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Winter 2002
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See the Gallery for some exciting detailed images of the artist's work.
Thursday, June 20, 2002I'm back from Florida, and back to work in the studio. I just started mixing colors for a commission for a vertical composition of two granny smith apples. This should be an interesting variation on the fruit series. Tomorrow should see some good things start to develop on the canvas.
Today is the last day of spring, and the end of another exciting and productive season.
Read on...to Summer of 2002
Friday, June 14, 2002I finished the painting of three gala apples.
Click on the image to see a larger version.I'm going to Tampa to visit my father until next Wednesday, hopefully I'll be able to hit the ground running and get right back to work.
Read on...to Summer of 2002
Thursday, June 13, 2002Exhaustion from last weekend caught up with me yesterday, and then later in the afternoon I had to go into Lancaster and fill out the paperwork to pick up my new cargo van. Shazam, what a nice thing it is to drive that new vehicle. I can hardly wait until I'm on the highway again for another show.
Despite today being fairly overcast, I continued work on this small painting of three gala apples. I should be finished with this tomorrow without any problem.
Tuesday, June 11, 2002I'm finally back at work in the studio on a small commissioned painting of three gala apples.
I spent most of last week and into the weekend at the Rittenhouse Square show in Philadelphia. Many of my paintings found good homes. I met up with many friends from the past few years of doing this show, and I had a chance to meet many more people over the five days. For the first time I got a rich sense of the continuity of life between the show and the artwork and the people.
Thursday, May 30, 2002I finished the giant painting of a bouquet of tulips in a clear glass vase.
Click on the image to see a larger version.
Wednesday, May 29, 2002Of course today I woke up to what looked like a completely different bouquet of tulips. With great reluctance I scraped everything out and repainted just about the entire painting. I knocked myself out in an attempt to finish this painting today, but unfortunately I'll still be working on it again tomorrow. I really hope the arrangement still looks vaguely the same as it did at the close of today's session. The torture just never ends.
On a side note, I just received the acceptance letter for the Greater Westhampton Chamber of Commerce Outdoor Art Show. My summer is now completely booked solid from mid July until Labor Day weekend. It should be fun.
Tuesday, May 28, 2002I dove into the giant painting of a bouquet of reddish orange tulips in a clear glass vase. Of course as soon as I started painting they started moving and writhing with a mind of their own. They seem to have suffered a bit from refrigeration before I even bought them, so some of them seem to be on the verge of wilting as they open. As usual, tulips are no less of a challenge than they have always been. Hopefully they still look somewhat like the same bouquet for tomorrow's session.
Monday, May 27, 2002 Memorial DayI finished the painting of daisies in a blue glass vase.
Click on the image to see a larger version.I immediately started mixing colors for my next large painting of tulips.
On a side note, my brother Daniel and his wife Lisa just had a baby girl, Rachel. She was born last night at 10:00, and this will make me an uncle for the third time. The miracle of life continues to spring forth.
Sunday, May 26, 2002The past few days have been non-stop activity and I've been barely able to keep up. I'm finally back to work on a new painting; this one will be a small warm-up piece of a bouquet of white daisies in a blue glass vase. This will be reminiscent of the painting of mine that is being used on the promotional postcard for the Rittenhouse Square Fine Arts Show. They are using my work for the promotional materials as a result of my having won the award for best of show last year, and this painting should provide a connection for people looking for the showcased artist at the show in two weeks. At the very least it will add a little color and variety to my display.
I have a bouquet of orange daisies in suspended animation in the refrigerator, awaiting the completion of this painting.
Tuesday, May 21, 2002I finished the painting of three granny smith apples.
Click on the image to see a larger version.Try as I might, I could not seem to get another painting started.
Monday, May 20, 2002This morning Heather and I saw Attack of the Clones, and then came home and got to work. After a few more pounds of paint I'm almost finished with this painting of three granny smith apples. Tomorrow will see this easily wrapped up.
The next few days will be fairly full. On Wednesday I'm driving to Philadelphia to pick up a van load of frames, and hopefully to retrieve a painting from the museum for a possible sale. Maybe I'll catch up with the pop artist Jeff Schaller for lunch. I'll be up late on Wednesday night getting stuff framed, and then on Thursday morning I'm driving to Wilmington for a private showing and possible sale of several paintings. I'll probably swing through Philadelphia on the way back and move Heather out of her dorm, and then finally come home. After unloading the van, I should be back in the studio on Friday. Of course each step depends on the success of the step before it, so we'll see how it all goes.
Sunday, May 19, 2002I'm almost finished with this painting of granny smith apples after missing several days. Heather graduated from college yesterday, and the ceremony ran through the cold and blustery afternoon. I should be finished with this painting tomorrow.
Thursday, May 16, 2002I continued work on the painting of three granny smith apples. Everything is covered, and I've started building up the surface. It's strange, that after having painted green apples so many times I still feel as though I'm figuring out green again for the very first time.
Wednesday, May 15, 2002I got back to work today by starting to mix colors for an easy painting of three green apples. The painting sessions for this last giant painting of tulips were fairly traumatic, and I felt a strange sense of apprehension on Monday. It was as though I was going through a sort of post traumatic stress disorder. At so many points throughout the weekend I felt that I was close to panicking as the painting constantly threatened to careen out of control.
Last night I was in Philadelphia for a Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Association board meeting. For the first time I feel that I could almost push and pull enough to make some changes within the organization. This morning Heather and I went to Pearl Paint on South Street where I picked up a giant brush and a pair of really nice palette knives. We visited a half a dozen different flower shops, but didn't find anything good.
Sunday, May 12, 2002 Mother's DayAfter a long and intense session I finished the giant painting of a bouquet of red tulips in a clear glass vase. The session started with carving out large areas and compensating for all of the changes the tulips made during the night. Every single stem straightened out, holding every single flower a little higher, completely changing the arrangement from yesterday's session. Even by the time I was finishing in the last of the sunlight this evening I was compensating for variations in the arrangement. It's amazing how maddening an arrangement of tulips can be.
Click on the image to see a larger version.Happy birthday to my brother Daniel and also to his wife Lisa, who strangely share a birthday on Mother's Day.
Saturday, May 11, 2002I made a good bit of progress on the giant painting of red tulips. During yesterday's session the blade of my small palette knife snapped, and today's session was difficult with only one knife for a change. And by the end of the session, the tulips had all grown about an inch, and everything had to be scraped out and adjusted. This is proving to be a very challenging and frustrating painting. Tomorrow will see this piece finished.
Friday, May 10, 2002I'm finally back to work in the studio after a few overcast days of stops and starts. I decided to start a giant painting of red tulips, although it will be a race to resolve such an ambitious piece before their colors start fading. In the heat they're blooming very quickly, and even with small paintings I find that I'm scrambling to keep up with tulips as they change. It will be fun to execute a floral arrangement on such a large canvas for a change.
Last weekend's show in Richmond turned out to be very successful, despite us spending most of it being cold, or soaking wet, or both. I found homes for many smaller pieces, and the weekend culminated with us enjoying cookies and lemonade with clients on their patio after delivering a particularly excellent large painting. We then drove into the night further south to Chapel Hill, where we spent a few days relaxing at my brother Darren's place. It was nice to have a short break after running non-stop for several days.
Upon my return I found that I've been accepted to the Mount Gretna Art Show in August. I ordered stretched canvases and frames and a roll of primed linen and stretchers in preparation for the next few weeks.
Friday, May 3, 2002The painting is finished, and I'm heading out the door to Richmond.
Click on the image to see a larger version.
Thursday, May 2, 2002I'm almost finished with this painting of three bosc pears. I'll have one more look in the morning and make the final decision, and then I'm leaving for this weekend's show in Richmond, Virginia.
Wednesday, May 1, 2002I continued work on the painting of three bosc pears. I've brought the surface up a good bit, and at this point I'm very close to the end of this painting. Tomorrow should see this piece easily finished.
Tuesday, April 30, 2002I made an excellent start on this newest painting of three bosc pears. For once I seem to have gained a certain facility in differentiating between the reflections and the actual colors of the pears. Each pear is providing a completely different challenge of surface qualities and color combinations, and I feel that today was a particularly potent session in both education and productivity. Tomorrow should see this piece really snapping together, and possibly being very close to completion.
Monday, April 29, 2002The weekend's show in Lancaster was very nice. The weather was perfect on both days, and it was wonderful to have contact with the public again.
Today I started mixing colors for a commission for a large painting of three bosc pears.
On a side note, I just got the rejection letter for the Long's Park art show in Lancaster. This show ranks in the top ten shows in the country, and it's only ten minutes from where I live. This is my third year in a row to be rejected from this event, so of course I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong.
Friday, April 26, 2002One final look turned into several more hours of work, but now I feel that this has become a fairly strong and lively painting. The flowers wound up with some bold and brilliant colors, and there are some nice qualities of light and space carved out with some really thick brushwork.
Click on the image to see a larger version.This weekend I'll be exhibiting in downtown Lancaster for ArtWalk 2002. See the exhibition page for details.
Thursday, April 25, 2002I believe I'm just about done with this painting of a bouquet of tulips in a glass vase. I'll have one final look at it tomorrow to make the final decision.
Wednesday, April 24, 2002The struggle continues. Today was one of those days that made me wonder how I've ever been able to paint anything. Nothing is coming easily to me, and just to make things even more difficult these tulips are moving and changing every few minutes. Leaves will curl and uncurl, the stems are continually growing longer and the flowers are continually splaying out more. It's amazing how frustrating of a session I had today. I will either finish this painting tomorrow or slash it to pieces.
Tuesday, April 23, 2002I stopped by Central Market and picked up a bouquet of tulips, and after a week I was finally back to work on a painting. Today was a rough day as I struggled to get everything moving again. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little easier.
Sunday, April 21, 2002This past week went by like a blur. I wound up having to take care of small jobs around the building, and then a big emergency job suddenly came up. Two days blew by quickly, and then Thursday I spent the day in New Hope to drop off paintings and to spend some time discussing important issues with the gallery director. Friday was spent in a fog of road exhaustion, and then Saturday was dark and raining. I spent Sunday afternoon doing yard work at my mother's house, finishing up with an hour of hacking through the briar patch in the front yard in the pouring rain. I'll be sore tomorrow. Hopefully the sky clears up and I'll have a chance to maybe even paint again.
And on a side note, I was just accepted to the Port Clinton Art Festival in Highland Park, a city about 35 miles north of Chicago. This shows ranks at the very top of the nation's art festivals, and I'll be looking forward to being a part of it this summer.
Tuesday, April 16, 2002Yesterday I spent the day finishing my taxes. Today I got back to work on the painting of a Bismoline can and a Tabasco sauce bottle and brought it up to a solid finish. I feel that it's a fairly successful piece, and I found this session to be informative and educational.
Click on the image to see a larger version
Sunday, April 14, 2002Yesterday was dark and overcast, but today turned out to be bright enough to nail down a first layer of resolution on this new painting of the Bismoline can and the Tabasco sauce bottle. I should be finishing this tomorrow.
Friday, April 12, 2002Until late in the afternoon the day was fairly overcast. In the last hour of the afternoon I started mixing colors for another painting of the Bismoline can and the Tabasco sauce bottle. The apple will be turned into a protein shake smoothie for breakfast tomorrow morning
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Thursday, April 11, 2002I finished the painting of a Bismoline can, Tabasco sauce bottle and a royal gala apple. It's a strange combination of objects and colors, but I feel that I was fairly successful in conveying an accurate sense of scale.
Click on the image to see a larger version.
Wednesday, April 10, 2002The painting of a coffee cup and saucer is indeed done.
Click here to see a larger version.For no apparent reason I decided to include a can of Bismoline talcum powder in my new still life arrangement, along with a Tabasco sauce bottle and a gala apple. I've created a strong theme within this arrangement, with the Bismoline can representing coolness, the Tabasco sauce bottle representing heat, and the apple is, um...well...ok, so I didn't put that much thought into it. Above all it is an interesting combination of colors, with the Bismoline can taking my color palette where it has never been before.
Tuesday, April 9, 2002I believe I'm finished with this painting of a coffee cup and saucer. It's tough to tell as I'm having a hard time seeing if it has that snap and sizzle that my paintings typically have upon completion. I'll have one more look at it in the light of day tomorrow and make the final decision.
On a side note, I've been learning some more and more tricks with Flash animation. See what I've been working on here.
Monday, April 8, 2002I continued to develop and rework the painting of a coffee cup and saucer. Nothing is coming easily to me with this painting. Tomorrow will see it finished, one way or another.
Sunday, April 7, 2002I continued working on the painting of the coffee cup and saucer. It's amazing how much I struggle with the crucial lines and perfect ellipses of these inorganic shapes.
Saturday, April 6, 2002Just to toss things up a bit, I decided to start a painting of a coffee cup and a saucer. I this point I believe I can carve out enough luminosity from the subject to make a fairly interesting study.
Friday, April 5, 2002I finished the two tiny paintings of apples today.
Click on the images to see larger versions of these paintings.What started out yesterday as a unique and exciting new way to work has today turned into only an exercise in working small. I find that the image I have in my mind for what I'd like to be doing has been evading me. I keep imagining a fast and rude rendition of a series of colors that will describe elements other than the details of a subject. Maybe I'm thinking of what you would see if you were squinting, while peering through gauze, with vaseline in your eyes. Maybe what I'm envisioning will not be captured with the thick and definitive brushstrokes that I use. Maybe this idea can only be captured by deconstructing the painting by actually destroying some of the same elements that typically make my work look like my work. Maybe it will involve knifing things out, scrubbing over edges with a dry brush, maybe even letting the painting dry and sanding the surface back down and bringing up another layer of brush work. I'd hate to only wind up with the contrived busy look of stylized layering. Sometimes an image will easily snap together with light and energy, so would it be pretentious of me to be trying to find a way to make it look like a struggle? Maybe all I am pursuing is the same look of critical observation and brevity of execution that my most successful paintings inherently have.
It's something to think about for tomorrow.
Thursday, April 4, 2002Today I worked on two small paintings at the same time. It was a different thought process to keep pulling back from one painting to bring the other up to a similar level of completion. These should both be finished tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 3, 2002Today was too dark to get any painting done, and I spent most of the day learning some new webdesign tricks. When the sun did come out late in the afternoon I decided to set up two small canvases and two separate arrangements of pairs of apples. I mixed some colors in the fading sunlight.
I received an acceptance letter from the Cain Park Arts Festival in July. Now I have a complete itinerary from the show in Cleveland one weekend to the show in Ann Arbor the next.
Tuesday, April 2, 2002I finally finished the painting of eleven royal gala apples.
Click on the image to see a larger version.
Monday, April Fool's Day 2002What a fool I was to think I might have completed this painting without any problem. It's very close, and tomorrow should see this piece finally finished.
On a side note, I just received an acceptance letter from the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair in July. The summer show schedule is shaping up nicely.
Easter Sunday, March 31, 2002The day was too overcast to make some good solid decisions to bring this painting to the resolution that I feel it deserves. As a result, I only worked on a few details and transition colors and then stopped. Tomorrow should see the piece finished without any problem.
Saturday, March 30, 2002I continued work on the painting of eleven royal gala apples. It is now coming down the home stretch, and should be almost finished by the end of tomorrow's session.
Good Friday, March 29, 2002I continued to develop the painting of eleven royal gala apples. This really is a fairly lively piece, with great variety in the colors of the apples. I made a good bit of progress, despite having an oppressive headache throughout most of the day. Tomorrow should see this piece really start to come together.
Thursday, March 28, 2002For lack of any better ideas, I started a new painting of eleven royal gala apples. Maybe something else will come to me while I'm working on this piece, although at this point it seems as though painting a large arrangement of apples is barely even painting anything at all. It's as though it is only a reflex of draftsmanship and color theory exercises that will spawn a new painting. Maybe tomorrow when I start to dig deeper into this piece I'll start to appreciate the broader range of colors within this arrangement of apples.
Wednesday, March 27, 2002It's been dark and cloudy in the three days since I've been back from the show in New Jersey. The show was a mixed bag; there were many amazing artists and the people of that area strongly supported me in my efforts to keep my collection intact. It was a great opportunity to meet many artists that I had never seen before at the shows I've done, and Heather and I made many new friends. It was nice to see so much of my work framed and displayed for the first time as well. Upon returning I delivered several new paintings to the DeBottis Gallery in West Chester before meeting up with Jeff Schaller for lunch.
I did decide to work a little more on my last painting of two gala apples, and I've been arranging and rearranging several different objects in preparation for my next endeavor. The days after a show are always fraught with uncertainty and indecision, and not having days that are even remotely sunny and bright is making it easy to justify relaxing for a change. The weekend spent with Heather was too short, and my head is buzzing in the silence of the studio.
Click on the image to see a larger version of the finished painting.
Thursday, March 21, 2002 Vernal EquinoxThe first day of spring has me running around the clock in preparation for a show, finishing a painting, getting the van loaded and speeding off into the night to stay at my brother's house before arriving at the crack of dawn for setup tomorrow.
I'm exhausted, and it's only just beginning. Let's hear it for spring.
If you find yourself hungering for yet more dramatization of the angst of a painter, see Winter 2002 for the previous season's struggles.
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