Last weekend I spent a quick 36 hours in North Georgia. I had some work to do on the family estate—mowing the lawn, cleaning gutters, and cleaning up the house for sale. I took the Grand Merc up with the lawn mower in the trunk along with a days clothes and all my painting gear. After a few hours work I was free to spend the rest of the day painting. A bit warm but in general great painting weather. I drove up to the lakes just north of
Helen and eventually found a nice spot to park with a long view of Seed lake. Seed
is usually not too picturesque but with all the rain we’ve had the lake level was high. It has always been my dream to have a lake house. Lake Burton and the other mountain lakes in this area are as about as perfect as you can get. For the painter, it’s that mix of vertical and horizontal that make them a perfect subject. When I saw this good spot I set up with a 12 x24 for a long view of the lake, pine trees and a few of the boat houses that make this area so interesting. It’s a million dollar club so my dreams of lake cottage living most likely will never come true but I’m still working at it. Even after four hours this one still needs some punch and will most likely get some more work.
I drove back to the house around 9PM and hit the hay. After a few more hours work on Sunday morning I was out again painting, this time at the dam in Unicoi Park (top pic) about a mile from the house. This view of Smith Lake I’ve painted before but I was able to capture it better with the new emphasis on Sight Size— the values are much more accurate in this 11 x 14. If anything I might have gotten a bit too dark up front but this one almost painted itself.
After the lake view I stopped on my way back to Atlanta in Robertstown for a quick 9 x12″ of Fred’s Famous Peanuts, a tourist trap that’s a landmark here. It’s only a block from my property on the square—another part of that dream. It got hot as well as I was working on this and I was pretty much spent after finishing it up. I then piled everything back in the trunk for an hour and a half ride home to Marietta.
