Ukrainian Memoir

                                                     An original oil painting on stretched canvas
                                                     28x22" unframed
                                                    

     The sunflower is native to the Americas.  The Aztecs even used the sunflower as
a symbol of their solar deity.  But the sunflower now has a memorable history in
Europe as well.  I can never see sunflowers without thinking of the famous series
of sunflower paintings by van Gogh, and the brilliant ways director David Lean used
sunflowers in his production of Doctor Zhivago.  And it is also the flower of Ukraine.

     This is a fairly, representational painting of giant sunflowers. The ceramic
water pitcher and oranges, and the somewhat heightened color, all help to give it a
bit of an old-world feel, and the oranges also help to give the composition a useful
visual scale, for viewers to judge the size of the sunflowers.
     Three sunflowers, three oranges, and six fallen petals: I wonder what a
numerologist would say about that?

                                                            (click on image to enlarge)

      Giclee fine-art prints of this painting are available.

Who Left Tom Sawyer Outside Last Night?

                                                    An original mixed-media painting on gessoed panel
                                                    8x10" unframed
                                                    $350.00, - (plus $12.00, pack and ship)

     The title of this painting comes from a question which might be posed by a
parent who is concerned that children are not as appreciative of books as they
should be.  I imagined a scenario in which a child has taken a copy of Tom Sawyer
outside to read, but became distracted by friends and went off to play, forgetting
all about the book.

                                                       (click on image to enlarge)

      This little painting is one of a group of still-lifes I did, using well known books and
volumes of poetry as theme material.  Some of them are larger, such as one that is a
slightly different version of the Tom Sawyer theme,  including in it some old items
which might evoke the character of Tom himself.  This one has more of an Autumnal
feel, which makes it appropriate to post at this time.
     I used an exaggerated perspective in this painting, to try and give it more of a
three dimensional quality.

     Giclee fine-art prints of this painting are available.

The Spirit and The Flesh

                                                    An original oil painting on stretched canvas
                                                    36x24" unframed
                                                    $2,800.00, - (plus $40.00, pack and ship)

     Since the dawn of civilization and beyond, mankind has been on that old quest
for permanence and meaning in life.  This expressionist painting is a bit of a reflection
of that continuing search, and an attempt to capture the feel of the struggle between
the physical and spiritual worlds.  The physical side is expressed in the ruddy color
and vigorous texture of the paint application on the hands, face, hair and beard.
The spiritual side is expressed with the cool radiance of the surroundings.
     This painting has an exaggerated perspective, and an abstract appeal in the way
 the figure's hood-strings divide the central shapes of the canvas.

                                                             (click on image to enlarge)

 

Contemplation

                                                        An original mixed-media painting on toned paper
                                                        26x20" unframed, - (mat size, 32x26")
                                                        $2,000.00, - (plus $30.00, pack and ship)

     I like that old saying "Less is more.", which is often heard as an instruction from
movie directors to screen actors.  But those words can often be a useful thought for
visual artists to keep in mind as well.  Sometimes the simplicity of limited, bold lines,
can be much more expressive than a heavily labored rendering of a subject.
     This painting was one of those pieces which proved difficult for me to photograph.
For some reason I couldn't seem to get the color exactly as close to the original work
as I wanted it to be, but it is probably close enough to give the right, overall impression
of the painting.
                                                   
                                                            (click on image to enlarge)

     
     Giclee fine-art prints of this painting are available.
                                                   

Dried Gourds and Indian Corn

                                                     An original watercolor painting
                                                     20x13.5" unframed, - (mat size, 26x19.5")
                                                     $200.00, - (plus $25.00, pack and ship)

     I believe that I still have an oil painting which includes a pumpkin and gourd, which
would have been apropos to be photographed and posted in the blog at this time of
the year, but it is tucked away someplace in storage, and I haven't found it as yet.
     So, in the meantime, I'm showing another painting from that bundle of early watercolors
 which I referred to in a previous posting called Forsythia and the Silver Scyphus.  Since
the subjects here included dried gourds, and dry corn in the husks on an old, brass
scuttle, the harvest season is probably a good time to post this one.
     After all these years, I find that I still like the way I handled the painting of the bottle,
and the shadows and folds of the cloth.

                                                            (click on image to enlarge)

 

Sweet Cream and a Salty Pig

                                                          An original mixed media painting on toned paper
                                                          12x9" unframed, - (mat size, 18x15")
                                                          $375.00, - (plus $15.00, pack and ship)


     This little semi-abstract, still-life is from that group of limited palette studies, which
I mentioned previously in the posting called A Seedling For Van Gogh.  The title for
this one comes from items on the table, which included a small cream pitcher and a
salt shaker.  The little pig is one of a pair of salt and pepper shakers which are still
around the house someplace, along with a collection of a variety of other salt and
pepper shakers that have accumulated over the years, as souvenirs or gifts, but were
in most cases never used.
    I find that I still like the simplicity of the way I handled the sansevieria leaf-shapes
and the vertical texturing of the ceramic, plant container, in this painting.  

                                                            (click on image to enlarge)

     Giclee fine-art prints of this painting are available.

For Vincent's Table In Arles

                                                    An original oil painting, on gessoed panel
                                                    11x14" unframed
                                                    $800.00, - (plus $25.00, pack and ship)

     It often strikes me, when I see fresh fruit placed on an antique, blue enamelware
dish, that the eye-catching color-combination is a post-impressionist still-life, practically
begging to be painted.  That was what happened with this selection of fruit on an old,
deep-sapphire plate.  It was a reminder of when Van Gogh moved south to Provence,
and fell in love with yellow and blue.  The lemon yellow cloth and the little, turquoise
jug further enrich the color vibrancy.
     In my previous posting called Bittersweet In The Honey Jug, I wrote about the long
continuity of that jug as a subject in still-life paintings, and said that I would post a more
recent painting which included the jug.  That is why I'm posting this painting; there is
probably a span of fifty years or more between the two paintings.

                                                         (click on image to enlarge)

    Giclee fine-art prints of this painting are available.

Bittersweet In The Honey Jug

                                                       An original watercolor painting
                                                       18x14" unframed, - (mat size, 24x20")
                                                       $350.00, - (plus $25.00, pack and ship)

     This painting, with oranges and dried, bittersweet berries, is another sample from
that early group of my watercolors which I have found, and to which I referred in a
previous posting called Forsythia And A Silver Scyphus.  Although I hadn't looked
at it for perhaps half a century before I pulled it out of storage, it appears from its
technique, that it was probably painted a year or two later than the examples from
that group which I posted previously.
     The reason I decided to post this one was because of that central, blue object
which caught my eye, and reminded me of its story of long continuity as a still-life
subject over the years, from painting to painting.
     The glazed, pottery jug dates from the early 1940's, before the age of plastics,
when it was still economically practical for syrups and honey to be shipped and
sold in glass and earthenware containers.  The jug was purchased filled with honey,
stoppered with a cork and sealed with red sealing wax.  The honey was soon gone
but the jug has been around ever since that time, sometimes serving as a humble
container for flowers plucked from the gardens of the old days, and sometimes
playing a role as subject of a still-life painting.
     So, to demonstrate that history, in my next posting, I'm planing to show
another painting in which the jug played a role, but painted a half century or more
later than this one.

                                                           (click on image to enlarge)

  Giclee fine art prints of this painting are available.

Felinity No. 3

                                                An original mixed-media painting
                                                18x12" unframed, - (mat size, 24x18")
                                                $900.00, - (plus $25.00, pack and ship)

     This was the third version of what became of a series of four paintings, which first
began with a straightforward, representational study of a girl holding her cat.  After
that first one, I decided to see if I could try another one which would be a bit more
expressive about the subject.  Although I liked that second version I still didn't feel that
I had gone as far with the subject as it could go, so I continued with this third version
and then on to a fourth one, looking more toward an abstraction of the relationship of
the girl and her cat, perhaps finally blending the characteristics of human and feline.
     The first two versions of the painting are gone now, but this one and the fourth one
are still available.

                                                             (click on image to enlarge)

Felinity No. 4

                                                       An original mixed-media painting, on paper
                                                       18x12" unframed, - (mat size, 24x18")
                                                       $900.00, - (plus $25.00, pack and ship)

     This was the final version of the series of four, which I referred to in my notes
about Felinity No. 3.  At this last stage of the progression, the evolved shapes
of the girl and her pet have become blended into a much more cat-like pair.

                                                           (click on image to enlarge)

  

A Black Winged Bird

                                                      An original scratchboard drawing
                                                      9x12" unframed, - (mat size, 15x18")
                                                      $40.00, - (plus $15.00, pack and ship)

     This little bird study is one of the group of early scratchboard drawings
which I mentioned in my previous posting.  I'm not positive about what kind
of bird it was, but I think it was probably a scarlet tanager.
     (For those who are unfamiliar with scratchboard work, it is a reverse drawing
process, in which fine pointed instruments are used to scratch white lines through
the black-coated surface of the art board, to the white layer underneath.)

                                                      (click on image to enlarge)

A Candle Lit Cast

                                                     An original scratchboard drawing
                                                     10x8.5" unframed, - (mat size, 16x14.5")
                                                     $45.00, - (plus $15.00, pack and ship)

     Among the trove of my early watercolors and drawings, which I've been uncovering
lately, I have found a number of scratchboard drawings, which may be of interest, so
I will post some in my blog.  This one is a study of one of those artist's, plaster casts of
a well proportioned head, as seen by the light of a candle in a glass-crystal candle-holder.

                                                        (click on image to enlarge)

The Turquoise Vase and A Lost Key

                                                         An original watercolor painting
                                                         11x13" unframed, -(mat size, 17x19")
                                                         $125.00, (plus $20.00, pack and ship)

     This is one of those very early watercolors I discovered recently, which I referred to
in a previous post called Forsythia And The Silver Scyphus. Seeing it again now, after
so many years, it appears to have been carefully drawn, with close attention paid to the
details of the objects, and the folds of the fabrics.  And the colors are still as bright and
unfading as new work, because of its long, storage protection.

                                                         (click on image to enlarge)

The Frozen Radience

                                       An original opaque watercolor painting, on illustration board
                                       25x20" unframed, - (mat size, 31x26")
                                       $2,000.00, - (plus $30.00, pack and ship)

    Occasionally, before all of the Autumn  leaves have fallen, an early taste of winter
can strike us with what we sometimes call an October surprise, then we wake up in
the morning to discover our world coated and weighted down with shimmering ice
and snow.
     This is an impressionist painting which attempted to capture the feel of just such a
morning, when looking out over the sparkling white trees, shrubs and fields.

                                                        (click on image to enlarge)

    Giclee, fine-art prints of this painting are available.

Forsythia and The Silver Scyphus

                                                             An original watercolor painting
                                                             14.5x13.5" unframed, (mat size, 20.5x19.5")
                                                              $300.00, (plus $20.00, pack and ship)

     This little painting is one of a group of my very early watercolors, which I recently
pulled out of storage for the first time in many years.  To their credit, now that I'm
seeing them with experienced eyes, I can say that at least I was paying careful attention
to the accuracy of detail in drawing and color at that time.  And now, since they have
been in storage ever since the were painted, the colors are as bright as they were
when they were applied, six decades or more ago.
     I will probably show some more of these early things in the blog, during the next
few weeks.

                                                   (click on image to enlarge)

Reaching For The Light

                                                        An original oil painting, on a canvas panel
                                                        20x16" unframed
                                                        $1,200.00, - (plus $20.00, pack and ship)

     The setting of this painting is an old, root cellar, where an antique.salt-glazed crock,
with its lid set down on the table, stands among some scattered and forgotten, dried
onions. The onions have been trying to grow in the dim light, sending their serpentine
sprouts up and around, in a futile search for sunlight.
     The composition is primarily a focus on the patterns of bold, rhythmic lines.

                                                       (click on image to enlarge)
                                               

       Giclee, fine-art prints of this painting are available.