"Aspirations"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

One thing I love in museums is witnessing people really connecting with art, like this young man who sat directly in front of this inspiring 1944 portrait of William A."Bill" Campbell by Betsy Graves Reyneau in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.

William Campbell served as one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen during WWII.  The Portrait Gallery's plaque reads:

"A decorated fighter pilot who served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, William A. "Bill" Campbell joined the military in 1942, when all branches of the U.S. armed forces were rigidly segregated. Shortly after America's entry into World War II, Campbell enrolled in flight training at special facilities established for African American pilots and technicians at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University). Earning his wings in July 1942, Second Lieutenant Campbell was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Corps's Ninety-Ninth Pursuit Squadron. On June 2, 1943, he saw action as a wingman on the inaugural combat mission carried out by the Tuskegee Airmen. The first African American pilot to bomb an enemy target, Campbell flew 106 missions and ended the war as commander of the Ninety-Ninth Fighter Squadron. Awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, and thirteen Air Medals, he retired from the service as a full colonel in 1970."

It is one of my personal favorites in the National Portrait Gallery.

"Enigma"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

I'm home from a road trip up to Virginia to visit with family and got to visit the National Portrait Gallery in DC while we were there.  This museum, connected to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art is somewhat overlooked by visitors because it's not on the Mall with numerous other great museums, but it is SO worth it.

Credit to my sister-in-law, who took the photo for this new painting - a young man viewing an abstract expressionism painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, which I can't find the title to.

Jean-Michel Basquiat was a young, prolific artist who created most of his work during the 80's.  Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1960, he was a talented artist at a young age, encouraged by his mother, fluent in French, Spanish and English.  His parents separated when he was eight, returned to his mother's home in Puerto Rico for a couple of years then returned to New York City.  He was 13 when his mother was committed to a mental institution and Jean-Michel's troubled teen years began.  When he dropped out of high school, his father banished him from the family's home and he stayed with friends, supporting himself by selling artwork and T-shirts.

Basquiat went from homelessness and unemployement to selling his paintings for up to $25,000 in a matter of several years.  He produced around 600 paintings, 1500 drawings and sculptures in his short life and died at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose.

To summarize Basquiat's life, his experiences, the magic of pure fate that shaped his future, would take up an entire book.  I think he was a genius way before his time, but he lived in the right time for his artistic talents to be seen and heard.  He once described his art as 80% anger and to be described from then on by critics as "80% anger and 20% mystery".

Just one more plug for if you're in Washington DC - go to the National Portrait Gallery.  The museum redid the President's portraits gallery and it's most excellent.  Especially the portrait of President Obama, by Kehinde Wiley.  It brought tears to my eyes.

The long line to see Obama's portrait up close.

"Give Me a W"

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

My homage to Rockwell and our World Series - a young Chicago Cubs fan viewing Norman Rockwell's The Dugout.

GO CUBS!

"Legacy"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

I'll tell you a couple of things you don't know about me.

I love major league baseball.  We watch nearly every Braves game and we're bummed the season is ending this weekend.  We often watch late night LA Dodgers games for the pleasure of listening to Vin Scully announce the play-by-plays.  And sadly, that simple pleasure is coming to an end.  So a salute to Vin Scully, who's retiring after 67 seasons as the Voice of the Dodgers.  You'll be so missed.  On a happy note, the Chicago Cubs may very well be in the World Series and I'm rooting for them to go all the way.  Truth is, no other sports do a thing for me.  Just baseball.

Another thing you don't know about me - I failed Art History in college.  Two different classes as a matter of fact.  So now, I'm not only atoning for that, I'm avid about it.  The older I get, the more I grasp history and how art connects to it, to us.  You're never too old to learn.

Which brings me to my new project.  I'm mapping out the work for an upcoming solo show in the spring.  My recent visit to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art got me thinking about our American history - how art reflected the times, the movements, the struggles, the politics, everyday life.  

That notion evolved along with the summer of this Presidential election.  What's happened to me is I'm feeling defensive more and more about what kind of country we want, what we aspire to.  Do we embrace the past lessons and have we learned from them?  Do we want to move forward, progress as people, as a nation?  Do we accept our differences and find a way to live in harmony?  Are we proud of how we got here, our ancestors who many were immigrants?  Don't we want to be proud of our melting pot?  Do we want to be respected and show respect to one another?

That has brought me to an idea, a theme - something in the vein of American Pride or Spirit.  When I think in those terms, the best artworks I know come to mind.  I have a true passion for American art - you may have picked up on that.  Hopper, Rockwell, Thomas H Benton, Wyeth to name a few - depictions of who we are as Americans.  What we've accomplished thru thick and thin.  

So that's where I'm heading with my idea and I'd like you to be involved.  Be my focus group.  Offer ideas of iconic works of art that convey that American spirit.  I'll be working on small studies as I go - give me feedback.  Poopoo it if you want, give me a thumb's up if you want.  It all means something to me.

Now - a little bit about my new painting, which features Portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumball, which hangs in Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  John Trumbull was an artist during the American Revolutionary War, famous for his historical paintings - his Declaration of Independence is on the back side of the 2-dollar bill.

Trumball painted Hamilton's portrait in 1792, one of many made of Hamilton and considered the 'greatest known portrait' of one of our Founding Fathers.  

And a Happy October to you ~ 

"Thiebaud"

6 x 8"

oil on panel 

sold

I don't remember exactly the first time I saw a Wayne Thiebaud painting - I'm guessing years ago I framed a print and it was love at first sight.  It was probably one of his fabulous dessert paintings - wedges of pie or decorated cakes.   It stirred up my creative juices, it made me want to paint again.   It made me want to paint with oils.  

Thiebaud's distinct style is paint laid on thick, as if he's really icing a cake with his paint brush.  You can almost see in your mind his process of outlining and swirling the brushstrokes.  I love that.  Besides his recognized plates of foods, pies, cakes, candies, ice cream cones, shoes, lipsticks and figures,  he has painted the most stunning bird's-eye-views of California landscapes, laying on the paint and colors in patterns that just perfectly harmonize.  He has painted cityscapes that defy perspective rules,  stretching San Francisco-like streets and shadows to an almost vertigo-causing image.  Just genius.

Wayne Thiebaud was born in Arizona in 1920, grew up in Long Beach, California - as a teenager, worked at Walt Disney Studios - essentially becoming a commercial artist until he was influenced to go the fine art route, like many artists I know.  In the 60's, an art dealer in New York grabbed on to him - during the Pop Art movement of Warhol, Lichtenstein, etc.  I read somewhere he didn't define himself as a Pop artist - he referred to himself as a 'traditional painter of illusionistic form'.  Thiebaud is nearly 95 years old and I think still paints.

If I could personally meet any living artist,  it would be Thiebaud.  I regard him as one of the most influential, brilliant painters of our time.  My great admiration for Wayne Thiebaud was an easy choice for the letter T in my series ArtistZ.

As for my painting, the young man is viewing 'Three Machines', which hangs in the de Young Museum in San Francisco.  I tried to paint in the same swirly, free, ebullient style as Mr. Thiebaud.

Check out more of Thiebaud's paintings here.

"Beach"

5 x 7"

oil on panel
sold

This addition to my new series 'A to Z' could be Boy in a Bathing Suit at the Beach.  I simplified it.

"Back Support"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

I'm on my 10th painting for a grouping in a small solo show opening at the end of February - with the same young woman and the same Flemish painting you see on the post below.  The last piece I finished took d-a-y-s.  It includes one of the most fabulous paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but it was a doozie.  

I took a break today and loosened up with a new study of this young man resting his back next to a Monet in the French Impressionism gallery in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

"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. 

"Waiting In The Wings"

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

I'm very fond of this painting.  It's a nice way to end a work day.

A young man patiently waits for his family to tour the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC.

"The Dive"

8 x 8"

oil on panel
sold
 

A boy snorkeling in the Atlantic Ocean at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

Studio Sale!

I've got three paintings that I removed from the frames - painted in August 2012 - and I would be pleased to sell them.   If you'd like to take a quick look, I'd appreciate it.

'Fleeting Moment'

8 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

We were in Aiken, South Carolina for a Steeplechase event and visited their little city for dinner, where I spotted this gentleman watching a butterfly on the sidewalk.  

'The Shy One'

7 x 10"

oil on panel

I spotted this young man weaving roses out of palmetto leaves outside the city market in Charleston, South Carolina.  I love the shadows in this piece.

To purchase this painting, please click here.

 

'Early in Sterling'

10 x 6"

oil on panel

sold

From our cross-country travels last spring, a Edward Hopper-like painting of a row of little houses facing the early morning sunshine in Sterling, Colorado.

"Diggin' It"

8 x 10"

oil on panel
sold

I've had a cold.  In the grand scheme of things, it's just an ordinary cold but it turns the brain to mush.  But after a very nice evening with a couple who bought a painting of mine recently,  I got a much-needed shot in the arm and jumped back into the paints, despite my mushy brain.

Lucky for me, a Game of Thrones marathon has been on all day and I've stayed focused for a change, painting and reminding myself how the story has progressed - ready for the return of Season 3 tonight.  Yay.  It's the best thing on television, if you haven't tuned in yet.   Baseball returns tomorrow, the trees are budding and life is good.

I painted this piece on a bright, red ground - which takes some patience because colors do appear different on the red, with less predictable results, but that's what makes it fun.  Just like when you paint on black - at first you battle with it, then get familiar with how to go along with it.  

"Biker Gang"

16 x 6"

oil on masonite
sold

A new painting - three kids enjoying a bike ride on the beach on Hilton Head Island.

Please click here for a larger view.

"Boat People"

5 x 7"
oil on masonite
sold

A new addition to my ongoing series ATL to NYC & Back - a group of students riding on a chartered boat down the East River. Of course I just l-u-r-v-e the shadows.

"Bench Warmer"

5 x 7"
oil on masonite
sold

Here's a little guy I spotted on the outskirts of Central Park - an addition to my ongoing series ATL to NYC & Back. I hope to do a larger painting of him, wanted to do a small study first.

"Sailor Man"

6 x 6"
oil on masonite
sold

The gentleman who wrote to me recently, about his boyhood hobby of sailing these cool pond boats in the Conservatory Water in Central Park (otherwise known as the Boat Pond), inspired me to paint this new piece - an addition to my series ATL to NYC & Back. Just goes to show, simple pleasures are the best.

"Sunbird"

8 x 10"
oil on masonite
sold

You may recognize this from the demo I painted on the first day in the recent workshop - I painted this study before I left for New York, intending to bring it with me and work it a bit more during class, but it was too wet to travel. Now that I'm back, I finished it and would like to offer it on auction.

This young man had been playing in the fountain in Washington Square Park and parked himself in the sun to dry off.

"Short Putt"

5 x 7-3/4"
oil on masonite
sold

As I'm sitting here watching the Masters, I'm obsessing on Fred Couples, who I've had a crush on for 20 years and.... the human form. Not just his, but all shapes and sizes - how they stand, where the weight goes, the twists of the back - something I feel has to be just right when painting this subject. You can see when a golfer wiggles into a final position, planting themselves firmly before taking the shot. Very cool to watch.

detail

Included in my show - a young man with not too far to go. Please click here for a larger view.

"Green Tee"

6 x 6"
oil on masonite
sold

I'm back in my hut again. There was a painting marathon of about three weeks, then a quick decision made to join my old high school friends for a mini-reunion of sorts - drove to Chicago with my favorite pillows, did that, went into the city for about five hours and drove back to Atlanta. Call me crazy, but it's good for me to take a break like that.

Now back to work with a quick, loose piece to get warmed up - a young man I spotted on a bench in the Art Institute of Chicago.

"Palm Sunday"

7 x 14"
oil on masonite
sold

This you've seen earlier - a bit different for me in that it involves just a few colors - white, black, red and payne's grey. It's thick with texture, using both a palette knife and a brush. I love this painting.