Painting A Day: Red Pear No. 2

"Red Pear No. 2"
Oil on canvas on masonite, 5" x 7"
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There's something almost human about pears. Unlike fruits that have a smooth, uniform surface - grapes, for instance - the pear is a fascinating collection of bumps, angles, highlights and shadows... much like people. I once asked my teacher about the best way to prepare for painting the human figure. His response? Paint pears.

Painting A Day: Haffner's Gasoline

"Haffner's Gasoline"
Oil on masonite, 4" x 6"
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Haffner's is a small chain of gas stations located in the towns north of Boston. Aside from the overall retro feel of the place - the sign is a huge neon kicking donkey - what I found tremendously appealing about it was the opportunity to paint both sunlight and artifical light in the same scene - the lights under the canopy were bright enough to cast a noticable glow - even during the day!

Big New Sushi Paintings

I have a couple of larger new sushi paintings I thought it might be fun to show. These are outside the scope of my daily paintings project, so I have not posted them here before now. I have drawings complete for a few new pieces, so I'll be adding to this series before long.



"Unagi, Tamago"
Oil on linen on masonite
10"x10"
For those who don't eat a lot of sushi, unagi is smoked eel, and tamago is a sort of omelette, cut up and presented like its fish counterparts.



"Three's a Crowd"
Oil on linen on masonite
10"x10"
This is a larger version of a daily painting from a few months ago.




"Sushi No. 14"
Oil on linen
16"x22"
And a big one; this is the largest sushi painting I've done so far.

Squidoo Lens Updated

I FINALLY updated the Squidoo lens with new daily painters. I've been putting requests in a separate folder, and when I looked into it today, I was dismayed to see how long it's been since an update. If you're one of the artists who's been waiting patiently, I can only apologize profusely. If you did send me a request and your name is still not on the list, please re-send. My spam filter can be a little over-zealous, and occasionally captures legitimate emails. I think I catch most of these, but...

Final Drawings

Back in the studio today to finish up a group of under-drawings. I now have 2 big still lifes (24x30), one medium sized still life(12x16), and 2 sushi paintings drawn and ready to go. With 2 events next weekend, though, I'm probably only going to have time for a few daily paintings this week.

Painting A Day: Lacquered Chopsticks, Orange Slices

"Lacquered Chopsticks, Orange Slices"
Oil on canvas on masonite, 5" x 7"

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Often enough I find the real pleasure in still lifes lies in creating compositions of objects that don't necessarily belong together... at least in the "real world". Obviously, few people would use chopsticks to eat oranges, yet here the finely crafted pair lying on the sliced fruit seemed to have a logic and harmony of its own. As soon as I put them together, I knew I had a painting.

The Start of Something Beautiful

As my painting has evolved, my working methods have changed as well. In the past, I would simply take a brush and lay right into a blank canvas, developing the painting as I went. That worked very well for a looser, more impressionistic style. However, as I've moved towards a tighter realism, I've found the need to begin paintings with very detailed drawings, before I even touch a brush. This, for instance, is the drawing for the large (24x30) still life I mentioned a few days ago. It's admittedly not a great photo, but you can see that there's quite a lot of detail. You might also notice the grid covering the whole canvas. I've found this to be an invaluable aid for many aspects of drawing, like making correct ellipses.

I'm a little uncomfortable anymore about posting images of works in progress (at least the painting part), so this is the last I'll show this canvas until it's complete.

Painting A Day: Red Knight No. 2

"Red Knight No. 2"
Oil on canvas on masonite, 5" x 7"
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I just love painting these little plastic knight models (and can't resist buying them whenever I see them). Not only do they let the playful, whimsical side of my personality come out, but they also let me continue exploring some of the painterly issues I'm interested in; effects of brilliantly lit objects on dark backgrounds, motion in the still life, etc. Now sooner or later I need to get around to painting the model of the jousting knight on horseback.

Thinking Big

"Lemon in a glass Jar"
Oil on panel
7" x 4.5"
Private collection

I started a new still life today, roughly based on the above painting, but much larger - the new one is 24x30. If my math is correct (always a shaky bet), the lemon will be between 4-6 times life size. This got me to thinking about scale. I can think of plenty of contemporary artists who exaggerate the scale of objects, but I also think it's a relatively new phenomenon in the history of art. Yes, important political and religious figures would be super-sized in some murals, for obvious symbolic reasons, but that's the only situation I can think of. I'm not aware of any still life painter before the 20th century who painted 8"-diameter grapes, for instance... the objects in every classical still life I've seen are life-size, or smaller. But... I will keep my eyes open for this from now on...

Painting A Day: Orange No. 2

"Orange No. 2"
Oil on canvas on masonite, 5" x 7"
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Sometimes the appeal - and challenge - of painting an object lies in its very simplicity. I can't imagine anything simpler than an orange placed on a grey tabletop. Simple, or course, doesn't mean easy, as even a humble orange presents real difficulties of portraying light, shadow, color, and form. It was pretty tasty, too.

SOWA Art Walk, Part 3

This weekend's art show has now come and gone. There was a steady stream of people coming through, despite the generally lousy weather. Many thanks to all those who stopped by - and especially those who left with paintings!

SOWA Art Walk, Part 2

"Honey, Silver, Orange"
Oil on linen on panel
12" x 16"

The first day of the art walk went well enough, considering the weather (rain pretty much all day). Nevertheless, there was a steady stream of people coming through. Tomorrow the weather should be brighter, so if you're in the area, drop by anytime between 11 and 6 - I have a lot of new work up on the wall, including the above painting... and yes, that is of course the same little jar of honey from yesterday's painting.

Painting A Day: Small Honeyjar

"Small Honeyjar"
Oil on canvas on masonite, 5" x 7"
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I keep a number of these small jars in my studio. Not only are they immensely useful in the daily mechanics of painting (for instance, holding mediums, turpentine, etc), but often enough I simply enjoy looking at them and thinking of ways to paint them. In this case, filling one up with honey and placing in under a spotlight was an obvious choice, and the result was, well... sweet.

SOWA Art Walk

"Ruins of Mexico"
Oil on Canvas
20 x 24


Another day full of framing and other last-minute preparations for this weekend's show. Some specifics: it's the SOWA Art Walk, and features approximately 200 artists in their studios (and some in a group space) in Boston's South End. We've had pretty good crowds the past 2 years, so there's definitely a lot of interest out there. I'll be open from 11AM to 6PM both Saturday and Sunday... if you're in the area, by all means stop by!

450 Harrison Ave
Studio 201
Boston, MA 02118

Art Walk Prep and Demo

This evening I did a demonstration at the Everett Arts Association. Demos tend to be challenging situations for me, since they typically want me to work on bigger pieces than I normally do (so people in the back can see), and there usually isn't much time... just under 90 minutes tonight. Also, painting is not the greatest specator sport, at least when I do it - I always feel like I should be spending more time thinking, and less time talking, which would sort of defeat the purpose... Nevertheless it was a good crowd (and a good turnout despite lousy weather), and I enjoyed myself.

This weekend there's an open studio event at my building in Boston... I've been wrapped up preparing for that for a few weeks now. I'll have more details soon.

Painting A Day: Pear in a Glass

"Pear in a Glass"
Oil on canvas on masonite, 5" x 7"
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This is the middle of art show season, so there's been very little opportunity for me to do any daily paintings (working on big pieces instead!). However, this week I did find some time to do two small pieces; this one, and another that I'll list later in the week. With the warmer weather here, working outside it possible - I love the quality of the direct sunlight in this piece.