TULIPS IN FEBRUARY

I love the pristine beauty of tulips.  Here I am following the light around my house again (My winter substitute for gardening).  This is just before sunset, which, I'm happy to say, is getting later and later. Here is a link to the tulips in my garden last spring.

To buy this painting go to DAILY PAINTWORKS and bid on it to benefit the people of Japan.

Brahm's Waltz

While waiting for paintings to dry, I finished my latest translation of music to color.  Brahms' Waltz in A minor.  Each note is chosen from a set of tuned colors. C is Red  and the colors are tuned having a full spectrum of colors in each octave. In this set all colors are moving from dark to light through the whole range. The notes are then animated in Flash, one at a time. Each note is faded to black as it disappears in time.
When you get to my page in youtube, click on Brahm's Waltz to check it out.

JAPANESE CHERRY TREES IN WINTER

These 100 year old Japanese Cherries can be found in one of the most tranquil places in the Merion area, the graveyard of the Merion Friends Meeting House.  I missed painting these old beauties when they flowered but hope to catch them this year.  If you want to cummune with the imagined spirit of the long dead, this is the place to go.  Click on this link to read about the interesting history of these trees.  Here also is a link to other paintings of this site.  Friends Meeting building and Stables.

from THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG

Waiting for my latest painting to dry - lots of white - takes time - if YOU have time read this wonderful description of the mystery and glory of great art by Muriel Barbery from the Elegance of the Hedgehog.  She is referring to the painting that is linked to the title of the book. (the colors are way off here)

"The enigma is constantly renewed: great works are the visual forms which attain in us the certainty of timeless consonance.  The confirmation that certain forms, in the particular aspect that their creators have given them, return again and again throughout the history of art and, in the filigree of individual genius, constitute nonetheless facets of a universal genius, is something deeply unsettling.  What congruence links a Claesz, a Raphael, a Rubens and a Hopper?  Despite the diversity of subject matter, supports and techniques, despite the insignificance and ephemeral nature of lives always doomed to belong to one era and one culture alone, and despite the singular nature of a gaze that can only ever see what its constitution will allow and that is tainted by the poverty of its individuality, the genius of great artists penetrates to the heart of the mystery and exhumes , under various guises, the same sublime form that we seek in all artistic production.  What congruence links a Claesz, a Raphael, a Rubens and a Hopper?  We need not search, our eye locates the form that will elicit a feeling of consonance, the one particular thing in which everyone can find the very essence of beauty, without variations or reservations, context or effort.  In the still life with a lemon, for example, this essence cannot merely be reduced to the master of execution; it clearly does inspire a feeling of consonance, a feeling that this is exactly the way it ought to have been arranged.  This in turn allows us to feel the power of objects and of the way they interact, to hold in our gaze the way they work together and the magnetic fields that attract and repel them, the ineffable ties that bind them and engender a force, a secret and inexplicable wave born of both the tension and the balance of the configuration- this is what inspires the feeling of consonance.  The disposition of the objects and the dishes achieves the universal in the singular: the timeless nature of the consonant form.

"  

WINTER SUNRISE

This morning the sun rise really intensified the blues of the snow.  Winter is so full of a variety of blues it is a joy really, if only it weren't also cold.  Here is something from the BLUE MAN GROUP to chase those winter blues away.

DOGS AND SNOW

Dogs seem to think that snow is nature's invitation to a boisterous romp.

UNDER COVER

The delicate branches of our split leaf maple are weighed down by snow (along with everything else, including our spirit).  I hope their brittle branches can make it.

BOSTON

  I have been wandering around Boston off and on all month, unable to decide which site to paint for the Virtual Paintout.  Finally, exhausted, I decided on O'Reily's Restaurant and Pub just so I could sit down, relax and have a Martini.

MONET

I am working on three paintings at the same time and none are finished, but here is a very interesting Monet, looking out into the snow at his wife.  Be sure to read about the painting.  One wonders if he intentionally painted his wife this way or the painting just happened to express his feelings so perfectly.

NIGHT IN THE HALL

The night throws a coat of mystery over everyday experience, turning what is usually a clock and a staircase into something from an Agatha Christie mystery.
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NEW WEB SITE FEATURE

I just created slideshows of all my blog paintings up til now.  It is almost a year since I began so time to take a look back.  Check it out if you have the patience and point out any problems please.

WINTER SUNSET #2

This painting from 1995 caught the sun right as it set at the end of my street.  I painted this on the spot - in a hurry.

Winter Sunset

Every year around Christmas the sun sets at the very bottom of my street.  It is a little past that point by now and I missed the moment this year, but the color is still really good with the very blue snow.

PAINTER'S HALLWAY

The light spilling over the canvasses almost makes this messy hallway okay.  At least that's what I tell myself.

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BLUE AND RED

Snow is blowing around our very old bird feeder but inside it is warm and cozy on this very blue day.  Margaret Whiting died yesterday and here she is singing with Johnny Mercer, her mentor and friend. BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE.

BATHROOM REDS

A little touch of spring in the bathroom.
This painting was done on very flat and slippery board so it had to be painted twice and stippled.  I like the way the stippling unites the edges but I am going back to canvas board in the next painting, still using the stippling.

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CYCLAMEN AND SNOW

This is a painting I did a while back.  The curtains and table cloth have long ago fallen apart and been thrown away, but it could be today as far as my interests are concerned.  I am in the middle of a painting looking out the same window through red leaves to the snow beyond.  I am endlessly fascinated by the same things it seems.  I have no idea (again) where this painting is.  I may have sold it or it has migrated to one of my children's walls, but if you are interested in purchasing it, I will see if I can find it.  I think it is about 24" x 36".

NIGHT SNOW

Out my kitchen window the snow makes lacy patterns in the night.

I am experimenting with different surfaces to paint on.
SNOW BLANKET and this piece were painted on a gesso board which has absolutely no tooth - that is, it is slippery.  I had to paint both pieces twice because the paint slid around in a most unpleasant way the first time.  I tried that because before that BROWN AND KETCHUP and COME ON IN were painted on stretched canvas with a broad weave and the weave soaked up the paint and was almost as prominent as the paint itself,  making too much of a play for attention.

MORNING AFTER SNOW

I want to talk a bit about process while paintings are drying, as I am experimenting with diferent surfaces at the moment.  More about that in later posts.
Most of the paintings I have posted on this blog have been created in my studio from photographs that I have taken and manipulated in photoshop to add, subtract, change the position of things or alter some colors.
This is an older painting that I created outside.
I spent many years painting outside and found that I could stand to be out in some pretty bad weather for a short period of time.  It was very invigorating and filled me with joy.  I may give it a try again, but the whole process of setting up, dealing with the wind or the sun or simply the quickly changing shadows is really daunting.
I just noticed the Barnes Foundation can be glimpsed behind the trees here.  Little did I know when I painted this how much it would occupy my time and energy in the future.
If you are interested in purchasing this painting, email me and I will try to find it.

SNOW BLANKET

  These pines almost seem to grab their blanket of snow.  Peeking under their branches it turns out there is still quite a lot of color after the snow, even before the sun comes out.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

MERRY CHRISTMAS

IRELAND

This painting was created for the VIRTUAL PAINTOUT.  I spent several pleasant hours cruising the back roads looking for just the right spot to set up my easel.  I could almost smell the grass in this spot in County Claire.

END OF THE SEASON

While finishing up a job for a show in Canada I happened upon this slide of an old painting.  I did this on site in my garden and it looks like an old asparagus plant.  Don't know where the painting is but I wish I did, as I think it captures the end of the season very well.

Sorry no paintings for a while.  I have been busy with holiday shopping, creating a family calendar and entertaining.  If you want to review some of my recent paintings you can go here and check them out.

MERION STATION IN THE RAIN #2

Another stab at painting through the windshield in the rain.  This time it's Merion Train Station and Post Office.  Here is the first version of Merion Station in the Rain, painted last March.

COME ON IN

Old houses have the most welcoming doors, in my opinion.  In this one in Bala Cynwyd you can see the arbor cheerily lit up in the front yard through the window of the storm door.  It may be cold outside but it's warm and cozy in here.

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PRINTS

You can order prints of paintings whether they are sold or not.  (Artist's own the copyright to their work unless that is specifically sold separately from the work itself).

PRINTS

THINK GIFTS!

For three days only I am offering prints of any painting on my blog for $25.00- (don't miss the older paintings, they go back to January).  I will print these myself on my Epson R1900 on Somerset Velvet paper.  This paper and the ink in the Epson is archival.  The paintings look great on this paper.  It is very soft, as the name implies.  They will be signed in a limited edition of 50.
This offer ends on and includes Saturday.  I am including a paypal button to pay for the prints.  Be sure to fill in the name of the print when you pay and also send me an email with the name of the print(s) you want and your name and address and I will get them out in a jiffy.

NAME OF PRINT

BROWN AND KETCHUP

This painting is brought to you by the Ketchup Advisory Council.  Click on the link for a chuckle.


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PORTRAIT OF A HOUSE

I love the way the light plays over the curved shapes of this house in Penn Valley.

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FULL MOON IN THE SWIMMING POOL

I rarely go out at night just to take in the scenery but this full moon brought me out with my camera.  This is the moon reflected in the swimming pool with my neighbor's house lights competing with the much bluer light of the moon.  Their house is not yellow but the lights make it seem so by contrast.

ANOTHER BLOG

Here is a link to another blog that I follow.  This entry is especially interesting and beautiful so I thought I would share it.
ART IN CONNO

AUTUMN ZINNIAS

Only a few days ago the trees were still full of leaves and the Zinnias, that this year were at least 6 feet tall, were still proudly showing their stuff.  Today we have frost and most of the leaves are down.  This fall so gloriously filled my head with color, I think I will be able to make it through the winter without too much regret.
SOLD

$125.00

RED MAPLES #2

Almost gone today, three days ago these beauties were lighting up my front yard.  "Sic transit gloria mundi" - "Thus passes the glory of the world"
$125.00

MORNING LIGHT

It's getting to be time to enjoy indoor pleasures.  I love to follow the light around my house as it creates compositions all day long.  Here I removed the furniture - not really - just for the painting, because the blue light was a key element.

$125.00

RED MAPLES

These BLOODGOOD maples are pulsing their color all over my front yard.  The final fairwell to summer.  This is from inside the tree looking out on an overcast day.