Pulling victory from the jaws of defeat

Not really. This is a piece that I've been working on for many months. It started after coming back from the Color Field exhibit in DC. Many iterations and then it sat there.

I picked it up today and started adding the blocks on the outside (a tribute to Lee Krasner on that). There's still a bit to go but I like where it's going.

Untitled. Acrylic on canvas. 36" x 48"

It's a new year

Karen and I visited New Mexico and Colorado in October and one of the most fabulous places we went was the Chaco Canyon Cultural Area in west-central New Mexico. I won't repeat the history; just click on the blog post title. Sufficient to say it is amazing.

We got some very nice photos and I figured I'd post a couple of attempts at reflecting the one above. These are both small oil pastels on black paper and both still works in progress.

Okay so Tyler Hansbrough isn't very artistic

Nor have I painted or do I plan to paint a picture of him. Nevertheless Karen and I had great fun watching him break the great Phil Ford's career scoring mark at UNC last night in the Dean Dome.

It was appropriate that Tyler broke the record on a less-than-elegant shot, banking it in from 10-feet while falling on his butt. You can see more photos of the night here

3rd Annual holiday card

The first winter after I started painting I decided to send a holiday card. The first was sort of a Madonna look, mother and child with a Rumi quote. The second was an ornament with another Rumi poem.

Here is the latest, a king with hope for the future in these dark days. For those who won't get one (let me know if you want it), here is the quote inside from Václav Havel:

Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather, an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more propitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper the hope is.

Havel finished his discussion of hope with the following:

Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

The New King. Oil pastels on paper. 12 x 9

New work

It's been awhile but I promise I've been working. I did finish my holiday card piece and I have a couple of things with potential. For now I'll post something I started this Thanksgiving holiday. It's not finished but I think I like it so far.

Untitled. Acrylics on canvas. 36 x 20 I think