Still Life Landscape #6

4"x6" oil on raymar panel. I keep coming back to these still life landscapes. They inflict decisions of simplifying on me that I find quite appealing. In the future, I might try increasing, maybe doubling, the subject matter to really force the issue. Who knew painting was so masochistic?
Posted November 24, 2009
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Pipe and Mug

6"x4" oil on raymar panel. Do you know how hard it is to balance a pipe on the rim of a mug? Well, it is. This painting comes down to composition and an artist toying with it. Even the shadows and lighting were made to yield to the composition. It's Monday and that's all I am writing.
Posted November 23, 2009
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Euryops in Votive Vase

4"x6" oil on raymar panel. Unless you know what a euryops is, this painting looks like a big yellow flower in a normal drinking glass. The co-opted vase is actually a votive candle holder measuring only about 2-1/2" tall – basically, a wide shot glass. The little euryops flower, or African daisy as some people call it, is from a couple of bushes that won't stop blooming, no matter how much a hack at them. The painting employs an obvious abuse of complementary colors - I hope you don't mind.
Posted November 19, 2009
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White Tea Bowl and Stuff

4"x6" oil on raymar panel. Yes, I have been to the thrift store. Anyway... I know the lighting on this is very important and all that, but it was the challenge of the composition that I relished on this painting. Sometimes I start a painting thinking that I have the composition down, but more often than not, things just have to morph and this painting was no exception. All of the subjects in this painting were moved at sometime while I was painting. That's what's great about oil paint: It's alive and can change.
Posted November 18, 2009
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Lonely Lemon Half

4"x6" oil on raymar panel. A lemon's translucence makes it tricky to paint. Light enters the middle of the lemon and bounces around making values tough to judge. Just as with dark hues, you have to slow down and really look at what's going on. Since the usual challenge is values, it sometimes helps to squint. Of course, the most scientific method is to just get up, take a good long look at the painting, slowly walk back in forth in front of the easel, and then... go get a mug of coffee. Hey, works for me.
Posted November 17, 2009
$99 (click on green dot to purchase)

White Mug

6"x4" oil on raymar panel. White mugs are great subjects because when you hit them with light, you soon realize there is very little white to be had. To push this effect, I back lit the this mug, almost completely eliminating the white. It then becomes just a party of grays, or if you prefer – mud.
Posted November 13, 2009
$99 (click on green dot to purchase)

2009

4"x6" oil on raymar panel. Whenever you see one of these toy paintings, the odds are I stepped on the subject in the dark the previous night. These little plastic numerals are no exception. Yep, nailed 'em walking through the front room. Not just these four pieces either, more like a million of them. For some reason (maybe I was trying to prove to myself that I could still spell) I started arranging words. It's sad really. Anyway, I stole these four and painted them in honor of the year.
Posted November 11, 2009
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Varnish and Linseed Oil

6"x4" oil on raymar panel. Just a couple of items sitting around the studio. I may complain about yellows every now and then, but I must admit, they are fun to chase. Yellow is a color you have to look at honestly and not anticipate its temperature. Yellows can be cool and warm AND they can trip you up. Here is an example: Your head might tell you that when the light hits the linseed oil it will definitely be a warm yellow and when it hits the varnish it might be cool. But stop, and really look. The yellows in this painting contain both warm and cool, due to what is around them. Yellow - a schizoid color and I love it.
Posted November 10, 2009
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Still Life Landscape #5

4"x6" oil on raymar panel. When are my friends going to perform an intervention and try to get me to stop painting these still life landscapes? Just some items from around the studio and a stolen apple. There is another intervention focus: me stealing my subject matter (and eating it).
Posted November 5, 2009
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Mexican Sage

6"x4" oil on raymar panel. Clipped fresh from the front yard. Don't have much to say about it, except maybe that dark background color is actually not black. The camera doesn't pick it up, but what seems to be black, in one spot or another, contains different mixes of everything that's on my palette. I rarely use just one dark pigment for my darks, I like to mix it up. Even yellow is a fun thing to throw into a dark, just to see what it does.
Posted November 4, 2009
private collection charleston, sc

Lollipop

6"x4" oil on raymar panel. This is stolen Halloween loot. Can't help it, it was there on the counter just begging to be nicked – should have been locked up. This painting proved a little more challenging than I had expected, because of that cellophane wrapper. You see, it has embossed horizontal ridges. When the light hit it, this crazy maze of light appeared. Maybe the candy gods were exacting their revenge upon me for my pilfering ways. To avoid further wrath, the candy has been put back.
Posted November 3, 2009
private collection austin, tx

Blueish Vase Thingy *

4"x6" oil on raymar panel. Time for a glass fix. Just have to paint something made of glass every now and then. This piece came from IKEA. Places like IKEA, thrift shops, and the Rose Bowl Swap Meet are like heaven and hell for a still life painter. They are like heaven when you encounter a great object to paint and it is only 25¢. They are like hell when you are standing in front of a stall at the Rose Bowl, looking at a table full of one hundred year old bottles and you start asking yourself this question, "Does the kid really need to go to college? I mean, I really like these bottles and the kid can always get a job. Right?"

* I call this a "Thingy" because I am still not sure what the heck IKEA's intentions for it are. I'll probably use it like a vase, but it came in a set of three bottles, each with its own stopper and one pouring top thingy like you would use maybe on a bottle of liquor.
Posted October 30, 2009
private collection portland, or

Square Teapot

6"x4" oil on raymar panel. Another one of my 10,000 metal teapots. I have painted this one – I think – maybe three times (maybe more). Its square shape and dark color are just too tempting, so I snagged it while walking through the front room and here it is in paint. I should have pulled a Magritte and wrote "This is not a teapot." across the bottom, but I don't speak, read or write French.
Posted October 29, 2009
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Still Life with Books

4"x6" oil on raymar panel. Bear witness to an epic struggle. The composition of this little painting just about did me in. There is a semi-formal rule in design that states that one should not split a design in half, unless of course it is an intentional tool. If it is not obviously intended, you risk cleaving your piece in two, causing your viewer much discomfort or to just walk away shaking their head. Those darn books split my composition in two, causing me to move them a few times until I solved the cleavage problem. That last sentence just didn't sound right. Anyway... This distraction could have been easily prevented with a quick thumbnail sketch, but oh no, I just had to dive in and paint. I guess I'm the guy who dives off the cliff laughing until he hits the rock. Enough whining – problem solved – I hope you like it.
P.S. Books are fun to paint, I highly recommend it.
Posted October 28, 2009
private collection los angeles, ca

Myself

6"x4" oil on raymar panel. More big news... I was recently voted in to the Daily Paintworks group (www.dailypaintworks.com). Daily Paintworks is an online gallery limited to twelve of the finest daily painters. You have to be voted in by the group and I did not even know they were considering me. It is an honor I hope myself worthy of. Of course, in the spirit of true spousal support, my wife had to immediately remind me of the old Grouch Marx quote that roughly goes, "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." Thanks Hun! Anyway, they asked me for a bio and a pix, so I thought I would take the opportunity to paint my mug. I have no idea if it looks like me, but there you have it.
Posted October 23, 2009