Rooster bowls

These are found wooden bowls on which I've painted rooster heads. They are about six and a half inches wide, and about two inches deep. The bottoms are painted with the same colors, more or less, as the inside of the bowls. There is a gloss varnish on the top ring and inside, and a matte varnish on the bottom. I'm working on various other sizes, and probably other imagery, too. The rooster heads are the first series.

"Lord Byron"

"Lord Byron", 12 by 24 inches, acrylic on canvas.
Scheduled to open September 24 at Norwood Flynn Gallery in Dallas, "Poets and Cattle" will be my next show.

Jeffrey Catherine Jones, 1944 - 2011

Jeffrey Catherine Jones, a.k.a. Jeff Jones, began her career as a fantasy and science fiction illustrator in the 1960s. She was the only illustrator to rival the great Frank Frazetta in originality of imagery and style on the many paperback book covers which caught my pubescent eye. Those covers reinforced my realization that one could actually pursue a career in making images, and they were a profound influence in the direction of my life focus.
She died this morning.

The economy of detail and color and directness of paint application found in her paintings are qualities I have admired from my first encounter with a Jones painting.

Okay, you can probably see why this cover would be compelling to my 14 year old eyes. But it's one of many books I bought with Jones covers, not all of which featured the female anatomy so prominently.

This is a good example of how Jones used no more or no less detail than was necessary to make this statement. It's a beautiful example of her fantasy imagery.

In recent work she approached plein air landscape painting, and those may be some of my favorites, maybe more appealing to my adult eye. Here are some examples.




My sympathies go out to Jeffrey Catherines Jones' family and personal friends. Her many fans, including me, will miss seeing new work, but will always be glad to have experienced this singular artist's vision.

Visual Speed Bump 2011: The Oak Cliff Studio Tour

My increasingly cool neighborhood of Oak Cliff is a haven for artists of all kinds. The annual, or maybe it's a biennial, since the last one was two years ago, studio tour happens tomorrow, May 14. If you're in the Dallas Texas area, come by. Here's a link to the tour web site with a map and the names of participating venues, including mine.

Checking back in on Tuesday, the 17th, after the tour day, here are some views of the place before the crowds arrived. And yes, there were crowds.

The entry.

The merch table.







Two views of my, as one visitor put it, "tiny but bright" studio.

One of our cats, JemSneakers, was designated Official Speedbump of the "Speedbump Tour".

"¡Lotería, Lotería! (Tres)" reception

The "¡Lotería, Lotería! (Tres)" exhibition opening reception was last Saturday night, April 30. Here are some random photos from the event. There were many other fine pieces in the show, so this is not intended as a comprehensive survey, just some work that caught my eye.
As always, the opening was well attended and fun.
Thanks again to Enrique Fernández Cervantes and the Bath House Cultural Center for the opportunity to participate in this great event.

Here I am with "El Pájaro"

Linda Stokes with her "La Mano"

Don Huff and Chet Phillips with Chet's "La Muerte"

Michael Benson with his "La Calavera"

Kathy Boortz, "El Gallo"

Lilia Estrada, "La Botella"

Two views of Dan Dudley's "El Bandolon"

Tomas Bustos, "El Perico"

Cap Pannell, "El Diablito"

Julia McLain, "La Araña"

Jose Vargas, "El Sol"

Amalia Elmasri, "El Pescado"

Michelle Akers, "La Corona"

Pastor Garcia, "El Tambor"

Rebecca Guy, "La Luna"

David Medina, "El Violoncello"

Genaro Hernández, "La Rana"

Thought for this week.

I have posted this before, but I think after the events of the weekend it deserves another look.

It was originally created in 2002 as part of a piece exhibited in "Prevailing Human Spirit", an exhibit at the Museum of American Illustration in New York. Immediately after September 11, 2001 there was an understandable air of dread, that some seemed to suggest would be a permanent state of affairs. We could have bowed to fear and overturned our whole philosophy of life and government, creating a police state with some amorphous idea of "security" overruling all other considerations. The Bush/Cheney administration did their best to bring such a concept to fruition. But our system was strong enough to limit the damage they were willing to do in order to achieve all of their ends, although plenty of those were still achieved and remain with us today.

But the boogeyman is finally dead. What this will change I don't know, but the symbolism of the act is strong, and if this end brings some measure of peace to those personally affected by the crimes perpetrated, then it's a good thing.

The important thing, as far as I'm concerned, is to not live in fear; fear of those different from ourselves, fear of things over which we have no control, and worst of all, fear of each other. The only message of this piece I would change is don't be afraid of anything, whether or not it's "evil".