Occasionally an artist will find a subject so compelling that he simply must return, perhaps more than once, to display all its facets. For Dempsey Essick the Carrington-Carr House at Two Meeting Street in Charleston, South Carolina, is such a subject.

After doing three paintings at the location (View from the Veranda, Morning Coffee, and Afternoon Tea) from a point of view looking outward from the arched veranda, Dempsey has figuratively stepped off of the veranda and walked out to the street for a look back at the magnificent building.
The task he had set for himself was daunting. With a reputation as one of the south's leading realist painters, Dempsey could not skimp or gloss over any aspect of the scene. Each brick, board, bush, blossom, and balustrade had to be depicted honestly and in scale with the overall scene. More important, the character of the house had to be the dominate and ruling factor of the finished picture.

There was no way he could do the painting from a distance using photographs and sketches. It was imperative that he be on the scene as each aspect of the finished painting developed. For this reason he rented a small apartment where he could get the solitude he required and where he could go daily to sketch and refresh his memory. He worked twelve hour days, sometimes not shaving for days at a time until, over 800 working hours later, the painting was finished.
Viewers will be astounded at the fine detail, the control of color and the balance of the finished painting. "Two Meeting Street" is, by any measure, the pinnacle of Dempsey Essick's career to date.