Work in Progress
8/8/08: This paining of Fort Worth is killing me! It has changed tack so many times already. The perspective is pulling all over the place and it just isn't drawing together. Time to put it away and work on something else fpr a while.

WORK in PROGRESS
9/1/2008: This is destined to be a companion to "Poets of Destruction". Set outside the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) - a recollection of conversations at the museum. "... and the women come and go, speaking of Michaelangelo...' from T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". I just love how the light is shining from behind the canvas and catching the modelling paste on front. (sigh) I started this painting when Murray was visiting in Dallas in December 2007.

Tribute to Charles Demuth (My Egypt) - Byram 2004 (acrylic on canvas 16" X 20")

hmm.. this was one of my first ventures into acrylics from watercolors. The watercolor technique is clearly obvious. I have never seen "My Egypt" alive and would dearly love to. The images I have seen of the painting remind me of fine China plates. In this tribute I was more concerned with replicating the forms than the colors. This is a true representation of New Jersey for me. All the glory of man and his creations: the wonderful Greek-like columns on the warehouse; the highlights from the sun and the almost sinister edifices lurking in the background. I wanted to capture more of the reality of the industrial achievement than Demuth did. His glory is (I think) a fragile work- the solid structures built by a transient man in an unsteady world. My colors are bold and arresting, more grounded - to make up for my lack of craftsmanship and ability.

Cam did take me to see his No.5 at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC -a paining for his poet friend, William Carlos Williams. JUST FABULOUS!

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
-- William Carlos Williams

(YOU find the picture)

Among the rain

and lights

I saw the figure 5

in gold

on a red

fire truck

moving

tense

unheeded

to gong clangs

siren howls

and wheels rumbling

through the dark city

Tribute to Charles Scheeler (Lunenburg) - Dallas 2006 (acrylic on canvas 16" X 23")

Well - the roof line is all wrong! Scheeler's images themselves are deceptively simple and thought provoking (to me at least). My real fascination lies in how Scheeler applies paint to his canvases. There is a smooth elegance - an absence of stroke marks that is seductive and reassuring. Copying his paintings is a challenge; he overlays photographs, so you are constantly challenged by perspective; the texture and consistency of the paint are paramount and the color nuances meticulous. There is nothing in the world like seeing his paintings up close.

9/11 - Dallas 2005 (acrylic on board - 4' X4')

This painting came out of my reaction to 9/11. The horror of 9/11 and juxtaposition of the futile massacre of the b52 bombers at the airplane graveyard in Arizona seemed apt. This painting took over 2 years to complete, although the bulk of the work is stencilled. It was emotional thinking through the idea and laying it down. The writing along the bottom of the painting are recordings of terrorist attacks on airplanes ending with 9/11. I wanted them to look like tombstones.

Madiba - Dallas 2007 (acrylic, ink and modelling paste on board 4' X 3')

By courtesy of the owners.

" Madiba" was commissioned on completion of "Poet's of Destruction". I wanted to paint something that would mean something to the owners, and since one is a South Africa expatriate, Nelson Mandela came to mind. I have always love the inauguration speech he made at the Union Buildings at Pretoria, and thought the interlacing of "N'kosi Sikeleli" with the speech would make a powerful image. Madiba just grew out of the board. A combination of heavy and light modelling paste and water, water, water create a powerful combination of cracks, texture and glassy smoothness. The figure is about the same size as my torso - intimidating to work on at times. Instead of using different colored inks I experimented with varying teh size of the writing. I'm really happy that I can still visit with this creation once in a while.

Westmoreland Rd, Dallas, Texas

Find the celebration of life in unusual places. The owner of this eating house has given writers permission to bomb his buildings back to back quarterly.

One has to wonder what "quarterly" means to a writer, and if the granting of permission interferes with the act of bombing.

Metroplaces - Dallas 2006 (acrylic on canvas 40" X 30")

Painted over the course of around 8 months, through the desperate heat of summer, this exploration of Dallas came about as I learned to reconcile myself and love Dallas.

If home is where the heart is then, Grapevine should have been an easy home. It has taken a while to attach and acclimatize, and this is home now.

Poets of Destruction 2007 (acrylic and ink on board 4'X4')

Poets of Destruction came out of a fascination with graffiti.
The figure is an amalgamation of a number of graffiti images; the writings in gold and silver collections of poems, writings and lyrics chosen by the Cairns family.

The piece starts with Shelly's "Ozymandias" - I met a traveller from an antique land who said:.. and ends with Charles Bukowski's "Vegas" and this time I kept my mouth shut. And everything in between: Cam chose a piece from Nietzsche's "Thus spoke Zarathustra; Cullen, lyrics from Pink Floyd's "Shine on you crazy diamond"; Erin, Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky".

The figure is a gorgeous diseased loved being in umber, sienna and gold - studded with crystals. The crystals blink and dull as you move around the painting. Also my first venture into modelling paste. What a fun medium!

If I did this piece again, I would not use different colored pens (working with the metallic silver nearly killed me. ) I also developed the Bradley Hand font to lay the writing down, an immense task to change handwriting.

Tom's Diner 2003 (acrylic on canvas 8"X4")

I painted Tom's Diner in 2003, the same year a fire broke out in the kitchen and the owner passed away.

Tom's was a great traditional diner - a greasy spoon where you could get a good meal at a reasonable price. The red checkered table cloths and a blaring TV was what I had always imagined an American diner to be. Tom's was never open on a Sunday, and hasn't been opened any day for some time now.

The diner still stands at the Ledgewood circle on Route 10. I hope someday someone with energy will fall in love with Tom's and reinstate an American classic.

At the time I painted this I was taking watercolor lessons at a local clubhouse, and struggled with the transition to acrylics. The blurring of colors in the water is something I still enjoy today. My fascination with Charles Demuth and Charles Scheeler have also not abated. Maybe in time I'll get them out of my system.