Coke No.3

6 x 6 oil on hardboard panel

Again with the coke bottles. I just can't resist these colors, and the perfect complimentary pair. Red and Green. To bid on this painting you can access the auction by clicking here.

Flatware No. 3

6 x 6 oil on hardboard panel

The second painting going up this week is a new entry in my Flatware series. This time a full place setting. I love the patina on these old eating utensils. Great colors. If you'd like to bid on this painting, click here.

A Christening Dress and some Watermelon

6 x 6 oil on hardboard panel

I wanted to work in a week of ebay paintings before I dove into the big cow I plan to do for Mason Murer. This first piece is a move away from my usual hard edged reflective type subject matter. Karen did a painting similar to this some time ago, and I thought it would be fun to try something with some texture for a change. If you'd like to bid on this painting, you can access the auction by clicking here.

12 x 16 oil on canvas

Speaking of Karen, she's decided to return to her roots, and do a few ebay paintings. She's been working on such large scale paintings for so long, she thought it would be fun to work on some smaller pieces for a change. Karen wasn't sure at first if she could scale down her vast library of reference photos to such a small size, but I convinced her that with some creative cropping, it was very possible. She quickly found this to be the case, and has had a great time this week working on these smaller compositions. She will be listing three paintings this week. One tonight, one tomorrow and the third on wednesday. If you'd like to participate in the auction for her painting, you can bid by clicking here.

just a couple of things

I'll be posting some new ebay paintings starting tomorrow, but in the meantime I wanted to mention a couple of things. A little while back I wrote how my online friend and art colleague Paul Coventry-Brown had his work used on the packaging for Winsor Newton canvas's. Well, I was visiting his blog yesterday and saw that one of his paintings is on the cover of the new Dick Blick catalog. He's an amazing artist, and it's not surprising that they would choose his work for their catalog. Congratulations Paul.

I was on the Elliot Fouts Gallery website the other day, checking the dates of the Still Life Show I'll be participating in in October, and realized that in addition to Paul Brown and Chris Stott, two more of my online art friends will be taking part in the show. Alvin Richard and Otto Lange will also be showing their work. Four great guys, and four top notch realist painters. I'm really excited to see what they all create for the show. There are many more artists involved, and I've put up a page on my website with links to all the participants. I think it's going to be pretty impressive. Click here to see all the artists websites.

And last but not least Karen has entered into the blogoshpere. I helped her get a site up (which still needs a little tweaking), but has two posts, and many more to come. If you'd like to visit her blog click here.

Dumbo: Completed

24 x 24 on hardboard panel

I feel like I've been working on this painting for ever, but Karen reminded me that I had spent much more time on other paintings I had done in the past than this. It was a labor of love, in that I had been saving this image, waiting for the right moment to paint it. I think it turned out pretty good. I could have futzed with it for a while longer, but decided to let it go as is. Anything else I would have done would probably be lost on the vast majority of those looking at it, and I didn't want to overwork it. I'll be shipping this out to Elliot Fouts Gallery in October for a still life show he's putting on. Two of my online colleagues, Chris Stott and Paul Brown, will also be part of the show. I can't wait to see what they will contribute.

Now it's onto some ebay paintings, and a small commission. When those are complete, I think I'm going to tackle a large cow. Something in the range of 30 x 48. If it happens, my largest painting to date. Yikes! I think it'll be fun. I love painting things with eyes.

On the Road Again: Asheville, NC

the front window of 16 Patton with Karen's painting on display

It's been hard to get any "work" done lately, because Karen and I have been on the road. We definitely consider ourselves homebodies, but now we've been on two short trips, out of town, in as many weeks. I think I can safely say, we're developing a taste for it. Tuesday morning we headed up to Asheville NC to deliver some of Karen's paintings to her new gallery 16 Patton. We've been to Asheville in the past to attend two opening night reception's of our friend Karin Jurick, who also shows her paintings at 16 Patton. Danna Anderson the owner of the gallery could not have been more welcoming. After a couple of minutes we felt like we had known her for years. She immediately put one of Karen's paintings in the front window, and seemed genuinely excited about showing her work. It was a good start to our visit.

the bicycling nun

We planned our trip to get there as early as possible tuesday, to maximize our time for wandering, since we would be leaving the following morning. It was a fun day. I have to say, Asheville is a wonderful place. For a couple of old hippies like ourselves, it really feels like we've gone back in time. Laid back would be a accurate word to describe the attitude of the place. Not a lot of suits and high heels. But, lots of vegetarian restaurants, street musicians, beards and tatoos. If we could swing it, Karen and I would move there in a heartbeat. Where else can you see a guy dressed like a nun riding a whacky bicycle down the main street. I saw him too late to get a good shot. It would have made a terrific photo.

facade of the S & W Cafeteria (possible painting)

We walked all day, stopping for food, iced coffee, and to visit most of the galleries in town. The artwork there was exceptional. Karen and I would occasionally pop back into 16 Patton as we strolled the city. On the first of those visits Danna said she had already given out three of Karen's bio's. At the end of the day we returned to our room at the Haywood Park Hotel to get cleaned up. It's a wonderful hotel that used to be a department store. Then we headed back out for dinner at a great restaurant called Doc Chey's Noodle House.

video of our evening walk around Asheville

After dinner, we hit the streets once more to experience some of the activities that take place in the evening. The weather was perfect, and there was a lot to see. I recently got a new camera that has the capability to shoot video, so I shot some of the night life. This is my first attempt at video, and put this together using Apple's iMovie. It's kind of clunky, but I think you can get a sense of the "life" there.

Now it's time to really get back to work and finish Dumbo.

A Quick Trip to Southeast Georgia

two of the herfords at sandbriar farms

I was talking with Mark at Mason Murer Gallery last week, and the conversation turned to some cow paintings I had done years ago. Mark told me that he really liked them, and that he thought that they could be a popular subject at his gallery. I had always enjoyed painting cows, and thought this could be an opportunity to return to them. I spent a good part of the next day online searching for cattle ranches in Georgia. I contacted those I thought had potential, and who would allow a stranger with a camera to wander around their fields photographing cows.

karen and her new friend

I hit pay dirt when I discovered Sandbriar Farms down in Statesboro. Kyle Knight the owner/operator of the ranch was very agreeable to my coming down, and spending as much time as I needed. We made arrangements to come down monday morning, and he would get us started. So, when monday rolled around Karen and I awoke around 5 a.m., and hit the road. It was a nice ride. We had two hot cups of coffee, Sissy Spacek reading Carrie on the iPod, and the cruise control engaged. I was a little concerned about the weather, there was a heavy overcast all of the way down. I was hoping for lots of sun. Fortunately just as we pulled into Kyle's driveway, the clouds broke.

Kyle showed us the pastures and pointed out all the gates, then set us free. It was blazingly hot, but the beauty of the location, and all those wonderful cows really took our minds off the temperature. There was also a family of burro's in one of the pastures. I've forgotten his name, Karen calls him Duncan, but the male took a shine to us, and was never more than a couple of steps behind. We wandered the pastures for a couple of hours, then felt we had achieved what we had come for. It was a great experience. Kyle could not have been more gracious. After we packed up our gear he took us over to his 1860's era house that he and his fiancé are restoring. It was gorgeous. A beautiful white clapboard home, surrounded by ancient oaks draped with spanish moss amidst 40 acres of peace and quiet. After our tour, we said our goodbyes, and Kyle directed us to the road heading on to Savannah.

view from our room

When we were planning this adventure we noticed that Kyle's operation was only an hour from Savannah, so Karen and I decided to spend the rest of the day there, do some more photography, and relax a little. We had booked a terrific hotel right on the river called the River Street Inn. Our room was beautiful, with a balcony overlooking the river walk. We're definitely staying there again on our next trip. The balance of the day was spent walking the streets and squares of Paula Deen's home town. We finished up the day with dinner at Huey's, and an evening stroll along the river walk. It had been a terrific day.

on the balcony of our room shooting the photo above

Karen and I spent the better part of the following day continuing our photographic tour of the city, then headed home around 3 pm. It was a wonderful little get away, and proved to be fruitful as well, in that we got a lot of good photos. The raw material for many future paintings.

Now it's back to Dumbo.