So long...and thanks for all the fish...

 When will the stupidity and the incompetence of this administration be over. It couldn't be too soon.

A couple of recent paintings that I like. My dancer came back into town and we got some nice images.

And of course, there will always be the fish.

Surviving the Idiocy of the Trump Regime with Art

Been busy doing lots of art. Therapy for surviving the times. Also curated a show at a local gallery that turned out very nice. So staying busy. The top piece was another version of Vienna, which I think turned out better than the first version.

This piece is a first run of a larger piece i am working on right now for the Tikkanen competition. This version will be in a show at Mercyhurst University in the Fall. 

These two figure paintings are recent. The first is of a new model. This is the first painting I have done of her. She is this lovely, statuesque young woman. She gives off this great feeling of softness and power. The second image is of the model that I have painted the most. Also a remarkable model. Several images of her I've posted. She is the ballerina that was the inspiration to the movement paintings.

In this way I forget the atrocities that our country is perpetrating around the world and try to bring some beauty into the world that Trump is darkening.

 

It Is a New Year...Plough on.

Once more unto the breach. 

Every day one gets up, into the world that Trump is busy destroying, it takes a certain amount of strength and hope. And when I think about asking for whom the bell tolls when that repulsive man dies, it won't be tolling for me, except in celebration.

In the meantime, there is art.

Vienna in 2025 

 

Dancers...such beauty.

An experiment with butterflies.

 

Bloated and Orange should have been Red Flags. What is wrong with you People

Two recent paintings that were somewhat successful. This first one was based on instruments in a symphony orchestra. The forms have been disassembled then assembled in the way that the musicians are normally seated in relation to the conductor.

This piece is the third in a series of paintings inspired by the architecture of Copenhagen.

I recently had a solo show in a local gallery...GlassGrowers. It went very well and pretty much sold out so I thank those who bought art with their hard earned money.

Hang in there, America.

 

Staying Sane Gets Harder

Spring is wandering around aimlessly. It has shown up for a day or two and then wanders off again. It will eventually get here...I hope. 

The US continues down the path trodden by Banana Republics and authoritarian regimes, making day to day life a little greyer,, but for some, a nightmare. Between the dismantling of federal government services, the hunting down of immigrants, the deportation of college students, the targeting of the judiciary, the alienation of allies, the mishandling of the Ukraine war, the existential threats leveled at Greenland and Canada...well, the list goes on, but I am ashamed of my country...

Thankfully, I have my retreat into the making of art and my hopes that that repulsive orange blob will be called home by his maker, sooner rather than later.

This is a big painting of the lagoons at Presque Isle that I finished a while back. I'm liking it. 

This is a study of Darah that I really like. The best one of her that I have done.

I've worked with a couple of couples to try my hand at multiple figure compositions. Way harder than you can imagine...or at least way harder than I imagined. But I think these two turned out OK..............

Buy Canadian.

 

America Lost

So, the year begins with an absolute idiot as a head of state. I cannot express how repulsive a human being this piece of shit is. It is sad that almost half of the US is so stupid that they voted for him. So things are not likely to get better soon and so the escape is art. To try to create beauty in a country that has embraced ugliness, stupidity, greed and racist nationalism all in the name of patriotism. So, I will be be busy.

The above work is Edinburgh, Scotland

The above piece is a piece called Ad Infinitum. It was in the Tikkanen Competition. Inspired a bit by Jasper Johns and DeMuth.

This is an early study of a  couple of models who were remarkable for a variety of reasons, the biggest being the contrast in skin tones which made for a significant challenge photographing them as well as painting them.

Still playing around with the "Movement" series of paintings.

 

A Perfect Autumn Day on the Lagoons

This weekend was the perfect October weekend in Erie, Pennsylvania. This required a kayak trip on the lagoons. The first picture I took because the water was glass-calm and the reflection was quite remarkable.

The second picture had the post full Hunter's Moon hanging above a copse of trees.

The third picture was of some alien swamp creatures rising to the surface to pay homage to the solar disc.

The fourth picture was of some underwater foliage undulating in the current and my paddle reflected on the left hand side.

The fifth image has nothing to do with the lagoons, but rather a naiad rising out of the water off the beach.

The sixth picture is that naiad's twin sister, a dryad.

 

And so, we begin again...

Back from Scotland and the wedding of my nephew. A lovely trip, but now it is back to school.

Busy Summer painting. These two images are the result of some kayaking on the lagoons and hanging around the beach. Developing the "Architectonic" approach to some more organic subjects and seeing how it plays out. Results were kind of interesting

I also had a show at 1020 Holland Collective. 70 figure paintings. It went OK I guess. I have some new models that I am working with, so we'll see if it results in anything interesting.

 

Two New Things

Two recent works. One is based on the mechanical objects that I saw in Colorado and vegetation in the lagoons at the peninsula. More of one than the other and so many don't seem to notice.

A painting done for a show on the upcoming eclipse that may actually happen in Erie if the clouds do not screw it up. In Erie, in April, that is likely to be the case, but we can hope.

Just had some spare time.

 

Antidote to Trump

Some figure paintings of late where I was playing around much more consciously with light and drapery. If I have to live in a world with something as vile as Donald Trump, I at least have the escape of painting beauty. I hope you have something.

 

Still Alive, For Now

Still playing with the technique of deconstructing/reconstructing images. Started off applying it to architecture a couple of years ago. Now expanding to applying it to different subject matter. So this first image is the city of Copenhagen. The image was created from hundreds of pictures taken of Copenhagen from the summer.

This image was put together from pictures taken of steam locomotives and abandoned mining equipment in Colorado from a trip the previous Spring.

Now applying the system to images taken from the lagoons at Presque Isle. Waterlilies, pads and various aquatic plants. Seeing how well organic forms translate in this style.                                                  

This last one is applying the technique to a figure. In this case my model who is the dancer.

So we'll keep playing with this idea for a while I think. I'm liking the results.

 

Sisyphus Revisited

So, the art making game has been pretty busy as has the exhibiting. Lately I was part of a couple of interesting competition/exhibitions. One in Ashtabula, the Tikkanen Painting Prize. I had two pieces make the first cut and one piece made it into the show. Unfortunately, I did not win, but it was an interesting show. I also have a piece in the NPAA Biennial, which opens tomorrow at the Erie Art Museum. Getting ready for a solo show at 1020 Holland in January/February, figure paintings. So that will be a first.

Below is the Beachwork for the year. Much of it survived the last Winter. Most of the right hand side of the structure is new. My goal was capping the window on the right side. I didn't get much new stone this year, as the beach topography was a bit unusual. Much of the old beach was covered by one or two feet of  sand and cobble, covering much of the stone that I would usually gather.

The image below is the piece that I put in the Biennial. Based on photos taken from the kayak in the lagoons at the 4-mile mark, it is one part of a planned three piece altarpiece. I have been working on several pieces using this technique relating to mechanical/geometric objects and  in these images, applying it to organic subjects.

Playing around with it below, combining color and monochromatic areas. Turned out OK. May continue to play around with the concept.

The other area that I have been playing around with recently is figure painting. I've arranged an exhibition at the 1020 Holland Collective. A great space that I have had works exhibited in the past and look forward to putting together a show of about 80-100 works. The Birth of Venus works and a frieze of 25 dancing figures will be the backbone. Below are two recent works that are exploring the relationship between the body and drapery of some kind. So, that is what the state of the art is. Also working on a couple of commissions. So I have been busy.

 

CANADIA BURNS STILL

My beach project miraculously survived the winter largely intact. So I've gone down maybe a half dozen times to continue the exercises of Sisyphus. This is where it stands as of June's end. While working the sun emerged out from behind a cloud bank complete with the rays reaching down to the horizon. Moments like that are an extra little bit of magic in a magical place.

 

Seriously

 

When not working on figure painting, I torture myself with the much more labor intensive works that I refer to as being architectonic...deconstructed and then reconstructed architectural forms, originally, then adapted to natural forms, starting with fish. So here are a couple of recent ones. 

The first one originated with a trip to hike in Colorado over the Spring break. While traipsing around I kept coming across old mining equipment and train/locomotives and such. So the mechanical piece below is a result...the second such experiment..."The Works"

The next two pieces are derived from some dead fish photos that I've taken over the years and have appeared in numerous paintings. There is a mechanical quality to fish that works well with the obvious organic qualities. A nice combination. So it goes.

This piece was based off of photos of lobsters, horseshoe crabs, which are insanely interesting as forms, and blue crabs. Just playing.