"Flower Girls"

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

I've imposed some much-needed, happy, cheerful acts on myself lately.  Baking cookies, Crock-Pot stew, the Muppets Christmas Carol and painting this colorful, soul-enriching piece featuring Diego Rivera's Flower Festival: Feast of Santa Anita. 

A couple of things I need to mention here - you don't see much progress on my blog because I'm working on paintings for a solo show held in early March.  It kills me not to reveal them as I go.

And... for those who've asked?  I have a calendar not quite ready, I know it's late in the year, but it's coming and I'll shout from the mountain top when it is.

Now for the artist Diego Rivera.  Born in 1886 in Guanajuato, Mexico - a large, colorful, overbearing, talented painter best known for his depictions of the working class and native Mexicans.  At the age of 35, through a government program, he painted a series of murals in public buildings about the country's people and its history, some controversial and all very powerful.

Rivera was a lady's man, married twice before marrying the artist Frida Kahlo who was 20 years younger - both known for their interest in radical politics and Marxism.  They fought often and divorced and remarried in 1940 - Kahlo died in 1954 and Rivera married again, to his art dealer.  He died several years later from cancer and heart failure in 1957.

Rivera's Flower Festival was painted in 1931 depicting a flower festival held on Good Friday in Santa Anita, included in a solo exhibition at MoMA the same year.  

"Horsemen"

9 x 12"
oil on masonite
sold

A gentleman standing before the enormous painting 'Agrarian Leader Zapata' by Diego Rivera, one of my favorite works of art, in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

detail

Please click here for a larger view.

"Feast For the Eyes"

8 x 12"
oil on masonite
sold

At my shop, I have framed prints and posters of Diego Rivera's work for years - but nothing comes close to seeing the paintings in person. They are marvelous.

From the Museum of Modern Art in New York, a visitor pours over Rivera's 'Flower Festival: Feast of Santa Anita' - a massive, colorful, brilliantly-composed feast for the eyes.

Please click here for a larger view.