Fine Art Kentucky Paintings

Painted from life below the Rabbit Hash General Store, Tom was working on two portrait commissions nearby and would not miss stopping at Rabbit Hash afterwards. A huge cauldron sits near the water. The creek is clean and a wonderful place for children to play. Tom would take Helen, his 7-year-old daughter, and she would play with the other children in a nostalgic setting. Little did he know that the creek was clean of broken glass for it was a rule but not the riverbank. While his daughter was walking in the water in the foreground, she suffered multiple cuts on her feet. Freaked out, Tom carried her to the car and treated her with alcohol much to her shrieking.

Gentry Tobacco Warehouse, Lexington, Kentucky
July 5 1998, Oil on canvas, 10" x 8"
Painted over four years. Tom's wife spends a day every summer in Lexington, Kentucky at a professional meeting and during that time, Tom spent his time researching the tobacco auction business for a possible painting. His patron had had in their family a large tobacco warehouse, which they had sold. He wanted to at least have a painting of it.

Painted during Behringer-Crawford's FreshArt Event, held every year at this time. Tom participated for the first seven years and then laid off for seven until now. He just had to come back because it is so much fun. He knows over half of the artists and the quests at the auction in the evening. He grew up on the edge of Devou Park at Breckinridge and Montague Rd. He used to hang out at the museum when he was ten spending everyday up there with Mr. Crawford.

Now Tom has found a way to give something to the museum but not to give everything. Tom worked from 8AM to 3:30 on the detailed painting on top and then using the paint of his palette and the knowledge of painting the detailed painting to produce a smaller impasto knife painting at bottom. The work has all the sophistication of the larger work and even sold at auction for a normal auction price of $350.

Also when Tom was growing up he would hang out at the clubhouse. He was too small to caddie but none the less would hang out there. He never learned to play golf until he was thirty. He and his brother used to play a dirty trick on the first hole tee. The balls would disappear over the hill after the first drive and they would go get the ball and then sell it at the clubhouse before the players would get wise. They eventually got caught.

Now the Harlan Strong Golf Outing takes place on the second Saturday in September. 140 golfers get out on the course by 7:30AM shotgun style and play best ball. It's a quick 18 holes rounding up with a steak dinner at noon. There's a waiting list. It the biggest golf outing at Devou.

Presented to Doctor David by the Department of Family Medicine of the University of Cincinnati honoring his many years of service to the University. Mrs. David worked with Tom closely to make this painting. Tom initially suggested several views of the City and then composed the family from the many snapshots supplied by Brenda, his wife. The whole process was kept quite until it was presented to the Doctor at a dinner party held at the Bankers Club of Cincinnati. The David family was moving to Wisconsin and that was the reason why the City was foremost in the painting. Tom's wife, Irene worked for Doctor David and was instrumental in obtaining the commission. Tom used his typical light and dark manner, keeping the background light and flooding the foreground in a dark transparent manner that offered a wonderful illusion to the viewer at a distance. The painting takes on the manner of a serene landscape offering the viewer enticement without having to know the scene or the people involved. Tom feels that this is the only way to create paintings that appeal to all. He only wants to now involve into an artist who can evoke a gamut of emotions within one canvas.

1064 Emerson Road, Park Hills, Kentucky 41011, 10" x 8", Oil on faux silver leaf on canvas, 1998

Tom started painting on reflective surfaces in 1989. His mentor R_ painted on vinyl and that gave him the idea to paint on reflective plastic surfaces. The first works were on sliver Mylar one being his self-portrait. This work was taken a step further by applying silver leaf on canvas. Similar works done at this time were done with aluminum foil on canvas. Tom still thinks that there is possibility in this manner. The home in the painting is Tom’s family home. He took out the neighbors’ homes and lowered the hillside so you could see the Ohio River.

Bingham Home

20" x 16", Watercolor on paper

It took what seemed like a two months to complete the watercolor of Melanie's home. When I first was commissioned for such a large watercolor, 20"x16" it is about at the limit for a watercolor as far as size goes, I was a little taken back about the commission. It was a opportunity to get out my watercolors and use them again after almost a year of disuse. Not to say that I had not been painting watercolors, I had. For the better part of the year I had been perfecting a sepia watercolor technique. It was a almost black white manner using various colors of acrylic inks to make a classic brown color know as sepia. The end effect is a classic appearing black white ink painting. With this technique I did a series of 15 painting of a older person in a 5"x7" format. Besides that I did two other architectural paintings. So to leave this sepia manner after a year and return to color was very rewarding.

Licking River, 16" x 12", oil on canvas, 1987

Colors: Light violet blue, light yellow green, deep olive green, purple accent

Painted from life, this painting represents the best of Tom's impressionist manner which reached a peak in 1987. In a predictable way Tom’s feverish attack on learning landscape painting by producing a canvas everyday, working outdoors on location for two years paid off with 1987 being the peak of his impressionist manner. Why it peaked and why he could not get back to this manner has puzzled Tom ever since. His colors were driven by each other more than attention paid to what the actual color was. It’s Tom’s belief that nature is a good point to take off from but common sense is more important in creating meaningful and exciting work. Painted from life about twenty miles up the Licking River from the Ohio River. After taking a swim and having some lunch, Tom set up his easel and went to work on what he considers his finest example of his impressionist manner.