Racing The Hoop

                                           An original casein painting, on heavy watercolor board
                                           20 X 24 inches
                                                     This painting is in a private collection now

                                                      ( click on image to enlarge )

     The past several postings on this blog have featured paintings that included birds
which live on or around water.  Birds have always served as subjects for artists, from as
far back as the frescoes and wall paintings of the ancient world, right up to the paintings
of the modern masters.  Waterfowl in particular, both domesticated and wild, have always
played a big role in our lives, as a food source which also had beauty worthy to be painted
and enjoyed.  That memory reminded me of this painting, from several decades or more
ago, of a boy and his pet duck.  There must be millions of paintings of boys with their pet
dogs, but the boy and bird relationship is probably much less frequently portrayed.

     Most people are aware of the fact that animals and birds imprint on humans, if they are
raised by people from birth, and they may often become inseparable from their human
parents.  I had an aunt who once had some geese on their farm, including a gander which
was a gentle pet with her, but which was an aggressive watch-dog with anyone else.  And
I recall an elderly, neighborhood couple in the city, who had a pet duck which patrolled
the inside perimeter of their fenced yard, and quacked with territorial authority at anyone
who passed by.on the sidewalk.

     This hectic electronic age, which rules our lives, may make it difficult for some people
to think back to a much simpler time ( even before radio ) when children's toys were
nothing like the expensive electronic gadgets which kids play with these days. Hoop
rolling was a popular game, which most likely would have occurred often, on fields
next to schoolhouses such as the one in this painting.  I chose to depict the little, frame
schoolhouse where a famous,New England school-teacher once taught children, before
the American revolution.  ( I hope the school still survives.)  That teacher gained fame
because of what he said, shortly before the British hanged him as a spy.  His statement
was, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country!", and his name was
Nathan Hale.  Perhaps Nathan's patriotic words were echoing in the boy's mind, as he
and his duck raced the hoop down the hill.


    The photo of the painting is old and blurred, but perhaps it still conveys the essential
elements of the diagonal actions in the composition, intended to provide a feeling of the
movements of the wind, the clouds, and the boy with his duck.

The Twilight Enchantment

                                               An original acrylic painting, on gesso primed masonite
                                               15 X 17", unframed
                                               $600.00,  ( plus $25.00, pack and ship )


                                                   ( click on image to enlarge )

     There is no more graceful image in all of nature than that of a mute swan, gliding
effortlessly across the still surface of a lake, during a perfectly silent, evening sunset.
That quiet interval of tranquility, as the diurnal world prepares for sleep, and the
nocturnal world begins to awaken, can be trans-formative for appreciative observers.
     This painting was an attempt to capture a feeling of that magical wonder, as the
glowing, red ember of the sun is just dropping below the horizon, but is still casting
its final, fading rays.


     I was somewhat reluctant to post the photo of this painting, because it is not
accurate enough to give viewers the full sense of the painting.  Digital photography
of paintings, which have a high degree of contrast between a very light subject,
and a dark background, are particularly difficult.  The light, subject matter often
turns into a formless, white blob, and the dark values become washed-out and
weak.
     In this instance, the photo failed to capture all of the feathery detail of the
swan, as well as missing the full depth and richness of the darker passages.
However, perhaps the photo does at least, convey a feeling of the original image.


   

An Evening At The Teahouse

                                                   An original acrylics painting on canvas
                                                   16 X 20"
                                                    (This painting will not be available from this site
                                                      until it is returned to me from an exhibition, but
                                                      as with most of the paintings in the blog, giclee
                                                      fine-art prints are available. )


                                                   ( click on image to enlarge )

     The structure of this painting's composition is based on strong, opposing, diagonals,
which are intended to create the feeling of a figure in motion.  The heavy lines of the
geisha's kimono are a bit of an homage to Van Gogh and Gauguin and the other post-
impressionists, who admired and collected Japanese, wood-block prints, which also then
influenced their own work.   The glow of the lighting of the scene, is intended to convey a
feeling for the look of a geisha performing in the light of lanterns, as they would have done
in the old days.



     I seldom document the progress of my paintings as I am working on them, however I
did have a camera at hand while I was working on this one.  So I did take a few pictures
along the way, starting from when I first laid out the bones of the structure, and then on
through several shots of successive layers of color overlays and glazes.  For those
viewers who may be interested, I am now adding a few of those quick snapshots to this
posting.  They may help to reveal more about the early stages of creating the painting.

The Storm Chaser ( Gull #4 )

                                                  An original acrylic painting, on stretched canvas
                                                  18 X 22", unframed
                                                  $400.00, - ( plus $35.00, pack and ship )

                                                 
                                                      ( click on image to enlarge )

     This is the painting which was completed as a scene of an American herring gull.
The bird is portrayed flying into the wind, as if on patrol over the shoreline, while a
passing, summer squall is moving out to sea.  These sharp-eyed scavengers never fail
to spot a freshly, beached oportunity to grab a meal.

Ivory - In The Headwind ( Gull #3 )

                                         An original acrylic painting, on stretched canvas
                                         18 X 22"
                                       

                                                     ( click on image to enlarge )

     In my previous posting, of the seagull on the beach, I talked a bit about the problem
of trying to create a genuine feeling of movement, to the birds in paintings, especially
when the birds are painted as if in flight.  All too often, the birds appear to be simply
suspended, as if on wires.   This painting may have a little of that feeling of suspension,
but the use of the very active sky and sea as background,  helps to convey a general
feeling of a bird aloft, sailing on the sea winds.

    When I did this painting, it was my intention to paint an ivory gull, and keep it as such,
because it seems to me that there is always something more symbolic about white birds.
However, most of the people who live in the lower forty-eight states are not familiar with
ivory gulls.  Far more are only familiar with the American herring gull.  So, I finally gave in
and changed the bird to a herring gull.  That is the reason that this version of the original
painting is not available.

     For those who enjoy the image of the ivory gull, giclee, fine-art prints of the painting
are available, as is the case with most of the paintings I have posted on this blog.

Racing With The Waves ( Gull #6 )

                                              An original acrylic painting, on gesso primed masonite panel
                                              20 X 16", unframed
                                              $350.00, ( plus $35.00, pack and ship )

                                                          ( click on image to enlarge )

     Anyone who has ever watched the feeding habits of shorebirds, scavenging along
on beaches, is familiar with their patterns of movements.  As the waves are receding,
the birds hurry onto the wet expanses of sands and pebbles, in search of freshly
exposed tidbits of marine life.  Then, as the next waves advance, surging back up the
beach, the birds hastily retreat, to avoid the incoming breakers.  And so, it continues
in endless repetition, to the rhythm of the waves.

     This painting of an ever-hungry gull, was an attempt to capture some of that
feeling of observing the active movements of birds on the beach.  As I look at the
painting now, I would call it impressionist, but with expressionist aspects.  The
vigor of the paint application, has a freshness and spontaneity which helps to convey
that feeling of movement.  When I was painting the bird, I also made a very conscious
decision to have the tips of the wing and tail feathers extend just slightly beyond the
edges of the picture-plain, which is also an attempt to create the impression of an
active bird, moving quickly forward.

The Day The Earth Shook ( Lost And Found # 24 )

                                                       An original mixed-media, on illustration board
                                                       5 X 7", unframed, ( mat size, 10 X 12" )
                                                       $110.00, ( plus $15.00, pack and ship )

                                                           ( click on image to enlarge )

     Sooner or later, for each and everyone of us, the day will come when we experience
a life-threatening event, which becomes a sharp reminder of our individual, human
mortality.  For me, that event was a combination of a couple of heart-attacks, followed
by difficult, open-heart surgery.
     After my stay in the hospital, I was brought home, and as i was emerging from the
car ( moving very slowly ) I happened to see two small objects which had been washed
down the street by heavy rains, while I was away.  They were a small, plastic figure of
one of Disney's Seven Dwarfs, and a single well-used die.  That trivial discovery seemed
somehow prophetic to me
     During my convalescence, as I tried to avoid moving as much as possible, I worked
on a series of miniatures, which included those two, found objects, along with other things
which had once been treasured, but then long-ago forgotten and lost.  I called those
miniatures my "Lost And Found" series, which is perhaps symbolic of the fact that, in
the end, we are all destined to lose everything, but that we sometimes receive a bit of
an extension or second chance, before we have to say goodbye.  My extension has
lasted for several years now, and I am grateful for each new day.

     The little painting which I have posted here, from that series, was the one which
included an old, broken pocket-watch, that I found shoved to the back of a drawer,
where it had remained since the 1940's.   The hands of the watch are set at five
twenty-nine, which was the exact moment of the detonation of the first nuclear
weapon, on the morning of July 16, 1945, in New Mexico.  Ever since that earth-
-shaking day, life threatening events have been multiplying for all of humanity.  The
question now has become, not one of our individual mortality, but one of whether
or not the whole, human race is going to survive, especially with all of the unstable
people who now have control of nuclear weapons, including our own chief executive.