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I have completed my new book!

Washo Reserve is the last painting to be finished for my new book and it is complete!

Washo Reserve, 30 x 36 inches, Oil, 2015.
Washo Reserve, near McClellanville, SC, is a nature conservancy natural area purchased from the Santee Gun Club. The area comprises a Cypress and Gum tree wetland and lake ecosystem, which was created more than 200 years ago to provide water for growing cotton and flooding fields of Carolina Gold Rice grown along the Santee River Delta.

Helena and I enjoyed a memorable holiday in the tropics for Christmas and New Years, and upon my return my first priority was to complete the paintings and submit all of the material to my publisher.  The book, which I have tentatively titled, Painting the Southern Coast; The Art of  West Fraser, will be released in June of 2016, by The University of South Carolina Press. They also published my book entitled, Charleston In My Time, in 2001.  I have put together works from my past 30 plus years of painting on this coast. The geographic range is from the  Winyah Bay  SC  region to St. Augustine Florida, including Charleston, Hilton Head, Savannah and the islands of the Lowcountry through the Golden Isles of Georgia. Including three essays: My Story by yours truly, an introduction by Jean Stern  Director of the Irvine Museum and The Artist in Perspective by the well known southern art authority Martha Severens, and maps of the region with designated painting locations, by my young friend Jessie Peterson.

Including illustrations in the essays and in the color plates, approximately 250 works will be reproduced. The book will be subtle introduction for social and historical commentary with as strong conservation message.  Please stay tuned for more information about this exciting new publication!