Showing Soon...

My first art showing will occur March 14 and 15, 2015 at Art in the Park, in my hometown of Brooksville, Florida. Here are some works recently added to those posted already.

Not sure what will come of this event, or what I even expect from it. It will be strange to cross over from “that guy in the woods, upstairs, painting” to “that guy under a tent, hocking wares and mixing with curious strangers!”

Sweetgum Ball (30x40 in)

Aldbro Beach (36x48 in)

San Giminano Tabletop (Tuscany, Italy) (60x48 in)

Ample Resources

Working with my live-in model (and lovely wife), I've got ample resources to explore and stretch my skills. The morning we began this, we had just learned of a friend's passing. I mentioned we would title the work, “For Annie.”

Progression of painting...

For Annie (36x36 in)

On Discipline (and Indiscipline)

Well... It must be emphasized that certain endeavors can require great discipline — discipline I have not yet been consistent at! While I may posses a certain innate skill set to create images in paint, I certainly could benefit from the “drive” I envy in some artists that are quite prolific.

Indiscipline lament aside, in this painting, I challenged myself to bring various components of imagery that have echoed throughout my many photographic studies: bare feet, flora, and the leafy forest floor of the woods I thoroughly explored in my youth...

Spring Nymph (40x30 in)

Influential Imagery

My second painting harkens back to the cropped details seen in art history books and magazines. In many instances, I've admired theses tight crops much more than the fully realized traditional composition itself... Modern pictorial editing meets traditional oil painting.

If you haven't detected already, there's something about a certain degree of realism I simply can't escape. Also, after so many years working the digital prepress side of electronic design, I'm on an interesting — but comfortable — kick of painting with only 5 tubes of color: cyan, magenta, yellow, black and white. Keeps my trips to the art supplier simpler.

Here's a progression of a 4x4-foot oil on canvas, Figure With Quilt.

 

"I'm painting... I'm painting again!"

Above: My first painting after a 35-year hiatus: A portrait of my late grandmother, for my mother and aunt. I figured an accurate likeness to be a meaningful test of my capacity to paint again.

Talking Heads' early underground hit, "Artists Only," hit me right upside the head the year I finished college. But I was a lean, green buck with my head in the clouds, and was swept away somewhat by all the wrong things — the last of which was to follow my muse. It took me 35 years as a commercial graphic artist to get around to finally "cleaning my brain" and commence painting again — and realize what a truly cleansing act it can be.

So here it is: My new, chosen career — as it ought to have begun...

Painting details...