Snow White's Lost and Found Dwarf

     I believe it was the year in which I was born, that Walt Disney released
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length, animated feature film.
The film proved to be such a great popular success, that at the Academy Awards
Ceremony, Disney received a special honorary Oscar, accompanied by seven
miniature Oscars.  Shirley Temple may have played a role as a presenter, in giving
the statuettes to Walt, but I'm not sure about that bit of Hollywood history.
Disney used the popularity of those seven little characters to licence them to toy
companies for reproduction in a great variety of forms, and I imagine that they are
still being commercialized to this day.

     Some months ago, after a night of heavy rains, I found a little reproduction of
one of the dwarfs which a child had lost or discarded, and which was most probably
one of a set of all seven,  The rain had carried it along the flooded, curbside gutters
from some unknown location, and deposited it in front of my studio at the opening
of the storm sewer.  The little figure was lying there, along with one chipped and
scratched die, and only some twigs and leaf litter had prevented the two small
objects from falling through the iron grating into the sewer to be lost forever.

     August was my birth month, all those years ago, when audiences were first
being charmed by Disney's dwarfs.  And now I have to report that this August was
also nearly the month of my death.  I had a heart attack, and that was followed by
extensive, open-heart surgery, and now a torturous recovery period which will last
past the middle of September.

     During my painful convalescence, while I am waiting for the strength to return to
 my normal routine of life, I have been doing some small drawings of little objects
including the little dwarf figure which stands just a bit over two inches tall, as well as
its lost companion die.  I find the symbolism of this little lost fellow to be appropriate
to my message in this posting.....Just when we think that all is lost, our fate can 
change, and the lost can be saved!      

   

Calling The Birds To Breakfast

                                                          An original acrylic painting on canvas panel
                                                          20x16", unframed
                                                          $1,400.00, - (plus $25.00, pack and ship)

     There is an old saying which declares that sentimentality is the death of art.  That is
to say, the death of art for art's sake, or art with a capitol A.  As I view this painting
again, I would certainly say that it has some of the major hallmarks of sentimental art,
including angelic sweetness and innocence, as the little girl tries to entice birds from
the shrubs with crusts of her morning toast.  Undoubtedly there would be critics who
would say that the story-telling aspects of the painting would label the work as more
of an illustration than a work of true art  However, there may be something more to
this painting than simple illustration; I would be interested in knowing the opinions of
the viewers of this blog on this subject, if anyone wold care to leave their comments.
If you like this painting I have more work with similar subject matter which I can
show in the blog, in future postings.

                                                            (click on image to enlarge)

  

The Colors Of The Prairie

                                                          An original mixed-media on toned, Strathmore paper
                                                          18x24" unframed, ( mat size, 24x30")
                                                           $1,800.00,  ( plus $24.00, pack and ship )

     Visitors to the Kansas City area are sometimes surprised to learn that the growing
of tobacco was a long standing part of the local, agricultural economy.  We tend to
think of the heart of America as being the bread-basket of the nation, growing our
important food-grains such as corn and wheat, while crops such as tobacco and
cotton are thought of as the more traditional harvests of the deep south.  But some of
the earliest settlers in this area came from the plantation culture of the old south,
well before the civil-war, and they brought their tobacco seeds with them.  The annual
tobacco auctions became a staple of life in this part of the mid-west, for many decades,
with the booming voices of the auctioneers calling for bids on the bundled, dried leaves.

     Now, here and there, dotted among the fields north of the city, any remaining of the
huge, old tobacco-barns, may still echo with the auctioneer's calls.

                                                         ( Click on image to enlarge.)

.  
     The composition of this piece is loosely based on a spiral design, focusing in on the
center-of-attention in the upper right quadrant.

In The Fading Light

                                              An original oil painting, on gesso primed, Masonite panel
                                              12x18", unframed
                                               $950.00, - ( plus $20.00, pack and ship)


     I recently found another of the paintings from the old days on Mount Adams,
which I have mentioned before in previous postings, such as Ten Ten Celestial,
and Dawn Over Mount Adams.  In this case, the subject was a small house on
the eastern flank of the hill, which someone had completely remodeled.  The false,
rectangular facade had been removed to reveal the peaked roof, which extended
over the recessed entryway at the side of the house, and nice, brick retaining-walls
had been constructed to create tidy, little gardens in front and back.  However, I
was not concerned with creating a detailed image of a specific place at the time.
I  was more interested in using the basic shapes of the scene in simplified forms,
letting all the details be diffused under the faceted gleam and extended planes of
the fading, evening light.


                                                         (Click on image to enlarge.)

Return Of The Monarch

                                                         An original acrylic painting, on gesso primed masonite
                                                         10x8", unframed
                                                         $300.00, (plus $12.00, pack and ship)


     The savage and record setting weather which has chilled and soaked the heart of
America this spring ( or should I say this absence of spring ), is finally showing signs
of giving us a reprieve at last.  The wild flowers are starting to bloom.  So, soon we may
be seeing some of the first monarch butterflies, working their way northward, on their
annual migration.  Perhaps this little painting offers a feel of those brighter days ahead.

                                                            (click on image to enlarge)

   The composition of this piece is a simple, reverse "S" curve, leading from the
upper right to the lower left.

   Giclee fine-art prints of this painting are available.

Ten Ten Celestial

                                                         An original oil painting, on gesso primed masonite
                                                         15x24", unframed
                                                          $1,300.00,  (plus $25.00, pack and ship)


     When the old Mount Adams section of Cincinnati was first laid out, the steep and
difficult terrain necessitated a plan of sharply winding and climbing streets and stairways.
The devout, early developers gave the streets heavenly names, which matched the views
out over the Ohio River valley and the downtown area of the city, and also because those
climbing streets led up to the church and monastery on top of the hill.

     The lots were narrow, which was typical for that era of the 19th century, when
brownstone style structures with formal facades, filled the lots from side to side, as well
as from the front sidewalk back, to perhaps a small bit of open space at the rear.
Some later builders, with less deep pockets, made do with frame structures, which
they tucked in between the brownstones.

     As the city expanded to the suburbs in the mid 20th century, the old, core areas of
town, such as Mount Adams became forgotten time-capsules of the city's history,
bypassed and cut off by the freeways which cut through it to provide convenient
commuting for suburban home owners, as was all too typical of what happened to so
many of America's cities.
     Then the artists discovered Mount Adams.  They found that the charm of the twisting
streets and quaint old houses, provided endless subject matter for paintings.  And, as so
often happens when artists move in and create an art colony, it became a popular
destination place for the young social crowds.  It was that very popularity which became
its downfall.  Property values and rents jumped, making it difficult for artists to keep their
studio, work spaces.   New "developers" saw that they could profit handsomely by tearing
down the low-density housing and raising apartment buildings in its place, to house the
influx of new residents.
     By the mid 1960's, the house at one thousand and ten Celestial, as well the
neighboring houses, had been demolished and replaced with a blandly utilitarian
apartment building.  So,  this painting is a remainder among the souvenirs from
a different time, a different world and a different life.

                                                         (click on image to enlarge)

I used an exaggerated perspective in this painting to emphasize the odd angles

created by the steep viewing points.  I thought of the composition as an assemblage

of bold shapes which could contrast the heavy masonry of the brownstone structures

with the more timid, wood-frame structures, set back from their domineering neighbors. 

       

The Prairie Winds

                                                              An original mixed-media painting
                                                              24x36", unframed
                                                              $3.000.00,  (plus $45.00, pack and ship)

     This painting dates from the days when I was using landscape themes as starting
points, from which to expand into nearly abstract paintings. I wanted to create work
which would somehow depict the feel for being out in the sun and the wind, watching
the movements of the trees and grasses and gathering the fragrance of the air.
     The results of such zealous, expressionist fervor were not always awe inspiring,
but they still sometimes carry a kind of dynamic enthusiasm which I appreciate.

                                               
                                                       (click on image to enlarge)