Chincoteague Afternoon

7 1/2" x 5", Oil on Board, $100.00 BID HERE

I went to Chicoteage with my family many years ago, and I was

most fascinated by the marshy land that spread everywhere, and

the little inlets of water that would reflect the colors of the sky.

It was also fun to see the horses.

The last time we were there some of those horses were actually

wandering around on the beach trying to steal peoples' lunches

and treats, and my daughter, quite a bit younger at that point,

kept talking about "ponies gone bad". It was so funny, and we

had a wonderful day. I think this is kind of a Technicolor

Chincoteague, but, whatever. I had fun using my memory,

which was probably looking " through rose-colored glasses".

Silverpoint Head with Highlighting

6" x 8", Silverpoint on prepared, grounded

hotpress watercolor paper,

Bid Here

This is a silverpoint drawing, it was drawn

on a piece of paper that I prepared with a

ground made of a small amount of Liquitex

gesso mixed with a small amount of white

Gouache paint and then colored with cyan

and green watercolor paint. The ground is

applied with a wide, soft watercolor brush

and allowed to dry. It can be sanded if

it is too rough. You can also use straight

gesso, casein, or gouache as grounds. The

problem with gouache is that it remains

reactive to water.

It is easy to do a silverpoint drawing. All

you need is an architect's technical lead holder,

a piece of 18 guage silver wire, some masking

tape, and some very fine sand paper. You cut

a piece of silver wire about one inch long, and

wrap some tape around it so it won't wiggle

around in the lead holder. Then you place it

in the lead holder and retract the metal
"petals" that hold the lead in, and make sure

the silver doesn't wiggle.

Then, you sand the point until it is round.

This is very important, so that you won't just

rip lines in the ground. The abrasive ground

causes a little bit of silver to come off of the

wire each time you make a stroke, and

voila, you have a silverpoint drawing.

The highlighting was done with a very fine

#00 round liner-type watercolor brush and

some white gouache (often referred to as

"body color" in descriptions of old drawings).

This is really fun. You ought to try it. The silver

will oxidize over time, turning browner. If you

paint some egg yolk over it lightly, this will

accelerate the oxidation.

Thanks for visiting today.

Italian Villa Sunrise

4" x 5 1/2" , Oil over Acrylic on Board,

$100.00 SOLD

This is another version of a painting that I did

many years ago, based on a black and white

photograph I found in Italy. It is partly real,

and mostly made up.

A glaze of ultramarine blue over a thin black

acrylic sketch was the inspiration for the

"sunrise". From there it was fairly easy to imagine

what colors would be there if the sun were shining

from below...the red roof just catching the light, and

the statue catching full sun. I wish I were there now...

When I lived there I could go to the student cafeteria,

the Mensa, and get lunch or dinner for 50 cents. Those

days are long gone. I haven't been back since 1973.

But I've not lost the inspiration to still make pictures

of the place. There is no other place like it.

Back Pose of Nude Female Posing in Life Class

Oil on gessoed linen canas, 12" x 16" $100.00

SOLD

This figure sketch was done in a combination of

three colors of paint that worked remarkably well

for the skin tones of this model: Van Dyke Brown,

Burnt Umber, and Winsor Newton Naples Yellow.

I stress Winsor Newton Naples Yellow, because I

feel that it is one of the few companies that manu-

factures a true Naples Yellow color. Also, notice

this is painted on a gessoed linen that has first been

toned with gray. That is one of the reasons that it

works so well.

Gray tends to take on the complement

of whatever color is placed against it. It's called

"optical grays", and in this case, it's picking up the

orange that is suggested by the mixture of the burnt

umber (a very orangey brown) and the Naples Yellow.

The medium that I used was Liquin. I also "oiled up" my

canvas (put an extremely thin layer of Liquin on the

surface) before I started painting, to make the paint

glide while I was sketching. Because Liquin dries com-

pletely in 24 hours, you don't have to worry about the

"fat over lean" rule. I know this is true. I've been doing

it for 30 years. This kind of painting is really fun.

Now I could use this painting for a grisaille underpainting

if I want, and go over it with transparent and opaque color, or,

I could just leave it as is. Painting is great, isn't it?

Thanks for visiting today.

Head of Herakles Chiaramonti

Oil Pastel over Charcoal on White Paper, 10" x 11" $100.00
SOLD

I just felt like taking a small break from oil painting today
and working with my oil pastels. To do this I did charocal
drawing of Herakles first on white drawing paper. I got his
curls, and beard, and head ornamet and features all taken
care of, sort of like an underpainting. Then, I sprayed the
heck out of the drawing with fixative.

Next I took my Sennelier oil pastels, because I know them
to be bit transluscent. Using the lighter colors, plus some
blues, I went over my charcoal drawing, not trying to cover
it up so much, but to augment it. This was a fairly new experience
except for the other small athlete a few posts back. I like this
techniques, which I discovered by experiementing, and plan
on doing more with it.

Contrary to general knowledge, you can same your money.
You do not need to buy fixative for oil pastels. They dry, just
like oil paints. I know, I have pieces that are years old. I never
fixed them. They are dry. Period.

Oil Paint Essence Drawing of Robert Saunders

Oil on Paper, 8" square SOLD

This man is one of my favorite models ever. He is tall and stately

with long red hair that is turning white, and a beard and mustache,

a big belly, and long graceful legs. A great leonine head. He looks

like a Viking.

It is really fun to do gesture drawings of him. He often will wear

this floor-length yellow and black kimono if I ask him to - he's

sitting on it in the picture. His body plus the kimono create

a wealth of shapes to draw gestures from. But, as you can see,

he is also good for longer poses, because of his elegant head

and posture.

This was not a particuarly long pose, but I was really on a roll

with my paint brushes. I sometimes find I can draw better with

a brush than I can with a pencil. It is odd.

I did already explain the essence technique a few postings back,

so I won't repeat it here. But, for people who love to draw and

paint at the same time (and you can do it in color too - Dover

Publications has a wonderful book on Degas' Drawings that has

quite a few of his beautiful essence drawings in it) it is a wonderful

medium. A lot of fun!

Pink Peonies ll

Oil on Board, 8" x 8" $95.00 SOLD
Once again, I really enjoyed painting these flowers, and I painted
this one really fast!, because I only had about three hours. It is
fun for me to practice doing this, because if you saw my post from three
days ago, you know that my gallery paintings were very t-i-g-h-t
and had me gripping away at my paintbrush for literally hours
on end. It is so refreshing to take a different approach, even if some-
times it is a failure. I am happy with this painting. I think I like it
better than yesterday's, actually. I think tomorrow I'll either work
with the figure or landscape. No underpaintings - just alla prima.
Nice and relaxed.

John Singer Sargent is always admired for his bravura painting style,
but I don't think a lot of people realize that he was actually taught very
methodically to paint in that manner (of course his gargantuan talent
didn't hurt!!). His teacher, Carolus Duran, who was a very successful
portrait artist in Paris at the time Sargent studied with him, would only
allow his students one touch for each thing, or part of a thing, they were
depicting in a painting. It was called in French, "le premier coup", or "the
first touch". They weren't allowed to correct mistakes either. That will teach
you fast!!

I happen to love underpaintings. I'm just not in the mood for them right now.

Pink Peonies in a Tarnished Silver Beaker

9" x 12", Oil on Board, $100.00 SOLD

I really had a lot of fun doing this painting. Peonies

are one of my favorite flowers, and I look forward

to their coming out every year. We have a couple

of plants in front of our house, but they don't get

enough sun. I treasured the few blooms we got,

but these I got at the supermarket. They were

surprisingly affordable.

I did this over a sketch, but I took a lot of liberties

with the flowers. I had to be a bit tighter with the

cup, just because of the structure. Sometimes I

think I must have been a manuscript illuminator

in another lifetime, because for some reason I really

get a bang out of painting things like those tiny dots

of light, light yellow on the cup rim and base. Maybe

because it reminds me of early Renaissance art, which

I adore.

It was was fun, because the rest of the painting got

to be kind of slapdash, and painting lines of trans-

parent, very brilliant colors through passages of

thick white. You never know what's going to happen...

I think I may do some more peonies tomorrow.

Danielle in Front of a Japanese Print

Oil on board, 9" x 14", NFS

This painting was obviously not done in

one day, as a matter of fact, it took me

about two weeks to paint, but, I had so

many family obligations today that I

didn't have the time to paint, so I decided

to post an example of the type of work I

used to show in galleries.

I do love this painting - it is a painting of a

friend of my daughter's, but I didn't love the

amount of time it took, the intense detail it

involved, or what it did to my right hand.

I ended up with no cartiledge between the

bones of my thumb from painting so much

with my fingers pinced together to create

the detail.

I absolutely love color! And, I think what I

am facing now is a way to achieve the coloristic

complexity of this work while doing it in a looser,

quicker manner, which is more enjoyable and

certainly more relaxed. Right now I am experi-

menting - proving that one is never too old to

experiment!

This is painted over a grisaille underpainting

(a black and white underpainting). This actually

makes painting easier, but it is a long, drawn-out

process which I seem to have lost the patience for.

Daily painting has changed my attitude towards a

lot of things...

Thanks for visiting today.

Gourd, Pepper, and Giotto

Oil on Gessoed hotpress WC paper, 6" x 8" $60.00

Sharon in a Reclining Pose in Class

Oil on Gessoed Rag Board, 6" x 8 1/4" $150.00

SOLD

I painted this sketch in homage to my favorite

model, Sharon, because she posed for my class

today. She never fails to inspire me, even though

she has been modeling for me, and for my classes,

for almost fifteen years. She just knows what to

do, modelling-wise, and her wistful and witty

Irish personality (her father was from the Old

Country) permeates the room when she is in

it. Her hair is red now, but for the sake of the

color harmonies of this piece, it isn't.

I enjoyed myself doing this, even though

I had to teach today and didn't have much

time left to do it. It isn't perfect, but I'm

pretty happy with it.

Oil Sketch of a Mexican Girl in Polka Dot Scarf

Oil on Gessoed Hotpress WC Paper,
4" x 4 3/4" $60.00 go to eBay

Even though I absolutely love doing those pastel
drawings of classical images, it felt really good
getting back to oil painting today. It was slow
going at first - I feel kind of like the way a cat
or dog will circle around and around before they
find the right place to sit down. But I got some
much-needed encouraging words from a far-away
guardian angel that made a tremendous difference
in my day. I am very lucky.

I loved this image of this girl. While she is rather
melancholy in appearance, she has the most beautiful
eyes, and I loved the colors in her scarf. The polka dots
weren't there. I made them up, because I thought it would
liven up the composition, and counteract the pensive
look on her face.

When I was showing my work in New York, I was bascially
required to make the most detailed paintings I could. Now,
I don't really have anything against this (although it did
completely destroy the cartiledge in my right hand after five
years of day in and day out painting), but you can't do those
kinds of paintings in a day. So I have had to switch the way I
paint, and it has been a difficult journey for me.

It's funny, I have no trouble doing a twenty-minute gestural
painting of a figure model in class, but when I know I have
to publish it on a blog I think I get hung up about it. I need to
relax!!!! I love to paint. What's the worry?!?

Anyway, this is my offering for today.
Thanks for visiting. I am going to be painting
for the entire month of June, just oils - I've made
that commitment to myself....well. I may do an
acrylic underpainting.... or an occasional
pastel drawing......

After a Roman Patrician Woman of the Flavian Period

Pastel & Vine Charcoal on 18 x 24" White Paper

I was just about to post this yesterday afternoon

when a horrific thunderstorm blew in and knocked

out our electricity until just about an hour ago

(3:00 PM). I've been on a roll with these pastel

drawings, but I'm going back to oil painting tomorrow

because I have some things I want to work on.

So, wish me luck.

Ariadne, after Greek, c. 300 BC

Pastel and Carbon Pencil on 18" x 24"archival White Paper,

image 11" square $85.00 Go Here

This is another "veils of color" drawing, done with mostly

Nupastels, vine charcoal, and a carbon pencil. I could do these

drawings/paintings forever.

It is interesting. Many people consider pastels drawings. But,

yesterday, at the end of a class I teach at the Art League School

in Alexandria, Virginia, called "Painterly Pastel", we had a critique

and everyone put their work up on the wall.

I asked the question, "if you were to just walk in here and look at

these for the first time, would you call these "drawings", or,

"paintings". Every one of them said "paintings". And, I think that

is true. It is because of the power of color, even when there

are a lot of lines involved, as in the drawing above. One is drawn

in by the color. Even in a simplistic color scheme such as this.

Thanks for visiting today.

Priscilla

After Greek Athlete, 2nd C. BC

Oil Pastel over fixed charcoal drawing
on Rag Paper, 2" x 3" SOLD
I cannot tell a lie. I did not do this piece
today. But we had a terrible thunder,
rain, wind, hail, tree-branch-falling
storm here last night, and the day was
too full of distractions to get anywhere
near my studio. I felt it was in keeping
with what I posted yesterday as well.
I love this piece, and have actually
had it for years, not being able to part
with it, but I've decided it's time to
let it go. (if any one wants it, that is...)

The technique for this is fun. You do a
dark, hard -charcoal drawing -- you could
also use Conte or black Prismacolor
I imagine. Then you have to spray the
heck out of it. Next, you take a less
expensive brand of oil pastel like Shiva
or Prang, and go over that with a solid coat
of white, which will be transluscent. You
will be able to see your drawing through the
layer of white.

Next, you work into the white layer with other
colored oil pastels, either the less expensive
ones, or maybe Holbeins, or Winsor -Newtons; but don't
use Senneliers, because, as I said in a previous post,
they are an exceptionally luxurious product, literally
like lipstick, and would probably end up covering up
your drawing. The idea here is to work with
transparency and transluscency - to keep your
drawing partially visible, in other words.

Venus #1

Pastel and Carbon Pencil on White Paper

8" x 9 3/4" SOLD

I don't know why, but I have always been fascinated

by classical sculptures from ancient Greece and Rome.

I have spent a great deal of time doing drawings of

them in many different media. My favorite is pastel,

however, which I usually do on acid-free sketch-weight

paper, using veils of color, vine charcoal, carbon pencil,

and several different types of fixative.

I start out with a layer of Nupastel (hard) in some color that

I like, and draw into that with a very skinny piece of vine

charcoal. The great thing is that if you don't like what you

draw, you can just keep covering it up with more pastel

until you get an image that you think you can work with.

At that point I will usually spray it with Workable Fixative.

Not too much, but just enough to make changes if I want.

Then I start adding more colors, more drawing, more vine

charcoal. I use the carbon pencil (Conte), because it doesn't

smear like charcoal pencil does.

After awhile, I will deliberately spray this with Crystal Clear

or Matte Finish, or other Krylon Fixative (outside of course!!), or

even Sennelier Fixatif Latour, which, being made from a citrus

base, I can spray right in front of my face, but it has a tendancy

to wrinkle the paper, as it has some water in it, I think (it can also

deposit some spots, but this can be a very happy accident sometimes!).

At this point I am deliberately trying to make the picture darker.

Then I continue to work on it with the same materials, until I have gotten

to a place where I am happy with it.

Next to my post is a small example of a larger drawing that I was very happy

with that is not for sale, because it is part of my private collection.

Thank you for viewing my work today.

Christina

Drypoint Etching , 4" x 5" $50.00
Click Here to Bid

This is a drypoint drawn on a metal plate

of my daughter's friend Christina. It is

wiped clean with no plate tone, because I

liked the lines, and tone clustered around

her head.

Impression of a Night in Venice

Acrylic on Archival Paper laid down on board, SOLD

5" x 6" $50.00 Click Here to Bid

This paiting was composed partly from a photo, partly

from memory, and partly from imagination. It was a

long time ago that I was in Venice, but I never forgot

how entranced I was by it. It is so quiet there, because

there are no cars! Just canals and boats. It is very

mysterious, but grand at the same time. I stayed in

a hotel that had a chandelier in the dining room that

was made entirely of blown-glass flowers in many colors,

hanging from the ceiling. It was about eight feet long.

I was amazed. It was probably made at Murano, in the

bay off of Venice, where they do all of the famous

glass work. I would love to go back there someday.

Tiny Pre-Raphaelite Sophie l

Oil on Board, 4" x 4" $50.00 SOLD

This tiny painting of my daughter was done from a

photo I took of her quite a few years ago. I manipulated

the photo in Photoshop - something I love to do - using

the lighting options, so that I vignetted her into this

circle. I just thought it had an unusual, "times past"

look. With her flowing hair, pensive expression, and

colorful kimono, she struck me as very similar to some

of the models used by the Pre-Raphaelite painters, who

seemed to favor extremely pale, long haired, pensive

women. My daughter is actually bright and and happy -

she's just a good model. I've done many paintings and

prints of her. She wanted to be an actress for a while,

and can be quite dramatic, which makes her a great

person to draw and paint!

This is just a quickly-done

painting, but there are things about it that I like.

"Essence" Copy after Degas

7" x 9", Oil Paint on Paper SOLD

This is an example of a technique known
as essence, that was used a great
deal by both Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec.
The oil paint is laid out overnight on
paper towels or blotter paper to soak out
the linseed oil. The next morning the paint
is transferred to a palette. Then, using
only solvent ("essence" is French for "solvent"),
one paints with the oil-less paint on any paper.
The paper does not need to be prepared in any way,
thus you can paint on bond paper, drawing paper,
pastel paper, charcoal paper (like this), Canson
Paper, brown wrapping paper, whatever. It is
really fun - and archival! That's how Toulouse-
Lautrec did all those paintings on cardboard that
are in the National Gallery in DC!!

Tiny Figure

Drypoint Etching, 3" x 4"
SOLD
This really is a tiny figure. I had it
in mind to do a series of these. This
is the first one. It is based on a photo
that I took of woman who used to model
for my classes who was fabulous.
Unfortunatetly, she doesn't model
anymore. She was tall and stately,
and really fun to do gesture drawings
of, because she had really long legs
and expressive hands, and she always
had her hair up, but it was always
falling down into these great shapes.

This was drawn on a zinc plate, and printed
on French Rives BFK printmaking paper.
I only printed a couple of prints today, and I
think I'll probably only get about eight good
ones out of the edition, because the lines are
so delicate. But, I am very happy with the
image.

A Lazy Pear and a Turquoise Background

Oil on gessoed rag board, 6 1/2" x 5 3/4" $100.00
SOLD
I had fun painting these pears. I actually started them
yesterday, so I was able to use some glazes, which deeped
and enriched the colors in the way that I like. There aren't
many shadows, because that is just the way it was set up.

I use bosc pears to teach in my painting class. We do
a really fun exercise, because the class is one in indirect
painting (like they did in the Renaissance and in the early
days of oil painting). The students first paint a grisaille,
which is a black and white underpainting, and comes from
the French word for "gray".

After that dries, they cover that with a very, very thin
layer of a glaze made up of Liquin and Gamblin's Transparent
Red Earth. Voila. Pears! Well, not exactly. They blot the
glaze off here and there, because they have to keep painting,
using a limited palette, and painting into the pears and
background with opaque paint, using little or no medium.
It's amazing the results they come up with, though. Pretty
sophisticated - and some of these people have really never
painted before.

Indirect painting - that's what Jeff Hayes does, if you're
familiar with his blog and all his excellent sequential photos
of his paintings - is really the easiest way to paint. You
basically separate the drawing from the painting part.

Well, it's not quite that simple, but if you're a beginner,
it's worth a try. I'll be teaching it next year at The Art League
School in Alexandria, Virginia, if you happen to live near there.

Tuscan Farmhouse

Acrylic on Paper mounted on Board, 5" square
$100.00 go to eBay

I did this painting as a copy of a gouache painting

that I did in a sketchbook that I had prepared to

show a group of students who were potential

participants in a workshop in Florence. The workshop

ended up getting cancelled for various reasons, but I

was so happy with the gouache painting that I did

another, larger version of it, and here it is.

I love the simplicity of Italian farm buildings. I remember

riding around in the country when I lived in Italy. I didn't

own a car, so that was a very rare treat. The most spectacular

thing was to see the fields covered with red poppies in the

spring. I'll never forget that. It was amazing. Italy has to be

one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Early Evening Boston Studio View ll

Acrylic on Paper, 4 3/8" x 4 1/8", $80.00 SOLD

This one was done from a photo I took out the window

of my studio in Boston when I lived there in the 80's.

I never tired of seeing the different sunsets. I know I

mentioned in my last posting of this view how fascinated

I was by the buildings. The way they seemed to glow here

is not my imagination. There was something about the fact

that they were all made out of bricks, and were up high on

a hill, combined with the fact that the window faced

due west, that created a sort of nimbus around the

building sometimes.

This was easy to create in oil with a glaze of

Gamblin's Transparent Earth Red. This is acrylic, so

I just sort of did the best I could with some burnt umber

mixed with some orange and acrylic medium. A different

animal completely....but I'm developing a fondness for them,

I have to admit.

I'm planning on trying oils over acrylic. I think

that ultimately I'll like the range that will give

better than just straight acrylic.

I'll keep with the acrylics for awhile, though, just

to really get the hang of it. They are fun.

Sketch of Potomac River in the Summer

Gouache and Watercolor, 4" x 6" $100.00

This is actually right near where I live. It is nice to live near the river.
I love to see it in every season, but my favorite is definitely the
summertime. It isn't so great when it floods - which it did a few years
ago, wiping out a lot of my neighborhood. That was not pleasant.
But, we must be crazy. We all know we live in a 100-year flood plain.
And we haven't left ......yet.

I did this in a Canson sketchbook. I have several of them for different
themes. They are great if you keep your pictures rather small. But, if
you do anything larger than 5" x 7" the paper starts to buckle, so it's
better to keep the compositions on the small side. That's OK with me.
I enjoy working small a lot of the time. Everyone's different!

Blue Ridge Sketch

Acrylic, 4" x 4" $100.00

Sunset after a Storm

Acrylic on Gessoed Board, 6" x 6" $100.00

This is another made-up picture. I guess it's the Caribbean. The

places that I have been there have made such an impression on me.

Particularly the skies.

This is one of my first acrylic paintings. You can probably tell....

There are certain aspects of acrylic that I like very much. For someone

who loves glazing as much as I do, the instant-dry factor is very

convenient. But, blending is problematical, and so is getting soft

edges. Spraying water on it, as I read David Hockney does, helps

a little bit. But it certainly is fun to play with. All in all, I think I'll

remain a big oils fan. I love the maleability of it, and the softness

of the edges that you can get with it like nothing else except maybe

pastel, or oil pastel.

Mrs. White's Yard

Oil on Panel, 6" x 8" $100.00

This was a really, really fast sketch I did of the yard next door. I
love very refined painting, as I am a diehard fan of early Renaissance
work. But, every once in a while I just get in the mood to really
let go and paint as fast as I can - even sacrificing reality if I have to
in favor of abstraction if that is what happens. I like the energy in
this little sketch - it was a cloudy day, so that is why you don't see
any shadows.

Christina in a Chinese Jacket

Drypoint Etching printed on Archival
Printmaking Paper, image 5" x 7" $85.00 Go Here

I didn't have a chance to paint today, so I am
posting this drypoint of my daughter's friend,
Christina.

I drew it with a diamond point on a plastic
plate, which has several drawbacks. First
of all, you cannot correct any mistakes, so
every mark you make must be correct or
pretty correct, anyway. Also, it doesn't
tend to have the beautiful plate tone that
copper or zinc have because it is totally
non-porous.

One thing it does do well though is take marks
from roulette wheels. Those are tools used by
printmakers to create texture. They are literally
small barrels attached to handles that have different
types of texture on them, like lines, dots, sharp
points for roughing up the plate, etc.. The texture
that you see in the background of this print was
mostly made with roulettes. Everything else was
drawn by hand with my diamond scriber.

Once I finish my drawing, I ink it up with
etching ink, and run it through my press with a
piece of dampened printmaking paper.

I love drypoint! You can't get big editions,
as you can with etching, but what you can get
is unique and beautiful.

Early Evening View from Boston Studio Window

Oil on Gessoboard, 4" square $100.00

This was the view out my studio window when I lived
in Boston for nine years. I lived on the back side of
Beacon Hill, which was an odd place to begin with -
all those buildings clustered closely together on that
little artificial hill - but there was always something
about this view that reminded me of the Middle Ages.

The odd shapes of the structures on the tops of the
tenement buildings; so many of them were surmounted with
these glass pyramids topped with little balls. The pyramids
would change color according to the light in the sky.
It was intensely urban, that's for sure. Were it not for
the Boston Common and the Public Garden a short walk
away, I think living there would have been unbearably
claustrophobic.

But, oddly enough, sometimes I miss
it. It's probably nostalgia. My studio was only my studio
until my daughter was born in 1986. What joy. Then it became a
baby's room, and the center of my life ceased to be my
artwork for quite a while. If I had to do it over, I wouldn't
change a thing.

Vita breve. Ars longa.

Irish Sketch

Pencil and Oil on Denril Paper, 5" x 7" $110.00 eBay

A lot of my ancestors, including my grandmother on
my mother's side, and my grandfather on my father's side,
were from Ireland. But I've never been there. I hope to go
there someday though. This is another one of those imagined
pictures. It is what I think a collection of buildings on an Irish
hillside near the ocean would look like on a sunny day. I had
a lot of fun doing it.

Denril paper is actually a translucent paper made for
architects. But, because it has a treated, impervious surface,
you can paint right on it in oils. You can also wipe it right
off too, because it doesn't sink in - which makes it really
fun to work with. It's also great for colored pencils, or
plain graphite. It looks like Mylar, but it's soft and pliable,
and is an actual paper. It comes in large sheets also.

Plowed Field in Spring

Oil Color Monotype, 4.5" x 6" $100.00 go to eBay

This is an example of a monotype done with watersoluble
oil paints on Yupo watercolor paper as a base. The Yupo
watercolor paper is white, of course, but it's also a piece of
thin white plastic, which is perfect for releasing the paint
onto a piece of damp printmaking paper in a press.

Before I do the painting, I will coat the plate with some
Grumbacher Slow-Drying Medium for watersoluble oils,
and roll paint into that (using Speedball soft rollers), and
also brush paint into it. It give a good overall surface to work
into. Then, after soaking the printmaking paper for awhile, and
blotting it so that there is no standing water on it, I'll place the
Yupo paper on a thin metal or plastic etching plate to raise it
up a bit, and then print it in an etching press. This method will
remove every bit of paint from the plate and give a good, clean
and sharp print.

This image is rather impressionistic, but I like the sense of
space that it conveys.

Sunset in the Tropics

Oil on Gessoed Wood Panel, 6" x 8" $125.00

This is an entirely made-up painting, with a nod to Frederick
Church (whom I could never hope to equal). I have been to Jamaica
several times, but always to the north coast of the island. I love it
there. I think the landscape, above and below the ocean, and the people,
are beautiful.

I have also always admired Frederick Church's painted
"sketches" (amazing smaller paintings he did in preparation for huge
studio paintings - a typical 19th Century artist). I have had a book
of them that I got in a great sale at the National Gallery years ago, that
I have pored over many times.

So, here I am imagining that I am looking
at a sunset over the Blue Mountains in Jamaica. It's just a feeling I'm
trying to get, nothing exact - but I do think I caught something of the
humid atmosphere there, so I am happy about that!


P.S. I have decided to go through and put the prices under all of my
paintings, as I have been advised to do that, and also feel that perhaps
people are embarassed to broach that subject. I plan on opening up
my ebay store again, eventually.

Oil Sketch of Alan

Oil on Gessoed Rag Board, 7" x 9" $100.00

This quick gestural sketch of one of my
favorite figure models, Alan, was done
with a limited palette, using burnt umber,
naples yellow, cadmium red light, and
cobalt blue. The gesso had been washed
with a light neutral gray before starting.

I was trying to demonstrate to my students the
mapping out of broad planes of light and dark, and
how one can simplify the complexity of the back
just to get started (the back can be so intimidating).

Although this is an "unfinished" sketch, I felt that
I had really "caught" Alan, and his energy and grace.

Sunset over St. John

Oil on Linen laid down on board, 3 1/2" x 5" $80.00

This tiny landscape of St. John in the Virgin Islands, is one of

several that I have done of this same composition. The shapes

and colors of these clouds just fascinate me. The pink really

was this intense.

Egret in Huntley Meadows Wetlands Park

Gouache on Canson Watercolor Paper SOLD

4" x 6"

This beautiful white egret really stood out against

all the darker reds and greens of the wetlands. It is

good that they stand there for so long!

I love working in gouache. It is similar to oils in that

you can work fairly thickly and continually overlay

different colors. But you have the option of also using

washes, which is nice for underpainting or just

giving the whole composition a particular tint.

I like the sketchiness of this piece.

This was done in a Canson watercolor notebook,

and because the dimensions of the piece were so small,

I didn't have to worry about wrinkling. In watercolor, that

certainly is one advantage of working so small!

Bearded Iris ll

Watercolor, Gouache and Pencil
on Archival WC Paper, 5" x 7" $120.00

Go to eBay

I just couldn't get over all of the colors
in this iris. They were really something.
I was experimenting with Aquapasto
today. A wonderful watercolor teacher
at the Art League School, Tedd Betts,
who passed away a couple of years ago,
told me that you could squegee a thin
layer of this stuff on your paper with
a credit card. He used it to incredible
effect. Particularly in painting trees
in the wintertime. His paintings were
beautiful. It's really a shame he wasn't more
well-known in his lifetime.

Using the medium has its advantages and
drawbacks for an artist. You can completely
lift any paint put over it, and washes can be
laid down next to each other without flowing
into each other, but that's just the thing -
the washes don't really flow at all, and that
can be frustrating. I guess the solution would
be to figure out what effects you want to achieve
before you start, and use the medium where it
would be most effective. Anyway, it is fun to
play around with.

Memory of Ellett Valley, Virginia

SOLD

Watercolor on Acid Free Watercolor Paper, 7" square

This was one of the most beautiful places that I was ever in.
It was a valley that basically ran parallel to the town of
Blacksburg, Virginia, on the other side of a small mountain
range. Back when I spent time there in the 80's, before they started
building developments with "cul de sacs" and mini-mansions, it was
full of wonderful old pig farms, and Virginia vernacular architecure.
It also had rolling, twisting roads, almost like a roller coaster that
seemed to go on forever...not to mention the cornfields, sunflowers,
sweetpeas, and cows. I haven't been there in years. I think I'd rather
remember it like this.

Milena Posing in a cold light in class

SOLD
Oil on Canson Paper, 10" x 13"

This semi-clothed nude study was done very
quickly in an interesting technique that was used
very often by both Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec.
It is know as peinture a l'essence, which literally
means, "painting with solvent". If you notice, a lot
of Lautrec's paintings were done on cardboard.
Well, this is how he did that.

To use this technique, the oil paint has to be placed
on blotter paper or paper towels overnight to soak
out all of the oil from the paint. The next morning
(or the day after that...), the paint is transferred onto
a palette and can be used to paint on bare, unprepared
paper, diluted only with turps or paint thinner. No medium
is used, of course, because that would defeat the purpose
of having removed the oil in the first place. It is really fun,
and great for gestural figure painting! You should try it!