Eagle

This is an eagle painted onto a turkey feather.  The shadow box is 9x21 inches.  I painted this with acrylics.

Orchard Park

This is a small sandblasted sign that Sheila and I did for the entrance to a local subdivision.  Rocks were added later by masons.

Dale Earnhardt

This is a painting that I dad a couple years ago.  It is painted onto turkey feather, matted, under glass and framed in shadow box.

Old Friend

The brisk wind made the chill in the air even more noticeable.  Coming off a hot and humid summer, even the slightest drop in temperature was chilly.  I guess that is the reason that I paid attention yesterday when I visited  him. When I saw my friend, it suddenly hit me that he was not as young as he used to be.  His weight loss was disturbing, but I had seen it coming for a while.  It happened so slowly in front of my eyes that I did not notice it until he was a bag of bones.  When he and I first met over twenty years ago, he was a ball of fire.  Always running, never slowing down except to eat, and he loved to eat.  Over the years he never lost that energy and drive. 
     He was the most curious thing I had ever seen.  Everything amazed and interested him.  He would stick his nose in your business and dare you to do something about it.  Whenever we would go somewhere, he would get all the attention.  He was tall, black and in good condition.  He enjoyed all the attention as well, putting on airs, showing off for all to see.  Bob was my best friend and to see him so thin and depressed yesterday broke my heart.  He came over to where I was, with his head down and his eyes sunk back into his head.  His heart was heavy and I knew that he was heartsick.  Almost as if he knew that his time was slowly coming up.  I reached over and stroked his mane and told him that he probably would outlive me.  That statement did little to comfort him, but the sound of my voice helped.  He turned to Starbuck and stuck his tongue out at him.  Starbuck didn't care, just another reason to chase him in the morning.  And this morning they were both running side by side with the fence between them.  Maybe the talk did me some good as well.

Six Six Six

This is 18x24 inches, oil painted onto paper that I just finished.

Copperhead

  Yesterday Sheila and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary.  Our idea of fun is work.  We decided a couple of weeks ago that we close the shop and clean up the farm.  Last year my mom died and my two brothers and I inherited the place.  My side had  a gully at the bottom of the hill, just before you get to the creek.  During grandpa's working time, there was no garbage pickup or a junk yard for worn out farm implements.  So in the gully, out of mind.  When we unloaded the dogs, we began to pick up discarded roofing tin. Sheila had the great idea to take a couple of garden hoes to pull the tin up so we could grab it without bending.  I thought that was a wonderful idea, because snakes sometimes den under debris like that.  I did not however inform her of that.
     After a couple of hours we had that area clean, so we decided to go to the edge of woods next to the creek.  There next to a large hollow Oak was a small pile, that was covered in dirt.The dogs were sniffing around and digging at the tin.  I just thought they were after rats or chipmunks.  As soon as we started to pull dirt away and scrape the tin with the metal hoes, they left.  When Sheila screamed, I jumped.  There was a blue tailed skink about eight inches long, ran from under the tin over her feet.  After they danced for a few seconds the skink was able to break free and climbed the hollow Oak.  I thought it was funny even when Sheila threatened to whip my ass.  I returned to digging and saw something slither out from the tin to the right of me.  I will admit that it startled me.  It was an odd looking rat snake,  copper colored and no scales.  That's weird, I thought to myself and reached down to pick it up by the tail.  When I grabbed it, it shook away from my grip and went into a hole at the bottom of the tree.  Thank God for arthritic hands.
     "You stupid idiot!" Sheila exclaimed.
     "It's just a rat snake."
     "It's a snake."
     I chuckled to myself and went back to work.  Psalms 91 tells us that "thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder, the lion and dragon shalt thou trample under feet"
  I knew where it was and I could see it so I was not concerned.  All of a sudden a  larger one came slithering out.  I instinctively jumped back and I could see his head clearly.  It was a triangle.  I knew that it was not a moccasin, rattler or coral snake, but I knew that it was poisoness.  We decided that we did not need that piece of tin and left it laying.  I pulled the trailer out of the woods and to the top of the hill to tie the metal down.  Sheila told me, "I just realized that is a copperhead."
     I have lived for 63 years and never saw a copperhead, but I saw two yesterday, Sheila and I made several trips around the trailer adjusting the straps.  On the last trip I looked down and there was the largest pile of dog dookey that I had ever seen.  We had been all over it and never touched it.  I guess that we can trample a lot of things under feet safely.  Tomorrow we are going to get Sheila a pair of snake boots and I am going to wear mine.  Don't know what to do about picking the snakes up, regain my sanity I guess.
to read more of my life and see some of my art go to blackwhiteinthesouth.blogspot.com

Big Al

Mascot for the University of Alabama, that I carved out of cedar.  It is 12 inches tall and 6 inches wide.