't decide.  Either way it would look great on canvas as shown here.  Buy Print. 

"Windows on the Square" is a series I started several years ago showing off my very picturesque hometown - Paris, Tennessee.

How Murphy Became Famous

If you have ever tried to take a good photograph of a black cat - you know it can be tricky. If the cat lives in a house with dark burgundy carpet - it’s even trickier. And if the cat you are trying to photograph is Murphy - it’s just almost impossible.

Over the years I have taken lots of photos of him. Most of them were horrible. He won’t sit still, the flash bounces off his eyes (looks like a devil cat), he blends into the carpet - etc. A few photos were good enough for a family photo album, but most were just horrible.

One day I caught him sitting at our storm door, staring through the glass, watching the birds. He was really into it - making that little clicking sound cats make when they are trying to convince birds that they are just another bird. “Come here little birdy. It’s safe. I’m just another bird although I know I must look like a big, fat, black cat.”

Anyway - he sat there long enough for me to get the camera and really get things set right for a good photo. This was the result.

"Birdwatching"

Not only has this become one of my best selling prints but it convinced me that I could actually take a half way decent photo of a difficult subject. Of course the photo is manipulated - that’s just what I do to create my style of art. And this art piece has really gone to Murphy’s head. He knows he famous now. You would think he had posed for the Mona Lisa!!! Such an attitude!!! Every now and then he will honor me with another decent pose

"Black Cat - Golden Eyes"

Sometimes I have to remind myself that - after all - he is just a cat.

Sunrise On Antioch Road

This is how my backyard looked this morning at sunrise. The landscape takes a dip behind those trees and on some mornings it gets this foggy look with the sun shining through it.

To buy a print please visit my online art gallery shown in the top right corner of this page. 

I actually took the photo for this image several years ago and did very little to enhance it. I almost titled it “Rejoice” because that was the way this sunrise made me feel. There was nothing really special about that morning until I opened the curtains and saw this scene in my backyard.

I grabbed the camera and ran out the door. I know folks driving down Antioch Road that morning probably got a kick out of that crazy woman running around in her backyard in nothing but her nightgown while she snapped photos.

It doesn’t look this way every morning. I wish it did.