Good Omens

Erin wanted a "Mum" piece to take to college look over her - so I devised the "Talismans and Good Omens" for her. To be continued...

In the Water - Grapevine 2009 - Acrylic, plaster and polyurethane on board (4'X3')

This was a lot of fun. The red backgound was so gorgeous it took all my courage to start splattering the blue paints and gels across it. The gels were just the right consistency and flowed like very soft butter - a very sensual experiencing creating this work. The building plaster on the bottom creates a wonderful gritty contrast to the smooth gels above. The entire work is covered in layers of polyurethane to create the smooth "behind the glass" finish. The waves on the polyurethane were created by masking off areas of the painting and spraying varnish directly onto the dry polyurethane finish. It just breaks the surface and prevents the finish from being overly glossy. I really love this painting and could sit and look at it for hours.

New York Museums - 10 small paintings - Grapevine - Acrylic on canvas (1'X.75')

A work in progress.
I've completed 5 of the pieces: Awelding mask from Moma; the "grafitti" wall inside Moma(I need tofind the guy's name); an impression of the Richard Serra's in Moma - they were totally gorgeous - the kids and I loved how whispers and noises carried along the counters of the great sheets of core ten steel;a section of the lights in the entrance of the Whitney and an exit light in the Whitney.
Still working my way through the rest of the design. More pics to be added.

Countries and Lands - August 2009 - Grapevine, Sculpey Clay and Acrylic on Red Oak (4'X3.5')

The green soldiers on topof the painting were graciously supplied by Rob and Julie Hadley. Lizann's star cookie cutter lived at our house for almost a year. Thanks to all of you.

Travelling through Utah inspired me to create a US flag of based on the colors of its geological formations. I struggled to incorporate the yellows, oranges and reds without loosing the Amerinca flag. I only discovered the Quino reds a couple of months after I'd completed the work.

I used molds and stamps that the kids had created many years ago. I also molded and carved many of the images specifically for this work.


The Cocopelli man, the petroglyphs, and a number of Navajo images comestraigh out of the trip to Utah. The green soldier molds, Coca-Cola, Micky Mouse, guns and car images are just so All American. I have included our Grapevine address and paid homage Cam too. Many images and many hours of working and baking and rebaking clay molds and tiles.

Prufrock - June 2010 - Grapevine - Acrylic on canvas (4'X3.5')

I started Prufrock in 2008 and just couldn't make headway with the image. I knew I wanted to express T.S Eliot's "Prufrock" part of "The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock" in paint. The beauty and the decadence, the naked gorgeousness of modern man.

I'm hoping this is the first of 3 - Alfred and J. to follow.






The layers of gel and modelling paste that form the bulk of the body were worked and worked to get as close I could to the feel of metal without loosing the organic nature of the decaying flesh.

He is fatter than he seems - corsetted in to meet the demands of a set taken with artificial beauty; fighting the bulges that age brings on.



Prufrock's shoe is purposely female - on the androgenous body. Single simple brushstrokes that I dreamt about and practised over and over before committing to the canvas.

artlife

"HipHopBuggi" - Grapevine - 2008 (Red Oak, music boxes with crank handles, computer and printer parts and various found items. 9"X4"X4")

This item came out of Erin's love for taking things apart, and our newly discovered interest in the "SteamPunk" movement. Erin and I spent a rainy cold Staurday afternoon taking a hammer and skrewdrivers to a printer a boombox and and an old computer. We had such fun with taking it all apart and I couldn't bear to throw all those glorious bits away. We started talking about putting the bits back together in random ways.I had found some old music boxes with crank handles that play "Love Story", "What a Wonderful World" and "Moon River". And so the "HipHopBuggi" was born.

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.