"Leighton"

8 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

First I want to tell you I was sure the artist, Jacob Lawrence, was to be my L for my series ArtistZ.  I've long admired Lawrence ever since I saw a fraction of his Migration Series at the Phillips Collection years ago.   I was a framer for 33 years and I framed countless prints of Jacob Lawrence's work, even framed a napkin he signed for a collector.   And please go to MOMA to see his entire Migration Series if you're able.

Back in June, I read an article in the New York Times about Frederic Leighton's now-iconic 'Flaming June' at the Frick (this is the last week of the exhibition), and that image brought back memories of, again, framing this glowing, stunning image many, many times.  It was a favorite of mine, much like Klimt's work in that I could really go wild with beautiful, carved mouldings to enhance these pieces.

I will also add that my desire to paint 'Flaming June' was fulfilled - and it was my pleasure to mix these rich oranges and golds and swirls the oils to the folds and curves of the fabrics in the painting.  

"A Rock Star"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold 

This morning I read the NYT article about 'The Goldfinch' painting's return home to the newly-renovated Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in the Hague, after a popular tour in the U.S.   Carel Fabritius's little gem of a painting was a rock star at the Frick last year.  

It's celebrity status was largely due to the connection with Donna Tartt's best-seller 'The Goldfinch' about a 13-year-old boy, who's life is turned upside down when he and his mother visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the exhibition of Dutch paintings, including her favorite 'The Goldfinch' - when a terrorist bomb kills his mother and many other museum patrons.

'The Goldfinch' back home at the Mauritshuis

My painting will be included in the July 19th Small Works Auction in Charleston.

Please click here for a larger view. 

"Celebrity Sighting"

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

I love this story - record crowds have been 'flocking to the Frick Collection' to see the Dutch painter, Carel Fabritius's oil titled 'Goldfinch' - which is the inspiration for the novel by Donna Tartt.  It is a wonderful thing when masses of people are interested in art and get to the museums.