What Should I Paint Next?

Photo of the island green, 16th hole, Golden Horseshoe Golf ClubI’m in between commissioned paintings, I just finished doing our taxes and I have to start crossing things off my to do list.   It’s the perfect opportunity to be a bit self-indulgent and start daydreaming of what I wouldlike to paint next. I plan on doing some more portraiture.  I know I want to do a series of rural Virginia landscapes around the Lexington area but I haven’t photographed the area yet.  That’s thinking pragmatically.  I’m talking about if I was a gentleman painter and what would I paint if I just wanted to have some fun? 

Take for example, the famous artist Salvador Dali, who wanted to paint our good friend Katharine Tucker in the nude with a clock in her belly.  Or how about Picasso and thinking one day “maybe I’ll add a third eye”!  My self indulgence wouldn’t be quite so out there.

Lately, I’ve been daydreaming about painting a famous golf hole at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club.  I’ve played the course a number of times and I’m always struck by the unusual beauty of the course.  The flowering trees in the springtime, the rolling hills, the long shadows cast by the grand old trees all make for a beautiful, not so rural, Virginia landscape.  Then it would be fun to paint golf holes at Kingsmill Resort, James River Country Club and of course our own Two Rivers Country Club! 

I know, it’s not exactly like painting Katharine with a clock in her belly or a muse with a third eye, but if I were to do some fun paintings next I might choose some golf course art. 

Years ago, when I worked for MBNA as their resident artist, one of my projects was to fly down to headquarters in Delaware and photograph the company golf course and do a painting for the bank.  I was chauffeured around the old DuPont course, known as Deerfield Golf and Country Club, in a golf cart and I took pictures of each golf hole and ended up painting the 9th hole with the clubhouse in the background.  It was a fun day and a dream project. 

Part of this romantic notion of painting famous golf holes obviously comes over me because I am a golfer. But most of it, I’m sure, is because it is springtime in Williamsburg and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.  Our Bermuda golf course has just turned green after being brown and dormant all winter.  The leaves on the trees are just about to pop, forsythias are in bloom and the dogwoods and azaleas are right around the corner, as is TheMasters.  

Flying down to Augusta to paint a portrait of golfing legend Arnold Palmer or painting a portrait of the Masters’ winner, followed by a painting of the 12th or 13th hole at Augusta would be fun next projects! Oh well, it never hurts to think out of the box and dream big.  Off to cut the grass, weed and mulch the beds.