I really like this view of downtown Macon. You have a statue of the Confederate soldier, an early business building, and the County courthouse from around the turn of the century, and a more modern business building.
Macon survived Sherman’s March to the sea because it was on the other side of the Ocmulgee River. Macon did not escape completely unscathed. The Holt Mansion is known as the “Cannonball House,” because a Canonball went through the facade. Luckily the town was not burned, and their is still a lot of beautiful antebellum architecture.
Filed under Landscapes by on Mar 23rd, 2010. 3 Comments. 
This weekend, Lynley and I will be heading to Macon, Georgia, to be part of the Mulberry Street art and crafts festival. In honor of this occasion I have decided to blog about Georgia this week. Macon, Georgia has a beautiful historic district, and an interesting downtown. I loved my neighborhood when I lived there. It had all of these unique antibellum mansions, beautiiful landscaping, and great views of downtown. This particular painting is of downtown macon, early in the morning, when the sun is first coming up. It is a beautiful time of day. Everything is quiet, and peaceful.
When you paint a scene, it is important to pay special attention to color. If you look at the shadows, you can see that they have a blue color, and that the direct light is a warm yellow color. This really helps give the appearance of the warm light of morning. Capturing color really gives this painting life. It is one of my favorite cityscapes.
Filed under Landscapes by on Mar 22nd, 2010. 3 Comments.
Monsoon is a painting about thunderstorms. We had been in the middle of a drought. Everything had turned brown and yellow. Even the Okefenokee swamp had caught fire because of the draught. It was also very hot, and the air conditioner in my car had gone out.
One day a thunderstorm came through, and broke the drought. I was at home, and was so excited I grabbed a canvas and started painting. I tried to capture the feeling of a strong, southern summer thunderstorm.
When someone is painting it is good to think about the essence of whatever they are painting, and try to capture that. For example, with a thunderstorm, I was thinking about the lightning, the wind, the turbulence of the clouds, and the sudden downpour. If you are working abstractly, trying to show these ideas in a less literal form, and emphasizing them will make your painting work well!
Filed under Abstracts by on Mar 21st, 2010. 4 Comments.
I love mountains. I went to Hawaii, and was more excited by the mountains than by Waikiki beach. Mountains are interesting in all weather conditions, but are most mysterious and moody when clouds are playing in them. Currently I live along the Blue Ridge mountains, in Virginia. I love it. There are lots of fun roads with pretty towns, which back up to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sedalia is one of them. My wife and I went for a drive one day, when the weather was changing. It had been raining all day. The leaves had been changing, but it was still early autumn. Watching the clouds come over the mountains was really cool. The colors were very bright. That is the secret to good landscapes. They look best in low light conditions, like morning, evening or on cloudy days!
Filed under Landscapes by on Mar 19th, 2010. 2 Comments.
I love water in all of it’s forms. I love clouds, and mist. I love cascading streams, and mighty rivers. I love clear lakes, and grand oceans. I even love swamps. This painting shows these different ways that water works. It flows as clouds around the geometric shapes, much as clouds flow around peaks or skyscrapers. The colors cascade down like water falling off of a cliff. The deep purple colors at the bottom are like the deep, dark depths of the ocean.
I really like the split complimentary color scheme I have basically used here. It is very unifying to the reds and the oranges, contrasting against the blues and purples.
This is a large painting, and looks amazing in person!
Filed under Abstracts by on Mar 18th, 2010. 2 Comments.
One thing I really enjoy doing is exploring the place I live. It was really fun when I was a graduate student, because I only lived a few hours from my parents. Dad and I would go explore Indiana. One day we went to Park County, which has the highest concentration of covered bridges in the world. It was fun exploring. We took lots of pictures, and then stopped and looked around at the local college.
I really enjoyed this scene. It was a beautiful late fall day. The sun was bright and warm. Most of the leaves had fallen, but I love the way I could see some bright warm leaves through the dark tunnel of the bridge. The contrast of bright warm colors against dark cool colors really draws your eye. This creates a focal point. In order to get viewers to see your artwork, and spend time with it, it is important to create strong focal points.
Filed under Landscapes by on Mar 17th, 2010. 5 Comments.
Mr Murphy is an art lover and client. He has a beautiful, well designed condo full of Jared Slack paintings. After purchasing several of my paintings he asked me to do his portrait. He did not want a traditional portrait, so we discussed ideas and came up with this one to best show his artistic, creative side. This is a fun, interesting take on the art of the portrait. When looking at a subject, it is a great idea to think of ways to make them your own. You don’t have to paint something a certain way because that is how it has always been done. Art is fun because of the creative side where you can make those types of choices. I am glad I had a client, who when commissioning me, allowed my artistic sensibilities to come out!
Filed under Portraits by on Mar 16th, 2010. 5 Comments.
I really enjoy being in nature. I love the beauty of the outdoors, the quiet sounds of the wind, plants and animals. My Dad and I spent a lot of time fishing in our canoe. We enjoyed watching nature. We have seen all kinds of animals wandering around. I still fish although it isn’t nearly as fun since my dad lives 10 hours away. I do love watching the water, and the subtle beauty and peace that it creates.
I painted this sitting on the banks of the Ocmulgee River. I had a fishing line out, but I wasn’t too serious about the fishing. I was enjoying the colors of the reflections, and the way they were distorted in the water. I had fun watching the wildlife. I was trying to capture the feeling of the place.
It is very important when making a painting to consider the feeling that you are trying to capture. Thinking about the time of day, the light conditions, the smells, the sounds, all inform the way you paint. This will give your paintings life.
Filed under Artist Tips by on Mar 15th, 2010. 1 Comment.
Taccoa Falls is a beautiful waterfall in northeast Georgia that I first visited with my wife, when we were first dating. Soon after she graduated from medical school, and I wanted to give her a special gift. I painted this for her to remember that time.
I used impasto technique to capture the physicality of the falling water. I really enjoy the way the abstract patterns in the rock create the illusion of the way the stone moves in and out. I used a complementary color palette, to create the balance, and visual interest in this painting.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Mar 14th, 2010. 7 Comments.
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