New York Trip

A little late in posting but we had a terrific visit in New York to see Christie and the Christmas lights. We walked the new High Line trail in lower Manhattan which is terrific. Then we looked in on David Hockney's landscapes of Northern England. Wonderful big bright pieces of representational art. (I'm a fan as you know.) Then we saw the Tim Burton show at MoMA. Now there's a guy with a vision--one that could keep you awake all night! Came back to set to work on my new easel--a Christmas present from Jan. Here's the first work using it. An awful lot of red, you say? Hey, it's Christmas. I'll get back to my earth tones after the first of the year. And a Happy New Year to you as well. Made your resolution yet?

Billy is in the Building

The Art in the Atrium Show is up and my five paintings are strewn throughout the Frisco City Hall atrium. "Billy," featured here, is in the lobby just inside the front door. Three of my ladies are on the second floor in a good position. "Leah," who is Billy's counterpart, is in the second floor hallway, hanging alone, looking forlorn. Perhaps the Hanging Committee saw that in her look. Over the next eleven months many people will pass her and the other works to pay their water bill or visit the library so I welcome the exposure. It's nice of the city to hang local artist's work. I'm told our city has a bigger budget for public art than Fort Worth, a city known for its support of art. Oh, well, enough narrative. Time to get back to work doing my vague resemblances.

A Hanging in Frisco

Got word this week that five portraits of mine have been accepted into the Arts in the Atrium show here in Frisco, TX. Paintings will be showcased throughout the five-level city hall for about ten months. As I've said before, it ain't the Louvre, but we'll take any exposure we can get at this point in time. Of course every jury is different, but it is nice to get some feedback on what work catches the judges' eye. Two of the paintings (including the one appearing here) were done on wood which is a technique I like and plan to continue. I just returned from a trip to Home Depot with 24 new 11 x 14 pieces of wood cut from one piece of 4 x 8 ply. I guess that means I should get back to work!

From Horses to Puppets

In highlighting artist Susan Rothenberg's work at the Modern Museum in Fort Worth, Texas Monthly remarks that "horses launched her career but she's since turned to dismembering puppets." Wow, talk about a style change. Do you suppose the puppets all look like one of Susan's ex-boyfriends? May have to check the exhibit out. I don't plan to bring any small children with me however. I don't think dismembered puppets is something they should see before junior high. I myself am experimenting with a much less radical change in my painting. I am adding a narrative panel to my portraits. I'll post one as soon as I get around to photographing them. In the meantime, please bide your time by watching the paint dry on this barn wall.

That Terrible Word: Submission

Yesterday, I submitted ten portraits to the City of Frisco for inclusion in their "Arts in the Atrium" Show. Winners get their work hung (another interesting art word) in the imposing new city hall for about eleven months. Of course, we'd all rather be in the Louvre or some tony NY gallery, but we'll take what we can get. Like most artists who make a submission, I dread the other terrible word: rejection. But as art history tells us, don't worry too much about it. Just keep painting. You may get your revenge after you're dead. I've included one of the ten portraits submitted. Feel free to reject it. It will do me good.

Sweet Sistine

As another birthday rolls around and my fear of Italian pickpockets has yet to subside, it becomes clear that I will probably never visit Rome and get to view Michaelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel. So I'm doing the next best thing--painting faces from his ceiling. I'm working from a marvelous book on the restoration of the ceiling and some of the faces are very compelling. I've attached one to this entry. They are part of my continuing experiment of acrylic on heavily gessoed wood. If I get enough of them done I may panel our living room ceiling. (I may first have to pass this idea by Jan.)

Knock on Wood

I am continuing with my program of portraits on heavily gessoed wood and/or canvas. I actually prefer the wood surface as a foundation. To that end I made a trip to Lowe's, whose slogan is "Let's Build Something Together." (Gene Hackman says it so cheerily you just want to go out to the nearest big oak and construct a playhouse.) In my case, I grabbed a big piece of thin plywood and had the lumber guy cut me twenty 11 x 14 wooden rectangles. Total cost: $18. I really do like the combination of wood, gesso and rubbed-on paint. The crude relief surface seems to match up with my crude, primitive portraits. Jan had me put eight of them on one of our walls. (One of them is included here.) I think eight is a bit excessive. But Jan seems quite happy. (I should marry this girl.) Excited about the next series I plan to do on the wood backgrounds. With any luck (knock on wood), I'll report back shortly.

Community College Dropout

Since my last posting I signed up for a course in Classic Portraiture.  My good painter friend, Mary Baxter of Marathon, TX, warned me that it may be detrimental to learn the right way to paint portraits.  She was right.  The teacher was great but she wanted us to paint as if every square inch was a mosaic, a tile, with a different color setting.  I'm too ADD for that.  So back to my experiment with portraits on wood.  I am still trying to figure it out but that's the fun of it. Here's a sepia portrait of a young girl from a photo by Michael O'Brien.  Thanks, Michael.  More to come...I hope.   

New Patron

I'm delighted to announce that I have a new patron who has agreed to deposit $1870 a month into my bank account with the understanding that I do more painting and less work.  In late March Jan and I applied for early Social Security benefits and on April 1st our first deposits arrived.  The only caveat with retiring early is you have to watch how much you earn.  I plan to do that.  With a few exceptions, I'll be devoting more time to the artwork.  (By the way, if any of you would like to pay me NOT to paint, I'm good with that, too.)  In the meantime, here's a new heavy gesso/rubbed-down paint portrait that I was pleased with.  Hope you enjoy it, too. 

It's a Dog's Life

I've finished gesso-ing all the old portraits from last summer's show so now I have to decide if that's actually a style or if I am going exploring again.  I was able to put the decision on hold while I did a more conventional portrait of Parker dreaming about her favorite treat--cow ears.  No, those are not real cow ears in the painting--although I am sure the real ones are hard and petrified enough to outlast the acrylic paint--they are just small gessoed pieces of plastic.   The painting was well received as the recipient recognized it as her dog or at least one of the litter she came from.  The nice thing about painting dogs is they never complain about whether the likeness is accurate or unflattering.  They just sniff and wonder why those are not real cow ears at the top of the picture.      

Gesso You Know

With the new year, I decided to recycle many of the canvasses that were part of my July "Faces" show.  Looking them over, I have to admit that maybe four-to-five of them were worth keeping.  (Two of the best sold to friends.)  So I got them down from the attic and gesso-ed the hell out of them.  The excess gesso created a very interesting surface on which I decided to do more distressed portraits with color rubbed in by hand.  I'll attach one to this entry.  The style is looser and more spontaneous in some way.  I'm going to stay with it until I've recycled most of the canvases.  What comes next is anybody's guess. 

A New Year

Where has the blogger been?   Happy to say painting some.  I did two commissions for Christmas.  One shown here for Jim A.  It's a picture of his girlfriend Nancy.  Word back is that Nancy likes it and intends to keep it.  Second commission was a portrait of four grown kids. Each had his or her own quadrant.  Word back is that one is a go, too.  On the last day of the year I submitted a few portraits to an upcoming Texas Guild Show.  I'm hopeful one or more may get in.  New Year's resolution is to turn my web page which currently displays advertising to one that shows my growing gallery of art.  My daughter Christie has agreed to help out with the design.  Still have many of my "Faces" canvases left to recycle.  I have been gesso-ing them generously and then rubbing paint down on the uneven surface.  I'm liking the results and will post one of them soon.  If anyone's reading out there, Happy New Year!  And if you're a painter, well, squeeze your tubes and get back to work!