a new beginning

This is what I am starting on this week... this will be the first one in a series. I am kind of dragging the process out while waiting for a delivery from Pearl Paint...
I'm not really liking any of the oranges (color) that I have mixed and I ordered a pre-mixed orange along with a buncha other stuffs ... hopefully the orange will be cool!
This is acrylic again... and I busted open the Liquitex Slow-Dri blending gel medium, and so far so good, minimal experimentation ... it seems to dry slower but, not a WHOLE WHOLE lot, maybe if I lived somewhere more humid? It definitely seems to thicken the paint, it's kinda clingy...we'll see.

The end of one

It probably looks very much the same as the first picture posted of this but.... I slightly darkened the background, I darkened the inside of the open box, finished the designs on the plates and cleaned up the circles (yes, they were a bit off!), and re-worked the ornaments and tassels... (which was the 3rd, 4th, 5th time? reworking the dang tassels). I took the photo and then did an acrylic gloss varnish.
I have a hard time knowing when something is done or when to stop but, I was reading an article in American Artist this month (maybe their "still life" edition?) where someone said that theyknew were done when there was nothing more that they could think of to do to improve their painting. Something along those lines. Duh, right? But, this is very good advise for me... the key for me being, there is nothing more that I can do, to improve it... there may be much that someone else could do to improve it but, that's it for me.... I am done. Ta da!!!
Now how about some title suggestions???


"yet to be titled"
16x20
Acrylic on Canvas

Bad Art, you CAN call it crap!

I've made quite a bit bad art, most of which I knew was bad at the time I made it. Some really bad paintings have made great backgrounds for other, hopefully not so bad paintings. Some are only useful as something to completely paint over when I am too broke to buy new canvas. Some pieces I just did not recognize as terrible until much later (hopefully most of those are in my garage and not on your walls!) and I am sure there are some I don't realize yet as bad. The lovely piece (left) is, I feel, I great example of truely bad art...yup, I'm the artist here. It is bad from beginning to end and I don't remember and have no idea what compelled me to keep on going, or begin in the first place... it's in a pile of 'canvases-to-be-painted-over' and I pulled it out to guesso over for a nice surface for my daughter to do a painting and she protested it's destruction,"because it looks so pretty, about all the colors." And so, it lives.
Luckily, the Museum of Bad Art isn't exhibiting any of my work (yet). I wonder if I should just donate the butterfly? How refreshing to see someone with the guts to call something BAD. How horrifying to know that I have several boxes of contenders!
Check out their gift shop, if you're looking for gift ideas for me, I really like the Pablo Presley T-shirt (medium will be fine.)

tribute to a young artist

This excellent piece of artwork was done by my very good friend Zoe! This budding artist is only in 4th grade! She drew it after one of my own paintings that her parents bought at a show several years ago, which not only impresses me but, flatters as well!

It's a great practice for artists to interpret other artists work and I love the way Zoe has taken what is a very minimalist painting and totally jazzed it up with all the swirls and squigglies in the background, making it a much more lively and vibrant image!




Here is a snapshot of mine, from the Iowa Press-Citizen (dec. '01). Pretty grainy but, you get the idea...Notice how Zoe has fashioned a different style of shoe altogether!!
Thanks Zoe, I love it, it ROCKS !!!

5th generation artist...

My daughter, the budding artist, tells me that this is, specifically, a park in ponyville. Daytime on the right, night on the left, a lake in the middle...the yellow lines are paths through the park. To see the other 4 generations go to my website (link at right) and click on "statement/exhibitions".


"Ponyville"
8x10
Tempera on canvas board

he ain't lazy...

Can you start a revolution without leaving your la-z-boy?
Check out the link at right to Greggornation (website and blog).

The individual and the menace...

Trying to work out some general compositions for a very generalized idea that's swirlin' around me head for a couple of paintings... these two quick sketches are pastel (oooohh, the fancy name for chalk!)
Oil would be cool but, I'm completely un-motivated to unleash the toxins and smells, and while the coolest thing about oils is their buttery consistency and the fact that they take forever to dry, (so you can work and re-work and blend and re-do and scrape off and start over and blend some more)...well, they take forever to dry. (Seriously up to a year!).
I'll probably go with acrylics... they can do some of what oil can do, and they don't stink. I know there are many many many mediums out there... although I have yet to find a thickener that I like (or actually thickens without some sort of grain). Anyone have any good results with any thickeners??? I've got a Liquitex 'blended fibers texture gel' and (also Liquitex) 'slow dry blenging gel' that are beggin' to be opened...

Fun with flooring!

Found some leftover linoleum in a box... cut two 4"x6" (postcard size) pieces out and dug out my Speedball lino cutter.... The lino was a bit crumbly, I don't remember when I bought it but, I liked the way they turned out. The hardest part about the project was cutting the paper, I started out using plastic kid scissors until I found we actually DID have a decent pair of household scissors. Lemme know if you want a postcard!

What I'm working on...

This is the current project... by no means is it finished. A few things that my Pop sent from China, where he currently lives... I actually started this one a few months ago and had been working on it here and there... now, I really want to finish it, so I am back to working on it. I'm having some 'technical difficulties' and feel a bit stuck as to how to proceed?? Not sure what to do with the plates and the tassles on the ornaments have been a real headache to me... I think I've painted over them at least three times! But, this one is 'sittin' on me and I'm compelled to finish it before I move on to another project. I have WAY too many 'almost done' and 'halfway through' projects laying around, making clutter. So, I guess I'm cleaning up a bit by trying to actually FINISH a few things. The photo is pretty accurate, maybe slightly dark... any suggestions?
The blue plates, by the way, are pretty groovy...the yellow deisgn (dragons and stuff), is actually a wire 'sculpture' that sits upon the plate, I am guessing it's fired on?... it's stacked, twisted, and sculpted WIRE and then covered with gold leaf (gold foil).
I'll post an updated picture of the painting when (and if) it's (ever) completed!

First Attempt

First attempt at "blogging".
Ok, let's see if this works, eh?
This painting (assuming it shows up and I know what I am doing here) is from I photo I took last summer off the side of the Tahoe Star, Harrah's yacht. I was on the northern tour/cruise of Lake Tahoe. This is the first completed painting in a little series of lake scenes that I've been working on.
Title: "Tahoe Rocks!"
Size: 24"x48"
Medium: Acrylic