The Savannah River, Charcoal Shadows, and a Coke full of peanuts

Memories of Augusta and Early Help as an Artist

My family moved to Augusta in 1980 as I was entering the third grade because my father took a job as a Urological Pathologist at MCG. Both my parents encouraged me as an artist from a young age but never pushed me to paint or take lessons. I grew up in Martinez near the Savannah River. I spent a lot of time on the river and on ponds fishing, often with my Dad. As I grew up, I began to paint the river, the farms, and the ponds out in that area more and more. Some of my earliest memories are as a boy going down to the old lock and dam before they renovated it. It was really rundown at that time which gave it a kind of haunting beauty. My Dad religiously took our family to Topsail Beach for two weeks every summer. That became a major part of my life—the family at the beach, the ocean, fishing off a pier. Those scenes are still a big part of my painting. My mom instilled in me a love of artwork by introducing me to the work of Andrew Wyeth at a young age. She also introduced me to C.S. Lewis who became foundational to my beliefs about art and spirituality. 

I took my first art lesson at the Gertrude Herbert in about the 4th grade. The teacher explained about light and shadow on objects using vine charcoal, and I remember driving home from that lesson looking out the car window, transfixed by all the things the sun was hitting and how they had a light and shadowed side. The next year I took my first oil painting class with Ed Rice. It was an adult class. Those are good early memories of painting. Even today, if I am painting in the studio on a hot day and it starts to rain, it makes me think of painting in one of those big, upper rooms, with the windows wide open hearing the rain and listening to the quiet laughter and conversation of the older folks there. Ed taught me his palette, and right away instilled in me a love of perceptual art. I still remember chanting to myself what he had taught me, “If it’s too red, add green, if it’s too blue, add orange…” One time I was painting a ceramic pitcher and was avoiding painting the handle. I was amazed when he walked up to my canvas, grabbed two different colors of paint on each side of the same brush, and with one deft stroke painted the entire handle. 

For several years after that, I took art lessons with Gloria Jennings. Gloria had a big file cabinet filled with files of pictures from magazines: cats, dogs, trees, seascapes, bridges, etc. The students would pick from these to create art using a single media over a year’s time. She was really great. She would sit in a tall chair over the class with a bottle of Coca Cola filled with salted peanuts. I learned a lot from that process of copying images. Later in high school Ed Rice generously agreed to teach me privately. That’s when I started to learn oil painting more seriously. He instilled in me a love of traditional painting, of clarity of description, of keen observation, and a love of light. I remember once he set me up on River Walk painting an old tree that grew across the river. I had been painting for awhile and he strode up with a straw hat, cranberry juice, brie, and crackers, and we sat beside my painting and ate and talked. For a kid growing up in the South, that felt very artsy and bohemian. He gave me a true glimpse into what the life of an artist could be like. I remember I asked him one time if he thought I could support myself as an artist. He looked at me and said, “I did it.” Those kinds of moments were important for me. I also took art classes during high school, first at Evans and then at Lakeside High School. Susan Ergle was one of the teachers there. She helped me get into Governor’s Honors for art. That was an incredible summer because of the sheer amount of artwork I did. Jane Lewis was another high school art teacher who helped me. Sometimes when she saw how intense and serious I was about creating art, she would say, “Luke, just have fun!” That was really sweet and a lesson that has taken me a long time to learn.

During most of those years until I graduated, I was involved in Social Dance with Dorothy McCleod. I loved to dance. That was a bright spot for me growing up in Augusta, and Dorothy was a huge early fan and collector of my art as a kid growing up. I’ve had so many people help me and encourage me from an early age. I could go on and on. I remember every one. There were people who encouraged and applauded me, and there were people who bought artwork when it wasn’t worth anything. There were great teachers and friends of my family that supported me all along the way. People look at me and say how talented I am. I suppose so. I guess there is a sort of talent in the things we enjoy and the things we are alive to. But mostly, to do great paintings just requires mileage—doing it over and over again. By about the 500th time you paint a landscape from life you can’t help but be somewhat good at it. And so many people helped me keep going.