Things change.....

"Eastern Hills"
9"x12" acrylic on panel
Click here to bid on this painting

So here I am, breaking one of my cardinal rules....blogging/emailing after drinking a bit. Didn't I learn anything from watching "The Social Network?" On the other hand, the whole idea of a blog is that it is a forum where we can present ideas without being constrained by the normalities of many other venues in society.

That said, here's my radical revelation: I love masonite! Shocked? I can understand that. Maybe it's just the margarita talking...After all, does anybody really understand the difference between this stuff and other engineered wood panels? For instance, did you know that it's one of the only wood panels produced that doesn't use formaldehyde...I didn't. I mean, what was the chance that anything used for desktops and roofing in the 1940s was going to be naturally based and environmentally friendly?

Anyway, aside from it's unique quality to piss off the likes of James Watt, Christine Todd Whitman, and Stephen Johnson, it makes a very fun painting surface...It might also be pretty effective in the banging-the-head-against-it category should the need arise.

"Eastern Hills" 9x12 on masonite panel is a slightly different attempt at folding a bit more realism into the imagined landscape.

Moving Forward

"Morning Field"
8"x10" acrylic on canvas panel
Click here to bid on this painting

Even though I'm ashamed that I've been away from the blog for a couple of weeks - mainly because I promised myself this wouldn't be one of those things I'd be hot on for a short time and then drop after a few weeks - I've been pretty diligent in the studio. Several still-lifes, lots of sketching and studying, and some new landscapes have managed to emerge amidst ArtWalk preparations, and puppy neutering rehab. Lucas managed to be more spastic and silly while he was stitched up, collared up and drugged up....in a word, he was the quintessential Corgi.

Again it feels like every day in the studio brings something new that six or eight months ago I wouldn't have dared to attempt...to some they may seem to miniscule, but to this wandering saxophone player, they're beyond huge.....

On familiar ground, "Morning Field" is the last of the small acrylic studies that I plan to re-visit in larger oil format...

Back at the easel finally; and for sale....

"BACKLIGHT" 10"x10" acrylic on panel
SOLD

Sometimes it's not about art. Sometimes it's nice just to have a forum in which to vent. Like this time...

Unrelated to painting, over the last week or so, I've been unfortunate enough to have several drivers pull out in front of my car on a highway between Sedona and Jerome (AZ). And all of them have been at the same intersection/side-road. Now granted, we're not talking about I-405 in LA here; most of the time, there's barely another car around for more than a mile. But...it is a highway. Those of us traversing it lawfully are usually doing so at between 65 and 70 mph....others are often proceeding at a somewhat more brisk clip.

Anyway, being a four-lane highway, when a mid-tone sedan with one or more octogenarians -- did I mention that the majority have been a bit on the elderly side? (I don't want to generalize, but...) -- suddenly pulls onto the the highway at 7 mph with less than 1000 yards warning, and in my lane; well, it's more than a little distressing. Now understand, by necessity, I drive a very large pickup...it checks in at around 12,000lbs.

I just can't comprehend what these yutzes are thinking when they do this....did mom and dad never tell them to look both ways back when they were little ones? Anyhoo...to move this anecdote along...because I was forced to reduce my speed by nearly 90 percent as I moved into the VACANT adjacent lane, I got a good look at the offending driver. Oblivious, unaware, vacantly staring straight ahead, hands dutifully at ten and two on the steering wheel, and apparently applying equal pressure to brake and accelerator -- brake lights illuminated, but neither slowing nor accelerating.

Three hours later, he walked into my studio...same expression. Didn't look at the paintings, photography, or even the excessively cute puppy bouncing up and down in front of them. Walked out without uttering even a grunt.

I've always known that most people go through life asleep, I just wasn't aware that the dead had now started to arise and were driving imported sedans.