Retired NRAO employee displays artwork at Durbin Gallery

It began with a weekend class.

Green Bank resident Glen Langston, his wife, Katherine LeFleur, and their son, Grant, took a painting class offered by the Pocahontas County Arts Council in 2001.

“That was an intensive course and we spent a whole day to complete our paintings,” Glen said via email. “Each of us came home with a mountain, forest and lake scene.”

In the 13 years since, Glen continued to paint – the result of which is a show of his artwork, along with a couple pieces by his son, Nathaniel, at the Durbin Gallery.

“Cynthia Gurreri began teaching me painting at the Little Yellow House,” Glen said. “We began painting one night a week, two hours a night, while Cynthia’s children did homework. Cynthia’s teaching style is to offer a few selections then let the student pick a project. Then, we all paint the same subject, but from a variety of angles and different color schemes. It’s great fun to talk about different methods of painting and styles. Since Cynthia has great skill, she can show several different oil painting styles and help the students work through problems and approaches.”

The class began with fall foliage scenes, but soon moved to still-life painting – Glen’s preferred subject matter.

“My favorite painting is “Still Life with Pumpkin, Sycamore Leaf and bottles,” Glen said. “Cynthia’s favorite color is Alizarin Crimson and we covered the background with cloth shading in that color.”

In the course of a year, Glen added three paintings to his collection, one called “Calla Lilies in a Cobalt Vase,” and two abstract paintings.

Glen and Katherine moved to Green Bank in 1993. They have three sons, Morgan, Grant and Nathaniel. Glen retired from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank in 2013, where he was an astronomer and spacecraft tracking station software engineer and project manager. He is now employed as a program director at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia.

The show featuring paintings by Glen and drawings by Nathaniel is currently on display at the Durbin Gallery, across from the Durbin Greenbrier Valley Railroad Depot.