"In the Buff"

 

 

6 x 8"

oil on panel

 

 

I broke from my larger painting marathon and loosened up with one of my mom's favorite Picasso pieces - Two Nudes, in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Like my mom, Picasso had a fascination with African sculpture and modeled women's figures similar to the thick bodies and chiseled features found in those sculptures.  Two Nudes hangs next to Picasso's famous Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and noticably the figures on the left of both paintings closely resemble each other.

You may think it never happens, but in 2014, a visitor in MOMA bumped up against the Picasso painting, leaving it unhinged.  No damage done.

 

Please click here to the auction page.  This link will engage at 9 pm ET this evening.

"Light Baggage"

 

 

9 x 12"

oil on panel

sold

Irises are blooming everywhere here in Atlanta, inspiring me to paint Vincent van Gogh's Irises being admired by a visitor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The Red Piano Art Gallery sold it before I could even add it to my website, so a larger view will follow soon.

~ Happy Friday. Go get your vaccination shots.

"Two By Two"

 

 

8 x 10"

oil on panel

sold

In 1890, in a letter to his sister, Vincent van Gogh described his joy of painting multiple versions sunflowers.  He wrote the paintings were “almost a cry of anguish while symbolizing gratitude in the rustic sunflower.”  It brought him comfort and familiarity and raised his spirits, he continued to write.

A couple stands between van Gogh's Sunflowers and Still Life: Vase with Fourteen Sunflowers exhibited together in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Please click here for a larger view.

"Three's Company"

 

 

6 x 8"

oil on panel

sold

This study was a test for me - wanting to take on a larger painting with David Hockney's Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy.  As simplistic as Hockney's composition is, it's the reproduction that just ain't as easy as I thought.  But I've always been intrigued with his painting.

The two were Hockney's friends in London - Ossie Clark, a dress designer and Celia Birtwell, a fabric designer.  Hockney portrayed couples in several very large paintings.  The difference here is notably the two are looking at the viewer, other paintings have at least one looking off to the side.  He painted them in their flat in Notting Hill Gate, in their bedroom where the light was favorable to Hockney.  The tough part, the artist said, was the couple was against the light which darkens the figures indoors.  He did many studies and experiments to get the composition, the lighting and the couple's expressions right - going against the standard portrait of a couple where the woman is seated and the man stands next to her.

 

Percy was one of the Clarks' cats who symbolizes a libertine and somebody who disregards rules and does what he pleases. Sounds right.  The vase of lilies to the left of Celia are a symbol of the Annunciation and feminine purity.

 

Hockney was best man at the Clarks' wedding.  The space between them in his painting is said to be prophetic - the marriage didn't last.

 

"All the Fashion"

 

 

6 x 8"

oil on panel

sold

The artist Jacques (James) Tissot had an eye for beauty and fashion, the son of parents in the fashion and designer hats business.  At a young age, he'd paint clothing in fine detail, a style surely influenced by what surrounded him.  He also knew at a very young age he wanted to pursue a career in art.

Allow me to tell you about the woman in Tissot's painting Mavourneen (Portrait of Kathleen Newton) - raised in England and Agra, India - her father rose from an Irish army officer to chief accountant for the East India Company, and worth mentioning, a strict Catholic.  When she was 16, her father arranged for her to marry a surgeon in the Indian Civil Service - she embarks on a trip to her wedding on a ship, where the Captain became obsessed with her and gets his way once they arrived.  She married the surgeon, hadn't consummated the marriage yet - felt guilty - went to a Catholic priest for advice - he told her to fess up to her new husband - he was enraged - filed for divorce - ship Captain said he'd pay for her trip back to England but if, and only if, she was to be his mistress.  She gets pregnant, refused to marry the Captain and ran off to live with her sister.

That's where James Tissot comes in.  They meet, he falls madly in love with her - she gives birth to another child said to be his - they live together in domestic bliss for a few years until she contracted tuberculosis.  Tissot suffered through her illness, she couldn't bear it all and overdosed on laudanum and died.  Tissot was so distraught, he laid next to her coffin for four days.  A true Greek tragedy.

"Catch the Next Wave"

 

 

9 x 12"

oil on panel

sold

My Mac died a couple of weeks ago.  I work on what they call a 'vintage' model.  I have to.  I run programs from days of yore - ones I built my website on, etc.  For about a week, I hunted down a 'vintage' replacement and turned it over to the experts and finally got my working studio back to normal.  Happy to report I'm no longer out of sorts.  

Meanwhile, I started this painting, working from a laptop screen.  It's a slower process but better than nothing while I waited.  So, that's where I've been lately.

When I stood in front of Ground Swell by Edward Hopper,  I stared for quite a while. What was that buoy doing there?  On an otherwise calm, beautiful day, surrounded by a sea of blues, there is this dark, ominous warning of sorts, alerting the people on the small catboat.  A sign of imminent danger?  Clouds signaling a storm is coming?  I looked for an explanation when I had time.  Hopper never offered one except - during the time he worked on Ground Swell in 1939, World War II broke out in Europe.  I think that explains it.

From the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

Please click here for a larger view.

~ Stay healthy and safe and get your vaccination.

"In Shape"

 

 

5 x 5"

oil on panel

sold

I do a lot of small studies, mostly to keep painting while I'm think about my next piece and to feel out how a photograph or featured artwork translates into a painting.  A generous Instagramer, Cilia, sent me the photo I used on this new painting, one of her viewing Henri Matisse's Blue Nudes in the Kunsthaus Zurich Museum in Zurich, Switzerland.

Matisse completed a large series of 'cut-outs' after a surgery which left him in a wheelchair with a limited ability to paint on canvas.  He painted sheets of paper with various, solid colors of gouache, some more opaque than others, cut out organic shapes, overlapping and glueing, and created some of the most famous works of art in his lifetime.  Proving that adversity can take you to unexpected places you may not have gone before.

"Facing the Music"

 

 

9 x 12"

oil on panel

sold

When I reproduce masters' works of art, I learn more about color, mixing paints, edging, brush strokes and composition than any class or book could possibly teach me.  My mom swore by it, which is why I spent a large chunk of my early years in museums.

Picasso's work is a whole other thing.  Three Musicians is defined as a Synthetic Cubist style - meaning the compositions are made up of jigsaw-puzzle-like shapes, flat planes and solid colors.  You don't look at it and think 'look at those brush strokes'.  But I look at every shape and try to figure out where it fits, which I probably shouldn't obsess about but that's the jigsaw-puzzle solver in me.

The recurring characters - the masked Pierrot playing the clarinet, the Harlequin strumming a guitar and the singing monk holding sheet music represents the then-popular Italian comic theater that Picasso and his friends were involved in.  

From the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Please click here for a larger view.

"Chill Factor"

 

 

6 x 8"

oil on panel

sold

Every winter I obsess about wanting snow fall here in Atlanta.  I scroll through the Twitter posts of photos during snowstorms with deep envy.  Hence my inspiration for this new painting - bringing to mind one of my favorite landscapes by Claude Monet, The Magpie.

The low level sun behind the fence. The shadows of icy-blues and lavenders. You can imagine how quiet it was when Monet worked on this winter landscape.  The tiny hint of life of the magpie, perched on the gate completely in its element.  It is a perfect painting.

From the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. 

"Those Summer Nights"

 

 

6 x 8"

oil on panel

sold

As I finished this new painting, I realized outside the cold wind was blowing and snow flurries were falling on Christmas Eve in Atlanta.  Truly unexpected. And pretty darn cozy.  John Singer Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose - a most perfect painting in my opinion, depicts a warm, summer night - completely opposite of the evening outside my window.  

In 1884, Sargent had just experienced a scandal in Paris, resulting from the exhibition of his famous portrait Madame X.  It damaged his reputation all because the critics freaked out over the dress strap of Amelie Gautreau had fallen off her bare shoulder.  That was it. The prudes disapproved.

Seeking restoration, Sargent moved to England and spent summers in an artist's colony, where he completed Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose.  He was staying at the home of his artist friend Francis Millet and the two girls he used as his models were the daughters of another artist Frederick Barnard.  His inspiration came from a boating trip where he saw Chinese lanterns hanging in the trees, combining that element with the girls.  

The painting was a hit at an 1887, and Sargent was once again the talk of the art world with his reputation restored.  It belongs to the collection of the Tate Museum in London, England.

 

~ Wishing you and yours a peaceful and beautiful Christmas holiday.

"Sweetie Pies"

 

 

9 x 12"

oil on panel

sold

I've said it many times on this blog - Wayne Thiebaud is an artist who has and still does greatly inspire me as a painter.

Here are the reasons I continue to admire and love Thiebaud. His work ethic, still, at the age of 100, is admirable.  He's a humble man despite being considered one of America's greatest living artists.  He is best known for what critics describe as an artistic appreciation for everyday objects - although he's been known to dispute that, describing his "humble goals to try and paint at any time any subject matter in any medium under the general heading 'people, places and things.'"  I told you he was humble.

Featured in my painting is Wayne Thiebaud's Pie Rows.  

Please click here for a larger view.

"Hair Solutions"

 

 

6 x 8"

oil on panel

sold

In Washington DC, you can see many paintings by the famous portrait painter Gilbert Stuart.  Stuart's most recognized is of George Washington which you'll find in the National Portrait Gallery among the Presidents - the one featured above, Catherine Brass Yates (Mrs. Richard Yates) shares a room in the National Gallery of Art with other notable Americans.

In 1793, Stuart had just returned to America from a long stretch in England where he enjoyed popularity and recognition as being one of the lead portrait artists.  And a different America it was.  Catherine Yates is thought of as one of Gilbert's most famous paintings both for the artistic masterpiece that it is and, what is known as a symbol of this young country's rectitude - meaning moral righteousness.  Personally, I always get a kick out of looking at this portrait every time I'm visiting the National Gallery.

~  Keep wearing your mask and stay healthy.

"Spooked"

 

 

6 x 8"

oil on panel

sold

When October comes around, I always think of the Wyeth family - as in N. C., his son Andrew and his son Jamie.  The enthusiasm for pumpkins and Halloween started with N. C., with costumes and Jack-O'Lanterns playing a large part of the celebrations.  All three of the artists painted many versions of pumpkins placed around the home, in vines, lit at night and then there's Pumpkinhead, painted by Jamie Wyeth, a self-portrait done in 1972.

The best way to explain how this painting came to be is by Jamie himself:

“I had been elected to the National Academy of Design in New York, and one of the requirements was that you give a portrait, a self-portrait of yourself. Well, I didn’t want to do myself in a self-portrait, but I love pumpkins. It’s the sinisterness, the Halloween I’ve always loved. It’s a little bit edgy. So I did it and of course they were furious and rejected it.”

 

Imagine Jamie Wyeth's submission to a panel of stuffy art professors.  That's funny in and of itself.  It speaks to him messaging the art world's long standing rejection of the Wyeths being 'real artists' and more illustrators and saying 'take that'.  

 

Pumpkinhead has been and always will be one of my very favorite paintings by the great Jamie Wyeth.

 

"Face the Music"

 

 

6 x 8"

oil on panel

sold

 

 

Personally, I have a love/hate for Picasso's art.  I favor most of his Cubist style, top of the list being Guernica and the featured painting Three Musicians.  They are jigsaw-puzzle-like, flat planes of solid colors, overlapping like cutout paper making sense in the end.  

Three Musicians is a complicated composition, so much so, this study may have convinced me to not tackle a larger painting.  Don't know yet.  I find Picasso's painting just plain fun.  You see a recurring figures, a Harlequin and a masked Pierrot - both familiar characters in the old Italian theater stories. You see sheet music on a stand, a clarinet and guitar and even a dog's paws stretched out on the bottom left corner.  

When I paint these reproductions of artworks, there's always a deeper understanding of each piece - a valuable lesson every time.  

From the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

~ Stay healthy, stay safe and wear your mask.

"Good Boy"

9 x 12"

oil on panel
sold

Jamie Wyeth, the son of the great artist Andrew Wyeth and the grandson of the illustrator and artist N. C. Wyeth is a giant to me.  He remains tireless and prolific - my favorites are portraits of Andy Warhol and the Soviet dancer Rudolph Nureyev, his gigantic portraits of pigs and any painting with a dog.

Meet Kleberg, Jamie Wyeth's yellow lab.  As the story goes, told by Jamie in a Saturday Evening Post article, one day, Kleberg got a little too close to his easel and he spontaneously painted a black circle around Kleberg's eye to make him look like Petey from the Little Rascals.  Kleberg seemed to enjoy the extra attention so Jamie switched to a black mustache dye that lasted longer, remarking "Kleberg would come to me when it needed touching up."  And that circle remained for the rest of Kleberg's years.

The painting Kleberg includes a Victorian skep or beehive, woven from straw - essentially a basket placed upside-down - used to house bees for some 2000 years. The books on the shelf reflect Jamie's favorites, including Treasure Island, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle's illustrated Pyle's Book of Pirates and a biography of John F. Kennedy, who's portrait Jamie was commissioned to paint.

Kleberg can be viewed in the Denver Art Museum.

Please click here for a larger view.

"Drink Up"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

I have a great admiration for the artist Winslow Homer.  He was self-taught.  He was an illustrator.  His mother was a watercolor painter and was his first teacher and nurtured his artistic abilities at a young age.  His father, on the other hand, sold his hardware store when Winslow was a teenager and took off for the California gold rush - which failed - then went to Europe to raise cash for a get-rich-quick scheme that failed.

Homer took on an apprenticeship for a lithographer at the age of 19, then joined the staff of Harper's Weekly that lasted over 20 years.  He was sent to the front lines of the American Civil War to document the battle scenes and soldier life, which didn't get much attention but it sharpened his skills.  When he returned to his normal life, he concentrated on paintings of rural life, scenes of childhood and young women - gaining great popularity with his images of nostalgia and simpler times.

Homer had this thing about portraying women and now-freed black men and women in a more dignified and strong way.  He corrected the disparaging images that publications like Harper's Weekly had printed for years in that respect.  

Homer's A Temperance Meeting is a perfect example, painted in 1874, hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Their description of this work is so well written - "Homer's painting cleverly refers to the rising American temperance movement, a crusade against drinking alcohol, by depicting a stout milkmaid pausing while a farmhand drinks from her ladle. Swaying under the weight of her pail and squinting into the sun, she presents the ideal of natural womanhood. Her powerful presence, marked by broad shoulders, muscular arms, and sunburned skin, counters the farmhand's relaxed stance and shaded face, visually reversing traditional gender roles. Far from flirting, the two figures awkwardly avoid each other's gaze, modeling rural wholesomeness and rectitude."

~ Stay healthy and wear your mask.
 

"Color is the New Black"

9 x 12"

oil on panel

sold

When it comes to really feeling the joy of a painting, top of my list is dogs.  Second is featuring any painting by Wayne Thiebaud.  He is a giant in my world.

Wayne Thiebaud has painted ordinary objects - wedges of pie, lipstick, sunglasses, neck ties, cupcakes, buckets of paint, gumball machines, shoes to name a few - for decades.  What sets him apart as a painter is he takes that subject, that thing, and injects life into it - with color.  Take one shoe you see in his painting Shoe Rows.  There is, approximately, no less than 10 colors of paint in that one shoe.  The edges vibrate. The devotion to every object and shadow is admirable.

And that's why this painting was pure joy to paint.

Please click here for a larger view.

"Mother and Child Reunion"

8 x 10"

oil on panel
sold

Well, after painting my smaller study you see on the post below, I jumped right into a larger, more-realized piece.  The Mary Cassatt painting is larger, the details are more crisp and that gives me so much more insight to her colors and edges.

Cassatt, like other artists in her time, were influenced by other cultures and their artwork.  Picasso found African masks his springboard to more geometric paintings which lead to Cubism.  Cassatt and Matisse were inspired by Japanese design and printmaking which lead to figures that appeared almost 2-dimensional or cut-outs.  They incorporated fabric patterns in backgrounds and clothing on figures, which was fairly uncommon in painting up until then.  That's why I say The Child's Bath is so quintessential Mary Cassatt.

Please click here for a larger view.

"Mother and Child Reunion" (study)

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

The whole time I was painting this, Paul Simon's song was going through my head.  A mother and daughter viewing Mary Cassatt's The Child's Bath.  Quintessential Cassatt - observing the intimate relationship between mother and child, with an influence of Japanese block print and patterns on patterns.

From the Art Institute of Chicago.

~ a thank you to Stephania for the partial use of her photo.

"Hard Act to Follow"

9 x 12"

oil on panel
sold

I spotted this painting on Instagram and recognized it as one of the popular prints I used to frame for customers back in the day.  People commonly referred to it as "the goose girl", its real title is To Pastures New by Sir James Guthrie.  The painting has traveled all over the globe but does reside at the Aberdeen Art Museum in the UK.

James Guthrie was a Scottish painter during the late 1800's - early 1900's, during the Victorian era and what is called the Gilded Age.  The wealthy commissioned portrait artists - think John Singer Sargent and others, including Guthrie, to paint large, elaborate portraits of their patriarchs, wives and children to adorn their mansion walls.  It was all the craze.

The young group of Scottish artists, the Glasgow Boys, who Guthrie was associated with, considered themselves rebellious, rejecting the older generation of artists and declared themselves to be anti-establishment.  Other groups, like the union of newspaper illustrators with members such as Winslow Homer, grew tired of the upper crust being depicted in popular art and felt the need to portray the working class and African-Americans who were experiencing prolonged lives of enslavement during Reconstruction.  They felt an obligation to show their dignity and contributions despite their suppression.

To Pastures New is a perfect example of Guthrie's commitment and sense of pride painting directly from nature and his surroundings in Scotland, portraying a young, hard-working peasant girl filling the canvas like a giant shepherding her animals through the field on a normal workday.  

Please click here for a larger view.