Bearded Iris

I keep all of my gouache, and gouache/watercolor paintings in Canson watercolor
paper spiral-bound notebooks. I have been doing this for about ten years. I like the paper,
because it doesn't wrikle very much, as long as I confine my composition to a fairly
small area, and it also takes the Cotman watercolors - which I like to combine with
my Caran d'ache gouache paints - very well. Sometimes, if I know I am gong to use
a lot of watercoor in a piece, I will use Liftng Preparation first and allow that to dry
before I start working. That makes it easier to remove any color I may want to. Of
course, this is not essential when working with gouache, because it is opaque, and
you can paint over anything, but sometimes you may want a more transparent area
in your work. I also really enjoy working with the new watercolor canvas that came
out a couple of years ago. You can do virtually anything on that - for watercolorists
it's a dream because it is really easy to life from. As long as you keep your compositions
very small - which mine are, just naturally - you don't need to do any preparation. But,
if you want to use a whole sheet, you need to stretch it just like a piece of regular watercolor
paper, or it will buckle and wrinkle on you. This can be most upsetting. - If you look at my
piece above, you can see that I used both opaque and transparent paint. I particularly like
the curled petal on the bottom right that is very lavendar with a highlight. Then, there is
a semi-transparent wash behind that, that really emphasizes the solidity of the curled petal.
I like the colors in this piece.                                                                                          BID

Black and White Chalk Drawing (after Robert Barret (?))

I have to say that I really like this drawing. The funny thing is, I don't even really remember doing it.
It's in a notebook I have of some rather strange, smooth gray paper, that I think may have been made
out of recycled paper, because there are tiny flecks of barely visible color in it that actually show up
more in a photograph than to the naked eye. Here I am using a very time-honored technique - a mid-
tone paper paired with black and white chalk or pencils. One could also use sepia, sanguine, really
any dark color that would serve to represent the shadowed areas of the form. That is the whole point
really, of using the toned paper with these materials. The toned paper functions as the mid-tones, or
evenly-illuminated parts of the body, the white expresses strong illumination, and the dark pencil renders
the form with more detail and shadows of different values, the degree to which it is developed is really
a function of the artist's style. Having said all that, what I really like about this drawing is the lines. BID            

Black and White Head of Hypnos

This is yet another drawing of my beloved Head of Hypnos. I do not know who sculpted it. Perhaps someone does? But I have never seen any attribution given in any book. Perhaps it is just too ancient, and was never signed, or was effaced at
some point, like so many works of art because of some disagreement, often beginning with a one of a religious nature as in
our society today. But I can't imagine everyone not agreeing on one fact - that this is a sublimely beautiful object of a bizarre
nature and endless fascination. It is utterly inspiring to me - but I have always found ancient objects to be artistically inspiring. I don't know why, and I guess it doesn't really matter in the end. Even though this is my own drawing I find it just
as hypnotic as the sculpture itself. That is a very nice feeling to have. I have done plenty of duds, but here I feel I captured how I see, and what I feel about the Head of Hypnos. and it doesn't matter to me what anyone else feels. If they like it, that
is wonderful, but if they don't, well, that is alright too. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" my mother always told me,
and she was right.                                                                                                             Buy It Now

Gabe in Class on Monday

Oil on shellacked Canson Paper, done while teaching Expressive and Gestural Figure Painting at the Art League School in Alexandria, Virginia. This sketch was about thirty minutes long.                                                  Buy It Now

Second Version of Caribbean Memory

Oil on Linen laid down on board, 14" x 20"

Pink Cloud Landscape

 Oil over Acrylic on 1/2" thick wood panel, 6" square                              SOLD

Drawing of Italian Woman in a Doorway for a Softgroud Etching

This is a drawing I have never posted before. I did it quite a while ago, but
I think it is interesting because most people would wonder why it is brown, unless
they are familiar with printmaking. --  I use a wonderful softground varnish made
by Lefranc&Bourgeois called "Vernis Noir Mou", which just means "Black Soft
Varnish". It comes in a small white glass jar and you scoop some out with a palette
knife and put it in a piece of nylon stocking. -- Then you heat up your zinc or
copper plate, rub the ground over the plate; it melts and you quickly roll it out
with a soft rubber roller into a uniform coating. Once it cools down you can put
a piece of paper over it and do a drawing. The ground sticks to the paper wherever
there has been pressure from the pencil - therefor exposing the plate in those areas.
The plate is then put in nitric acid (this was a zinc plate) and "bitten" until the
image is deep enough to create a print when inked up. --  The reason this drawing
is brown is that I used tracing paper and the brown is the color of the ground that
has stuck to the paper because of the pressure of my hard pencil. Complicated,
but rewarding.

Tomatoes for Betsy

Oil on Board

Burnt Orange

                                                                        SOLD









Oil on Board                                          NFS

Carribean Memory

Oil on linen    14" X 20                                                                      Buy it Now

This is another painting done from memory. I am just as interested in the

abstract qualities of the piece as I am in trying to reproduce reality. I am

also trying to create some subtle color harmonies, which is always an

absorbing challenge.

Thanks for visiting.

Painting for Candice

                                                            SOLD









Oil on board, 7" x 9 "  NFS

Painting for Candice

Oil on board                         7" X 9"                             NFS


Memory of Chicoteague

Oil on Linen laid down on board                                                    14" x 20"

I actually started this painting several years ago as part of a series that I have

yet to complete. It was meant to be part of a triptych. It was painted mostly

from memory, so that accounts for its very simplified treatment of certain

aspects of the composition. But I like it, and it conveys, for me, what I felt

was the delicate beauty of the marshes and the sky.

Memory of Chicoteague

                    Oil on Linen laid down on board                 14" x 20"

Memory of Chincoteague

Pear Demo over Grisaille

9.5" x 6.5"    Oil over black and white grisaille on gessoed cotton paper
 
This is a demonstration that I did for my "Beginning Painting and Beyond" class at The Art League 
School. First we paint in Mars Black and white, establishing the shapes and forms of the pears. After
that dries for a week, we glaze the grisalle ("gris" means "gray" in French) with Gamblin's Transparent
Red Earth, blot it where we don't want too much of the influence of that color, and then paint the pears
using a limited palette. This study was probably completed in about twenty minutes, but I still like it, and
think it is a successful, loose painting.

Two Life Studies of Alan from Class

6.5" x 8", Pencil and White Gouache on Brown Paper

I did this page of studies during a class I was teaching at The Art League.
It is called "Figure Drawing in Varied Media", and every quarter I have the
class try some new materials. This was done when we were using a combination
of pencil (could also be colored pencil and a different colored paper) and
white gouache highlighting on toned paper. I was happy with these studies
and saved them. -  I am so sad that Alan moved to Florida. He was such a
wonderful model, and a real gentleman. We all miss him.

Artichokes on a Pink Plate



Oil on Gessoed Ragboard laid down on wood, 5" x 8"   SOLD

I really enjoyed doing this painting. It was truly a challenge analyzing

the colors in the artichokes. Who ever thinks about actually mixing pink

and green together? Of course, they are complementary colors, but we

usually think about mixing red and green to create a muted, neutral

color. Here, I had to create many different versions of green, and some

spots were almost iridescent. I love these colors! -  I think I may keep

experimenting with artichokes, or, I bought some beautiful small

Indian eggplants at an amazing international supermarket that we

go to. They are a rich purple/rose color with contrasting green/brown

stems. Now I just have to come up with a composition that will do

them justice. Color is an amazing thing - it is almost alive in its

ability to interact and create any effect that you can think of.

Josef Albers was correct when he described color as being the

most "mercurial" aspect of art. But mastering color -- that is the

challenge that every artist faces, and for some it is a never-ending,

totally absorbing pursuit. I know that it is for me.



Boston Sunset for Teresa Toulouse

Oil on Board, 5.5" Square                                                 SOLD

If it seems as though I am obsessed with this image, that is correct.
Perhaps it is because I lived here for nine years, and looked out of
this window every day. I just find the shapes to be endlessly fascinating,
and the opportunities to play with color presented by creating skies to
be endless fun.

This was painted for a dear friend whom I have known for forty-two
years  - I can't believe it...time really does fly.

Caribbean Seascape for Patrick Toulouse

Oil on Belgian Linen, 4.5" x 7"
Sold

This is my first post since last August....it has been a long,
difficult and enlightening year. However, it was a year

without any artwork produced, and I am so grateful to

be painting again. I have so many ideas and subjects, and

mediums that I want to work in -- I wish I could work
twenty-four hours a day! Right now I am really interested

in producing landscapes and figure paintings, so that is
what you will probably see here. We'll see.....

Thanks for your faithfulness, and thanks for visiting.