White Mixer No. 2

White Mixer No. 2  |  16 x 16  |  Oil on Panel

 

I did a really big cropped version of this mixer a long while back, but always wanted to do it again with all of its parts. The photo I used as source material came out a little different than the mixer itself. In actuality the entire body and stand are white, but in the photo the body of the mixer came out with this yellowish tint. I really liked the way that looked so I kept it in. 

One Way

One Way  |  18 x 24  |  Oil on panel

I think whenever I look at this painting in the future I will remember it as, "the one I worked on during my recuperation from heart surgery". I'm currently dealing with a newly discovered wrinkle involving my health, but the memory of this ordeal will have to be linked to the new painting I'm working on. 

This is from a photograph I took on Nantucket while Karen and I were in Massachusetts for the reception of a show I was having on Cape Cod. I just couldn't get the image of that white hat out of my mind. I also loved how the arrow in the road faced in the opposite direction of the pedestrians on the sidewalk. Plus, I hadn't painted people in a very long time and wanted to try it once again. I don't know if this piece will have much, if any, appeal to the public, but in all honesty I was doing it for myself. 

That day on Nantucket had been a really, really good day.

Happy New Year 2023!

Don't have much to show for 2022 artwise. It was an interesting year with an unexpected last quarter. I'll label it an unexpected cardiovascular interruption. Not a heart attack, but resulting in the same treatment. Still getting over that, but I'm on the mend, and slowly getting back into painting mode. Looking forward to a more productive and hopefully less traumatic 2023.

Blue Spiral

Blue Spiral  |  18 x 24  |  Oil on panel

In my eBay days when I was just getting started with my art career I painted a handful of "urban landscape" paintings. Mostly just closely cropped front doors and stairways. In time I moved to still life and have stayed there, until now. Karen and I had recently been in Asheville visiting her sister Robin and her husband, my ex business partner, high school buddy and best friend Michel. When we're there we always spend a good bit of time visiting the local art galleries. As we were entering one of our favorite galleries, Blue Spiral, I was struck by the beauty of the beefy bronze handle on the front door and the reflection of the street in the windows. I took out my phone and took a few shots in case it had some potential as a painting. Back home I downloaded the images and thought to myself, "I've got to try this". Anyway, this is the result. I hope this is something because I'd really like to try it again. 

Austin Healey: Complete

Austin Healey  |  16 x 16  |  Oil on panel

I always want to keep going on a painting. Knowing when to stop is one of the hardest aspects of this endeavor, so I asked Karen if it was done and she said, "sign it!". 

My next  painting is going to be something completely different. I haven't fully committed to it but, I'm moving ahead like it will be. If I can do it, I think it could be cool. We'll see. 

 

Austin Healey: Work In Progress

Austin Healey: Work in Progress   |   16 x 16   |   Oil on panel

 

I'm getting close to finishing up the underpainting of this Austin Healey. A little more work on the bumper and I'm there. 

P-40E Complete

P-40E   |   24 x 24   |   Oil on panel

The P-40 has finally made the finish line. This paint scheme was utilized by the 343 Fighter Group stationed in the Aleutian Islands in 1941 and commanded by Col. John Chennault, the son of Col. Claire Chennault who had commanded the Flying Tigers in China.  

Now comes the challenge of selecting my next subject. 

P-40 Work in progress

P-40 WIP  |   24 x 24   |   Oil on panel

 

I've been working on a second P-40 for a while now and the underpainting is done. Got a ways to go yet, but if feels like I'm headed in the right direction. 

Happy New Year!

 

I didn't get much work done in 2021, but 2022 is a new year.

GE  |  16 x 16  |  oil on panel

I've been working on this painting, off and on, since April. Other than taking time to create Big Drill No 4, it's one of only three paintings I have worked on in 2021. I've been looking at it for so long I don't know what to think about it anymore. So, here it is. I've started on something new. It's one of, if not my favorite subject . . . Aircraft. I could use a little comfort food right now, and airplanes really fill that need. 

Big Drill No. 4   |   16 x 16   |   Oil on panel

 

It's been a long and difficult year and my production has taken a back seat to other more pressing obligations. I currently have a half finished piece in the works, and I just completed this painting for an upcoming show at Rehs Galleries. The theme of the show, if you can call it a theme, was that his artists were to do a painting using a surface created by a new company called Artefex. I have to say they're nice panels. The show was originally intended to take place this fall, but due to the state of, everything right now, it has been pushed to the spring of 2022. As for me, I feel I'm starting to get my groove back and hope to be posting new work much more frequently in the near future.

Robert's painting for Tom Petty's Highway Companion

 

In the early 2000's Karen was in a co-op gallery called Heaven Blue Rose. It was her first gallery and since it was a co-op she would have to spend a specified number of days each month running the place. On one of those days two gentlemen walked in and struck up a conversation with her. They were both named Robert and one of them was an artist looking for a space to show in. That was Robert Deyber. Karen and "the Bobs" hit it off immediately and when she came home that day she told be about these wonderful men she had met at the gallery and that I had to meet them. That was the first day of a nearly 20 year friendship. 

Today that friendship ended when we heard that Robert had taken his own life. He had spent decades in pain. In the years that we spent a lot of time with him his pain was bad, but in the later years after he and Robert Graham moved to Connecticut it became a chronic debilitating pain. Multiple surgeries and mountains of medications provided little relief until the day it became too much for him. 

It was so great hanging out with Rob and Bob. It was like being with family. A really engaging, funny and creative family. Bob and Karen would get into these creative riffs. Bouncing ideas off each other like professional tennis players. It was a joy to watch. We didn't see them much after they moved to Connecticut, but I always felt that if we could get up there we'd pick up right where we had left off. Karen and I are really going to miss him.

Karin Jurick

 

In the early 2000's my wife Karen and I were just beginning our art carriers auctioning our paintings on eBay. Part of that experience was searching eBay for other artists. It was a productive exercise that turned us on to a wealth of new talent. One day I came across the painting above and asked (practically begged) Karen to split the cost of it if we were to have the winning bid. We won the auction and when we contacted the artist discovered she lived just across town. She said she was a huge fan of our work and would love to deliver the painting herself. A week or so later Karin Jurick showed up at our door and twenty years later was still one of our closest and dearest friends. Tragically, a few days ago she suddenly passed away.

Karin was a remarkable woman to say the least. She was tough but had a huge heart. She was funny, smart witty and a true genius at painting. Karin was a virtuoso with a paint brush. Karen and I would watch her paint on occasion and we would just sit there with our mouths open in awe. Karin was also one of Karen's most trusted advisors. If Karen had a question, about practically anything, Karin would always give her her honest opinion on that subject. Karin had a way of cutting through the BS, so you knew when she spoke it was the laser focused truth. 

We shared numerous shows with her and took quite a few trips to the beach with her and Brett her partner of thirty years. Karen and I would frequently meet on their side of town for lunch at their (and our) favorite Mexican restaurant. I can't tell you how much I looked forward to those visits, or describe the size of the hole her passing has left in my heart. I love you Karin.

Detail of Current Work in Progress

Detail of GE WIP  |  16 x 16  |  Oil on panel

 

I've been out of the world for a while, but I'm close to finishing up the underpainting of my current piece. This is a cropped image showing a detail. It's pretty rough, but it's a start. There have been rumors of a possible corporate commission, but as yet it has not materialized. If it does get the go I'll need to put this painting aside until until I can complete the commission. My next post should show which direction this story takes.