Slippery paint- a work in progress

Jess on Couch I, 2008 oil on canvas
Jess came over tonight and we got started on a new painting. Trying to resolve space and face...paint can be so slippery when wet. Keeping this as fresh and clean as possible is the biggest challenge.

new-age raptors

The old chicken field.


First steps outside


The last batch of young'ins


Myrtle stalks her prey...


- obviously PJ does not consider himself to be prey...

Yesterday I found an old photograph of about twenty chickens. Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and Leghorns (Miss Left and Right beret respectively). Now we have but three tired Rhode Island Reds and a single lethargic rooster, PJ. Maybe some new day-old chicks will need to be procured next March.

Bau Movement images

Bau Pears with Black Stripes 30" x 22" acrylic and ink on paper 2008

You Can't 15" x 22" ink, chalk, and acrylic on paper 2008

Pears on a Table

Pears on a Table, 24" x 30" oil on canvas

Retro Jess

Retro Jess 36" x 36" oil on canvas
After re-working tonight (10/29)







After re-working (10/22)


A new figure painting that I started on October 15, 2008.

some pears

Pears with Black Stripes, 16" x 20" acrylic on canvas

Pears with Green Stripes, 16" x 20" oil on canvas

Some still life studies of pears...paintings that need to be done.

Woman with Hat and Dolphins (completed October 25, 2008)

50" x 42" Oil paint (over charcoal and acrylic ground on canvas)

This painting has been started over and over again in my mind for half a year... maybe longer. More correctly, only parts of this painting. In some respects, there are similar pieces going back to the early 1980's. Similar in that they depict or contain images of a woman or women sitting outside, on a beach, park, or garden. The figure is not a specific person, but rather a generic type (until I can get a model later this week). Once I am working with a model, the figure might become more developed and individualized, but that's hard to know right now. There is no hiding the fact that you can see Richard Diebenkorn's influence in this piece. That is one reason why I would like to retain some of the figure's ambiguity. Thankfully you can't see the earliest stages when the figure was larger and the whole piece was more like an Alex Katz painting.

Initially, this painting was a much more decorative piece that depicted four dolphins (borrowed from Dionysus in a Boat, a Kylix by Exekias from about 540 B.C.) I did not intend for this to be a figure painting. The strong dark shape of the dolphins started to conjure up thoughts of torpedoes, or missiles, or even sharks- and the whole thing was a lot more ominous. Maybe this notion could be developed. Maybe use a sort of U.S.G.I. stenciling on flat shapes of U-boats, or ships, or something. But somehow, instead of becoming more warlike, or developing along a more decorative path it went in a different direction. Darn it if the dolphins didn't remind me of the beach, and the beach reminded me of summer hats, and the summer hats brought back this image that has been on my mind or in my thoughts or whatever for a long long time; and this is what I have so far.

Blackheart's Flowers

(Das letzte Werk in der Serie)

Blackheart's Flowers, 50" x 42" (2008)

I am trying to pull together the more successful aspects of All of This IV, by using elements of shape, stenciling, and straight representational painting.

All of This IV

Completed mid-September, 2008 42" x42", (acrylic and oil paint on canvas)










In the early stage (self-portrait, acrylic on canvas 42" x 42")

This began as a goof-off piece. I was waiting for another piece to dry and I noticed my shadow being cast by three different spotlights. I traced the shadow, said to myself, "this is sorta cool" and leaned the canvas against the wall for about six weeks. Later, I toyed with the idea of changing the colors to gradations of blue, and then thought about painting the same blue fabric as seen in some of the other paintings from this summer. Eventually, I made stencils for the fabric pattern and the painted the self-portrait in late August/ early September.

I want to pull figuration, expressive paint, stencils, and strong color/shape together.

All of This III (revision)

I repainted this piece over the past month, and now it conforms more to the interior paintings than the stencil works. A painting more akin to the stencil works is coming along as well.

All of This III

Another piece that was started last week, All of This III, in a very early stage

Their Seat

Here is the Guest Seat or (Their Seat) in its completed state, 50" x 50" oil on canvas.

All of This II

A new still life (in-progress) All of This II. I started with a drawing in black and white acrylic and the followed with oils. There is still a lot of work to do here, and I will probably explore this subject more with a larger version or some variation on this theme for quite some time...maybe with some Chucks.


-(see All of This III and IV)

In Progress- New painting in studio/barn

Here is a new work-in-progress from the barn. The title is The Guest Seat (oil on canvas, 50" x 50"). I am trying to work out some things with space and shape, and color that have been getting to me for that last couple of years. One of the "things" is trying to paint specific ( even hard) shapes that stay distinct while at the same time do not seal themselves off from the rest of the painting. It has more to do with space than anything...I guess that I am after a kind of natural fluid space with specific and recognizable individuals,forms and objects.

This "fluidity" for lack of a better term is always present when I begin my paintings, but as the painting becomes more developed, the shapes become tight and stagnant. So the process becomes a sort of wrestling match between finished and unfinished, developed and under-developed. The goal is to retain the freshness of a good start and satisfy what the painting needs simultaneously.

So much for figures

Some new paintings are in the works since I can't paint the figure right now. I am trying to work through a lot of different things. Some very very personal, some on a more aesthetic level. Either way, every day in the studio seems to be a fight or battle of some sort.

I don't quite understand why I can get more work accomplished when there is a personal crisis, but I suppose that I should be happy that I have an outlet.



The first piece, Lonely Chair, was done shortly after visiting Italy. The second painting, Empty Chairs, was finished about two weeks ago (late April 2008). I never figured on painting chairs again. I usually turned to chairs in interior spaces when I was alone, had no model, or was stuck...


I guess that I shouldn't listen to the Beatles so much.