Abundance

Abundance is 12x12" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Homecoming

Thinking of the East in Summer!

Homecoming is 20x20" acrylic on canvas.

Orchard Afternoon

May 27, 2011  Memories of Trequanda:  Eight years ago this month, fifteen of  us rented a farmhouse in Italy and settled in to paint. It was magnificent; there were views in every direction!  Across the valley of rolling olive groves and vineyards we could see the hilltown of Trequanda.   On the farm, after a day of painting in the sun,  we were well fed!   The farm's "fattoria" produced wine and olive oil, but I'd never had olive oil like this.  It tasted like grass, with a bite.  As I think of Savoring the Flavor, I remember the beauty and pungence of that setting, and I had to paint the hills and olive groves again!

In the evenings, we'd set our day's paintings on the hearth, gather around the fireplace, and see what everyone had painted.  Some artists painted 5-7 paintings a day!  It was amid this breathtaking work ethic that  several of us cut our plein air "teeth. "  A heady time it was.

Orchard Afternoon is 8x8" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Toward Home I

Geometry Swallowed my Metaphysics - This was said by abstract expressionist Barnett Newman about Piet Mondrian.   No, I won't be comparing myself to the rectangle-loving Mondrian!  But I confess I'm interested in experimenting with some geometry inside the organic-scape.  It's that contrast that's sneakily captivating.  Metaphysics, move aside!

Toward Home is 6x6" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Fallbrook Spring

Not knowing?   Many artists discuss the importance of knowing what you want your painting to look like before you start painting it.  Do the value sketch and stick to it.  Other artists say they have no idea how the painting will look when they're done.  They just get started and see what happens.  About planning paintings, Richard Diebenkorn is quoted as saying  "If I already knew how the painting was going to look, I wouldn't bother to paint it."  Some would just prefer the excitement of finding the painting as they go along.  Some have no choice in the matter. Like me!  I start out with an idea, but as I go along I get other ideas and pretty soon...well, something else emerges.  It's a constant state of discovery!  So I embrace the suspense of the process.  Let the magic creep in.

This is another in my Fallbrook series.  I've used a cooler palette to evoke the freshness of spring. 

Fallbrook, Spring is 6x6" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Fallbrook Summer

 If not you, who?   Do you have those days when it's so hard to walk away from Life and get into the studio? The demands are urgent!  The tasks are important!  Yes, they are.  But.  At the same time, I think you have to remind yourself that when you paint, you create something - where nothing existed before.  You're making something out of the ether.  And if you don't do it, who will?   And if not now, when?  The family is never fed, the house is never clean.  You feed them, they're hungry again.  So forget it.  Go create something which will at least outlive the car repairs.

Fallbrook Summer is 6x6" acrylic media and collage on panel.  

Stonehenge

Blue Hillsides - We're still relishing blue.  I saw these remarkable works of art in person a few years ago.  They speak in lovely cubist clarity, so many centuries before cubism caught on! 

Stonehenge is 8x8" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Blue Moonlight I

Series:  Counter-intuitively, I am finding that doing a series actually can lead to more interesting paintings.  Because you've done a given setup before, the novelty isn't keeping you on the edge of your seat.  So you have to try some new crazy  thing - to avoid boredom.  Also, since you know you're going to do a version of this painting again, so why not experiment with this one?

Blue Moonlight I is 6x6" acrylic media and collage on panel.