New paintings are posted on my web site.  I finally found someone to photograph my paintings so I can post more now, thank goodness. The palette knife is my new friend and some of my most recent works show the texture and impressionism of the palette knife. Love it!

Two weeks ago we spent 3 days in Kinston, NC on the "Chef and Farmer Tour" sponsored by SC ETV.  We had dinner at Chef Vivian Howard's restaurant, lunch at the Boiler Room which is an oyster bar owned and operated by Vivian and her husband, Ben who is also an artist. The last day we went to Vivian's test kitchen and had a lesson from Lillie on making biscuits.
Oh my goodness, it was so much fun and the food was fantastic! One of my favorite things was the oyster appetizers served on a pork skin with some awesome sauce on top and a jalopeno pepper. The post skin stays crunchy.  So good. I'll use that trick.

While there we saw some of Ben's very nice art work.  He paints large abstracts which are really beautiful.

Keep enjoying art...

chefandthefarmer.com

It's been a while since I posted a new painting but I have been painting just the same.  I just posted a photo that I took of "After the Storm" which is a palette knife painting so the paint is thick and loose.

There is a sad reason you have not seen my new photos lately.  Bob Wilson, the photographer that photographed my paintings and made my giclees passed away about 3 months ago.  Bob was not only a gifted photographer, he was also a great artist and painted some of the most beautiful portraits I have ever seen.  For many of us in the Charleston Artist Guild, he was a treasure and always there for us with his support and generosity. He is greatly missed.

Until I can find someone else to professionally photograph my paintings, I'm afraid what I post will be my own photos and definitely don't live up to Bob's standards.

Thank you for taking a peek,  Dorrell

The Sandy Toes Art Web Site is now mended and paintings are restored.  Some of my new paintings are hanging in the Charleston Artist Guild Gallery (CAG Gallery). Also hanging there is the "Cypress Lillies" (unframed) so the price is reduced as you will see as you scroll through the gallery on my web site.  In the  CAG Gallery I have added 3 new paintings that are framed 8"x10"'s.  Two are of shells and one is of Orangeburg Gardens.  Unfortunately, they have not been photographed so the do not appear on my web site yet.  When you are in Charleston, I hope you will drop by the gallery at 160 East Bay St. and see my work as well as the work of 73 other artists.

Dorrell

Two new paintings have been added to my gallery.   Click on my gallery page and you can see "Cypress Gems" and "Lion's Share".    "Lions Share" was a commission I painted this summer.

I've been pretty busy traveling this summer so I have lots of photos from Maine.  I can't wait to paint some of them.  At present I am working on two commissions. 

My work is currently in the Charleston Artists Guild Gallery on East Bay in downtown Charleston, SC.   When you come to Charleston, please drop in and see my paintings as well as the work of 72 other very talented artists.

This is my new painting of a big band that I painted in support of our Wine Club who is sponsoring
a big band event in June. I shall donate an 18x18" giclee of this painting to the Wine Club. They will sell chances to win it aat the Jun meeting and proceeds go the charity.

The subject reminds me of my mother because she loved and sang this music.  In fact, I still know the words to many of the 40's songs because she sang them around the house so much.  For this painting, I wanted to explore working with the palette knife so it's very different technique for me. 

This is the beginning of a new painting.  This is the under painting which I usually do in just one color but this time I used color on the dress because I wanted to define the dress better.

During the past few days as I kept looking at this painting, I concluded that much more work was needed.  The range of values in the pitcher was too weak so I went darker with the darks and lighter with the lights.  After that, more contrast was needed for the background for the pitcher to show up better, so I decided the background should be much darker.  With that done, then the foreground looked pretty whimpy so I chose to make it a reflective dark surface.   I then pumped up the highlights in the figs and reworked their shadows.  For now, this painting is complete but as usual, I will hang it in a place where I can keep looking at it and make any needed changes that I see.

The lighter areas that show here behind the pitcher is from my flash reflecting off the wet paint.