VINEYARD AND WINE PAINTINGS

 WINE COUNTRY ART

These are my favorite days of the year and we will all be entertaining for about a month. Great food, wonderful friends, neighbors and loved ones come together to celebrate and observe. Wine is a traditional part of the celebrations and I live in and grew up in two states, Georgia and North Carolina, where wine has been produced since America was founded.

Here is a painting I finished several years ago that displays the Frogtown community in Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Several outstanding vineyards and wineries are there today and the area, just north of Dahlonega, Georgia is truly beautiful.

Note that there is some whimsy in this painting. Nothing wrong with that. Wine enjoyment should never be stodgy. It should be fun and enjoyable, just like the food that it accompanies.

By the way, here is the story with lots of photographs that captures much of the festivities at the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Barbecue Competition in Lynchburg, Tennessee. http://www.winesdownsouth.com/southernFood/Jack%20Daniels/TheJack2011.pdf

Yours truly is in the article and it confirms that I am painting a major work about what they call “The Jack, “ in time for the 2012 BBQ event. Stay tuned!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND BEST WISHES FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

Olivia

ART FOR GOOD CAUSES

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Over the years, I have produced paintings on request of cities, festivals, events and charities. These were commissioned works of course and there were certain scenes, many visionary that had to be included. The work was hard and my customers were justifiably demanding.

But, the experience was exhilarating. Here is one of my favorites and as you can see, the charity is dedicated to children who in this case were stricken with a rare disease. The project entailed a fund raising effort and I am so proud that my painting was an important part of this worthy effort.

Recently, I traveled to Lynchburg, Tennessee to enjoy the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Barbecue Competition, generally believed to be the best and most exclusive of them all. I strolled there for two days. Why? To sketch ideas for a painting of the marvelous event and have it ready early next year.

I made the news, too! Here is the story out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida:

http://www.bytheseafuture.org/Southwind_11-18-11.html

The holiday season begins this week and I wish everyone a warm and meaningful Thanksgiving.

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES ON CANVASS

PRECIOUS AND PRICELESS

My Uncle Furman’s home was called Horseshoe Farm and it was a grand place in the Valley Community of Hendersonville, North Carolina where I was born and spent much of my childhood. Like most of you, recollections like these are always comforting. Who says nostalgia isn’t wonderful?



"SELLING HORSESHOE FARM"

Customs and folkways disappear a little with new generations, but art is one way of revisiting and even recapturing life as it once was. Your experiences will, of course, be different than mine. However, I’ve discovered that there are certain threads that do tie us together. When I see a paining or an old photograph that depicts days from the rural countryside, particularly from the Blue Ridge Mountains, I feel a tug at the heartstrings, a longing to return.

I cannot do that except by painting what I remember and enjoying the smile that these scenes bring to a stranger’s face.

Please share the stories and photos of my paintings with others who like folk art. Also, come on board as a follower.

Next time: some Thanksgiving memories. Can’t you smell dinner cooking?

Olivia Thomason bigoart1@yahoo.com

NEW ART FROM OLIVIA

EACH PAINTING IS A MEMORY

One of my first and best clients passed away recently. An elegant, lovely lady who made some of my paintings part of her life, Betty Schwarzschild was a delightful friend and supporter. I will miss her.



"IF FISHES WERE WISHES"

November introduces the holiday season, my favorite time of year and likely for most others as well. Thanksgiving is reunion and homecoming rolled into one. The aromas from the wonderful food blend perfectly with laughter, hugs and cheerful conversation. The season starts and I find this time filled with images that I love to place onto canvass. Children around a decorated tree opening presents, a choir in a country church, a decorated town square here close to home or a painting that recalls precious memories from childhood in North Carolina.

That’s part of the experience for me. I paint something another person wants but nearly always benefit from revisiting the images and sounds of past holidays. And as you see from one of my paintings, I love animals particularly my dear cat Monty.

Nostalgia is a good feeling. Poignancy is comforting. The holiday season is a time when for a few days, my little world is a celebration of peace, love and goodwill.

It’s time to get back to work. 

JACK DANIEL’S PARADISE

A TENNESSEE TRIP AND A NEW PAINTING



HAVING FUN AT "THE JACK"



Lynchburg, Tennessee is American heartland. More than a lovely village, it is a composite of all that makes the South and particularly Tennessee so exciting and colorful. On this lovely Saturday of the annual Jack Daniel’s World Championship International Barbecue Competition, I arrived with a camera, sketch pad and good pencil to begin one of my new art projects: capturing all these people, flags, bands, dancers, ancient buildings and barbecue and transferring them “my way” onto a canvass.

This isn’t just another barbecue festival. It’s what old-timers named “The Jack,” the world’s most revered competition of its kind and global in every sense of the word. This event brings people in from the four corners of the earth.

The blessings I received were many. First, I met David Hazelwood, who along with wife Claudia owns Parish Patch Farm and Inn where I lodged comfortably during my visit. This is where I want to live, I thought. Beautiful, bucolic, peaceful and loaded with beautiful living things. If you visit Middle Tennessee, treat yourself to a few days and nights at Parish Patch. Like the old song celebrates, it’s “almost heaven.” www.parishpatch.com. .

They say time flies when you’re having fun and I have to get back to the easel. There are so many scenes to paint. “The Jack” is really challenging, but I love to dream about what this painting can be when finished.

NOTE: Share this with your friends who enjoy folk art. I'd love to have you join as a follower.

FOLK ART IS PURE AMERICANA

ALL GOOD THINGS DESERVE A PAINTING



"COMING TO AMERICA"



LYNCHBURG, TN-No village could possibly be lovelier than this one, a city that claims Jack Daniel and his world-renowned whiskey empire as its own. I came here to get a feel for the town, the local people and the crowds coming soon to celebrate the international barbecue festival. The drive from Atlanta through Chattanooga, over mighty Mont Eagle to this destination is one of the most colorful in the country.

If this doesn’t inspire a few paintings, I thought, what would?

My home for a weekend is the farm resort called Parish Patch owned and managed by a delightful couple, David and Claudia Hazelwood. It’s near the Duck River and the village of Normandy, another rural Tennessee town that will steal your heart away. Cows graze alongside horses in pastures that must look pretty much as they did during the Civil War. The air is clear, the water pure and the people are easily America’s finest.

My mission is to decide what I want in my new painting. People of course, including visitors and locals. Flags, fires and grills provide excitement while children play and their parents eat barbecue. Bluegrass music, the live kind, rings out over the town and cloggers from other cities come to dance an autumn day away.

At the center of everything is Jack Daniel, the whiskey maker of long ago whose name is recognized the world over. He’s bound to be in the painting somewhere.

Work for me now is painting according to what others want to honor, celebrate or preserve. That can be a city, a charity, a tourist destination or the happiness that comes from the birth of a child. It’s fun for me and the joy comes from learning more about the South and all of America.

That’s a big part of the reasons I’m here now in beautiful Tennessee.

I’d love to hear from others who came this year or in the past. Bigoart1@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

Olivia Thomason

MY LATEST OUTDOOR MURAL

STONE MOUNTAIN VILLAGE MURAL COMPLETED



THE MURAL HONORS HISTORY AND DIVERSITY



It took most of the summer, but the mural is now part of the landscape in this lovely and very historic city adjacent to Stone Mountain Park. Drive down Main Street and look just above the gazebo and there it is at the top of the hill.

The work was all love. The view is directly facing Stone Mountain and the mural can be seen from atop the mountain, particulary when it is illuminated at night.

My heartfelt thanks to those special friends and family who made finishing this possible, particularly Susan Coletti, Pat and Michael Sabatelle, Ann and Rusty Hamby, John, Foster and Tyler Thomason and all the beautiful children who gave us a joyous evening of work to remember.

Stone Mountain is really soaring. For visitors coming to Atlanta, this city is a worthy trip for all those who love places that remain beautiful.

Prints will soon be available. Stay tuned.

FOLK ART JOYS

We're Back!

For many years, The Primitive Eye Gallery on Ponce de Leon near Atlanta had the finest collection of folk art in Georgia.

Now, everything is online and better than ever!

Look soon for art from Southern masters. And much more.