RAINY NIGHT

22x24" oil on canvas SOLD

The last one from the city series. Finished this earlier this week.

WINDOW SHOPPING

24x18" oil on cradled panel

Another from the city streets series I was doing the last few weeks. Heavy impasto, palette knife and sgraffito define this approach. I have one more which I'll post tomorrow .....maybe... if I remember. That brings me to a subject I should say something about. I have begun to feel like a slave to the blog thing in the last several months. In the beginning, I tried hard to make a stab at posting new work every day for a couple years- and, I'll admit, it was mostly to try to sell daily paintings as I'd seen so many other painters doing. But that is a hard thing to keep up unless you ONLY paint small 6x6"-6x8" works. I don't produce a little daily painting  everyday so  it is impossible to post every day unless I show works in progress. I'm not that enthused about shooting a photo at the end of every day and loading it onto the computer just to keep the blog 'new'. I don't think anyone is all that interested in seeing my 'in progress' shots anyhow. So, I've been concentrating on  full sized paintings again which is what I did for most of my painting career until the daily painting thing got hold of me.
So- if I neglect to post, it's not that I'm not working, it's only because I'm freeing myself from the 'Have To' feeling associated with small daily paintings. Unlike some daily painters, I have not made enough money from sales of tiny daily works to justify spending all my time on them. So there you have it... my grumpy rant for today. Hope it was entertaining or at least enlightening.

URBAN LANDSCAPE

18x24" oil on cradled panel SOLD

Another from the series I've been working on. These are a style that crosses a few borders. First of all, they are all done with the knife as opposed to brushes, I suppose you could call it impressionistic in that I'm trying to just suggest things. But I feel they are bordering on abstract in that it wouldn't take much to push them over the edge into little more than colors shapes that fit together in a harmonious relationship. I'm walking on the edge of things here. I hope I don't trip and fall!

SHAME ON ME

CHINA TOWN  18x24" oil on panel

RAIN DAZZLE 31x47" oil on canvas SOLD

I've been neglecting the blog again. But I HAVE been painting! I decided to lay off the boats for a while and concentrate on something entirely different. People! Looking to catch movement, I'm blurring the lines a bit more in these. I'm also blurring the lines between realism and abstract. More spontaneity - less thinking. Coloring outside the lines again. Feels good!

SIMPLE SILENCE

Acrylic on canvas 30"x32" SOLD

Here's how the one from last month came out.(See Below)

Whirlwind Romance

                                                      

                                                             48"x52" oil on canvas SOLD

I finished this one to go along with a theme of cityscapes I've been working on. I used a photo by a fellow artist/photographer-Justin Kington for reference and I stuck pretty close to his composition. I took a few liberties but almost caught the same feeling evoked in his original shot. Thanks Justin!  Below is a quick shot taken in the studio (through a mirror) to show the size. Yes, that old guy in the shot is me for reference.

PROTECTED

This is a larger one. Very impressionist style. There was so much bokeh since it was shot into the sun that I decided to try to catch that effect. I like it even if it's not my style.

new work

Working on this  and I thought I'd show some 'in progress' shots. It's 32x30" acrylic on canvas. I was trying to tone down this one since I've done so many hyper-colorful boats.   These somber colors may be easy on the eyes but when the weather outside is gray I hate to create in 'grayscale'. Help! I need color!

CHICKADEE 8

6"x6" acrylic on panel...$100 SOLD

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IN YOUR DREAMS

6x8"acrylic on panel

This one is framed and available at
RIVERSEA GALLERY   in Astoria Oregon

JAR 'O BRUSHES

acrylic on panel...$100 SOLD

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Here's another  bunch of brushes.

POT OF GOLD

acrylic on panel...$100 SOLD

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The tools of the trade.

CHOP CHOP

6x8 inch acrylic on gessoboard...$50 SOLD

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PEEP SWAY

6"x6" acrylic on gessoboard...$100

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  I find it difficult to paint in this super loose style even though I like it. I catch myself overworking the piece which is not what I'm after. It may look like I painted this in 5 minutes but in reality there were only 5 good minutes. The rest of the time was one bad brushstroke after another. Each time I had to start over. Hope you like it.

SUNLIT BARN

8x6" acrylic on panel...$100

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After a long Christmas break I dragged my self back to work. The dragging is due to inertia I guess. It's not that I don't want to paint, it's that I stopped so as to spend time enjoying my kids being home for the holidays and found that I fell into that old  "I'll never paint again" mode. It is similar to the "I just don't have another painting in me" mode so many of you can relate to. Funny how every time I find myself there I have to re-convince myself that yes..... I will be able to paint again. After looking online at somewhere in the neighborhood of a zillion paintings, I finally felt inspired and started slapping some paint on a panel with a photo of an old white barn as a reference. It felt good to be moving paint around again. Since my sales are way down again, I thought I'd try an auction instead of a fixed price on this one, hoping someone out there in cyberspace will be flush with new xmas cash and bid this up to help finance my 3 college kids (yes, I said Three!)