artnews

It’s Been a Minute

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A woman with dark hair tied up in a bun is crouched on the ground, holding a long sword over her shoulder. With intense makeup and bold red lipstick, she wears a serious expression. It’s been a minute since she trained here, in an outdoor concrete area with walls, clad in her sleeveless outfit.

I just looked at my site and saw my last article was published in April of 2018, almost a year ago. For those that held on, thank you!

Where did I go? The short answer is ‘nowhere’; which is both true and ironic. I’ve been working a lot. Since being mortal is part of the human condition, I had to eat, pay rent, etc., and as we all know, art doesn’t a living make, unless you know people, have rich parents, or are talented enough to rise above the noise of the global art market – a billion artists souls vying for your eyeball time.

I haven’t been painting on canvas, per se. Like her musical sister in 2013, that Muse packed her bags and left me for brighter pigments. I’ve had a canvas on by easel since April, but all I’ve managed to do is hit it now and then with a duster and compressed air.

I have been exploring the other arts, like digital illustration, writing, and painting miniatures (which I did as a teenager). I’ve also been taking the aforesaid miniatures and composing photographic scenes, which is fun in itself.

Here’s some of the work I’ve been doing. I usually post to Instagram first, but since I’m paying for this site, I might as well use it, eh?

So, have I been productive? That depends on what one considers art. I’ll leave that for you to decide. Some day, canvas muse may come back, or rekindle as the musical muse did briefly, but I’ll always be doing something creative.

The Calm Before the Heresy

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“The Calm Before the Heresy.” 18×24 #acrylic #painting on #canvas. $300 if interested, which is, mmm, $0.70 per square inch, plus $20 shipping CONUS. That’s a great deal. Prices are sure to shoot up the moment I’m discovered 🙂


I had the idea a couple weeks back, but it really wanted out of my head today. It’s part of my ramp up to #Halloween, the season of #magic – where the boundaries between our world and the #supernatural are at their weakest. 
The setting is #Colonial #America, or Europe, suit yourself (as Marty Feldman used to say). A man, walking through the woods, comes upon a scene of #occult #witchcraft, or worship as the old religions call it. You get the rest, burnings, hangings, people succumbing to their basest instincts.

Parity Lost

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A surreal painting titled "Parity Lost" features a blue-skinned figure with dark wings kneeling and gazing into a large vessel. A woman with curly hair peers out from the vessel, swathed in pink fabric and surrounded by trailing vines. Abstract pink clouds form the ethereal background.

“Everyone knew the war would one day end. It had raged for eons since Lucifer decided he would rather own his house than pay rent. The sides of light and darkness had fought themselves to a standstill. “If only God’s pets could see the ethereal ruin that lay in between their Starbucks and obsession with the Kardashians,” most angels mused to themselves as the conflict went on.   

What no one expected, was for the war to end today. No one foresaw that the strongest of the Angels would exercise her free will, just as Lucifer had at the beginning of time. She had grown weary of the routine, the constant pressure of vigilance, of maintaining the balance, and had decided to do something about it. She would become what God loved most – human.
As her wings relented under the blade, tremors shook the ethereal, summoning Lucifer to her side. He loved her, this angel, his greatest threat. He had held her in greater esteem than those braggarts Michael and Gabriel. She, who had fought him to an aeons-long standstill, had earned his respect, and worse, corrupted the purity of his hate with love, however selfish.

She had chosen to become mortal, a contemptible, imperfect, creature that had what all angels desired. Now, the balance had shifted. He had loathed the favorites of God, he had achieved self-actualization through his torment of them – and now she was one of them! Could he go on destroying them? His heart sank at the only conclusion he could reach. The war was over.”

Moving On

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A person kneels on the floor in a dimly lit hallway, staring straight ahead. The environment is dark, with muted colors and a single framed photo hanging on the wall in the background. The mood appears tense and eerie, as if they are struggling to find the strength for moving on.

Let’s entertain for a moment that someday, I will paint well enough to earn a spot in the Met; even if it’s in the restrooms.  When curators look at my body of work, they will see that my realism paintings tend to be utilitarian and dark.  They will dissect my state of mind during the creation of the painting and find things with which to create parallels.

Take ‘Moving On’, my latest, as an example.  They’ll say there’s a certain eerie loneliness about it.  References and connections will be made to social issues and mental illness.  They’ll wonder why I’ve painted Vermeer’s ‘Woman Holding a Balance’ as the only thing hanging on the wall, really the only detailed object.  The relative emptiness of the rest of the scene stands in stark contrast to the focused area.

If I had to make up a backstory as to the inspiration, I’d say the painting is about ending one journey and beginning another.  In this case, the woman is moving out; from a failed relationship, or something else – it’s all in the viewer’s mind.

There is irony in the fact I stopped work on it today, March 11, 2017, which would have been the two year anniversary of my last relationship – A wonderful woman, she dodged a bullet. I wish her the best.

But the painting is not really about any of this.  Realism is boring, tedious work. I like rapid, flowing strokes and not contained or restrained lines.  I want the brush to dance on the canvas, which is why I got bored and decided to go back to abstract acrylics.

Moving On

2017. 16×20, acrylic on canvas.

Available for purchase here:

Etsy: Moving On

Eye of Heaven

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A painting features a dark central circle with a glowing, textured spot in the middle, resembling the Eye of Heaven, surrounded by vibrant streaks of blue, green, and orange radiating outward. The colorful patterns give a sense of energy and movement contrasting with the dark core.

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If you ever look at a human eye up close, it’s one of the most beautiful natural creations. I was thinking of this when I started this project.  At the same time, I wanted to create the impression of what one would see looking up at the moon.  The moon here represents the reflection of natural light in the eyes, where the forest is the myriad of colors that make up the rest.  It’s also a reflection on life, eternity, and the wonder of natural things.

Mixed Media (really because of the pumice I used to make the moon (it’s somewhat 3-D) on canvas, 11 x 14, and already sold.

Firefly

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A colorful mixed media artwork featuring a large painted tree with square panels integrated into it. Each panel has illuminated cut-out designs, including a cluster of grapes, a leaf arrangement, and a tree. One panel includes glowing lights resembling fireflies dancing over a moss texture.

Firefly is a 36″ x 48″ 3D sculpture / painting utilizing acrylic paint, multiple canvases, mirrors, LED lighting (Solar or electrical power) tissue wrap paper, model railroad foliage (branches) and fake grass.  Evocative of a Midsummer Night, this piece draws on unconventional landscape effects to bring the composition to life. This is for sale. I’m asking $999.00. It may seem like a lot, but it allows me to eat and create art in an expensive area.

Firefly