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)