"Red Alert"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

I took a break from painting larger pieces and loosened up with this flirty moment - a woman seemingly being eyed by the Portrait of a Member of the Haarlem Civic Guard by Frans Hals.

Frans Hals (the Elder) was a Dutch Golden Age painter during the time of Rembrandt, a portrait artist much like his contemporaries.  I found it amusing that Hals insisted he stay in Haarlem and his clients needed to come to him to sit for a portrait, and it apparently worked for years because he did achieve success until he went out of style.  He was also an art restorer, dealer and art tax expert for the city.  Turned out the city and creditors sued him numerous times for debt and seized several pieces of furniture and paintings to settle. Left destitute, he was afforded a city pension but left nothing of note for his family when he died.

His portraits are hung in museums around the world.  There is a Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, Amsterdam, Antwerp, the Louvre in Paris, the Frick and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to name a few.

The Portrait of a Member of the Haarlem Civic Guard hangs in the National Gallery of Art DC.

'And to All a Good Night'

"And to All a Good Night"

by Norman Rockwell

Mentioned today in Charley Parker's artblog Lines & Colors.

~  Wishing you and yours a lovely Christmas holiday.

Calendars

SOLD OUT

The Swamp

I'm making progress.

Just to catch you up....

Here's where I have them on my website.

"Swept Away"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

Like many a Rembrandt painting,  A Girl With a Broom, painted in 1651, is one of the most-copied or faked paintings of all times.  In fact, the fakes have been produced since the mid-1700's.  Numerous people through the years have claimed they have the original, but alas, the original hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

"200 Faces, No. 157 & 158"

 4 x 4"

oil on panel

 4 x 4"

oil on panel

 

 

New additions to my ongoing series BUST-ED.

"200 Faces, No. 156"

4 x 4"

oil on panel

The newest addition to my ongoing series BUST-ED.

"An Assumption"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

This new painting will be my Christmas card this year.  

Featured is the Assumption of the Virgin with Saints Julian and Minias by the artist, Andrea del Castagno, painted in 1449.  The Rector of a church in Florence commissioned the painting for an altarpiece - a church that dated back to the 11th century.  In 1888, the church was demolished during the Reconstruction of Florence and the altarpiece was purchased by the Staatliche Museum in Berlin, where visitors can view this remarkable work of art.

The original photograph is by Stefan Draschan, who kindly gave me permission to use it as a reference.

"200 Faces, No. 155"

4 x 4"

oil on panel

A new addition to my ongoing series BUST-ED.

Asked why I'm painting these final 50 - it is practice, wishful thinking and very cathartic.

I've got a plan for these final 50, so for now, they will not go on auction.

"Daisy"

My friends' beloved Daisy.  RIP.

"200 Faces, No. 154"

4 x 4"

oil on panel

A new addition to my ongoing series BUST-ED.

"200 Faces, No. 153"

4 x 4"

oil on panel

A new addition to my ongoing series BUST-ED.

"200 Faces, No. 152"

4 x 4"

oil on panel

A new addition to my ongoing series  BUST-ED.  A preemptive mugshot of sorts.  The final 50 will be the individuals that are damaging our republic.  I'm simply venting thru my paintbrush.

"200 Faces, No. 151

4 x 4"

oil on panel
sold

I'm inspired to finish up my ongoing series BUST-ED with this new addition. 

"Heaven"

8 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

It's not just that the artist, Wayne Thiebaud, paints cakes, pies, cupcakes, ice cream cones and a variety of splendid desserts - he brushes on paint as if he were applying icing.  He swirls.  He wiggles.  And damn if every stroke and every touch of color, often unexpected color, is perfection. The last time I was at the National Gallery of Art in DC, I stood just as close as this woman and thought this is heaven.  

To mention, this is another small study for a larger painting.  And I really can't wait to start.

"Dignity"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

Believe it or not, I'm planning out a solo show taking place next March and this is one of the studies of one that I will do larger.  The artworks that will be featured are 'extra-large' - examples are (this) Barack Obama 'Hope' by Shepard Fairey, Guernica by Picasso, etc.

Shepard Fairey's large, mixed-media portrait is based on Fairey's Barack Obama 'Hope' poster, which came to represent Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.  Fairey created the large portrait after Obama won the election and the Smithsonian Institution acquired it for its National Portrait Gallery. 

"Listen Up"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

A small study - two young ladies grooving on Interrupted Reading by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot in the Art Institute of Chicago.

"Daisies Like This"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

I hope you've enjoyed your Labor Day weekend.

I've been painting studies all week including this new piece I finished this evening.  A woman viewing a painting in the Art Institute of Chicago - one that always makes me smile - Henri Matisse's Daisies.

"Overheads"

6 x 6" 

oil on panel
sold

From the Art Institute of Chicago, museum patrons waiting in line to an exhibit underneath one of Ellsworth Kelly's The Chicago Panels.

The Chicago Panels were commissioned specifically for the walls on the floor above the American Art sculpture court - consisting of six painted, monochromatic, curved aluminum panels. 

Please consider donating to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army to help people affected by Hurricane Harvey.  You can donate here to the Red Cross and donate here to the Salvation Army. 

"Suit Yourself"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

The Belgium artist, Rene Magritte clearly had a sense of humor.

Magritte's earliest paintings date back to 1915 - and like most artists of that time period, he dabbled in different styles, beginning with Impressionism, Cubism, Fauvism then Surrealism after becoming involved with a group of surrealists in Paris.  Meanwhile, to earn a living, he ran an advertising agency back in Brussels, continued painting in a more painterly style - even earned a living at one time producing fake Picassos and Braques and believe it or not, forged banknotes during the postwar period. 

The Son of Man was completed in 1964 as a self-portrait.  The hovering, green apple obsures most of his face, as Magritte explained 'Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.  There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us.  This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present'.

The Son of Man has been parodied multiple times in literature, film and artworks - notably a few - Norman Rockwell painted a homage titled Mr. Apple, the Simpsons had Bart behind a floating apple, and the film The Thomas Crown Affair included the painting in several scenes.

The Dark Side of the Moon

Enjoy it.  Wherever you are.


'Solar Eclipse' by Yuri Shwedoff

Reposting an Important One

6 x 6"

oil on panel
sold

Norman Rockwell's profound 1964 painting 'The Problem We All Live With' is on the top of my Rockwell list.  It depicts 6-year-old Ruby Bridges, an African-American girl, being escorted to an all-white public school in New Orleans, by four deputy U.S. marshalls.  What is so very effective is the viewer is seeing the point of view from the angry crowd, the hint being the racial slurs on the wall and the tomato splattered in between the figures.  

The image was published in a 1964 issue of Look magazine - Rockwell's contract with the Saturday Evening Post ended in 1963 due to Rockwell's continued frustration with the magazine's limitations on his expressions of progressive social interests, including his personal views on civil rights and racial integration.

Norman Rockwell's granddaughter, Abigail, recently wrote a compelling article in the Huffington Post titled Would There Be Norman Rockwell Without The Saturday Evening Post?  Rockwell undoubtedly evolved as an illustrator between 1916 and 1963 - becoming a storyteller with his images like no other.  His career with the Post yielded 322 covers before he ended his contract.

Ruby Bridges, at the age of 56, visited the painting in the White House in 2011 - at the request of President Obama.

The CNN writer, Bob Greene, wrote about that event in this article.  Within that article, these words struck me "..the message of the painting is so powerful that it goes well beyond the incident it portrays. The message transcends our usual Democrats-vs.-Republicans, conservatives-vs.-liberals, left-vs.-right squabbling.  Rockwell was a genius not just because of the technical skill of his artistry, but because of his eye for the telling detail. And in "The Problem We All Live With," the key detail is how he framed the four U.S. marshals who are accompanying that child to school. We do not see their faces; in the painting, the men are cropped at their shoulders.

That is the power and the story of the painting: Four men were accompanying Bridges to school, yes, but the point was, the United States of America was accompanying her. We see the men's "Deputy U.S. Marshal" armbands, and that is what matters. The painting tells us: This country may have its flaws, but when right and wrong are on the line, the nation, in the end, usually chooses to stand for right."

"Hip To"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

A woman stands in front of Mark Rothko's No. 3/No. 13 in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

"Girls With Pearls"

6 x 8"

oil on panel
sold

I was simply inspired to paint this new piece after I turned on the movie Girl with a Pearl Earring - which, by the way, is an artist's dream of a beautifully visual film.  Every minute is a painting.

Johannes Vermeer was a moderately successful Dutch painter in the 17th century - specializing in domestic scenes in his own middle-class life.   He painted slow and infrequently and insisted on using expensive paints but his signature element was light.

Vermeer wasn't a wealthy man - but his future mother-in-law was wealthy and insisted Johannes convert to Catholicism before marrying her daughter Catharina - and with her help, Vermeer was able to pursue painting.   The couple went on to have eleven children, all who were left penniless and in debt after his death at age 43.

Vermeer's works were hardly known outside of Amsterdam until the 19th century - imagine that.  His famous painting Girl with a Pearl Earring hangs in The Hague in the Netherlands.