In The Movies

Seems like everywhere you turn these days you run into a movie crew filming on the streets of Atlanta, all this production provides an opportunity for the locals to participate. I was in two films this summer...wait, let me rephrase that, my paintings were involved in two movies this summer. This is how it works...say the crew is filming in a house or hotel suite and on the wall is one of your paintings, in order for said picture to be a part of the set the artist has to sign a "release" stating it's ok, (how'd they track me down?!). Sometimes you even get paid to just hang there. The two films?..."Identity Theft" ($100) and "Madea's Witness Protection" ($0).

Below: "Golden Age", acrylic on canvas, 1988, used on the set of the the film, "Stars And Bars" (1988),staring Daniel Day-Lewis, a dreadful movie, trust me, don't watch.

 While jogging one morning I turned down a road that looked like a hurricane had just passed, junk in the road and piles of trash everywhere...but something wasn't right, I bent down to inspect the trash and it was a solid mass, coated in a substance that kept it from blowing all over, fake trash! Turned the corner and there were the trucks, crew, equipment and the zombies, I had just jogged through the set of "The Walking Dead".

Dreams Of Milk And Honey

This is one of those paintings that seems to come from nowhere. When I started drawing this one up all I knew is I wanted a painting with a beehive. The sketching took 2 full days with much erasing. Initially the lady was nude, but when I started adding the animals, the mood switched from sensuality to innocence, had to put some clothes on her. What I like about this one is how the warm "honey colors" play off the "coolness" of the landscape/atmosphere, (milk and honey). 

Above:Dreams Of Milk And Honey, 18x20 (24x26 framed) oil on panel/wood 

Mountain had a cool song titled "Dreams Of Milk And Honey" check it out here.

Lilies

"Consider the Lilies of the field, how they grow;they neither toil nor spin..."

Late summer here, so I was in the mood for a "flower painting". The quote above is taken from the "Sermon On The Mount", and having a temperament that leans toward the phlegmatic, this passage has always hit home. Throughout time the lily has been a symbol of purity, innocence, forgiveness and rebirth. The working process while painting was calm and natural, "neither toiling nor..." 

Above: Lily, oil/canvas, 28x25.. yea, this is probably a spiritual picture.

Menagerie

Circus imagery has floated in and out of my paintings through the years. Can't say I'm a big fan, haven't been to many performances but I like the concept. The world of the circus is a closed system, with it's own rules and laws of nature, under the "big-top" the illusion is real and the observer..? a believer. Isn't that also the function of all art/painting? The artist skillfully manipulates raw materials in a confined space and comes up with an alternate reality. The viewer is engaged in the scene and maybe, for a brief moment the outside world, mentally, slips away, no small task there!..but that is the goal.

April 7th at the Red Line Gallery in Knoxville TN, I will be showing a group of paintings called "Menagerie", really enjoyed working on these, more next time, see ya.


Above: The Rehearsal, 16x13.5, oil/panel, 2012 

Send In The Clowns

"Where you been man?"
"I Know, it's been a while, here's what's happened."

Holidays...blah, blah, blah, painting prep, new track lights (I can see), TEW "Top 25 show", WI-Fi in the studio (Pandora radio and distractions galore), charity event at Hahn Ross Gallery (4 small pieces), "Cake" commission,"Oxford American" magazine illustration (Southern Music issue pg. 15), more prep, etc..."You know?, stuff"... Now?
Working on an April show, which will be held at the Red Line Gallery in Knoxville, TN. More on that next time.

Checked the stats for my blog and noticed an uptick in page views since Nov. (550 last month), I would say 75% of those were "accidental". The other 25% were interested in what was happening here in the studio, so for you folks, I will attempt to be timely with my updates. Thanks for looking.

Stephen Sondheim, flipping genius, is there a bad version of this song? Don't think so, try this one.

Top: Arrival Of Fun (Part 2) oil on panel, 12x14", 2012

Cotton Candy Painting

"Where do your ideas come from?"...This is the question most often asked these days (used to be "What does it mean?"). I think it is safe to say that painters are image junkies, always on the lookout, radar up, for visual input to be added to our mental hard drives. So...here's the answer to the question based on the image above.

I picked up the circus tent from a music score my daughter was carrying around for her voice class, ("Annie Get Your Gun"). It was a small illustration on the cover. I copied it into my sketckbook and began doodling possible paintings..eh..nothing was coming up.

Couple months later...I was sitting in the stands at a Braves baseball game, just chillin'. My eyes caught the guy selling cotton candy, he was good, instead of just standing there, he would run from the top of the aisle down to the bottom, with the confection piled onto a long pole, clouds of pastel sugar bouncing in the air...bingo.

Now I had my two main elements, drew those onto the canvas. Next, what to add?, color choices?, mood?...etc. basically trial and error from here on. The couple was needed, balloons, very peaceful scene, so at the last minute I added the animals, borrowed from Edward Hicks.


Above:Circus (Cotton Candy) 35x30 oil canvas 2011

Dream Police

Red Line Gallery in Knoxville, Tn. has a show opening Nov. 5th. called "Small Hidden Doors", curated by Lara Dann, the theme..dreams and their interpretation. I will be showing the 2 paintings you see in this post.

I've never been a big sleeper, 6-7hrs. is about all I am good for, but once I'm out I am gone. As a kid I was a bit of a sleepwalker and had bouts of "night terror" (not fun), but dreams or night travel as I like to say, are a feature of sleep I have always enjoyed. I don't try to analyze them, to me it's just a show, sometimes elaborate and lucid, other times misty and..well..dreamy. I have never painted my dreams but painting is a lot like dreaming, there is a freedom in the process of "making stuff up" similar to the subconscious storyline of dreaming. A painting has it's own truth, as does a dream.

Police hardly ever enter my dream world or my "waking dream world" for that matter..hmm..always loved this song by Cheap Trick.

Top:Night Travel (1) 11x12 (17x18 Fr) oil panel 2011

Bottom:Night Travel (2) 11x12 (17x18 Fr) oil panel 2011