Pot O' Pansies

Tommy Thompson painted "Pot O'Pansies" after visiting Lake Lure, NC. He saw this pot of pansies outside the Lodge at Lake Lure, one of his favorite places to visit. Lake Lure is the second most photographed place in the United States; the most photographed place is Lake Tahoe.

Harpeth River Snag

Tommy Thompson painted "Harpeth River Snag" during a plein air painting workshop in Leiper's Fork, TN, conducted by Jeremy Doss. This painting represents a departure in oil painting for Thompson since it was done in a more impressionistic style.

Spring Iris

Tommy Thompson painted "Spring Iris" as part of a series of floral originals. The artist has received several kudos for his paintings of flowers recently.

Short Cut to Oscar's

"Short Cut to Oscar's" was created by Tommy Thompson from memory. The painter has traveled throughout the United States over the past 20+ years pursuing a career in art and has accumulated a myriad of images through his memory and with the aid of a digital camera.

Shadowed Plants

Tommy Thompson created the oil painting, "Shadowed Plants," as an exercise in brush work.

Route 1, Box 232

Tommy Thompson painted "Route 1, Box 232" from memories of scenes that he has observed during travels over the past 30 years.

Floral Splendor

Tommy Thompson painted "Floral Splendor" after visiting a small Alabama town where he admired their beautiful hanging baskets draped on street lamps.

Pansies Three

Tommy Thompson painted "Pansies Three" as part of a series of floral paintings that he has enjoyed creating recently.

Leiper's Fork Refuge

Tommy Thompson painted "Leiper's Fork House" after visiting the small community near Franklin, TN. Leiper's Fork is one of the artist's favorite places to paint.

Late Hay

Tommy Thompson painted "Late Hay" from memories of his childhood growing up on a farm where one of his summer jobs was cutting hay.

Ivy and Pots

Tommy Thompson painted "Ivy and Pots" while remembering a scene that he observed several years ago. In this painting, the artist tried to employ various painting techniques that he has learned during workshops over the past few years.

Gazebo at Leiper's Fork, TN

Tommy Thompson painted "Gazebo at Leiper's Fork" during Roger Dale Brown's Plein Air Workshop at the village. The Gazebo is the site of many parties and other events in the small picturesque village.

Sitting Pretty

Tommy Thompson painted "Sitting Pretty" during a Plein Air Workshop conducted by Roger Dale Brown in Leiper's Fork, TN. The adirondack chairs were actually white, but Thompson used his artistic license and changed the color to red for emphasis.

Distant Meadow

Tommy Thompson painted "Distant Meadow" during a plein air workshop conducted by Roger Dale Brown at Leiper's Fork, TN. Both artists enjoy painting landscapes around the country.

Aubrey's Creek

Tommy Thompson painted "Aubrey's Creek" while participating in a plein air workshop in Leiper's Fork, TN, with the award-winning artist, Roger Dale Brown. Barns and farms are featured in many of Thompson's paintings probably because of his love of the simpler way of life.

Pretty Petals

Tommy Thompson produced this still life in the impasto style of painting. By scooping up paint that he had only partially mixed, the artist piled the oil paint on like icing with a palette knife. As Kevin Macpherson says in his book, Landscape Painting: Inside and Out, "a thick, juicy stroke can be carved into alternative shapes easier than a very thin passage."

Roger Dale Brown Conducts Plein Air Workshop at Leiper's Fork, TN

Award-winning artist, Roger Dale Brown OPA, paints a demo during his plein air oil workshop at Leiper's Fork, TN in late September 2009. Roger has won numerous awards during his painting career; the talented painter has conducted workshops throughout the United States and China. In January 2010 he will be teaching at Chicago's Palette and Chisel. Be sure to check out his web site to learn more about this great artist and teacher. Tommy Thompson and his daughter Michelle Rideout, had the pleasure of participating in Roger's plein air workshop at picturesque Leiper's Fork. In October the father/daughter artists will be studying with Jeremy Doss in the same quaint village.

Roger Dale Brown Critiques My Daughter's Painting

Roger Dale Brown provided expert advice to Michelle Rideout, my artist daughter, last weekend during his plein air oil workshop at Leiper's Fork, TN. Michelle has been painting about five years but has several years of experience in various phases of art. She has studied under some of the finest artists in Tennessee, honing her skills in pastel, watercolor and oil. Today she is focusing more on oil and will be attending another plein air oil workshop with the talented artist, Jeremy Doss, at Leiper's Fork in October.

Tommy Thompson Paints En Plein Air at Leiper's Fork, TN

Last weekend Tommy Thompson had the pleasure of participating in Roger Dale Brown's Plein Air Oil Workshop at beautiful Leiper's Fork, TN. Roger is an award-winning painter, who will be teaching at the Palette and Chisel in Chicago in January 2010. To learn more about this great painter and teacher, log onto his web site.

Plein Air Painting with the Chestnut Group on 9/11

Friday, September 11, 2009, proved to be a spectacular day for painting en plein air with the Chestnut Group. Tommy Thompson participated in the wet paint party with several other painters on a beautiful farm off Southall Road near Leiper's Fork, TN. The 250-acre farm offered numerous vistas to capture on canvas. We found horses, goats, pigs, roosters, hens, chickens, four ponds, trails in different directions, old barns and sheds with weathered boards. We enjoyed the day painting with friends from the Nashville, TN, area and look forward to painting in the area again soon. Watch my blog and web site for the finished painting that I did that day.

Tommy Thompson paints at a Leiper's Fork, TN farm.

Cades Cove

Tommy Thompson was commissioned to create this original oil painting of "Cades Cove" for a couple from Starkville, MS. This scene is one of Thompson's favorites to capture on canvas. Cades Cove is located in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park near Gatlinburg, TN.

Tommy Thompson Featured on "The Journal of 100 Miles," Natchez Trace Parkway

By Becky Bauer, Nashville Writer/Songwriter

There are winding roads neighboring the Natchez Trace Parkway where Tommy Thompson can be found capturing his surroundings. “I always want to know what’s around the bend,” he says, as he loves to discover new places with his wife, Marie. For this plein air artist, around the bend is a few more miles of the unknown and endless possibilities. When finding that perfect spot, where sunlight dances on the fields, he’ll pull out his easel and, like a poet putting words to paper, brush paint to canvas of a peaceful landscape and unsuspecting subjects.

Thompson’s impressionistic style with a play on light and color creates a tranquil display of a rural environment along with elements that “give life” to his art. Horses and children are among his specialty. “With both you have to stay with them long enough for them to get accustomed to you, when they finally get quiet and move away from you, you can get a natural painting.”

The former architectural and commercial illustrator turned painter has been featured in numerous publications and solo exhibitions throughout the south and has studied under top painters like Kevin McPherson, Roger Dale Brown and Jason Saunders. A labor of love, to be a painter, he will declare, “You have to work at it every day, never stop painting.”

Inspired by the Tennessee’s hillsides, his work here includes Dream Acres, Hillside Horses and Southern Light. Left, Tommy paints with equine friend Sedona. This picture was published in the Winter 2008 issue of Horses in Art Magazine.

To inquire about Tommy Thompson artwork, please visit www.TommyThompsonArt.com and tell them Natchez100Journal.com sent you.

"St. John's Episcopal Church

Among Maury County's (TN) most cherished sites is St. John's Episcopal Church, located on Mt. Pleasant Pike south of Columbia. St. John's is a historic church built in 1839 in the Gothic Revival style; it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970. No longer an operating church, it is only used once annually for services and for special occasions. The attached graveyard is the burial site of four Episcopal Bishops of Tennessee. Tommy Thompson painted "St. John's Episcopal Church" after visiting the grounds many times to capture the scene digitally.

"Home Alone"

Tommy Thompson painted "Home Alone" after visiting a farm near Thompson Station, TN. The painter loves to venture out into the countryside to find new subjects for his oil paintings. The area near Thompson Station and Franklin, TN, has afforded the artist many venues for his painting experience. He has met so many interesting people in the area. He especially enjoys painting near Leiper's Fork, TN, because of its many horse farms in picturesque settings. The hills and hollows near Leiper's Fork have provided many hours of pleasure for the artist and his wife as they search for that perfect light focusing on an animal, old barn, or landscape.