On the Way to Crested Butte 

 

 

A Post at Last 

Mandarins 

 

This is one of my paintings at the Holiday Show Open House at the Hunt Gallery 

4225 McCullough, San Antonio, TX — Saturday December 2nd from 1:00—5:00pm. 

The show will be up until January 5th, 2024.

 

Lots of terrific art will be on display on the walls and small works in baskets 

(sculpture and jewelry too)!

Come enjoy some holiday cheer and check out work by some of the best artists 

in the southwest region. You may find a special gift for a friend or family member. 

Or maybe something special for yourself . . . Hope to see you there!

Last Three Still-lifes of 2019

Waiting for Toast  11 x 14  Oil on canvas panel

Apple on Orange  8 x 8  Oil on canvas panel

Big Apple Blues  8 x 8  Oil on canvas panel

And it was all yellow

  
Lemon on Orange  10 x 8  oil on canvas 

Rift  8 x 10  oil on canvas 

 









Lemon on Lime  10 x 8  oil on canvas 

Yoga  10 x 8  oil on canvas 

A Star is Born  10 x 8  oil on canvas 

On The Green  10 x 8  oil on canvas 

Lemons on a Ledge  8 x 10  oil on canvas

Fields of Gold

Low-lying Clouds (sold)

Low-lying Clouds  12 x 12   Oil on canvas

Greenacres series

Greenacres  12 x 12   Oil on panel

Willow at Greenacres   12 x 12  Oil on panel

Greenacres 3     16 x 20   Oil on canvas

Remains of the Day 1 and 2

Remains of the Day  24 x 30    Oil on canvas

Remains of the Day 2    30 x 40  Oil on canvas

Two Palms

I started painting and drawing palm trees when I was in
eighth grade in Boston where I grew up—not a palm tree
in sight! Even dreamt of living the sailing life, exploring
tropical islands on a 50-foot sailboat. These are Los
Angeles palms but there are many varieties right here in
San Antonio.

Sunrise Pansies

It's pansy season in South Texas. These valiant little flowers love the
winter here—high 20s - 30s at night and even during the day. It doesn't
snow here very often but when it does, their little faces look happy
peeking out from a snowy blanket. I have no idea how "pansy" became 
synonymous with "delicate" or "fragile."

Esperanzas

There are a few versions of this underneath—esperanzas
are trumpet-shaped flowers and all my efforts to portray
them as they really look ended up feeling static. At some
point, it felt that this was really about complementary
colors—yellow and purple and about brush strokes. Mixing
greyed-down yellows and yellow-tinted purples seemed
like a fine-enough intention for this one painting.

Bringle Bottle (Blue)

Same bottle . . . When I paint a subject for the first time,
I find I could head off in multiple directions which, of
course, can't be done on the same canvas. Sometimes the
new iterations are better, sometimes just different.

Hadn't realized until after my last post that I'd been away
from my blog for two years! I did continue to paint, though.



 

Bringle Bottle (Gray)

This "model" is a porcelain bottle by Cynthia Bringle,
a wonderful Penland ceramist. I think I bought it
around 1980 from a Denver gallery. This painting
is in a small works holiday group show up now at
the Hunt Gallery in San Antonio.

Unsuspecting

I loved David Shevlino's workshop and everyone in it! David
is a very generous teacher and all-around nice guy and every
one in the group was so dedicated to improving their work.
My intention was to get looser and more interpretive but
learning to paint figures was a challenge in itself. So while my
looseness level hasn't progressed much, I learned a lot.

His workshop really bounced me out of an obsessive mindset—
I'd been feeling I didn't have a compelling subject and wasn't happy
with the way I "should" be handling paint. Trying to learn from an
artist I admire, all of those thoughts flew out the window and I just
concentrated on painting without judging. Maybe the looseness I
aspire to will just appear on its own?

Waiting

I think this is my fifth attempt at trying to paint from this reference
photo. I took a lot of shots of this model (my daughter) in this setting
and want to continue working from them. Painting the figure in a non-
traditional way is really challenging so I signed up for a David Shevlino
workshop hoping some of his looseness and magic will rub off on me!

Some Animal Paintings!

The Artist

This painting is one I managed to fit in early on in the animal-
painting marathon. I used a black and white reference photo of
the artist Francis Bacon. When I first saw his work in the late
60s, it intrigued me and also repulsed me in a way but I was drawn
to it for its intensity and originality. I've always wished I could be
that bold and push past what seems safe and acceptable. While that
wish doesn't seem to materialize, I enjoyed trying to infuse my
impressions of him onto a portrait.

Still photographing the animals and will post some at some point.
Thanks so much for viewing and for your very nice comments!

Rancho de Taos Church

Can't believe I haven't posted since April! Time flies. This one
was done in May as an exploration of color, invented, exaggerated color.
I used a reference photo taken by a photographer friend, Peter Szarmach.
His work can be seen at www.composingbeauty.com 

I've been painting a lot—25 5 x 7 animal paintings for my daughter's
wedding. I feel like I've been painting them for months (because I have).

Facing West

I've done a lot of paintings recently but haven't wanted to post any
of them. Or show them to anyone. They just didn't look like me or
I didn't recognize anything of me in them. And then it seemed I should
just accept that this is me, this is the way I paint. So I did and slowly,
it dawned on me that it was the paint itself or lack of painterliness
that was bothering me. I was using more and more paint with a
little walnut oil but the paint still seemed brittle and flat when it dried,
not juicy. This is painted over a previous image as an attempt to just
putter. It was fun to drag dark colors into and over lights and not worry
about overshooting edges, just keeping everything soft, finding an edge
if the composition seemed to need it. Most fun I've had in awhile.

Sunny Corner

I found it easier here to think in terms of composition
and light and not worry about details. Wise artist friends
have told me I should allow viewers to supply details
or complete unfinished areas in their imaginations. I
try to be conscious of that while painting but don't always
practice what I'm intending . . . This will be one of my
offerings in an upcoming holiday show at the Hunt Gallery
in San Antonio. It's on Saturday, December 5th from
1 - 5pm. There will be drinks and munchies and maybe
even some very good deals!