Friday, December 24, 2010

The (2nd) best Little Man

I'm continuing to try to duplicate (is that the correct word?) the little man in the larger painting (see here) and here is the best version so far.

Little Man #4.  Acrylic, oil stick on canvas covered with cheesecloth

Monday, December 20, 2010

Okay, so here's the wrapping paper piece....

Yesterday I started with an idea to make my own wrapping paper.  Some things worked, others didn't.  Some I just wrapped in failed art.  The collage below actually worked and is kinda fun.

Here's the front. It's made with a Man Ray photo, another photo from a WWII era English magazine I got from eBay (the badminton player) and then some cut outs from an Art Forum magazine.

Wrapping Paper Front. Collage. Maybe 6" x 6"

Here's the back which is not as good as the front.   This one is more cut outs from the Art Forum magazine along with a photo of mine -- the person in tennis shoes standing waiting for the subway in Boston.

Wrapping Paper Back. Collage. Maybe 6" x 6"

Sunday, December 19, 2010

A good day

I never know whether I will ultimately like something I've just done.  But today, no matter what, I had a good day.  I did some collages as wrapping paper and also the two pieces below.  This first one was typical serendipity.   I found some lines and he appeared.  I'm not sure what happens with the background yet.

 Untitled.   Ink, acrylics, oil sticks on canvas.  18 x 24?

This one is based on old Indian (Southeast Asian) cave drawing.  He's supposed to be angry and menacing but I haven't gotten the expression yet.

Untitled.  Oil pastels on black sandpaper.

Sunday, November 07, 2010

New pieces

I have a little head of a man in a larger piece that hasn't worked.  The little head does.  Here are a couple of attempts to redo the little man in a larger format.

This an initial version that I modified this afternoon -- the original was quite boring.

 Little Man #2.  Acrylics, oil pastels on paper.  9" x 13"

This one came together this afternoon as well.

Little Man #3.  Oil pastels on plastic laminate. 9" x 13"

And here is the original Little Man:

Little Man #1.  Acrylics on canvas.  About 2" x 3"

Sunday, October 31, 2010

A couple of new things for a show, reception Nov 12th 6-9

There will an abstract show at the Carrboro Century Center during November and December.  I don't know how many pieces I'll have in but here are three I'm thinking about.  (The Shakori Nights piece in my last blog post is a fourth.)

We will have receptions at both 2ndFriday Artwalks, November 12th and December 10th, both running from 6-9 pm.  I hope to see you there.

This one is a piece that I started a couple of  years ago after seeing the remarkable Color Field exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in 2008.  Many of the color field artists stained unprimed canvas with diluted acrylics.


 Untitled.  Acrylics on unprimed canvas.  30" x 35"

This one was an attempt to get the abstract juices flowing by starting by tearing some interesting paper and attaching it to a canvas.  The paper provides interesting textural options.

Cave Painting.  Mixed media.  Paper, acrylics, ink on canvas board.  16" x 20" 

Here is an oil pastel on an odd found material, sort of a slick Formica.  It really changes the way one works with oil pastels compared to paper.  It was fun but a bit messy when I added linseed oil.

Untitled.  Oil pastel on plastic laminate.  12x12 or so

More on the 2ndFriday Artwalk below the fold...

Monday, October 11, 2010

Update to the website

I'm updated my website with a new design.  It's a bit simpler and hopefully easier to look at.  Let me know what you think.  Here's a new featured piece:


Shakori Night.  Mixed media on canvas

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Outsider artist Kelly Moore's new work

We met Kelly Moore at the Tesuque Reservation flea market outside of Santa Fe a couple of years ago.  An odd fellow but a compelling artist.  His new stuff is really interesting and worth a look.

Kelly Moore, Untitled, Sept 2010, 54" x 74"

Friday, August 13, 2010

New abstract piece

I've been doing a lot of vaguely realistic work and frankly my attempts at abstraction have been failing badly.  I'm working on two that I think might be going somewhere interesting but I'll start with the one that's farthest along.  This  is a poor photo, maybe I'll take another later and replace this over the weekend.  The block in the middle is actually a deep Prussian blue not the black that shows up here and yellow is much more light yellow.  Still you can sort of get the idea.

Untitled, acrylics, 20 x 16

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Some more pieces based on photos...

First, good news, a friend has bought Dancing Alone and Together which basically didn't change much from what I put in the previous blog post.

Below I've posted two more.  The first is vaguely based on a photo of Robert Mapplethorpe from the Patti Smith memoir.  It is pretty simple at this point and Karen is voting on leaving it that way.  I've played with this photo of the piece in the Gimp (an open source Photoshop) and I'm still on the fence.

Robert.  Ink and acrylics on watercolor paper. 9 x 13


The next one is from a photo on the cover of Art in America.  There are a couple of more realistic versions in previous posts but this one is much more of a departure.  It has already changed some since I photographed it this am and there will likely be more changes.

Untitled.  Oil pastels and acrylics on watercolor paper.  9 x 13

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Some new pieces mostly based on photos

I've been working, really I have.  Mostly the effort hasn't resulted in much but I've been fairly inspired anyway.  One thing I've been working on are paintings from photos I like, Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, etc.  Some I've stayed pretty close to the photo, others I've tried to use as a motive for either an abstract or just an inspiration. 

First though a piece that was influenced by, hell, I can't find the piece in this mess of a studio.  Anyway, I started with random lines and ink confined in a series of 4 x4 inch boxes.  Afterwords I looked for some kind of pattern and found confined spaces suggesting two dancers.  So...

Dancing Alone & Together.  Ink and acrylic on mat board.  12 x16 Perhaps not finished.


I have been highly influenced by Man Ray's photos.  The following two are from a photo called "Netting" and I've been pretty faithful to the original.  Here are 2 versions both on black artist grade sandpaper.  The first is quite small, the second somewhat bigger.


Netting #1.  Conte pencils and acrylics on black artist grade sandpaper.  5 x 7


Netting #2.  Conte pencils on black artist grade sandpaper.  9 x 15

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

In the category of "I've got to post something."

I always need a little help with the realistic thing and never more than with bodies.  So here's a little cheat sheet compliments of some unknown person.

Monday, April 26, 2010

I'm surprised I haven't posted this! New art

I was sure I had posted this but I guess maybe I only sent it to Facebook.  This piece that started as an abstract and ended up something else.  I framed it yesterday and it looks really nice with a black mat and gold leaf wood frame.

Buddha in the Garden.  Pencil, charcoal, acrylic, maybe a bit of oil pastel on watercolor paper.  14 x 16

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Ack! I haven't posted in ages! A new piece for the Carrboro Art Project

I finally got around to making a piece for the Carrboro Community Art Project.  This a mostly oil pastel taken from a photo I took one day during the Thursday Weaver Street Music series.  The guy had a great knit cap over his very long hair and a very cool shirt.  I took liberties of course.

Music at the Weave.  Oil pastel on black artist grade sandpaper.  About 12" x 18"

Monday, February 22, 2010

Quick post before my flight

I'm off to ATL for a few days but I finished something this weekend.  So before I head out...

Jacqueline (based on a Man Ray photo.)    Pencil, charcoal, conte pencil, acrylic on watercolor paper

Monday, February 08, 2010

Back to abstract....


I've wanted to get back into abstracts lately but I was stuck. Nothing seemed to work. I broke down and bought a book by Rolina van Vliet called "Painting Abstracts: Ideas, Projects and Techniques."  Generally I'm cheap -- by spending $$ on a book I effectively forced myself to try some new abstracts.  (FWIW, the same technique, in this case paying for 3 months at the gym, seems to be working!)  Both are acrylic on 12 x 16 canvas board.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Ahh!!

I reconnected with a dear friend through the ubiquitous social media. He asked about my latest show and said he checked my blog/website often. Of course that suggests a fairly boring experience because I have been less than active in posting new pieces, ideas, things that interest me and the like.

His comments hit home. One of the things I am working on in my life in general is the need to throw perfectionism out the window. For whatever reason (ask my therapist) I have allowed perfectionism to fence me in, to stifle what I do and inhibit free expression within my work, relationships and art. I've actually made progress in this area but I'm not so sure it is seen in my art.  Perhaps it is in my recent photography. (Digital photography is so liberating in its costlessness.)

In other words I don't have too much to show right now, partially because I haven't taken any photos of what I've completed or been working on lately.  Here goes.

Tall Nude.  Acrylic, ink and charcoal on canvas



Four Woodcuts Based on Man Ray.  Woodcuts with ink and acrylics.


Woman in Ecstasy #1 of 3.  Acrylics, pencil, charcoal on paper


Monday, January 11, 2010

Two new pieces

These are under construction.....

Pencil and charcoal on watercolor paper






















Acrylics, pencil and charcoal on watercolor paper