Dempsey Paints

Bricks and Old Boards

"Good Morning Miss DeLapp"

Alice DeLapp, wearing her distinctive split-bonnet, was so much a part of the farm home, where she was born and where she lived for eighty one years, that Dempsey Essick felt compelled to include her in his painting of the DeLapp Home Place- one of the earliest structures in the Reedy Creek Community of Davidson County, North Carolina.

The warm quality of the morning sun in contrast with the bold shadows of bare limbs reaching across the snow to embrace the weathered boards of the 1889 dwelling, all serve to capture the essence of farm life as it was in times gone by. The house still stands today and is enjoyed by those traveling US Hwy 150.

For the rest of the story...

1989 Edition: 750

Image size: 16 x 24

Price: $525

"5148 Hwy 8"

When the eighteen inch wide, heartwood pine boards were cut and the barn on the Sink Farm was built in the early 1900's, Cotton Grove Road was a washboard rough, dirt road, barely two lanes wide used by southern Davidson County farmers to move their produce north to the Lexington market.

Now at the beginning of a new century, the road is paved but not much wider and the heartwood boards on the barn have taken on a distinguished shade of grey. The tin roof has a fine brown patina and the building is a landmark for boaters and fishermen on their way south to the lake access ramp at Southmont.

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2000 ~ Edition: 999

Image Size: 16 x 28

$250

Hidden Hummingbird

"Homeplace"

Old homesteads usually carry the name of the original owner/builder through the years. The 200 year old Hayden Place, on Wesley Chapel Road, in Davidson County, is no exception.

In 1797, after Jesse Hayden married Rosana Sloan, Rosana's daddy deeded the couple 646 acres of land along Potts Creek in the western part of the county near the Yadkin River. There the happy couple built their dream house. The house was occupied by Jesse and Rosana, and their descendants for the next 118 years before becoming a tenant farm after 1916.

Mrs. Vadie Queen, the 82 year old lady who has lived in the Hayden place for thirty-eight years, is true to the legacy of Jesse and Rosana. Mrs. Queen keeps chickens and still heats with wood and cooks on a wood stove.

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1997 ~ Edition: 999

Image Size: 20 1/ 2 x 18

$350 Personalization Available

"Early Spring at the Fritts Farm"

Barns, covered porches and green pastures seem to always make their way into Dempsey's artwork. This two-story, white and green home has been a landmark along Winston Road in Lexington, N C for nearly a century. David Thomas Fritts contracted with John Sink in the early 1900s to build the home for his growing family. Ten children called the place home, which was then called Maple Grove Farm because of the numerous maple trees that dot the farm's landscape .One of those children, Charles Ray Fritts, still lives in the home with his wife, Helen.

For the rest of the story

1997 ~ Edition: 999

Image Size: 20 ½ x 18

Price: $350

"Early Crossing"

The Craver barn was built of hand hewn logs over a hundred years ago by William Craver and his father-in-law, Mike Evans. Kitty and Luther Craver, who live right across the road, remember having friends over for overnight sleep-outs when they'd turn the curing into a social event. When the youngsters finished high school, they were given a patch of tobacco to raise, cure and sell to pay their college tuition.

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1996 ~ Edition: 999

Image Size: 18 ¼ x 14

Price: $350

"Cottongrove Country Store"

1988 ~ Edition:

Image Size: 14 ½ x 18 1/2

Price: $800

"Easy Pickins"

1995 ~ Edition:

Image Size: 8 1.2 x 16 3/8

Price: $225

"Spring Thaw"

1991 ~ Edition:

Image Size: 16 ¾ x 18 ¾

Price: $400

"Springtime at Irena's"

1990 ~ Edition:

Image Size: 16 14 x 22

Price: $350

1997 ~ Edition:

Image Size: 20 ½ x 18

Price: $350

"About Four Inches"

This painting, from a private collection, has been used in our wall calendar twice. The response to it is always positive and we may consider someday doing a small edition print.

"Cherry Picking' Good I & II"

Click to see "Cherry Pickin Good II"

Take an old Fritts Lard Can, fill it with some well ripened cherries, season it with Dempsey's realistic touch, and you have a taste of home.

Antique collectors especially will love Dempsey's 2 pc Spring Print entitled, "Cherry Pickin' Good."

" I love the strong contrast in this piece of the lights in the foreground against subtle shadows of the background. This is my first full giclee edition (Giclee? What is it?) and collectors will enjoy the marked improvement in the quality of their print. The small complimentary print can be framed with the full size print or individually as a separate piece of art."

Spring 2007

"Cherry Pickin' Good"

Image: 12 ½ x 16 ~ Overall: 17 x 20

999 Giclees $120 (for the pair of prints)

75 Artist Proofs $130 (for the pair of prints)

25 Remarques $240 (for the pair of prints)

As always there are hidden hummingbirds in both pieces."