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Thursday, December 28, 2006

Flowered Mermaid

SOLD

Back to the Mermaids, I think I have six more to go! This one is another 5x7






























I've spent several days now playing around with the big piece. I do the background in acrylic...mostly primer. It enables me to make changes quickly in color and composition. I'm now satisfied with the comp. There are small dark mussel shells in the setup that will be added later...maybe. It's very exhilerating working large again....36x48". Fun also to play with the paint in a free abstract way. This style of "Scatter Painting" satisfies my craving for abstract work as well as intense realism.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Sunday, December 17, 2006

The strange paths of inspiration













I haven't been doing any daily work since the last mermaid, but things have been brewing. I had the opening of my first one man exhibit Friday evening. I'm sorry I didn't get any decent pictures to post...here is one with my friend Louise standing in front of the Dots Painting. Most of the Food paintings can be seen on my website.



What I really wanted to write about is how a conversation with a guest at the reception sparked an image that became overwhelmingly strong in my mind...to the point where I've compulsivley started a rather large painting during a very inopportune time. In my scatter painting series I have often painted loosely rendered rectangles as a background for the objects I depict. I never gave this much thought except that perhaps it was a throwback to some of the abstract work I used to enjoy painting many years ago...linear, rectangular shapes. I liked the idea of combining a little painterly abstractness with the realism. Anyway to get to my point, I stopped doing these backgrounds last year. The Ala Prima Cheese Curls was the last. I thought for sure I would only be doing "real" backgrounds from here on in...and yet. And yet this woman was questioning me intensly about my style of work and she mentioned that the rectangles reminded her of the faded ( or unfaded as the case may be!) spots left on wallpaper after a long hanging painting has been removed. I couldn't get the thought out of my mind. Suddenly all those backgrounds took on a new meaning, one I had been thinking about, but not really conciously. I realized I wasn't through with them after all. These musings then awoke an image in my mind....mostly about color. Several ideas I had been thinking about on and off suddenly crystalized. Wow. I had to start the painting. I wanted to write down the process while it's fresh in my mind. If I bored you all ..so sorry. This stuff can be quite emotional for me...which is why I paint I suppose. Here is the started painting. 36x48. There will be plenty of change, and maybe it wiill never become the image I have in my mind ( they rarely do) but at least I got something down....well there is a presketch as well, but I'm not showing that. I know I will not have much time to paint over the next 10 days, but I was afraid if I didn't begin right away I would lose the image...something that has happened too many times in the past.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Monday, December 11, 2006

Starburst !!


This 11x14 oil is from May of 2005. I needed to record an image for my records so I thought I'd post a pic here on the blog. It is also to acknowledge my first one man exhibit! I'll be showing at Dante Hall in Atlantic City, starting this Friday, December 15th until February 1st. The exhibit is in conjunction with the Noyes Musuem in Oceanville, N.J.
I'll be featuring the food paintings from my ongoing still life series I call "Scatter Paintings".

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Big Haired Mermaid

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She looks like she could be singing in the B52's!
Munch's Mermaid that I saw in Philadelphia last year also came to mind when I was painting her, however when I looked the image up, I see no real resemblance whatsoever. Memory is a funny thing with painting. Check out Duane Keiser's post on this matter.
Most of these pieces are Occupied Japan. I hope I'm not getting too cute by placing them on mossy rocks from the garden.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Mer-Boy

SOLD
5x7 oil/panel
A Face only Frazetta could love!

Friday, December 08, 2006

Backside Mermaid

SOLD



This one reminds me of my cat Edie, who loves to lounge around with her back to the world, facing the wall...Much Attitude!



5x7 oil/panel





I spent Yesterday at the Met in NYC. Several excellent exhibits going on. Of main interest for me was The Americans in Paris and the Ambroise Vollard;Cezanne to Picasso exhibits. While visiting some of my old favorites the other half took this pic without my knowledge...I wish he had captured me in front of "The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit" by Sargent...that painting just blew me away. I really could have just spent the entire day studying that masterpiece. Wow.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Second Red-Tailed Mermaid

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It's good to be back to the mermaids after such a busy week with my yearly studio show/open house. The color and value are a bit off with this photo. I may repost the pic later if I can get a better image.
6x8 oil/canvas

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Malachite Egg and Black Rubber Frog


I keep no fresh eggs around so I chose to paint this one... it's semi-precious. Sort of like nearly-valuable.

5x7 oil/panel