Simon & Simon

For the last six months I have been unable to spend any quality time in my studio due to an abrupt change in my business. Things are settling down and thankfully I am able to return to the studio.

This diptych, completed just last week, is inspired by the work of NY artist, James Little. I sometimes copy the style of an artist I like, to better understand his/her process and motivations for making art. But more than that, it gives me a point of departure from which I discover my own take on a particular style that often no longer resembles the original work. For me, this can be among the most stimulating of art practices.

"Simon & Simon", 2009, 40"x39", encaustic on panel

Flow

I painted this encaustic on canvas painting while on a camping trip some time back. I hoped to strip away facial recognition leaving only a suggestion of melancholy.

Viewers' responses have been interesting. This painting is either really liked or really disliked. But either way, it always seems to garner attention.

Here's the dumb thing, though. I can't seem to do it again. I have attempted comparable paintings several times only to fail - miserably.

But try again I shall, since I am one of those who likes it.

"Flow", 48" x 36", encaustic on canvas

The Billiard Player

I enjoy taking traditional themes and interpreting them in a contemporary manner. The theme of the billiard player has been visited and revisited for over a century.

This 30x24 oil on canvas painting from 2008 is my take on the traditional theme.

Grand Merit Award!

Each year the Art Lovers League of Cedar Valley sponsors the Welcome Art Show. This is a juried show representing artists from around the southeast. I was honored to be selected to receive the "Grand Merit Award: Best in Show" this year for the painting "Rose" (featured in a post below).

I guess the monotony of painting all those little triangles paid off after all.

Pieta

Pieta (Italian for pity) is a recurring subject for classical and contemporary art forms. Originally the pieta represented the Virgin Mary cradling the dead Christ. Over time it's meaning has expanded to represent grief, sacrifice and parental and other expressions of love.

"I'll Stop the World", Oil on canvas, 30" x 40", 2008




"Pieta", Oil on canvas, 24" x 48", 2008

Security Blanket

This is the first of a series of paintings in a sort of op-art style that I hope to one day produce as a quilt - hence the name.

"Security Blanket I", 36"x36", oil on canvas

Blue and Gray

This painting hangs in my professional office. Of all the works that have hung there, this one has drawn more comments than any other. Why?
History paintings were at one time all the rage. Since the photographic process had not yet come along, painters were the visual recorders of history. But for the last 150 years photography has taken over that job.
This oil on canvas painting (24" x 48", 2008) is based on a photo made infamous during the war in Viet Nam. It is in a sense a history painting of a history photo of a historical event. The blue and gray colors recall America's own mid-nineteenth century civil war as well as the one erupting at home during the Viet Nam war.