Dragonfly Fairy

I typically don't do the fantasy thing, but I wanted to do something for my nieces, and so what would little girls love better than a fairy riding on a dragonfly! I had fun with the wings and such anyway.

Girl by the Shenandoah River

My second foray into painting on top of a photograph. We would always go to Harper's Ferry when life was getting stressed out or difficult, sit on top of the mountains there and just talk to God and each other. This painting is trying to depict such a scene. It seems that Jesus would usually go to a mountain to pray, and it always made sense to do the same. The river is the Shenandoah where it runs into the Potomac. The Shenandoah is my favorite place to be, peaceful, flowing. It is a wonderful place, where the rivers divide the states of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. We usually sat on the West Virginia side on the hill and just thought, prayed and soaked in the beauty of our God's creation.

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills
From where will my help come?
My help comes from the LORD
Who made heaven and earth."

Psalm 121:1,2

The second version is with a sepia photo filter, gives it a bit of a meditative edge.

The Tolchester Scout

I have been experimenting with using my own pictures as backgrounds to my drawings. This one was from Tolchester, Maryland on the Eastern Shore. He's a scout supposed to be from the the time period of the French and Indian War, inspired by drawings and figures I saw at Fort Frederick in Western Maryland. This is looking across the Chesapeake Bay toward Baltimore. The ice had been pushed up against the shore and made for some beautiful pictures.

Gentle on My Mind

I became inspired by the song, "Gentle on my Mind" by John Hartford. Made me think of days gone past. I remember this moment in my teenage years, in West Virginia. I distinctly remember going up the mountain, sitting by the fence line on a path and watching the sunrise while I read my Bible. I watched deer come and go down the meadow and imagined the brilliance of the sunrise was God opening His eyes. I have never forgotten that, the majesty of the morning silence. This was a memory that was "gentle on my mind".