"First Pepper"

6" H x 8" W x 1/4" D oil on panel

"First Pepper" was an opportunity to preserve in a still life one of the fruits of my summer gardens, and at the same time play with the lush, sensual qualities of oil paint.  It's now available for sale on my ebay auctions.  (You can check out all my works for sale on ebay in time for the holidays here.)

My Land/Water/Sky Encaustic series at "Art=Gift" Hygienic Holiday show

"Wading Together at Dusk"

Encaustic on panel

6" H x 8" W

Yesterday I dropped off  several of my encaustic (hot wax and oil pigment) landscapes, including the one above, at the Hygienic Gallery in New London, CT for their annual "Art = Gift" holiday show. I love to use this medium as a bridge between painting and relief sculpture, creating layers and rich textural effects. Encaustic also lends itself very well to the abstracted quality I strive for in this series.

Every year this exhibit features an eclectic mix of smaller, reasonably-priced works perfect for gift giving.  (And yes, giving to yourself counts as a "gift".)  

The show runs from November 24th through December 23rd. Check out the Hygienic's website or call for gallery hours and more info: 860-443-8001. 860  • 443 • 8001 860 • 443 • 8001 

"Reflections at Dusk" - Second in my Cigar Box series now on ebay

Mixed Media

Dimensions of box:

7-1/4" L x 4-1/2" W x 4-1/4" D

As promised in my previous post, here is another of my painted Cigar Box featuring my original oil paintings, now up for sale on ebay  . This land/waterscape in also an image from Bluff Point State Park in Groton; in addition to being a wonderful local place for hiking (the woods have endless trails that all eventually lead back to one another, so my walk is never quite the same twice), the variety of woods and water and beach provide a lot of inspiration to me as an artist.  And it's right in an urban area, but can feel very far from the city.

Check out my auction for this item, or go to my main ebay page to see all my current auctions.

"Reflection at Bluff" - My first ebay auction this season

Mixed Media

Dimensions of box:

7-1/4" L x 4-1/2" W x 4-1/4" D

This box is my first ebay auction of the fall/winter season, in time for the holiday season. "Reflections at Bluff" is one of my series of oil landscapes on wooden cigar boxes.  The boxes are beautifully made, with dovetail joinery and brass fittings; and since I prefer panel or board to canvas for my oil paintings, working with cigar boxes seemed natural.  

And it's practical, too: something you can use to store small items, and at the same time display fine art anywhere in your home besides the walls.

The view is one from Bluff Point State Park in Groton. CT.

I'll have more in this series posted to my ebay auctions in the coming days.  In the meantime you can bid on this item here.

Hammonasset State Park

8" x 6" Oil on Panel

When searching for landscapes that will make a good painting, my eye is often drawn to the long horizontal slice of land against the expansive sky.  The skies are sometimes cool lavender greys in contrast to the warm colors over the calm body of water and marshes.  

Hammonasset is one of my favorite shoreline parks in Connecticut.  It's been the subject of several of my land & waterscapes. I love that when I'm done with my painting and pack up my gear, I can enjoy a bike ride or a walk along the beach. http://www.lisfoundation.org/coastal_access/hamm_humhx.html

Sunset Haze

10" x 10" oil on panel

What can I say? I enjoy looking up at the skies for inspiration.  Their subtle and not-so-subtle shapes and colors, in their vast endless space, seem to offer a key to simplify life in this complex world. Sometimes I love looking at skies more than I like looking at (this) world.  Gazing up helps me clear my head: there are no intersections, no interruptions, and no clutter.

Painting Sketches

Lately, I have been enjoying painting small oil and acrylic paintings in my sketch book.  I am looking to capture my essential  impression of the landscape that I feel and see.

George Segal / Artist

Couple on Two Benches

Just visited Chattanooga TN and ran across this sculpture by George Segal at the Hunter Museum of American Art.  I have always enjoyed the immediacy and humanity of Segal's sculptures and it was a delight to find this piece there.
http://www.huntermuseum.org/

Downtown, No Parking

3.5 " x 9.5"
oil on panel

A bright day in the city, decorated with cast shadows everywhere, gave me many reasons to paint shapes in complimentary tones of yellow, lavender, red, and green.

White Dog

5"x 5" oil on panel

I often like to leave some paintings with some mystery to them.  Just a white dog running in the sun feeling good. 

Mushroom & Sweet Pepper

8"x 8" oil on panel

I love how the portobello mushrooms look this year as subjects for still life painting. Their unusual shapes and subtle colors offer opportunities to play with paint; in this case, the muted "flesh" of the mushroom reflected the blue-green backdrop. The pepper gave me a chance to play with cool and warm reds to create form, and contrast the neutral tones of the mushroom. This organic mushroom and sweet pepper came from Fiddleheads Food Co-op in New London.  

"Dalmation Two"

8"h x 6"w Oil on Panel

This painting is the companion-piece to "Dalmation One" and depicts the same dog in a different pose.  Again I used blue tones to represent the black spots; this time a slightly less abstract and more "painterly" style seemed appropriate, and the colors are more muted than in the first.  I almost never plan those sorts of things in advance, but let the painting itself guide me towards the "look" it wants.

Boston Terrier

5" x 5" oil on panel 

This beautiful little Boston Terrier was definitely looking forward to it's treat. I had fun working with the shapes of paint and creating energy with the brush strokes, colors and the forms created by the dog's pose. 

Sketches and Drawings of other Artists

Self Portrait by Kaethe Kollwitz

Since I love to sketch as often as I can, this blog post is about other artists' sketches or drawings. I picked just a few to start and will add more at a later date.

I love the dynmic quality of line creating values and form in Kollwitz's drawings. This self portrait is from The Diary and Letters of Kaethe Kollwitz, edited by Hans Kollwitz (1955).
For more images go to  Spaightwood Galleries.

Rodin's drawings (works of art alone) were sometimes inspiration for his sculptures. The gestural quality combined with his ability to create volume and movement with simple lines and values are elements I love. The drawing below came from  the book, The Drawings of Rodin by Albert Elsen and J.Kirk T. Varnedoe (1971).  Here is a link to some sculptures and drawing of Rodin's  Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

Centaur by Rodin 1880

Plowing by Seurat

Seurat is mostly widely known for his epic pointillist paintings such as Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte . But his drawings are beautiful in their subtlety of values, the contrasts of light and dark demonstrating his mastery.  This drawing is from Seurat's Drawings by Robert L. Herbert (1962). More drawings can be seen at Seurat's Drawings.

Portabella Mushroom Family

Oil on Pan
8"x 8"
SOLD

I could not resist creating a still life oil painting of a beautiful organic portabella mushroom I bought last week from the Fiddleheads Foods Co-op in New London, CT.  This one had little mushrooms growing at its base; it made me think of a family or of a "hobbit home"of mushrooms.  The beautiful white stem provided me with an opportunity to depict for the reflected red and blue-green colors of the background. 

Dalmation One

5"x 7" oil on panel

Could not resist playing with the dark and light colored shapes.  Amazing when one really looks there are many colors in what we call white and black.