Available Original Work - Art of LeBlanc

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Flyin' Horses

Oil on Canvas, 27″ x 19″

I bet most of us have happy childhood memories that include at least one ride on a carousel. That carousel for me was the City Park Carousel in New Orleans, near Storyland. Behind the pretty and colorful flying horses, a hand reaches out but fails to grasp the brass ring. A near miss. Bittersweet. In the past, riders could attempt to grab this ring and anyone lucky enough to succeed would be rewarded with a prize or another go round on the carousel. I created this painting as an analogy pertaining to the passage of time, the struggles of life and of childhood goals and dreams left unfulfilled. The last time that I rode a carousel as a child, I didn’t even look back with so much as a wistful glance.

Always Watching (Tee Canaille)

Oil on Canvas, 20″ x 16″

Growing up in New Orleans, my favorite carnival krewes were always the smaller independent marching clubs. It was thrilling to me because they weren’t elevated on floats but right there on the street in front of you mingling with the spectators amid the music and chaos. Pete Fountain’s Half-Fast Walking Club, the Irish Channel Corner Club, the Jefferson City Buzzards, Lyons Carnival Club, Mondo Kayo, etc. In more recent years, the number of these krewes has exploded. I was fortunate enough to march with the oldest of these groups, the Jefferson City Buzzards on a couple of Mardi Gras mornings. I’ll save those stories for another day. This fun painting was inspired by the Krewe de Canaille, a group parading here in Lafayette, LA that remind me so much of these older New Orleans krewes. Rather than a single collective, I think they are more a hodge-podge of mysterious and nefarious sub-krewes. Which mask are you?

The Beachgoers

Oil on Canvas, 41″ x 30″

The Stiltwalkers

Oil on Canvas, 57″ x 41″

It was 2022 when I caught some of these images while waking to the main stage at a local festival.. I’ve seen many stilt walkers over the years, but these were perhaps the most colorful and most playful with the crowd of any I have ever seen.

When Craig decided to use some of the images I shot that day, I was shocked, because I didn’t know how he could possibly do it. But he caught more than that, he captured the awe and admiration of the crowd as they took in the performance. Some capturing the moment on their phones while others cocking their heads in the sheer amazement of “My God, how do they do that?”

Perhaps, to me what is even more amazing is the towering main stage in the background, showcasing it all. None of this was in the shabby pictures I shot, but somehow with imagination and brush strokes he brought it all to life with all of it’s all sentiment and glory, together in one painting that just makes you wonder “My God, how did he do that?”

– Val

The Druggist

Oil on Canvas, 38″ x 28″

Inspired by a handful of photographs that I inherited of my great Uncle from the late 1930’s. I never met him as he died before I was born. He was a druggist by trade and was said to have had a thyroid condition.

The Dr. West’s toothbrushes in the upper right case of the painting were the first toothbrushes to utilize nylon bristles back in 1938. Prior to that time, most of us were brushing our teeth with pig’s hair bristles, if at all. These toothbrushes were in fact the first commercial use of nylon. The polymer itself was first produced earlier in the decade by the DuPont company. It was an innovative time, and shortly thereafter women’s nylon stockings were first introduced. This leads us to the advertisement behind our druggist. I thought the provocative legs a bit risqué for the times, but research shows that similar ads were commonplace then.

Fudging the timeline a bit, I included a few bottles of Hadacol near the bottom shelf. In the 1940’s, Hadacol was a Louisiana product marketed heavily as a medicinal elixir by “Coozan Dudley” LeBlanc (no relation that I am aware of). It’s true value was it’s high 12% alcohol content. One marketing technique was the infamous Hadacol Caravan, a roving show of entertainers including musicians, jugglers, clowns, boxers, comedians, etc. It reportedly numbered over a hundred vehicles packed with entertainers and Hadacol product as it travelled from town to town putting on shows and hawking the elixir.

In the mid 2000’s, I had business in the town of Erath, Louisiana down in Vermilion Parish, not far from Abbeville where Coozan Dudley LeBlanc himself is buried. While there, I met a man who said he ran a nearby barroom back in the heday of the Hadacol Caravan. Country music legend Hank Williams was performing with the Caravan at the time. One day Hank strolled into the bar and ordered a fifth of whiskey. He told the barkeep to bill it to Coozan Dudley as he tipped his hat and left. The man told me that he was still waiting to this day to get paid for that fifth of whiskey…

The Bookworms

Oil on Canvas, 40″ x 30″

Another Panhandle beach life daydream. I painted the lady in the foreground as reading my favorite work of non-fiction escapism “An Island to Oneself”. The second visible book is “The Island of Desire”, a precursor to the prior book and a great early twentieth century Polynesian atoll island fever dream. While not visible, I imagined the third book to be Treasure Island- the swashbuckling tale of the traitorous Long John Silver. Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum!

Country Flame (Charbroiled Steaks & Chops)

Oil on Canvas, 36″ x 48″ SOLD

A fevered dream of sorts @ the corner of Iberville & Exchange Place in the Vieux Carré, New Orleans.

C'est Hip, C'est Hip, C'est Hop

Oil on Reclaimed Cypress Box Frame, 14″ x 4″ x 11″ SOLD

Print Available

Oyster Booth

Oil on Canvas, 40″ x 48″

When I was a child, my father was a member of the Knights of Columbus. They operated an oyster booth as one of their fundraisers and used the proceeds for charitable work. It was most often set up in the parking lot at church fairs. I loved hanging around the booth, smelling the fried oysters and listening to the older men talk. I loved the oyster po-boys that I was occasionally given most of all. This paining was inspired by those memories.

One of the members was an older man who worked the fryer most of the day. As they were shutting down the booth for the night, he would dip a big piece of French bread into the still warm grease that had been used for frying oysters all day and eat it as a special treat. In the painting, the gentleman in the truck leaning on the counter was inspired by him.

I put the name J. Mouton on his name tag as a discreet nod to Jean Mouton, the founder of the city of Lafayette where we currently live.

Longing for Ethel

Oil on Canvas, 40″ x 56″

I referenced an old black and white family photograph from my wife’s collection as source material for this one. I suspect it was taken in the vicinity of Marksville, LA back in the early 1940’s. The melancholy nature of the rural image captured me immediately. I didn’t realize for the longest time that Cajun country extended that far north, but these were undoubtedly some French speaking ladies. Who is Ethel? Why are they longing for her? Where has she gone and why are they outdoors? And what of the old Ford Model B pick-up? I could answer these questions for you, but I’ve chosen to let the mystery be…