General

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Comment by Joe La Bianca on September 9, 2013 at 1:27

thx for all the great info, Betsy. I will try to incorporate it. Not sure what general, but it's a real statue. Have fun when you come visiting. It's a beautiful place. That's a great idea about the photos. Must do that. thx again... :)

Comment by Betsy Jenkins on September 9, 2013 at 0:40

I also wanted to ask if you went to that reenactment a few months ago. I missed it, but wanted to go to get pictures of the participants in their costumes. If you got to go and got some good pics, you could just stay in your studio painting images for a very long time!

Comment by Betsy Jenkins on September 9, 2013 at 0:35

Hi, Joe!

I like your picture, especially the salmon pink against the greens. General Meade (?) lives on in your paintings! I think you might do some more sunset type images of the statues there--there is something about the meaning of a sunset and the thought about the past  and things that have ended that goes together. (And I am a bit of a Civil War buff, since I live in the middle of so many battlefields! We found bullets on our property with a metal detector!) You can practice incorporating the radial effects of sunlight at sunset Richard talks about in the video in your next work, i.e., that things get darker as they move out from the sun--perhaps in the ground at the edges of the canvas. Maybe in the next one you could also make the sun a little more yellow and add some glowing  fire-y light around the edges of some of your branches and leaves. (See Lori Ippolito's final sunset with the tree at the shore to see what I am talking about). Fire and war go together in my mind... Anyway, this picture is good. These suggestions are just things to think about as you go about bringing that place to life in the future! We are all always trying to improve ourselves, and I have a special interest in your subject matter and would like to see more of it. And I have a feeling that there are a number of others that like this subject and wouldn't mind having some art about it hanging in their homes (Ready market for you?).

PS I am headed up to Emitsburg later this week to visit Mt. St. Mary's. I go there a couple of times a year. I always include a stop in Frederick at the Brewer's Alley afterwards for lunch. (I know, I know! Jesus followed by beer! What can I say? I am person of varied interests..). So I'll think of you and your art when I raise my glass. Cheers!