The Christmas Dove

                                          An original acrylic painting, on a gesso primed masonite panel
                                          8 X 10", unframed
                                          $300.00, - (plus $10.00, pack and ship)

                                           
                                                     ( Click on image to enlarge )

     The gentle, white dove has served as a symbol of peace and love for thousands of
years, going back to the Old Testament, and before, in pagan mythology.  Over those
past centuries, artists have frequently chosen doves as the subjects of their work, right
up through the Renaissance and our contemporary painters.  Picasso was well known
for his rendition of a peace loving dove, carrying an olive branch, an image which was
hijacked by the Russians for political purposes.  Doves have often been associated
with the peaceful olive branch, ( most notably in the story of Noah and the flood ), but
since I decided to paint this dove for Christmas, I chose to have this gentle symbol of
the season of peace and love, perching in a holly tree.

     It would be quite a rarity to actually see one of these domesticated birds visiting
our holly trees.  The so-called "wedding doves", which are often released as a part of
wedding ceremonies, are actually white, homing pigeons, which travel back to their
home coops.  Doves evidently lack the homing instinct, so if a bird breeder released
a flock of doves at a wedding, they would probably fail to return home, and he would
be out of business.

     So, although we are unlikely to have one of these symbols of peace show up
outside our windows on a Christmas morning, I am presenting my version of the
Christmas Dove to the viewers of this blog, as a way of wishing us all a more
peaceful and loving world in 2016.

Art Exhibition Update

     I would like to say thank you, to all the gallery patrons who have viewed my recentt show, at All Souls, and who have expressed so many, kind comments on my work.  And I want to say a special thank you, to all those who who came to the opening night reception, when so many other things were going on in town on that Friday evening, which were competing for everyone's attention.  It was nice to see some old friends there again, and renew acquaintances, and make some new acquaintances as well.


     Gene McNerney

Art Exhibition

     There will be a show of my work in the Gallery of the All Souls building,
in Kansas City, Mo., beginning on October Eighteenth and lasting until
November Nineteenth of this year.  The location is 4501 Walnut (across the
street from the Kemper Museum of Modern Art), with ample parking on the
south side of the building.
     It will be open six days a week, Sunday through Friday every week.
I would like to invite any of my blog viewers, from near or far, to stop by
and have a look, if they have the opportunity.

     Gene McNerney

Pomona, After The Rain

                                                      An original acrylic painting, on canvas panel
                                                      24" X 18". unframed
                                                      $1,800.00, - (plus $30.00, pack and ship)

                                                          (Click on image to enlarge)

     The subject of this painting is taken from another of the fountains in a well known
shopping district In Kansas City.  The sculptor of the life-size bronze was Donatello
Gabbrielli, and the figure he created represents Pomona, the Roman goddess and
protector of vineyards and orchards.  She is depicted as if having just been busily
sampling some of the produce of a bountiful harvest, because her hands are filled to
overflowing with grapes and other fruit.  She stands (or seemingly floats upon the
surface) of an elevated, stone bowl of flowing water, which is cascading over the
bowl's edge in a shimmering curtain, and falling into a wider pool below.
     The fountain was purchased in Italy, and installed in a Plaza courtyard in 1969,
far from Pomona's natural habitat of sunny Italian vineyards.  For nearly a half
century she has been presiding over a realm of conspicuous consumerism, rather
than overseeing the verdant fields of Tuscany.
   
   

No Fish Today

                                                   An original acrylic painting, on stretched canvas
                                                   18 X 24", unframed
                                                   $1,800.00, - ( plus $45.00, pack and ship )

                                                         ( Click on image to enlarge )

     This painting, of a courtyard fountain scene, is one from a series of fountain paintings
I have done, which feature the fountains of a well-known shopping district in Kansas City.
I have shown other paintings from this series in previous postings, such as Neptune 
Rising, A Sunrise Visitor, and Do The Mermaids Bring The Storms?, and I may show
more of them in future postings.
     Although the fountain itself features four little faun figures, which sit at the four corners
of a rectangular pool, I focused my composition on one end of the pool and two of the
figures.   The four fauns were purchased in Brindisi, Italy, in 1928, and there is some
evidence that they may have had a previous life as ornamental features of a Italian villa's
lighting fixtures. And, their years since their installation as a fountain have not been
uneventful.  The story is, that someone once managed to steal three of the fauns, but
the thief was unable to pry away the last one. It was that remaining faun which was used
to make a mold to cast the three, new replacements for the missing trio.
     Fauns, the mythological half-human, half-goat creatures, have been frequent subjects
for artists, writers and composers, from the time of the ancient Greeks right up through
the nineteenth century.  They were originally believed to be the manifestations of forest
and animal spirits, which could help or hinder humans, at their own whim.  The Romans
believed fauns inspired fear in men traveling in lonely, remote or wild places.  But fauns
were also believed to be capable of guiding humans in need, as in the case of the ancient,
well-known fable of The Faun and the Traveler ( later called, The Satyr and the 
Peasant).   That fable was a popular subject for European artists for centuries.
     In the case of this painting, it is the cat I added to the scene, rather than a traveling
human, which appears to find the fauns companionable.  The title of the painting suggests
that the cat may be stopping by regularly, to check on whether the pool has been stocked
with goldfish, but he never has any luck.  No doubt there are a great many cats living in
the large, high-rise apartments surrounding the district, but it is unlikely that any of them
get to leave their buildings.  A cat which could visit that fountain regularly, would truly
need to have nine lives, in order to survive the run through all the heavy traffic.

Mellow Autumn Mollusk

                                           An original acrylic painting, on a gesso primed, masonite panel
                                           5 X 7", unframed
                                           $135.00, ( plus $8.00, pack and ship )


                                                         ( Click on image to enlarge )

   
     This is one of a number of smaller paintings I have done, in which I used snails as
the subject, or in which I used snails in addition to the main subject.  Snails are of an
appropriate scale to fit well into smaller dimension paintings, and the wide variety of
their colorful, patterned shells is surprisingly beautiful.  
     I feel that I managed to pack enough different elements into this painting, that it
gives the impression of being larger than it is in reality, and yet I don't think I made it
too busy.  Other artists will recognize the composition device, of overlapping similar
shapes, which I used to provide depth and a feeling of movement in the painting.
The snail, extending from its shell, almost perfectly echoes the shape of the fallen pair,
even including the extended lines from the head of the snail and the stem of the pair.
Thus, by playing the two shapes against each other in reverse, a circular movement is
created, which helps to keep the eyes of the viewer focused within the painting, rather
than slipping away, out of the little story it is telling.


     This painting can also available ready-framed, as shown here, in a carefully selected
and well suited frame, for $185.00, ( Plus $15.00, pack and ship ).

                                                     
                                                        ( Click on image to enlarge )

 

Donning The Suit Of Lights (Matador #3)

 


                                              An original acrylic painting, on stretched canvas
                                              20 X 16". unframed
                                             


                                                        ( Click on image to enlarge )

     People often ask artists and writers why they continue to ponder bullfights and
the bullfighters, as subject matter for their creative works.  The questioners probably
hear as many different answers to their quires as the number of famous, or less well
known creative personalities, that they have asked, including Picasso and Hemingway.
But for me, the answer has to be the endless, abstract, visual possibilities of the
dramatic, ceremonial, and ritual costuming.  The rich, hand-embroidered gold-work
and gem-encrusted presentations the matadors wear, along with their vibrantly colored
capes, are echoes of our ancient past, going back to ceremonial, human and then animal
sacrifice. And those elaborate appointments still symbolize man against the dark forces
of nature, and the one sacrificial hero who goes out to face death, for the sake of all the
others, as their heroic proxy in the arena.  

A Winter Morning Encounter

                                           An original acrylic painting, on stretched canvas
                                           16 X 20", unframed
                                            $1,400.00, -( plus $35.00, pack and ship )


                                                        ( Click on image to enlarge )

     This was one of my demonstration paintings for my last workshop.  It was painted
as a response to questions about how to paint snow, and it showed how to build up
layers of undertones before adding the final touches of pure white.  The scene is entirely
imaginary.
     Creating a landscape completely from one's imagination can give an artist unlimited
freedom and possibilities, and yet it can be a trap or dead-end for some who try such
risky ventures.  We have all seen those twenty-five minute, TV art videos, which promote
painting as some kind of happiness therapy, and which value speed of completion over
thought  and observation.  The "landscapes" they crank out do not capture a genuine
sense of place, or a believable feeling of depth of field, or delineate objects in a space
of adequate capacity to hold them.
     In the case of this snowy, forest scene, I hope that I have given it a believable sense
of place, but also that I have given it the better advantage of being a completely imaginary
setting.  That advantage is,of course, the freedom o go beyond simply recording a
landscape as it is seen, to tell more of a complex idea, or even offer suggestions of a
story in the completed composition.  The imaginary landscape can become fantasy
( or even reach into a surreal vision,  such as the painting in one of my previous postings
titled Merlin's Enchanted Keep ). This painting is not that mystical, but it is an attempt
to capture a surreal moment in time, one of those rare, personal interactions with a wild
creature, which a Native American might see as a meeting with one's spirit-animal guide.

    The encounter occurs during a walk along a forest road, early on a perfectly quiet,
windless morning, when a nobble deer silently appears and acknowledges the human
presence with a calm exchange of greetings, looking into each other's eyes knowingly
for a time, before it turns away to walk up the road, perhaps as an invitation to follow
along.  Perhaps the other-worldly nature of such a meeting may suggest the kind of
dream-spirit encounter which can come in the final moments of life, offering assurance
that the last journey will not be too uncomfortable, and that the destination will be
welcoming and natural.

     I'm sure that there are many people who will simply describe this painting as a
picture of a deer in the woods.  I can't argue with that view; we all see what we want
to see.


   

Sunrise At Portland Head Lighthouse

                                             An original acrylic painting, on stretched canvas
                                             18 X 24", unframed
                                              $1,800.00, -( plus $25.00, pack and ship )


                                                      ( Click on image to enlarge )

     The Portland Head light, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, has stood witness to almost our
entire history as a nation.  It was commissioned by George Washington's directive,
and it is the oldest lighthouse in Maine.  Construction began in 1787, and it was
completed in 1791, when it was first illuminated by whale oil.
     Untold numbers of fishermen, whalers, merchantmen and sailors, have looked to the
light, for over two centuries, to guide them through darkness and stormy seas, to find
their safe harbor.  If only it could talk: the stories it could tell!
     All who sail past the light now, should probably lift a glass in a toast to its enduring
legacy.  We can only hope that it will continue to stand for centuries of sunrises to come,
still offering the light of a democracy, ignited by our first president.
   

Sand Dollars for Long John Silver

                                           An original mixed-media painting, on gesso primed Masonite
                                           8 X 10",  unframed
                                           $300.00, - ( plus $12.00, pack and ship )


                                                           ( Click on image to enlarge )

     This painting is another from the series that I have talked about in previous posts.
Each of these paintings is built around memories of favorite, story books of childhood,
usually books containing tales of high adventure, which may still stir some nostalgic
recollections in the grown ups who view the paintings.  For this painting, I imagined a
family vacation at the beach, where the parents planed to catch up on their reading,
and the children have also brought along some of their own favorite books to read.
And what could be more appropriate than Robert Louis Stevenson's rousing tale of
a fabulous, buried treasure on a deserted Caribbean island, and the cut-throat pirates
who will stop at nothing to get the gold for themselves.
     The young reader in this case, has not discovered any gold doubloons washed up
by the storms.  So, if a peg-legged old sea-captain, with a parrot on his shoulder,
should come by, the only treasure pieces that the child can offer him are not a pirate's
pieces-of-eight, they are his treasured, sand dollars, freshly gathered from the beach.
 

Someone Left Tom Sawyer On The Beach

                                           An original mixed-media painting, on gesso primed Masonite
                                           8 X 10",  unframed
                                           $300.00, - ( plus $12.00, pack and ship )


                                                           ( Click on image to enlarge )

   
     This painting is another from the series that I referred to in my previous blog, all of
which center about favorite books of boyhood, and the frequent forgetfulness which is
often a part the equation, in children's, easily distracted lives.  In this case, the child has
taken the book farther from home than he has before.  He carried his book to the beach,
but there were many things to see and do on the beach, before settling down to read.
He explored the shore, gathering some of the sun-bleached, sea shells he discovered,
to take home with him when it was time for him to go.  Then he wondered off, following
the calls of sea birds or other children.  But he didn't think about the incoming tide, which
could claim his treasures before he remembers to return.
     We can only hope that all such happy, adventurous lads grow up to enjoy lives with
a love of learning and discovery, before the inevitable tides of time and misfortune come
back again.

Tom Sawyer Is Lying On The Patio

                                           An original mixed-media painting, on canvas panel
                                           9 X 12", unframed
                                           $400.00, - (plus $12.00, pack and ship)
                             

                                                        ( Click on image to enlarge )

     This painting is one from a series I worked on, using some favorite, boyhood books
as subjects, books which contained familiar, tall tales of adventure or classic fantasies,
which can still evoke a bit of nostalgic feelings, in the viewers who are looking at the
paintings.
      I have previously posted another of these paintings in this blog, called Who Left Tom 
Sawyer Outside Last Night?   In the story behind that painting, I imagined a scenario in
which  a child had taken a favorite book outdoors to read, but who then became
distracted by friends and other games, and forgot about the book.  The back-story
behind all of the paintings in the series was much the same.
     In the case of this painting, I imagined that, after a cool night, the morning sunlight
finds the book still lying out on the patio, and the butterfly has found the radiant comfort
of the sun-warmed book to be the perfect place to rest and recharge.
     It was my hope that these paintings would help people reflect a bit and recall some of
their long-past days of innocent childhood, when it seemed the most important thing in life
was the necessity of observing the world around us, in all it's miraculous details, from the
colors of falling leaves to the amazingly delicate structure of a butterfly's wings.



     I still have several other paintings from this series.  I will try to get them photographed
and post them to the blog soon.  

Hot Cocoa, Bedtime Stories and Teddy

                                        An original, acrylic painting on a gesso primed, masonite panel
                                        8 x 10", unframed
                                        $300.00, ( plus $10.00, pack and ship )

     Of all the incentives which parents may use to persuade their little children, that it is
time for them to go to bed, these three things must be among the most frequently used
enticements.  They are also three things which may awaken a bit of nostalgia in some
older viewers.

     This is a fairly traditional, little still-life painting.  The composition is static and calm
except for the drama of the sharply angled lighting and shadows.  The painting also
captures the several, different textures of the materials from which the three objects
were made.
                                                       ( click on image to enlarge )

     If my memory serves me correctly, stuffed, toy bears acquired the name Teddy, after
the well publicized incident in which President Teddy Roosevelt spared the life of a small
bear, while on one of his wild-game, hunting trips.

     Since that time, "Teddy" bears have taken on a permanent role in our daily lives
which makes them a part of the human circle of life   Teddy bears are often the first gift
for a baby, and the bear may become a constant  companion for the child, for several
years.  Later on, in the early teen years of puppy love, girls may receive teddy bears
from boys suffering their first crush, and they might dance to songs with lyrics which
request a girl to be a boy's, little, teddy bear.   When the time comes to marry and
raise a family of their own, those young parents pass on the tradition of giving teddy
bears to their children.  And then , much later in life, when elderly ladies are alone,
and in declining health, they often receive teddy bears, as gifts from kindly nieces or
granddaughters, as a thoughtful remembrance.  And finally. after a loved one passes on,
teddy bears often show up as a part of the memorial tributes
     So. our teddy bears have become primary symbols of  our desire to give comfort
and  enduring love, to those we hold dear, throughout our lives.

Tea For Two

                                       An original acrylic painting, on gessoed masonite panel
                                        8 x 10", unframed
                                       $350.00 - ( plus $10.00, pack and ship )

     This painting was awarded the grand prize at the BLICK spring art show 2015
in Kansas City.
                                                         ( click on image to enlarge )

     The two white mice in this painting, which appear to be trying to decide on whether
they would prefer a different flavor of tea than the one in the tin, were not painted from
live models.  Rodents do not rank very high on my scale of preferred pets.   But we
should be thankful to have the white mice, because of their usefulness as the foundation
of medical research.
    I painted the mice for a recent art-workshop, as a demonstration of how to paint
white furred animals, by starting with a dark under-painting, and then building up layers
of lighter value tones, before finally adding the pure white touches.  However, in this
painting, it is the blue and white glazed tea-pot, with its intricate decoration, which
steals the scene, and which proved to be far more time consuming to paint than a couple
of mice, out on a date.