Bounty

Remembering last year's bounty of produce from Shortt's, an organic farm located just down the road, here in Sandy Hook. Every Sunday afternoon from the end of June into November, I brought a half-share home and spread it out on the kitchen counter. Vegetables so lovely, lush, full of form and color, many photos were taken of them.

This is a 5" x 7" acrylic painting on cradled panel. Referring to one of last year's photos, the painting was completed in one long sitting, on yet another snowy spring Saturday. Eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupe, cucumber, lettuce, and garlic: the ingredients for many good meals.

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Trashed Ideas

16" x 20" bas-relief acrylic painting on canvas on cradled panel

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Watermarks

A colorful abstract to brighten a gray foggy morning. 

16" x 20" acrylic on canvas, on cradled panel, ready to hang.

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Pendleton-Inspired Nature Blanket Composite 4

Photographs of orange aloe flowers, quartz-veined rock, and blushing sunset skies, are woven together under a transparent blanket of grey, punctuated by geometric designs. 

Created in Photoshop, using images from my own collection, this piece of art is inspired by Pendleton's Native American series of wool blankets. 

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ESPOLON

Nothing like painting for a relaxing couple of hours, then sitting back and accessing the results while sipping on the still life. Limes and tequila, a great combination. Even better, is the artwork on the ESPOLON label. Check it out next time you're in the store.

This painting is a 5" x 7" acrylic on cradled panel.

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Red Warrior

The play of reds are enhanced by variations of matte and hi-gloss. As with the rest of the series, the paints are built-up, adhered to create more depth and texture.

16" x 20" acrylic paint on canvas, adhered to a cradled panel, ready to hang as-is.

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Flight

Tony P. . . if you're out there. . . this one's for you! Fresh off the easel, you knew it was a keeper.

Up for auction this week on EBay.

Spaghetti Money

I often let abstract paintings "proof." Not quite sure of their completion, they linger around the studio. The daily impression they make eventually earns them permanent status or sends them back to the easel. This is one of a set, finally ready for presentation.

The paintings are acrylic on canvas adhered to 16" x 20" cradled panels. This particular painting, comprised of strips of canvas, paint, and gel mediums, has been built up into a bas-relief sculpture about an inch and a half deep. 

pasta sans sauce

shaping paint

the plated meal

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Hoarfrost on Paperbark Birch

I strap on my snowshoes
to go read the morning news.
Spirit bright with
cold Paperbark twigs 
limned by hoarfrost.

Sky colored snow shadows 
define tracks. 
Marks on white sheet reporting
the comings and goings of
rabbits, coyote, mice, voles,
otter, fox, and mink.

Entrails on trail tell 
of well-fed cottontail 
meeting maker 
in the belly of a red tail,
while crows stamp 
impatiently waiting 
for scraps.

Dirty fox paws
in, out, around, and around
a sheltered entrance
describing a plainly happy home
deep under snow and soil.

Trout in winter dreams
feel soft hollow notes 
of water passing under ice,
pure and cold as nothing.

Bluebirds, one, two,
another, another, 
then dozens,
popping bittersweet berries
into downy chests
full of energy,
and Spring!

(Thanks to John Caddy and his Morning Earth Healing Images, for lending me the courage and inspiration to write with a poetic hand about my experiences in nature.)

My offering today is an acrylic painting 

on 5" x 7" cradled birch panel. 

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The Stage Is Set

March 1st:
A day of heavy snowfall, cooking, preparing panels for painting, and setting timers to begin the early morning studio routine anew after a hiatus of more than two years. 

March 2nd: 
The first offering of the new season - "The Stage Is Set" - a view of a corner of the studio done on a cradled birch panel using only five Golden Acrylic colors (Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Primary Cyan, Ultramarine Blue, and Titanium White)

The idea to use a limited pallet was inspired by Kevin MacPherson, an brilliant and generous landscape painter. His theory in using the limited pallet is that it trains an artist to control the pallet's hues and values. I agree, and am tempted to continue experimenting, switching the the paints to see how they "play" together. 

Golden Artist Colors, Inc. has a robust website with loads of technical information and inspiration for painters. The variety and quality of their colors and media have kept me working in acrylics despite the occasional lure of oil painting.

View the auction for "The Stage Is Set" on EBay.