Wet Paint: 2015

Thursday, November 5, 2015

New Works and Musings On Art

Venice (Downtown) and Sarasota (St Armands Circle) are the Florida venues up next. I've just finished all the pieces - 46 total. I'm wiped out but I even swept the studio (it needed it badly) and all is ready for the trip. I'm picking up Ty in St Augustine at the beach house, having dinner at The Seafood Kitchen (Sissy and Margaret beware - I'm hungry), and spending the night - traveling tomorrow and setting up Saturday at daybreak. I miss my honey and bride so I'll be real serene when I get a hug from her! Gotta love this: I had some real interesting experiences painting this week... had some pieces I didn't like so much and I took them and reworked them. I am very pleased with the outcome... especially after 16 hours of rework! The new postings should be up and on the website sometime this weekend. Dan got them all this morning 3 AM Denver time. I am also working on abstracts and after reading a novel about the American Expressionist movement and one about bullfighting in Mexico, I am energized for the long haul. Abstracts are freeing to do, but they are the most difficult to manage. Seems anybody can fling paint but to keep the passion and nuance, the structure and "push/pull" of the color theory, add in theme and message and boy has one a tall order to fill... then it has to be pleasing! Well we'll see how this pans out. I do feel like I understood some new principles in the making of art. I am alone so much in the studio, listening to "my shuffle" and dancing around the table, that I don't get out much. I don't get the stimulating conversations about how we do this thing. And after 24 years of it, I guess I'd have to say I have some experience - now the job is to use it in innovative ways, refreshing my art button. Of course, my patrons and friends do a very good job of keeping me at it and their approval means everything to us - how could we do what we do without their love! I'm stoked!

Homage to Isak

Homage to Degas

Gals Redeaux

Floral Burst Redeaux

The Dame and Dude

Pam's Commission

Tommilyn Commission

The Dame, The Dude and the Dog

These Gals

Oops!

The Harlequin Toredos

That's Attitude!

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Stockley Gardens This Weekend

I am amazed that for twenty-three years I have been privileged to go to Norfolk VA and do the Stockley Gardens Arts Festival. Twice a year, forty-five times totaled, I have loaded up and delivered, set up and sold. The only one I missed was right after 9-11... This one promises to be beautiful weather - Please Lord - and it will be great to see my friends and patrons; they started me out and gave the support and encouragement I needed. It is so gratifying to see children once in strollers, who over the years have grown up with my work, now pushing strollers of their own and buying works of art for their homes! I've lived too long! Ty is staying at the house in St Augustine and Gail and I are making this trip - a tradition for us for sure... And below are some of the new works I'll be bringing along. I am experimenting with oil pastel. I can't ever see me shifting mediums, but this one has rather captivated my creative sense in that there are some many things which can be done to enhance a piece, give it texture, and embellish the canvas - but do I want that? The jury is out on this one; I'll know when I know... for now it is good to refresh the juices with new experiments in new ideas... Looking forward to seeing you at Stockley this weekend or at the new show in Urbana (Arts in the Middle) on May 30-31... I was honored to be invited as a Featured Artist and am looking forward to kicking off this show for the area "in the middle." More before then...

Classic Barnes Floral
30 x 30

Lolly and Meg
24 x 24

Blues
12 x 12

My Garden
24 x 48
(Absolutely a knock-out painting according to the Supreme Court)

Oil Pastel Lady I
12 x 12
(Note the crayon like effect)

Oil Pastel Lady II
12 x 12

Lady Lillian
24 x 24

House on the Cape
18 x 18

Homeward Bound
24 x 24

Toasted Friends
16 x 20

Another Toast to the Night
30 x 30
(Classic Variation on a Classic Theme)

Bendicte
16 x20

Bess and Lila
16 x 20

Blues
12 x 12

Violet
24 x 24

Village on the River
18 x 18

Structured Lily
12 x 12
(Here's what I do with modeling paste applied to the canvas and then painted over)

Soft Garden
12 x 12

Reds
12 x 12

Oil Lady III
16 x 20
(A nices mix of watercolor and oil pastel)

Floral
24 x 24
(Complete coverage with oil pastel over the watercolor base)

Persiphone
30 x 30
(Done from a study of photos shot of Gail in the studio one afternoon)

Cannas
12 x 12

Oil Floral
16 x 20

Friday, March 27, 2015

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS THIS WEEKEND

North Orlando, FL promises a bright and pleasant weekend and Tyler and I leave this morning for the Altamonte Springs Show at Crane's Roost... Looking forward to this new event. So many wonderful show stories in California... My favorite is the one that goes like this: Ty and I pulled into the driveway in Rancho La Quinta and greeted our hosts, Denise and Bill... a few minutes after, while we were unpacking our gear, a tap came on the casita door... Denise told me there was someone out front peeking into the van. A couple was out for their evening stroll and looked into the van windows. I had just finished a large piece and had put it on the top of all the rest so that it could "cure up," that is, so that the varnish would harden over the four day trip west. The short story is that within minutes, the piece was being previewed in their home a few doors down and the deal was complete. I thought of all the times I had laughed about the "Velvet Elvis" vans parked in abandoned gas stations! I am deeply appreciative to my faithful and loving patrons there. The show was a spectacular success and one of the most pleasant in my career. Tyler was a trooper and drove there and back with care and diligence. He's my buddy! Gail kept the home fires burning and what a joyous reunion she arranged... the soup hit the spot after five days on the east bound freeway... After La Quinta, I came back and having sold tons or art, had to add to the inventory... Here are the additions. Coming up will be a new show in Memphis, TN... Can't wait to see what the Long Neck Ladies do there! Oh, and Tyler has convinced me to get back to painting florals and landscapes. Think I'll follow his lead...

Winnona
12 x 12

Bess, Lila, Babs and Bernie
24 x 24

Doris Deanna
12 x 12

Katherine Louise
12 x 12

Lucinda
12 x 12

Lucy Laverene
12 x 12

Sam Again
12 x 12

Verna Rose
12 x 12

Sally Gail
12 x 12

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

California or Bust!

Okay so it's that time of year is it? February snows and cold are left behind for the desert oasis of southern Cali and climes told of in those tourism brochures... but these are true! Tyler and I will leave on Saturday for the four day drive out west, with stops in Jackson MS, Big Spring TX, Tucson AZ. We'll be driving the new Artmobile, named Bertha Ford, for her maiden voyage across these United States. She's a 15 passenger van, converted to haul long neck ladies of which the count is now at 65... I had to paint for the past three weeks with abandon. But all is as of today ready. Amazing that I actually have two days of putzing around. I might get to have a conversation with Gail that lasts more than 15 minutes... Tyler came to the studio and framed everything for me. We have had some really good times traveling and this time I Audibled "The History of the United States from 1492," Robinson Crusoe," and a collection of Sherlock Holmes... we're phat with the story-telling. We are in the able hands of Bill and Denise Zolbert once again. Their casita has become our "home away from home" and their hospitality is immense. Bob and Sandy are expected as are Bob and Bev, Janice and Ray... it's like a traveling circus and a bevvy of friends! How blessed are we! I'm putting the new pieces below for a sneak preview for those who know the skinny on the blog...