During the 1980’s, I traveled and exhibited in a number of shows in the Georgia area, including my home town at that time. Cartersville had several quaint places that I painted during that era, which included their train depot. It sat in the middle of the downtown shopping district, where all the activity was. The trains still came through the center of town on their way to somewhere, USA. The depot was no longer used for passengers. The brick design was duplicated in other towns, as I was told that they used the same blueprint on all of the depots on that railroad line.
The painting and prints were very popular with the locals as I had a set of four Cartersville landmarks, The 4-Way Lunch, Train Depot, Roselawn, Ross Diner, and of course the Euharlee Covered Bridge which was a short distance west of town.
When I lived in Georgia, I became more involved with Art Festivals around the area in the mid-1980s. While driving down a road outside Cartersville, on Sugar Valley Road, I saw a gas pump that was on a farm, apparently used for the owner’s equipment. These paintings were all variations of the same pump.
This painting was the first in a series of gas pumps I painted during that time. A few other pumps were Shell, Gulf,Mobile, Marathon and Sinclair.
Copyright Larry JohnstonCopyright Larry JohnstonCopyright Larry JohnstonCopyright Larry Johnston
In 1986, during one of my Art Festivals, I had exhibited some of my past work in a photograph book, which included some commission work that I had done. Billy Neal, a local resident, owned a gas station in Cartersville, GA. His wife saw a painting of a Texaco gas pump hanging in my booth and purchased it for her husband as a gift.
Since she had seen some of my local paintings that I had done for other people in my book, asked if I would paint a picture of Billy’s Texaco station in Cartersville, GA., I was delighted to be able to add another local painting to my photograph book, which led to other commissioned paintings.
In 1983, Evelyn and I moved to Georgia from California. While exhibiting at several art festivals in our new environment, I had a request for a painting of a covered bridge in Bartow County, GA. On our way to the bridge, we passed through Cartersville and saw, what looked like a permanent carnival, with a Ferris Wheel, Merry-Go-Round, a ride with swings and a refreshment stand.
Several weeks later, I stopped and took some photos. One of the paintings was of the trolley, with the Ferris Wheel. The man who owned the rides, was names Tilley, so it became Tilley Park, where he offered the park to organizations to use for fund-raising.
We ended up buying a home in that little town, where we lived for several years. The cameras back then were not as sharp, so I only was able to show this one photo of the painting. The Tilley family now owns two of the paintings that I did of their park, which is no longer there. Here is a link to the other painting. Tilley Park Painting.
I painted several Cartersville places, and some really close by, here are the links…
When I lived in Georgia, I exhibited in many art shows and festivals in the area. My focus was to paint local landmarks near where the shows were being held. The “Roselawn” show, in Cartersville, was my first show in Georgia.
During the Civil War, many plantations were burned, leaving only a few homes from that era. Valley View was spared, as it was rumored that it was used as a hospital. The home is 5,160 sq ft on 6,485 acres.
The home was built with Pre-Civil War Architecture and is located west of Cartersville, Georgia. The Plantation home is now being used by the Bartow County Historical Society.
The painting was done in 1985 on stretched canvas.
Copyright Larry Johnston
I painted several Cartersville places, and some really close by, here are the links…
There was a time when I enjoyed painting pictures of old fallen down barns. While living in Cartersville, Georgia, I was driving down Sugar Valley Road, when I saw a farm-house, with a barn and a gas pump near it, so I took some photographs of it. I eventually painted the picture and found that people wanted more pictures of gas pumps, so I eventually painted other pumps, like Shell, Gulf, Sinclair, American, Marathon and of course several Texaco pumps. We called this one “Brown Barn Texaco” since I later painted one with a red barn in the paining. We called it “Red Barn Texaco”, of course.
During one of the art festivals, a young couple purchased the painting, which was a 9″ x 12″ canvas acrylic painting. They had a pick-up truck that they had restored and wanted me to paint the truck in this painting. Instead of adding to the painting, we agreed that a second painting would be done as a continuation of this painting, to hang next to this one. (Restored Truck painting)
After I had painted the Texaco pump with the brown barn in the background, I called it brown Barn Texaco. This painting was similar, but needed some more color to the painting, so I added the Red barn. It was one of several different brands that I eventually painted. Gas pumps became quite a collection subject, for people that made a habit of buying my work.
My prints were available to buy in a 5″ x 7″ and 11″ x 14″, including a mat around the print. I even made barn-wood frames for a while, then switched to a variety of frame colors: black, Burgundy, forest green and colonial blue. .Now I offer the prints on stretched canvas, to make it look like the original.
While living in Cartersville, GA, I exhibited at the Roselawn Art festival, which was held on the property of the home called, “Roselawn”. It was the home of Samuel Porter Jones, (1847 – 1906), who was a Methodist Evangelist, during the turn of the century.
The home was originally a one-story building, which was raised. They added a third floor and a basement, which is what you see today. In 1973, the home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and was the home to the local Historical Society. It is located at 244 W. Cherokee Avenue, Cartersville, Georgia 30120.
During my second year at the Festival, I had finished the painting the night before, which would have been in 1984.
Copyright Larry JohnstonCopyright Larry Johnston
I painted several Cartersville places, and some really close by, here are the links…
While watching movies growing up, we see places that are the ideal places to live. Of course, that’s only in the movies. The quaint little towns, with the parks, gazebos and Ferris wheels, rides and such. Well the story of the Tilley Park painting started in 1983, when I was commissioned to paint a painting of a covered bridge in Euharlee, Georgia. In order, to get to the covered bridge, we had to drive through Cartersville, Georgia.
It was a small town and had a railroad depot in the middle, with the Court house on the hill and the stores were situated in a U shape, facing the depot. We passed the square and started up the hill and there it was…Tilley Park.!
We eventually moved there and found out the history of the park. Mr. Tilley owned all the rides and organizations rented the park for fundraisers and such. Little did I know, when I took photos of the park, they had planned on removing the rides the following day. I eventually painted two paintings from the park. The Tilley Family bought several of the paintings.
I painted several Cartersville places, and some really close by, here are the links…
In a previous painting, I highlighted the painting Brown Barn with Texaco Pump . The painting was purchased by a young couple who asked if I could put their newly restored truck in the painting. They ended up deciding they liked the painting as it was, but wanted me to paint something to compliment the painting and also include their truck. As you can see by the 2 paintings below, I used the same background as a continuation of the first painting. They were delighted!
