Easter

The sharp contrasts associated with this celebration are enough to make your head spin;Calvary/Easter bunny, chocolate/spiced ham, jelly beans/boiled eggs, life/death/life. As an over analytical/literal kid, these contrasting emotions were the cause for a lot of head scratching.Now, as an adult, I understand metaphor, its all good, accept for those pastel Easter eggs. I double up on the dye tablets, gives them a more"Baroque" hue, less "Candyland".

Above: Finished this painting last week, the Dogwood has a long association with Golgotha, thought this picture had the spirit of the season.

Yonder Wall

The first four months of this year have been productive. The studio wall that was empty in December has begun to show some life and I have felt a calm burst of creative energy as of late. Can't point to any reason for this, nothing has changed materially in my world, so... I guess, in my head something has grown or broadened, that is vague, so how 'bout this.. "time" has been less of a factor in the painting process, that means, the eye and mind are not as distracted by what's ahead or the outcome. If I focus on what is before me at the moment the outcome/future will take care of itself, an ageless philosophy, that in practice, is so difficult for us humans.

Above:This painting got pretty literal as it developed, I am debating whether to break it down for you viewers, maybe next post?

Business Noir

The "Businessman Series" was an idea that came to me while sitting in traffic on Ga400, I looked over at the cars around me and everyone was urgently talking on their cell phones, dressed for work, just yacking away, (I kinda felt left out of the world they were involved in). Got back to the studio and started sketching out what I had seen on 10x9" gessoed paper, cartoony images that I would fill in with paint, it was cathartic fun. For the next 5 months (Jan-May 2001) I would start the day drawing up a few "cards" and work on them during breaks from paintings.


Moving from cars to the office, I began to feel that these were morphing into a homage to the work place of my Dad's generation ("Mad Men" without the ladies and fashion sense,,, a darker, lonelier version). As a kid, visiting my dad at work was always a surreal experience, I would stand outside his door and look in, he would be behind the desk on the phone, cigarette smoke billowing around a desk lamp, like some Wizard from Oz. Who was that dude waving me in?

Before I ran out of steam I was lifting images from the Wall St. Journal, and the characters were beginning to have a contemporary feel. What has happened in the world since then, I could never have imagined. Now, spiritually, I don't think I could get into this kind of exercise, the humor in "power" just isn't there for me.


I first showed these as a group (108 pieces) at the Arts Company in Nashville, October 2001. They have been boxed up in the studio here for a few years and now I am sending them back to Nashville. I thought this would be a good time to finally photograph the remaining 90 pieces and give them some internet exposure.You can see the rest of them, here on flickr.

The Happiest Color

Yellow? Orange?...nope, it's Cerulean blue, the color of Disney skies and Vacation Bible School posters. I rarely use this pigment but I wanted to do a painting that had a light-cheerful vibe, just for the heck of it. Also, the image I had drawn out seemed to call for this kind of treatment. Cerulean was the base for a majority of the color throughout the painting. I did dull the blue just a bit with Raw Sienna and Raw Umber. Did my mood shift while using this hue?...kinda, due mostly I think to the airiness of the atmosphere, no heavy,brooding skies in this one.

Top:Song In The Wind 18x16, oil panel, 2011
Bottom:Detail (I think that's the best hair I've ever painted)

Studio Debris

This is what happens when you get a new camera and don't feel like cleaning the studio, instead of throwing junk away... take pictures of it! I ask myself, is there anything redeeming in this exercise of "navel gazing".. possibly. Many years ago an artist was visiting my studio, instead of looking at the paintings I noticed he kept walking around the space poking at my stuff, checking out my books and various knick-knacks. Lifting papers to see what was under them,as if looking for some secret that would explain my creative process or who I was. So..I decided to make it easy for you, go to Flickr and poke around.

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Top: one of my wood sculptures
Middle: a stuffed Gar, harpooned from the Lake Wiley Dam by my late brother
Bottom: a mini water well, made by my neighbor "Dusty"

The Big Picture

This is a one of those paintings that while I was working on it I could imagine it being much larger, huh..? It's like this, all the elements in this picture; horse, ocean and clouds we associate with grandness, expansiveness, the mind opens up before a scene such as this. So..I kept thinking, this would probably work great on a much larger scale. Timothy commented once "you do small paintings that read like big ones", I know what he means. I often ask myself do these need to be huge?..maybe, maybe not.

Above: Trojan Horse, 16x14", oil on panel 2011

Illustrator Donald Moss

A good bit of the artists I admire (past and present) have spent a portion of their careers doing illustration work. Some like Edward Hopper looked down upon this period, never understood that. I admire great illustration, yes there is a different spirit involved but one that is no less enlightened or skilled than "gallery" painting.


While looking through those old SIs (see below) I came upon this spread by Donald Moss using Magritte as a template to illustrate a golf story. Donald worked at Sports Illustrated for over 30 years (50's-80's) and often used surrealistic/pop references in his illustrations, he was one of my favorites as a teen (uhh...duh).

Above: Donald Moss, SI June 11,1973, "Oakmont", Donald passed away last May, he was 90.