Monday, Nov. 30th 2020

 New work that on the surface appears to be a departure but makes sense to me. 18"x24" oil pastels thinned and rubbed and then gone over again on a grey acrylic background.

                                                "Adirondack Chairs."

Friday November 20

 While the ass clown continues to propel us down his narcissistic rabbit hole, people are suffering and this must end! I don't want to exert another iota of effort or opprobrium towards "him." Painting continues to be my salvation- that and Lulu's love.

Latest offerings...mixed media-oil.acrylics, oil pastels and charcoal. 

Close up of "Goethe's Old Werther" 30"x40"

Full size.

October 30th

 As we march toward our collective destiny on Tuesday, let us pause to measure our role, whether passive or active, in defining who we are as a People.

New work below. 30"x40" canvas oil paint and palate knife. "Vincent."

If you zoom in , you can see the lovely textures and interplay of pigments mixing. Enjoy and thanks!

Sunday Oct.11th

 Having the new work table (Thanks Coach Hunter!) allows me to work comfortably with oversized paper stock. One of my favorite is the Strathmore Watercolor paper  22'x30"which is a great size- a bitch to matte and frame but is impressive when done. Below are two new pieces using the paper and acrylics. Enjoy!

"Neptune" 22"x30" Strathmore Watercolor paper-acrylics

"Mars" dims and media as above. 23 days and counting!

Wed. Oct.7, 2020

 Been playing with a variety of mediums and surfaces and have also returned to some easel work. Fly with the angels my dearly departed sister-in-law Maryanne.

"Tibetan Prayer Flags"- 36"x48" canvas acrylic and oils.

                                                 "Tibetan Flags #2" 18"x24" canvas enamel paint, gesso and bee's wax

                            "Lulu's Color Blocks" 18"x24" Strathmore oil paper. Acrylic blackboard paint base with 

                            chalk pastels, oil pastels and bee's wax scrapped.

    "Kandinsky's Waltz" 19 1/2"x 25 1/2" gray Sennelier Pastel paper. Chalk pastels and oil pastel              markings.

Thanks for looking and vote the madmen out of office!

SUNDAY Sept. 20.2020

Been a while but the work has been flowing and the studio space is everything that I could of dreamt  for and ask for. Been working with different mediums, including enamels which are loads of fun. I love the high gloss finish. So here we go:

This is the most recent work. It's 36"x48" gator board with chalk paint background with acrylics on top. "The Dolphins."

Also chalk paint on canvas 16"x24" with chalk, pencil and oil pastels. "Self Portrait as a Younger Man."

16"x20" Canvas paper with chalk paint background, text in oil pastel. "Tribute to Woody Guthrie."

16"x24" canvas yellow enamel background with color fields done with oil sticks. "Nursery Rhymes" gift to Alex and Emma Leavell

"16x20" unframed  canvas oil paint and oil sticks "Sea Scape #2"

                                     16"x20"  unframed canvas oil paint and oil sticks "Seascape#3

16"x24" unframed canvas "Seascape #1" oil paint and oil sticks

16"x24 canvas enamel paint "For Piet's Sake." Tribute to Mondrian

18"x24" canvas enamel paint over oil pastels and casein paint. No title...

 

 16"x20" unframed canvas oil paint- untitled.

The images below are all on 16"x24" framed canvases using enamel paint and were drafting exercises but I feel strong about their execution and the images are strong. As always, thanks for looking and , mask up!

Wed. August 5th

Welcome to Laughing Cat Gallery+Studios, our new studios. I share the 1600 sq.ft+ with my wife Lulu who is a textile artist/weaver. Hope you enjoy the images. More to come as well as new work. It's a New Era.

One of my paper work tables and my desk. "Imogene..." looks good!

The view towards the front of the storefront which is where Lu's workspace is...love those looms.

The view from the back of my space looking toward the front and the street.

"Imogene.." has pride of place...

That grotty looking AC unit has a been replaced with a brand new sucka!

I have three easel areas and one more work table that is being built which is 4ftx8ft that is on casters and can move around to various spaces of which there is sooooo much of not mention light, 12ft ceilings and a brand new air-conditioner and did I mention light?

Heaven

Monday, July 20th

Hey there! Been a while...my current studio has been too hot and miserable to do anything but that's coming to an end...New studios starting August 1st. Lulu and I will be sharing 1500+ sq.ft of bright and airy space that will include both of our work spaces and Gallery space in a new building to showcase both our work. A little tease below...

"Imogene At The Beach" in her new home, "LaughingCat Gallery+Studios." Stay tuned for more updates as we get them. Very exciting!!!

Tuesday, June 16th

So, I wasn't completely satisfied with "Terra Verte" and have spent  a couple days doing some layers and what we now have is, "Kermit 2" -18"x24" canvas paper with  casein paint undercoat with various oil pastels over multiple layers of acrylic fixative.  Many thanks to Lulu for her massive insight in this piece. Enjoy....

Wednesday, June 10th, 2020

I had the dims wrong on Ricardo Montelban and will correct. This  is on 18"x24" oil paper with casein paints, bee's wax and oil pastels. title "Terra Verte."

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

"It's the working, the working, just the working life... " Bruce Springsteen "The Factory"

18"x24" oil paper with casein paint base with oil pastels overlay, then bee's wax and then scrapped and one final overlay of oil pastels. "Stripey Wonder." (subtitled "Fine Corinthian Leather")

Sunday, June 7th, 2020

Continuing the series: 9"x12" Sennelier pastel poster cards, oil pastels, bee's wax etc.

Thursday, June 4th, 2020

I was rummaging through some paper stock and came across some Sennelier pastel cards- these are about 9x12 and the surface has an almost sandpaper quality-great teeth to absorb pastels. These are 3 studies for larger work...oil pastels with bee's wax on top and then scrapped off and finished with a pastel fixative spray. I've posted the images oversized so that the textures and subtleties can be seen.

"Colour Study #1"

"Colour Study#2"

"Colour Study #3" (Homage to Sean Scully-unconscious)

Sunday, May 31st, 2020

More work...

My beloved partner and wife is a weaver and introduced me to Anni Albers who said that "Art cannot be designed." This is 16" x20" canvas acrylic base with oil sticks and gesso. Title "Anni Albers."Of course!

This is on Arches oil paper 12" x16" and oil sticks/bees wax and scrapping creating a staining. Titled, "Dion's Little Sister."

Same mediums and dims as above. Titled, " Raoul Dufy." 

Stay healthy and keep your distance!

May 27th

Hard to believe that it's been more than 3 months since I last posted but there's this bug going around...

I had brought a bunch of supplies home from the studio but in the two months that I spent in lockdown , I didn't even attempt to pick up a brush or pastel- I was too angry...to paraphrase "Groundhog Day,"- don't paint angry...I'm still angry but the need to work becomes overwhelming...the first few days back in the studio I was lost so I spent two days cleaning my space and did my brushes which is always such a Zen activity for me...Anyway, here's hoping you and yours are safe and sound...only five more months of the madness that passes for national leadership to come to a crashing halt.

New Work:

This is first piece I completed upon returning to the studio. I had been thinking colors all through the quarantine and these jumped out at me.
16"x24" oil sticks and bee's wax and that's not black- it's Turkish Umber. "Quarantine"

 This is a larger piece- 30"x40" the background is the result of 4 or 5 scrub downs starting with a teal acrylic background and then oil stick and multiple coats of gesso scrapped and reapplied and then charcoal and oil pastels. "Carnival Bachanalis."

18" x 24" "Portrait at 27" oil sticks and gesso and charcoal

Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020

36"x 48" Acrylics, Casein paint and oil paint. Title is "US 27 North"

Thanks for looking! Abandon the creeping meatball of mediocrity!

Snow Days Work-Friday, Feb.7th 2020

Winter weather Indiana style meant no school on Thursday and Friday so I got to spend some quality time at the studio. Two new pieces are the result.

First piece (below) is on Gatorboard 36"x48" all acrylics with bees wax finish. "Caribbean."

I'm always curious about the impact different paints have on different mediums. I had a couple pieces of plexiglass and remember reading about an artist who worked on plexiglas. I gessoed the back of a piece of 24"x24" and used acrylics and wax on the front. "Veils." 

I Carry My Landscapes With Me...

Tuesday, Feb.4th, 2020, On Arches 18x24 watercolor paper- sky is turquoise Speedball ink mixed with deep turquoise acrylic and the bottom is  ochre and violet acrylic with bee's wax finish. "Desert Dunes." Thanks for looking... Art Matters!