"Living on the Edge"
Loving to Paint and Loving to Fly
Oh how I love to paint. Oh how I love to fly! I've been flying longer than painting and each takes up a large space in my brain and heart. I've been a flight instructor (CFII) for just under 40 years and have loved every minute of it.
I created this painting from the inspiration that comes from living in West Texas where there are fields of cotton in lots of places. Often times, I just stop and look at the drippy bowls heavy with the heads of cotton just waiting to be harvested. I wonder how they ever get it all cleaned up to spin into thread to make the cloth of my jeans and other cherished pieces of clothing. Texas Tech university has a wonderful textile factory that you can tour and see the process. It was always a yearly trip for my students.
Another inspiration was just from regular life, flying airplanes and instructing others to fly them. I taught a man to fly one time and years later, I taught his son. He was a great student and pilot and still is. He now owns his own agricultural flying service, and I imagine that this is just about what he looks like defoliating cotton so that it can be harvested.
I don't know just a whole lot about cotton or spraying, but I do know that without cotton clothing, I would sure be miserable and without brave low flying pilots roaring down a cotton field spraying stuff that causes the leaves to fall off, we would not have a stitch of it to put on.
This is an oil painting that I had lots of fun creating, not only because it was "out of my own head", but that I enjoyed remembering all the wonderful memories I had of flying with this young man and all the other people that I've either taught or flown with. (Well at least most of them). Most of my oils tend to have this same sort of style or look.
This one sold immediately, and sold to another pilot that I've had the joy of flying with. Everything connects, doesn't it? The world is small and I love every minute of life in it. I know that I'm really a citizen of heaven, but I sure enjoy life as much as I can. God is good and created a beautiful world for us to partake in.
I created this painting from the inspiration that comes from living in West Texas where there are fields of cotton in lots of places. Often times, I just stop and look at the drippy bowls heavy with the heads of cotton just waiting to be harvested. I wonder how they ever get it all cleaned up to spin into thread to make the cloth of my jeans and other cherished pieces of clothing. Texas Tech university has a wonderful textile factory that you can tour and see the process. It was always a yearly trip for my students.
Another inspiration was just from regular life, flying airplanes and instructing others to fly them. I taught a man to fly one time and years later, I taught his son. He was a great student and pilot and still is. He now owns his own agricultural flying service, and I imagine that this is just about what he looks like defoliating cotton so that it can be harvested.
I don't know just a whole lot about cotton or spraying, but I do know that without cotton clothing, I would sure be miserable and without brave low flying pilots roaring down a cotton field spraying stuff that causes the leaves to fall off, we would not have a stitch of it to put on.
This is an oil painting that I had lots of fun creating, not only because it was "out of my own head", but that I enjoyed remembering all the wonderful memories I had of flying with this young man and all the other people that I've either taught or flown with. (Well at least most of them). Most of my oils tend to have this same sort of style or look.
This one sold immediately, and sold to another pilot that I've had the joy of flying with. Everything connects, doesn't it? The world is small and I love every minute of life in it. I know that I'm really a citizen of heaven, but I sure enjoy life as much as I can. God is good and created a beautiful world for us to partake in.
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