Showroom

First week of August, 2013

First week of August, 2013

First week of August, 2013
Oil (about 30 gallons of it) on Canvas, 24 x 36 in

Sometimes when you try something difficult you are rewarded with spectacular success – but more frequently, you crash and burn. This is a story of the latter. I am posting it regardless.
I need to understand water better. In case it isn’t clear, this painting is of the lake – the foreground is looking in to the water, and from there as you work back gradually the part of the water that you can’t see into, that’s reflecting the sky.

I want to be able to “see” water better. I am stupefied every time I look into it by its incredible beauty, unfathomable complexity, and utterly bewildering symmetry. I am trying to understand translucency – as told through colour, my medium – as opposed to through light, it’s medium. I have a long way to go. But I suppose I’m one step closer to understanding.

May 8th-12th, 2013

May 8th-12th, 2013

May 8th-12th, 2013
My backyard, MA
Oil on Canvas, 22 x 30 in

This is the painting as it stands, about 6/7ths of the way complete. I was captivated earlier this spring by the fresh cool bloom of spring leaves and flowers, as they lit up in the warm glow of sunset. I took pictures, then didn’t get out to paint it quickly enough, and the whole aspect of the plant had changed.

I worked outside on location with the picture in hand to reconstruct what I had seen, and use the real trees and surroundings to inform my coloration. I did not go to Essex today. The weatherman said it would be raining and stormy, and I knew if I went, trusting in my star, it would pour. So I stayed here to finish this, and ensure by my absence the day would be clement for my friends out in the Greenbelt today.

April 6th, 2013

April 6th, 2013

April 6th, 2013
Cox Reservation, Essex Greenbelt, Essex MA
Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in
(sold)

After the frustration of last week, which I realize was caused by my painting a scene in the worst possible direction sunlight-wise (SW I think – changes quickly over a short period of time), my goal this weekend was to paint a scene due North. I liked the way this tenacious oak retained its dead leaves through the winter, and the drama of their orangey tone against the gorgeous clear sky. I don’t think the photo does it justice; because although this painting is by no means perfect, I did succeed, in my own eyes, here and there, in reproducing the dazzling effect of the leaves against the sky.

February 8th-10th, 2013

February 8th-10th, 2013

February 8th-10th, 2013
Oil on Canvas, 24 x 36 in
(nfs)

Painted this weekend while contemplating one of the warmest, most compassionate people I know who very recently suffered a devastating loss. The warmth of the sun playing on the cold of the snow… And the whole time I was painting, a line from a song (it’s the only line I know from that song) kept looping through my brain “We found love in a hopeless place.” The person in mind and the person they lost are both the type of people who can flood a room, building, community – with hope, with love.

Winterlude

Last week of January, 2013

Winterlude
Last week of January, 2013
Oil on Canvas, 24 x 32 in

Silent Watchers of the Night

Nov 30th, 2012

Silent Watchers of the Night
Oil on Masonite, 24 x 30 in
(sold)

Now that I see it here I see a few more things I need to fix – this is the penultimate pic of my newest painting. This time of evening, dusk, I always find inexpressably sad – but because I’m a little odd, when I saw these dead trees watching over the frozen marsh at dusk, I found them deeply comforting. Something in the way they stood together as a front or a community – against the cold, in spite of death.

Come Healing

November 16th-17th, 2012

Come Healing
November 16th-17th, 2012
Oil on Masonite, 24 x 30 in
(sold)

Once again sidelined with health problems, I worked on this indoors of a scene I’d seen on a walk recently. While painting I listened to Leonard Cohen’s new album, one song in particular seemed to speak to, and speak for, the very core of my being

In particular:
Behold the gates of mercy
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
The cruelty or the grace

Oh solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind.”

September 3rd, 2012

September 3rd, 2012

September 3rd, 2012
Seine Field, Gloucester MA
16 x 20 in
(sold)

I had spent two weeks preparing to go on a painting trip up in Canada, when the car I’d just spent a great deal of money getting into travelling shape was hit and totalled by a woman in an SUV. As a result I am currently driving a rental, which I was too leery of getting painty to go painting in on Saturday. Then I realized that was dumb, and went on Monday and it was a great relief. The best thing about this painting was the sky; but when I got home I found a case of Tab had fallen into it and ruined the whole thing. Rather than screaming at a cruel fate and giving up, I sat down and fixed it, as best I could. I think it turned out better than it had been initially, and luckily I have no photos of it before the accident to contradict this.