Making A Mark - Award 2010

6 x 6 oil on hardboard panel

I thought I'd made my last post for the year, but I was talking with Karin Jurick today, and she informed me that one of my paintings was in the running for the, "Best Artwork on A Blog" Award. This award is the brainchild of Katherine Tyrrell, creator of Marking A Mark, one, if not the, best art blogs out there.

Anyone can vote, and there are four categories of genre to chose from. My piece is in the "still life" category, and Karin's is in the "portrait/figures" category. The deadline for voting is coming up quick. Thursday at 6 p.m. (Greenwich Mean Time), so don't delay. I know this is a shameless request for votes, but what can I say.

I'd also like to thank the tireless, tenacious and talented, Belinda Del Pesco for nominating my painting for this award. If you'd like to vote you can visit Katherine's blog by clicking here.

Thanks in advance!

Happy Holidays 2010

It's time to wrap up another year, but before go I wanted to thank everyone who visited my blog and FaceBook page in 2010. Many of you were kind enough to take the time to leave some wonderful comments and personal impressions of my work. I have to tell you those responses mean a great deal to me, and even though I'm bad about replying to all of the comments, I appreciate each of them very much. I hope you all have a great holiday season, and a terrific 2011.

Wild Turkey

6 x 6 oil on hardboard panel

I broke a tooth the other day. Fortunately I have a nephew who is an incredibly skilled dentist. If that wasn't enough, he allows me to pay with art. How can you beat that. He did a beautiful job putting my tooth back together. You'd never know it was ever damaged. So, as payment I did this little whiskey piece. I was in the mood to do some glass, and the wonderful amber color of the liquor is a joy to paint. When it's dry I'll varnish it then send it off. Hope he likes it.

Mule: Complete

20 x 60 oil on canvas

I finished up the Mule yesterday, and I think it turned out pretty good. This one was a pleasure from start to finish. I really had fun with it. All the rigging in the harness was a joy to paint. I hope this proves to be a popular subject because I'd love to paint a few more. When it's dry and varnished, I'll be delivering it to my hometown gallery Mason Murer Fine Art. I've already emailed them a jpeg, and they seem very happy to get it.

detail

Now . . . what to do next? I'm not really sure. There's an event coming up next summer that I could get started on (more on that later), but what I should do is get some new work to my other galleries first. The last couple of years have been lean ones to say the least, but in the last few weeks I've seen a resurgence of sales through my galleries. I'll probably get going on some work for them first, then dive into that other "project".

Elizabeth Edwards

I wanted to take a moment to leave a personal comment on the passing of Elizabeth Edwards, and remark on the impact she had on the early art careers of Karen and myself. When Karen and I were just beginning to sell our paintings on ebay, the ID "heelsfan" began to show up frequently in our auction listings. It wasn't long after that the Elizabeth wrote to let us know that she was heelsfan, and she was the wife of senator John Edwards. Her letters were very sweet and complimentary, and we both were impressed that she took the time to let us know how much she enjoyed our paintings. It was also very exciting to think that our work would be hanging in the home of a senator. Elizabeth never seemed to be too busy to respond to a letter from us. Even when she was on the campaign trail, she would reply to an email from her laptop.

We also just loved the fact that she purchased so much of her art from artists on ebay. Many of our friends, such as Karin Jurick, Jeff and Leslie Cohen and Chris Stott were among those whose paintings she collected. She was an amazing human being, whom I thought would have made an awesome first lady. When her husband was running for the VP slot with John Kerry, the New York Times Sunday magazine section ran an article on the families of the candidates. In the article about the Edwards family the photo of them in their living room showed one of Karen's paintings hanging on the wall in the background. Elizabeth wrote Karen just to let her know that her painting could be seen in the picture. It was the little things like that, that showed her warmth. She was wonderful and will be greatly missed.