Happy New Year

My resolution is to try to say something on this blog at least once a week. Not that there's a huge audience for it, but because I want to put things out there.
I hope everyone has had great holidays and will have only the positive in the new year. See you on the other side.

Happy Solstice!

If it pleases you to do so on this Winter Solstice watch this little animation I made based on this 30 year old(!) illustration. Have a happy whatever it is you might celebrate at this time of year.

The original image:


The animation is at this link.

Views of "Remote Viewing"

The work for "Remote Viewing", that I shipped to the University of New Mexico in Portales instead of hand delivering as I had planned (due to a temporary Ice Age of the type that shuts down this part of the country once a year or so), arrived safely and was installed over the past weekend.

Here are some views of it, generously provided by one of the instructors there and a friend and colleague from the communication arts days, David Deal.

More drawings

"Jackrabbit 2", 11 by 9 inches, pencil on Arches watercolor paper.



"Black Bear", 11 by 9 inches, pencil on Arches watercolor paper.

"Remote Viewing"

Above is the poster designed for my show by the folks at Eastern New Mexico University.

This weekend I intended to deliver 22 paintings to Eastern New Mexico University's Runnels Gallery in Portales, NM. The show title is "Remote Viewing", a reference to the fact that I don't usually paint my subjects on site, although they are usually very much about the place they're based on. It's also a reference to looking back with a different perspective on experiences I've had growing up, from what is now very much a remote place.

I used reference and memory to recreate those scenes I've actually witnessed or to reinterpret others. In any case, the weather here in North Texas put the kibosh on that plan, and I had to ship them instead.

Below are links to images of the paintings I sent. I'm scheduled to give a talk at the ending of the show on January 31st. We'll hope for the best on that date, weather-wise.

"Across the Pond", 10.5 by 14 inches, acrylic and found objects on paper
"Alfred, Lord Tennyson", 14 by 18 inches, acrylic/canvas
"Augustus", 18 by 14 inches, acrylic on paper and canvas
"Caesar", 20 by 16 inches, acrylic/paper/canvas
"Claudius", 36 by 36 inches, acrylic/paper/canvas
"Grazing Texas", 8 by 10 inches, acrylic on canvas
"Head of a Rooster", 8 by 6 inches, acrylic/canvas
"Head of a Rooster 3", 8 by 6 inches, acrylic/canvas
"Head of a Rooster 4", 8 by 6 inches, acrylic/canvas
"Head of a Rooster 6", 8 by 6 inches, acrylic/canvas
"Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley", 16 by 20 inches, acrylic/paper/canvas
"Medina", 8.75 by 14 inches, acrylic and found objects on paper
"Meadow 1", 8 by 8 inches, acrylic/canvas
"Meadow 2", 8 by 8 inches, acrylic/canvas
"Meadow 3", 8 by 8 inches, acrylic/canvas
"New Age Rodeo", 36 by 36 inches, acrylic/canvas
"October Pass", 30 by 40 inches, acrylic/paper/canvas
"Piedra de Caballero", 8 by 10 inches, acrylic/paper/canvas
"Precipicio" 20 by 24 inches, acrylic/paper/canvas
"Rose of Sharon", 18 by 14, acrylic/canvas
"Route 518", 9.5 by 14 inches, acrylic and found object on paper
"Somewhere, Texas", 11 by 14 inches, acrylic/canvas

More on this show as things progress.

And, a couple of drawings...

"Opossum", 9 by 11 inches, pencil on paper.


"Magpie", 11 by 9 inches, pencil on paper.

New habitats

Recently, I've had the opportunity to see a couple of my paintings in their new homes.
Here are a couple of views of "Opossum and Fireflies".
"Big Rock from New Mexico" is nestled on a hearth surrounded by pots and objects acquired from, appropriately enough, New Mexico.



As always, thanks to the owners of the work for the opportunity to see and post these photos.

New paintings

I'm really getting behind on this. These are two new paintings, both commissions. They're both subjects I could have made for "Inside and Out", but didn't. So here they are now.


"Ladybug"
6 by 6 inches, acrylic on panel.


"Cardinal"
6 by 6 inches, acrylic on panel.

The East Ghost

I've always liked Halloween. As a kid I was, for some reason, drawn to the "darker" side of subjects, although really scary movies would really scare me. The commercials for "Children of the Damned" freaked me out considerably. Peter Lorre's appearance on the "Jack Benny Show" had me looking under the bed. But most "horror" movies were too cheesy to be really frightening. The loveable "gothic" soap opera "Dark Shadows" was appointment television in the late 1960s.

I was also very much engrossed in the comic book universes. I was inspired to invent my own characters and write and draw my own comics. I always gave them away, as it was too much hassle to try to get anyone to buy them. One of the characters was based on Halloween culture and was named after a great game I had, called "Green Ghost" (it had glow in the dark elements and was to be played in the dark. Very cool). The idea in my head, which never really came to fruition, was that the story would follow an arc beginning in November and come to a climax on Halloween night.

A few years ago I was relating this idea to a friend who had a fledgling comic publishing project and he encouraged me to pursue the idea. The problem was that I couldn't come up with a story I really felt was good enough, so I never did anything with it. I did go so far as to develop the way the character looked, and outlined his abilities, which were those of a ghost. The Green Ghost could fly, become invisible, walk through walls, that kind of thing. In my original conception he was more of a crime fighter, who battled semi-supernatural bad guys and his powers were made possible by science. For example, he had an anti-gravity belt to help him fly and a device that could render him invisible and another to change the molecular structure of objects, such as walls, so that he could pass through them. I still think that was an interesting idea, especially for a 13 year old. The new concept gave him supernatural origins and the plan was for him to deal with other supernatural phenomena. A little too close to Marvel Comics' "Dr. Strange" character, probably, but in any case it never really jelled story-wise.

Anyway, this "Neo-Retro" piece was done, as all of them have been, for fun and to explore what a typical scene in a story might look like. I also got concerned about copyright issues with the game reference, so I changed his name. At first I thought of calling him "West Ghost", a pun on west coast. But much as I love the Pacific coast, it doesn't really lend itself to ghosts and fog and all of that, so I decided to call him East Ghost. After all, that's the home of Salem, Massachusetts and the coast of Maine (the setting of "Dark Shadows"). The dark, wintry and stormy coastline of the east is better suited to the nature of the character.

Have a happy Halloween or Autumn festival or Day of the Dead or whatever form of celebration you want to engage in.

"A Feathered Affair"

These are photos of a bluebird house I painted for an auction. It was part of a fund raising event presented by the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Dallas on behalf of the Trinity River Audubon & Dogwood Canyon Audubon Centers. Obviously my interest in nature makes this a perfect project for me. The event was last night, October 19, and while I didn't attend, I understand my contribution did well for the fund raiser.

"Strokes of Genius 5: Design and Composition"

The new edition of Strokes of Genius 5: Design and Composition has just been published by Northlight Books and includes this sketchbook drawing. It was executed during my two and a half weeks stay in Taos two summers ago. I had been joined by my wife Becky and our friend Erik Tosten for the final week of my stay and we visited the small town of Arroyo Seco. We stopped in at Abe's Cantina and Erik and I pulled out the sketchbooks and started drawing.

When we left Becky realized she had left her makeup bag in the ladies room. We went back to get it and another patron had found it and left it with the bartender who stashed it behind the bar. Nice folks. Go by if you get the chance.

Colors: Rose

Art Galleries and Artists of the South magazine

The latest issue of "Art Galleries and Artists of the South" has a nice spread of my work.

"Inside and Out" opening night

I've only now had a chance to post about the opening night of "Inside and Out" at Norwood Flynn Gallery in Dallas. It was on September 14 and we were also at the gallery all day yesterday, September 21, for the Dallas Art Dealers Association Art Walk event.

The show has been very successful, so thanks to everyone for their support and generosity. We had a good crowd at the opening and lots of visitors at the Art Walk.

Here are some photos, provided by our friend and photographer Margaret Wolf. More of her work can be seen here.

My wife Becky and our friend Holly.

Fellow artists and friends Bruce Schiefelbein and Steve Pietzsch.

Friend and collector David Weatherbie.

Renaissance man Denny Doran beautifully played the piano.

Friends Kathleen, Margeaux and Becky.

My friend, artist and wood worker Erik Tosten. He made the beautiful frames for my drawings.

My friend and colleague Karie Williams.

My friend and collector Paula Mele-Weatherbie.

Again, thanks to everyone who joined us. The show continues through October 5.

A nice mention of "Inside and Out" appeared in the online magazine Yareah. Here's a link to it.
Meanwhile, here's another piece that will be in the show.

"Running Bear", 18 by 24 inches, acrylic on panel.

"Inside and Out"

I've been really remiss on the blogging lately. The show is coming up in three weeks and for a change I'm just about ready. I have to frame the drawings and prepare some paintings for hanging.

Here is a poster I designed, primarily for social media purposes. And I'm including the official "artist's statement" for the show. I don't do "artspeak" well, but it is what it is.

"Wild life, still life.

Those two terms wouldn’t seem to have much in common except the word 'life'. But they reflect two of my personal interests, the experience of nature and the impulse to collect and display. We take our world out into nature, sometimes to its detriment, and bring the natural world in to recreate our adventures in it.

This body of work explores what I have seen while encountering nature and what I have tried to bring home and live with in an attempt to recreate that experience. My usual interests in color, texture, composition and scale are also satisfied in the process of making paintings based on these considerations."

Wildflowers

"Wildflowers in a Pitcher", 8 by 10 inches, acrylic on panel.


"Five Wildflowers", 6 by 6 inches, acrylic on panel.


"Invented Wildflower", 6 by 6 inches, acrylic on panel.

This is an idealized idea of bringing wildflowers in and putting them in a vase or other container, because they don't really last very long under those circumstances. But these paintings function more symbolically anyway, addressing the need to bring the outside world into our protected interiors, both literally and metaphorically.