Small
Sometimes its nice to work small under the illusion of casual and quick. Occasionally that turns out to be true, but often the actual size of a picture isn’t related to it’s scale, nor to the amount of effort needed to make it work.
But I’m always fooled into thinking so.
In 2008 I painted this from life — a thingamajig that holds small items while you work on them through a magnifying glass, holding a glass jewel strung on a black string:
Jewel Thief
2008 oil on panel 8 X 10
And again from life, three tomatoes I grew on my fire escape paired with a very small glass vase. They seemed to rhyme somehow.
Green Tomatoes
2008 oil on panel 7 3/4 X 17 1/2
My son gave me a stuffed rabbit for my birthday (at my request — I saw it in a shop window as we walked past)… and later I painted its portrait. I’m not sure of dimensions or date as I later gave the painting to his wife for her birthday.
Rabbit
2010 oil on wood 12 X 14
This I saw out of the corner of my eye, in my head. So an impression glanced internally. A bit of a trick to actualize. But this is what I ended up with:
Scrap
2011 oil on wood 10 X 15 1/2
Nifft the Lean is an outrageous fantasy character written by Michael Shea. Nifft went on incredible, larcenous journeys, escaping unusual monsters and attractive characters of dubious intent. My picture refers to an underwater realm he visited.
Postcard from Nifft the Lean
2015 oil on panel 18 X 24
From when I lived upstate…… a pool of melted snow reflecting the sunset. The world is full of these sightings, just past your focus, over your shoulder or as you drive into your driveway one winter dusk:
Small Memory
2016 oil on panel 9 X 12
Color, shape and torque, purely for the love of paint.
Muscle
2016 oil on wood 6 1/2 X 11 1/2
Recently I became enamored of a painting and poem by Pu Ru. Among other things it’s about a mythological horse that could run 1000 miles in a day. The king sent a man out to find this horse but was subsequently presented with only its bones. The disgruntled king eventually granted the man half of what he had been promised. Pu Ru paints and writes the horse as a a self portrait — an old horse that still has some use left in its bones. My riff is also a self portrait.
Old Horse
2018 oil on panel 16 X 20
Recently I was on a right of way through two properties upstate. It is a wooded area, pooled from recent rains, alive with skittering birds and confettied with falling leaves. I stood there for a while, gathering in the visuals and the taste of oncoming Autumn.
Right of Way
2018 oil on 3 panels 16 X 36
Now all that is on the painting wall is this:
