Just for Fun, Again

 

The Fox, The Heron and Breakfast With the Bunny

 

 

18" x 18"

Pastel and Colored Pencil on Paper



 

 

A couple of years ago, as Easter was approaching, we were out and about in the early evening. As we wound our way thru back roads we saw a fox leaping thru the hedgerows and also a heron feeding. We also saw a number of signs for "Breakfast with the Bunny" - some sort of community event. At any rate, the three things just spoke to me and I had to do a piece about it. Hope you enjoy it!

 

 

 

 

 

Just For Fun

A friend of mine has been having a dreadful time with chipmunks in her gardens. Recently she said that she wanted "their pelts and their little heads on sticks all around the garden". (Please read that with an Exorcist voice!) At any rate, I was sure that I could obtain a chipmunk pelt on Amazon. After all, you can buy just about anything, or anyone, on Amazon. Unfortunately, I met with no success. Hence this little drawing.

 

The Pelt

Colored Pencil and Ink on Paper

12" x 12"

Private collection of H. White

Places of Worship - A New Series

This past spring I took a workshop and one of the instructors said "You are all over the place!". Which is true. So many things seem to interest me. And it was suggested that I work on a series to help me to focus. And I do have to say it is helping me to become a better artist. The series is called, loosely, Places of Worship. I did some sketches and then put brush to canvas to see where it would lead me. These are the first in this series.

 

 

My Lady's Crypt was the first in this series. I really like the receding arches. And when I was at a street fair, watching a friend perform his songs, there was an older woman wandering around. I just had to place her in the painting.

 

My Lady's Crypt

8" x 10"

Acrylic on Canvas

 

 

 

 

I really seem inordinately fond of trees. I took the same concept from My Lady's Crypt and used the trees to form the arches.

 

Crypt Memory

10" x 10"

Acrylic on Canvas

      


I wanted to take the tree format a bit further and while driving into work one day noticed how the mist swirled around the trees. Taking that idea, this is what developed.        
              
                                         

 Dream Crypt
18" x 18"
Oil on Canvas
                         

                   

 

 

 

 

I am still working with trees! The thought of a holy place, long abandoned, captured my imagination. And it seemed to me a natural progression that a tree would take root in that space.

 

Abiding Prayer

8" x 10"

Acrylic on Canvas

 

 



 

 

 

I took the same picture, really, and wanted to open up the space a bit.

 

 

Eternal Prayer

16' x 20"

Oil on Canvas

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

The idea of a ritual object, that focuses prayer also interests me. Thus the orb in these next two.

 

 

Ritual Perception

8" x 10"

Acrylic on Canvas

 



 

 

 

 

Again, I wanted to open up the space. Or, rather to "focus" the space so that it appears to be a path towards perception.

 

The Path of Perception

20" x 20"

Oil on Canvas

 



MARCH 2013

 

I'm so glad that Spring is here! Over the winter months I seem to have hit a brick wall. I had several failed projects but I now feel that I am on the right track again. I'd like to share two larger pieces that I have done as well as a smaller series.

 

 

 

 

 

The Dream Fish

18" x 24"

Acrylic and Gouache on Canvas

 

Actually, I dreamed about this painting. As soon as I got up I went straight to the studio (OK, it's the living room!) and got to work. The idea of a child hoping to get a fish almost as large as himself is very appealing. And I really like the dream like quality of the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tesiang

14" x 18"

Acrylic on Paper

 

I wanted to do a figure that was almost as highly patterned as the background. In this painting I used the drapery on Tesiang to carry the pattern. My inspiration for this piece is a woman I work with - Tesiang. A great nurse and wonderful model.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kells

3.5" x 3.5"

Acrylic on Paper

 

Mike and Anne gave me a book about The Book Of Kells (and a coloring book of the same!!!) for Christmas. As I was going thru the book I thought about magnifying some of the elements and doing them in black and white - to really accentuate the graphic quality of these ancient designs. The red I added as interest. There are 12 in the series, I only show 4 here.

 

 

 



A NEW YEAR AND SOME NEW WORKS!

A NEW YEAR AND SOME NEW WORKS
 

 

I just completed some projects that I would like to share with you.
 

 

The Book
Fabric on Canvas
16" X 20"

This is an interactive piece. As you open the "pages" of the book you create a new image every time.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extreme Low Tide, Cape Cod Bay, North Truro

Oil on Canvas

18" X 24"

Private Collection of M. Perachio

 

When I was in North Truro this past autumn my hotel room faced the bay. One morning, quite early, it was extreme low tide. The beach seemed to stretch out, into the distance, forever. And I just loved the patterns that the sand and seaweed made. Very peaceful. Very beautiful. No wonder that area has been beloved by so many over the years.

 

 

 

 

Detail

 

 

Detail

 

 

 

 

Jackie

Mixed Media

16" X 20"

 

 Private Collection Of D. Suggs

 

This piece was inspired by a primitive African bust I saw in an antique magazine. It had such an enigmatic feel to it. And I thought about a friend of mine who grew up in Guyana. I have never been to Guyana but I imagine the peaceful greens and hot colors of tropical vegetation. Jackie, through a long journey, came to Connecticut where I met her. (There is a "Lifetime For Women" movie in her story, I am sure!) But I will always see her as a woman of Guyana. 

 

 

 

 

Detail

 

 

 

 

Snowflakes

Acrylic on Canvas

(Set of Two)

10" X 10"

 

These hearken back to some of my earlier works. I have always had a fascination with form and the geometry of form. And, of course, the manipulation of forms. I had done a couple of paper cut outs - like paper dolls - and decided to make these women into snowflakes. Inspired, perhaps, by the first early snowfall of the season.

 

 

Snowflake I

 

 

Detail

 

 

 

 

Snowflake II

 

 

Detail

 

 

 

 

 

YAAAY!!  Bonus Pic of ME!!

 

In this photo I am working on a "primitive" - which is still in progress. Francine came in and thought the fact that I had "war paint" on my cheek was just hilarious! I guess it is!!!

 

 

 

 

 

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER

 

 

 

 

I have been working a lot in oils recently. A departure from what I normally do. I mean, I am an American!!!  I like immediate gratification - which acrylics afford me. But I am relearning oil paint techniques. And, to tell the truth, there is a depth of color that oils have. Not only in impasto - where the paint is laid on really thick (which I like - a lot, a lot, a lot!) but in the value or well... it's hard to explain. But the colors look "more so", if that makes sense. Reder reds, greener greens. I like it. Have I said that before? At any rate the drawback is that oils take just forever to dry. And I am working on a bunch of canvases at once but here are some new works that are finished. Only one completed so far in oils.

 

                                                                    

                                                                  

Tile

Oil on Canvas

18" X 24"

                                                                      

Detail Tile

Ok, Ok, Ok! I am pretty sure Laurie was there that day when I was taking pictures at work. In the bathroom in Fitkin basement. Yes. The bathroom. The floor had just been washed and I really liked the pattern the drying water made. And I changed the color of the bathroom tile from boring grey to this green and blue palette. It is textured and way cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assyrian

Mixed Media

16" X 20"

 

 

 

Detail Assyrian

 

 

OK (Ok, Ok). Even I will admit that this one is "different". I have always liked the so called "primitive" art. Art from civilizations long gone. Egyptian, Mayan, cave paintings. You get the idea. At any rate, this design was preying on my mind. A highly patterned field - like the beards and hair of the Assyrian princes depicted in bas relief. So, having an extensive background in sheet rock - witness all the sheet rock and taping I have done on "this old house" - the idea of joint compound came to me. I just had to experiment with it. The base is a canvas with joint compound over it and all the little dots are piped on with joint compound. Very fragile (or "fra-geee-lay" as Tony says). And I painted it a screaming metallic silver, painted some of the dots and put a high gloss over the whole thing. Cool, huh?!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warrior

18" X 24"

Acrylic on Paper

 

 

Ahh, more like the stuff I usually do - acrylic on paper. Probably my first love. This actually evolved from a doodle I did at work - while on hold waiting for the MSK doctors to check out a case I was doing. I really like the slightly "off" primary colors and the Asian feel to it.

 

EARLY SUMMER. New Paintings (And a "bonus" pic of me!)

I have been exploring a few new avenues. Besides the interactive piece I have also been working with oils. And there were a few images that I just had to "get out" and do a painting of them. Here are the latest works. I hope you enjoy them!

 

 

 

Landscape

Oil on Canvas

36" x 36"

This canvas had been hanging around forever - up in the office. I had done a background and placed what was supposed to be the death crone in the foreground. What a miserable failure that was! So it sat there till one night I had an epiphany. I decided to do a rather thick layer of paint and "comb" it so that it gives the effect of grasses. I think it really works. Check out the detail of the piece below.



Detail - Landscape

 

Red

Oil on Canvas

24" x 24"

Gee, I liked "Landscape" so much that I wanted to do a couple more pieces in the same fashion. I did "Red" and also "Blue".

Detail - Red

"The Artist in Her Studio"

OK, I work in the kitchen. I am working on "Red" in this photo.

 

Blue

Oil on Canvas

24" x 24"

Detail - Blue

Mailed

Acrylic on Paper

12" x 12"

Mailed II

Acrylic On Paper

12" x 12"

Really, dead Barbies are after me! I saw this "Barbie" (a bootlegged Barbie, by the way) in front of the drive up mail box in Waterbury. I couldn't believe it. And I ran her over! Twice!! Oops. So, it was just too much. I decided to do two companion pieces to the original - "New Haven After Dark".

Seymour, Ct.

Acrylic on Canvas

18" x 24"

I take a back road to work (Thanks, Bill, for that tip!) and in late spring there is a curve where the forest presses in upon you. But, thru the trees there is this wonderful gash of bright light. I just had to record it.