Young's Branch

When I started this painting last Saturday the sun was shining brightly. By the time I was fifteen minutes into the work it was snowing like a blizzard. All the nice ways strong sun defines different forms and shapes had vanished. I was left to my memory on how to complete my painting. Moving shadows don't bother me too much while painting because you are still viewing the thing that caught your eye in the first place but when the sun ducks behind a cloud or disappears it is very difficult to finish.
This is Young's branch where it flows under Lee Highway (old Warrenton Pike) at Manassas Battlefield Park, Virgina. The small stream snakes through the park like a thread connecting historic battles. On the ridge in the distance is where Confederate General Thomas Jackson was coined his nickname Stonewall by, soon to be killed, General Bernard Bee during the battle of First Manassas, in 1861. My location (in a parking lot) is about where General Bee's division was situated in the conflict. It is controversial whether Bee meant the reference to Jackson out of respect or out of disgust. Bee's army was being out flanked by Union General Daniel Tyler's army and was in dire need of support. Ultimately, a division of Tyler's army led by William T Sherman collapsed Bee's army mortally wounding General Bee in the process. The southern army eventually swooped down off the hill where Jackson stood driving the Union army back to Washington D.C. As disturbing as it may seem, Congressmen and civilians had arrived at Manassas to witness the battle, sort of like a sporting event. When the Confederate army sent the Union forces in retreat, overturned buggies and wagons blocking the retreat along Warrenton Pike created a wholesale panic with soldiers tossing their weapons aside in the scramble.

un-still life

What does a chess piece (the king), some unpaid bills, a cigar box, a stapler and a can of Maxwell House coffee have in common? Beats me!! It's sort of a strange juxtaposition of elements; the chess piece and cigar box are over forty years old, the stapler is at least twenty and the bills are for my 95 year old mother's assisted living home. I wonder what compulsion prevents me from throwing these objects out (except for the bills which I would like to throw out). The coffee can is recent but even there, I find I save old coffee cans and have a closet full of them. Georgio Morandi painted still life as his sole subject matter for over fifty years. The same bottles and vases were depicted over and over again usually clustered close together in tight compositions of muted colors and values. His body of work is huge and his insistence on not straying from his personal motif borders on compulsion. This kind of pessimism about the world seems like an illness at first but eventually Morandi transcends the redundancy of never letting go of something and elevates it to a higher plane. I think we hold onto useless things to reassure ourselves we are whole and cannot be broken by an indifferent world. A still life is a victory of sorts.

what to paint

Without the opportunity to go outdoors to paint during the week, due to work, I find I'm left without any subject for my art. I use to paint surrealistic dreams but lately I have grown tired of such things. I also paint geometric abstractions but I also grew tired of that as well. So, the only other thing to do, that I could see, was to paint still life. The first painting titled 'West Running Brook', named after a Robert Frost poem, is very old. I did it at least seven years ago. The geometric painting I did this last summer and I figure I will return to doing these at some point. The bottle of beer, I did last night. Since this blog is suppose to be about the stories behind the paintings and that usually means the history, I'm afraid I'm at a loss on this one unless I research the history of Miller beer (hmm...might be interesting). Anyway, it's not often you get to drink your model, yum! I also decided my profile photo was pretty stuffy looking so I took another one of myself..haha!!!

Bull Run

I did this oil painting in the summer a year ago. I paint oils mostly in the warmer months when I can get out of my studio/truck and set up my easel. I kind of lost myself in the woods at this location but a path goes by where I sat and I received many curiosity onlookers as I painted. Two groups stick out in my memory, one was a small girl and her dad strolling by, she watched me paint for several minutes and was convinced that painting was what she intended to do when she grew up. The other group, several Hispanic males carrying fishing rods, came treading through the woods. I told them there were fish in the small stream almost straight out from where I sat, I had observed several small bass and suckers in the stream, but they unfortunately did not speak any English and I did not speak Spanish. The men nodded politely and smiled but kept on going to their favorite fishing hole.

This stream is known as Bull Run the site where the American Civil War began. I've written plenty about the war here on this blog so I won't add much more here except to say that old wartime photos of this area look like the surface of the moon. The pleasant idyllic setting you see was denuded of trees in 1861 and more so in 1862. Wood was used extensively by the traveling armies and most places they traversed were left barren and ghost like. A hundred and forty seven years later, I can tell you this place may be surrounded by development and the stream's water quality, tainted by adverse runoff, is not so good but the fauna has returned and it is a pleasant location to sit and paint.

29 Diner

This is 29 Diner, listed on the registry of historic sites in Fairfax County, Virginia. It is a 'one of a kind' example of a dying breed of eating establishments that once dotted every town and city in America. Built in 1947 by the Mountain View Diner Company, 29 Diner may be the last remaining Mountain View diner left standing, much less in operation. Owned by former waitress, Ginger Guevara and her husband, the diner stays open 24 hours a day serving those night-owls who need a place for a bite to eat and some coffee. I have eaten here and the interior is as unique and pristine as the exterior. The original owner Bill Glasscock was very conservative in his approach to business and life and much of what you find inside has been unchanged since the diner was first constructed even down to the old style menus and the faded pictures of country music stars in the jukebox. The Fluted polished steel trim and bright blue plastic seats and stools make 29 Diner a perfect step back in time for anyone who is looking for a unique place to eat. I intend to do some sketches of the interior at some point in the future and will post them here.

Power lines

Yesterday was another typical cold January day here in the nation's capital. I was fortunate to get three watercolor sketches done while sitting in my trusty mobile studio; my beat up truck. One of those sketches (see above) is perhaps an unusual subject for me because I often exclude the accoutrements to our age: phone lines, road signs, automobiles, etc. In essence, I lie about what I direct my viewer's eyes to. Always, just of view in my paintings, are the reminders that this is 2009 not 1809. It's a pity, really, because I find the old preferable to the new but my self-imposed horse blinders can only shield so much. Eventually, I have to admit defeat to where I am. This picture is of some large transmission lines crossing Manassas Battlefield. I am not drawn to the subject ordinarily but I was scanning the horizon and found it interesting how the cloud formations lined up in a V directly below the tallest tower. Behind me, about 800 yards away from where I painted this view, stands Brawner House (a subject that will have to wait for warm weather to paint) where in 1862 the North and South met in an intense point blank battle lasting all day until sunset.

Dogan house

Standing at the intersection of Lee Highway (Warrenton Pike) and Featherbed Lane in Prince William County, Virginia is Dogan House. The building was the overseer's dwelling for the Dogan Plantation in the early 19th century but was used as the primary home for Lucinda Dogan after the main plantation home burned in 1860. Supposedly, Mrs. Dogan raised eight children in this small abode. I find the structure odd with an uneven roof line front and back. It seems like another building should have been attached to it at some point in its past. Dogan House is all that is left of the small community of Groveton, Virginia. During the American Civil War battles of Manassas in 1861 and 1862, Dogan house managed to withstand the intense shelling and fire from those engagements, which is amazing to me, since it was situated almost between the two sides at times in 1862. Evidence shows that at least one shell did entered the house leaving marks in the floor. I will assume that round passed right on through the house. In 1863, Confederate Major John Singleton Mosby made a raid at Fairfax Courthouse capturing Union General Edwin Stoughton while he slept. The Gray Ghost, as Mosby is known in lore, stopped at Dogan House for breakfast that day. I guess anyone's home was subject to being an inn or hospital during the Civil War.

When it is ok to cut down trees

I painted this view a few days ago on a gray January day, while sitting in my truck. It is of the old railroad grade built, but never completed, by the Manassas Gap Railroad in 1854. The branch line was suppose to be a connection from the Orange and Alexandria Railroad at Manassas Junction, Virginia to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). The Panic of 1857 brought construction to a halt and no tracks were every laid. From 1861 to 1865, destruction from the Civil War, pretty much decimated the Manassas Gap Railroad and they ultimately merged with the Orange and Alexandria in its aftermath. During the battle of Second Manassas this old grade served as an impenetrable defensive position for the Confederate Army. The battle to break the southern position was so intense at times it reverted to hand to hand combat when the Union Army breached the grade temporarily. Today, the park service has decided to recreate the view here as it would have appeared in 1862; it had become heavily covered with trees and vegetation through the years. So thick was the cover that just trying to visit the site meant a serious encounter with ticks in the warmer months. I agree with the park service's decision to clear the land and reconstruct history. It is not often that cutting trees has any benefit, particularly in a national park, but this would be that exception.

Warrenton Pike

This painting is of old Warrenton Pike as it passes through Manassas Battlefield in Prince Wiliam County, Virginia. The highway is also known as US Highway 29 and Lee Highway. The original name, Warrenton Pike, which is no longer used, describes the main road out of Fairfax Virginia to the town of Warrenton, Virginia approximately 31 mile to the west. To any reader or historian of the American Civil War, that name is strongly associated with the battles of First and Second Manassas. It was on Warrenton Pike that the first shots of the war were fired and over which two massive Union retreats took place. The route number for old Warrenton Pike is US Highway 29 which has been dedicated as the 29th Division Memorial Highway. Historically, the 29th Division was formed in 1917 out of regional National Guard units from Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. During the Second World War, the 116th Regiment of the 29th Division was the first unit to hit Omaha Beach on D-Day. Company A of that regiment, from the small town of Bedford, Virginia, suffered 75% casualties in the assault, the most by any one community during the Second World War. Route 29 traverses over 1,000 mile from the suburbs of Baltimore south to Pensacola, Florida. Lee Highway is also the name given to old Warrenton Pike. Named for Confederate General Robert E Lee, Lee Highway was the designated name given in the twenties to a series of state routes that linked a transcontinental highway from New York City to San Francisco. Most of that route still retains the name Lee Highway.

Fields and more fields

I did this painting on a warm breezy day back in November. As you can see, the fall leaves had fully turned and only a few rusty red and dried out tan ones continued to cling to the branches. The painting is another typical view from the endless amount of subjects that are contained in Manassas Battlefield. The work is titled Brownsville 2, named after the location which I have discussed in my post of Dec. 29-08. I won't go into a repeat of that post because what interests me here is something I read while searching for information about what I paint. I came across another blog post recounting visits to many of the same places I visit but with a disappointed tone as to how those places impressed the blogger. Certainly we all are entitled to our opinions but what the individual seemed to miss was the well being provided by viewing open fields (Manassas Battlefield is full of open fields). I found the blogger's reaction strange since most of us live in very condensed urban conditions and usually struggle with traffic and overcrowding on a daily basis. An oasis like the Battlefield ought to provide some spatial relief from our cramped routines. In the final analysis, it really doesn't matter about the other blogger; he or she had political concerns in their discussion and I find those sort of things very interesting, too. What does matter is that, as a community, if we fail to take seriously our need for such things as open space and the natural world, we will lose them. I think that is why I paint them and why most plein air painters do the same. This realization is a collective sensibility artist share but I prefer to expand the concept of who an artist is to include anyone who takes stock of what they view with a feeling for its preservation. That's really what this is all about, saving our sanity. All of us are artists inside, that's the beauty of the digital camera for those who don't paint. We all can record our feelings about the world and I see plenty of likeminded sentiment on the Internet for the appreciation of places like Manassas Battlefield.

Portici

Portici is the former plantation of Spencer Ball, established in 1812. It was named after the villa in Italy by the same name. The original home, which burned down in 1862, was excavated in the 1990's and many African American artifacts were discovered in the cellar portion of the home which housed slaves. Some of the items found were colono-ware, gaming pieces and bone rings brought from Africa. That site has now been covered back over for safe keeping.

Perhaps the best thing about Portici is the fantastic views around the area. In a typically crowded urban environment like Fairfax County, Virginia and Prince William County, Virginia, it is unusual to have such unobstructed broad vistas. You can feel the timeless sense of calm such large open spaces afford us when you stand on the ridge tops and look over the fields and tree rows. I strongly recommend walking this site if you ever visit; the experience is wonderful.

Nearby by is Ball's Ford across Bull Run Creek, a natural shallow area that was first used by Native Americans long before European settles came to this area.

By the time of the Civil War, Portici had become the property of Francis Lewis. The plantation's high ridge tops served as General P. Beauregard's headquarters during the battle of First Manassas as it was a perfect observation post, overseeing the battlefield. The home also served as a field hospital during the conflict.

Three Trees

These three trees (shown in the top drawing) stand on top of a place known as Battery Heights. I made this sketch several days ago on a cold January day and found the subject to be a perfect one to do . The gnarled tree limbs give an expressive look to the scene and suggest a somber feeling about the actual events that took place here on August 28, 1862. This location was the opening fight for the Battle of Second Manassas. That initial engagement raged here for an hour claiming close to 1,500 lives. While I was sketching my mind reflected on an etching I had once seen in a book by Rembrandt titled The Three Trees (second drawing). The stoic isolation of those trees in the fading light standing sentinel like suggested themselves to me as I made my sketch. Like Rembrandt's trees alone on a hill, Battery Heights is a barren piece of land exposed to the fire and shelling it received during the battle that took place here in 62. Perhaps an even better analogy to this scene is a drawing by Van Gogh titled, Winter Garden (third drawing). Van Gogh's trees speak of the disillusionment he felt from people he trusted to help him with his spiritual struggles in life. He grew to see these people as sinister and threatening. It would seem to me that the men caught in the snare of the Civil War, and particularly this battle at Battery Heights, must have resigned themselves to the realities of a world that no longer supported them and must have concluded it had gone completely mad. The three trees on Battery Heights, although not there in 1862, mark that tragedy well.

A bridge to our national conscience

The Stone Bridge at Bull Run is a fairly well known national landmark withstanding the battles of First, Second and Third Manassas. Across this span in 1861 marched Union troops towards their engagement in the first battle of the American Civil War. Retreating armies destroyed the bridge in the aftermath and a wooden span was erected in its place. When the battle of Second Manassas occurred in 1862 the bridge was destroyed again. Eventually, it was built back to its original state after the Civil War ended. In the 1980's the bridge came under attack once more from developers Hazel/Peterson who were bent on encroaching upon the battlefield with a regional shopping mall. The very word "Manassas" became a battle cry to halt this assault on our national monuments and parks and spawned preservationist initiatives to protect other areas of national significance. The two battles in 1861 and 1862 cost over 14,000 lives and it is only just that out of Third Manassas we preserve these monuments to such hallowed ground. Sadly, only a few miles away, the site of the battle of Chantilly (800 lost) lies predominantly buried under the Fair Oaks shopping mall.

American Red Cross

This drawing was done this past Saturday while sitting in my car; the weather had been too chilly to allow long periods outdoors. The church you see is St Mary's at Fairfax Station, Virginia, the first Catholic church in Fairfax County. It was built in 1858 by Irish railroad workers who before its construction had held their worship services in boxcars parked on a siding at Fairfax Station. St Mary's, or as it is properly known, St Mary of Sorrow, may well have earned its official name a few years later during the Civil War. As casualties rose from the battle of Second Manassas in 1862, Clara Barton, a clerk working at the Government Patent Office in Washington D.C., and several volunteers arrived at Fairfax Station to administer aid to the wounded Federal soldiers and help transport them by rail to the Patent Office (also a wartime hospital). Most of the wounded men were laid out on the grounds of St Mary's with the church pews being used as makeshift beds. Any medical operations needed were carried out inside the church. This temporary hospital site stayed in existence for three rain filled days in August until Confederate forces over ran the depot, setting it on fire. The timing of the escape was close, as Clara Barton observed the torching of Fairfax Station from her departing rail car. Due to her experiences at St Mary's, Clara Barton created a civilian society that later became known as the American Red Cross.

Sunken road

This painting was done in the summer of 07. It is, like most of the other paintings posted here, a painting of Manassas Battlefield. The broad path receding from the foreground to the woods is actually a sunken cobblestone road. It was only after I had sat at my location for some time that the large red stones used for the road became apparent to me as they laid hidden by the grass. I got up from my chair and began walking around to confirm my discovery all the while imagining wagons and buggies being pulled by horses. Observations like this are a large part of the fascination with what I paint. Of the six or seven archeology sites dug here in the nineties, all but one have been covered back up to preserve them from the weather, wild animals, people and sometimes simply because the funding ran out. My imagination becomes excited when I think of this former world just inches beneath my feet, existing like fish below the surface of a stream.

Hazel Plain

I painted this view last summer. It was a bright day but one that lacked strong shadows due to hazy cloud cover. What you see in the painting is the foundation to Bernard Hooe's family home and plantation known as Hazel Plain. A few yards away from the home sits the Hooes family cemetery containing the grave of Captain Bernard Hooe, Prince William Militia, Rev war. Eventually, this house was purchased by Sophia Jones, sister of Benjamin Chinn, in 1836. The actual wood structure stood until 1950 when it was knocked down for safety reasons. It was a larger home then the restored historical home of Benjamin Chinn known as Ben Lomond (three miles east of these ruins) and it became his home after he moved his family in to take care of his ailing sister Sophia. Inside the home was housed the first piano ever brought to Prince William County. It is assumed that Benjamin Chinn's daughters were musically inclined to warrant such an expensive item as a piano. Of particular interest at Hazel Plain was the archaeological site nearby this home where African American Colono-ware pottery was uncovered. Excavated in 1990, this and several other sites nearby revealed not only the usual vessels and plate fragments but also unique gaming pieces, pipes and bone rings brought by the inhabitants from Africa. These digs in the area have been subsequently covered back over to safe guard them.