Working on my paintings during Covid was really no different than any other time for me as I am always in my studio and am on my own anyway.  But around the first of June I wanted a change to move more into the abstract world of painting.  I have since taken some very wise advice given by my critique leader to try working within a margin of white on paper and to create intuitively with my paint and materials.  No judgment about the outcome.  Here is one of my works.  I see it as a story.  You can give it your own story.  I'm calling it "Entering Repentance".


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Come meet member artist Barbara Wachter at our 25th Anniversary Celebration this Fall!
My process is oil on linen or canvas. I purchase the substrate with 3 applications of gesso and I follow with 2 or 3 coats of oil gesso. The paint I use is Williamsburg oil or Charvin oil which has several colors that I prefer. I use a warm and a cool of each yellow, red, blue and also white , Payne’s, or purple. I like to paint small studies on location for the landscape paintings and then go to the studio to complete a larger painting. For still life , I use a set up and often use a black box with directional light to enhance the shadows. For figurative , I use the drawings that I do almost daily of people that I draw while I am waiting or just observing people in daily activities. Not of anyone particular , more the the figure in action. I feel painting is a journey , as is life, drawing on the intuitive spiritual gift that happens when immersed in this most grateful, appreciated gift.

-Come meet Andy and other Boz-artists on October 2nd at our 25th Anniversary Celebration at City Space on the Downtown Mall!!
Evening Glow
Andy Stafford
Raven’s Roost, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia
Taken on 10/31/2018
Shooting Notes:
F2.8, ISO 3200, 10 secs, 14 mm
I went up to Raven’s Roost on the Blue Ridge Parkway for sunset on Halloween hoping that the holiday would mean less of a crowd. There were a number of photographers there thinking the same thing, but they all left shortly after sunset after they all took the same picture from the same angle.
Once I had the place to myself, I set up my tripod and started shooting from other angles. The outline of the tree against the clouds was nice, but I wanted more. My sister had given me battery powered tea lights (inside joke) and I had thrown a few into my camera bag without much thought. An idea struck me and I took two and set them on the branches behind the tree. The wind blew them off almost instantly so I found 2 small Band-Aids in my bag and used them to secure the lights to the tree. The result was this photograph.

I decided to sign up for an online painting class with Kelli Folsom that brings it close to home.  And I’m happily painting in my studio where I see no other souls.  Easy to distance.
So, these are my first two efforts done over the course of just 4-6 hours over two or three days.  Used to take me weeks to finish an oil painting.  They are 11 x 14 on canvas.
The results are “student works” which I would love to have a conversation about with members in terms of exhibiting. ​