IS IT ABOUT ART?

Or is it nostalgia that is the driving force behind this series of drawings that has held my attention for the past month? I seem to have come full circle, returning to the art that I first created as I pursued this new “career”. Not only am I using the same tools, pens, pencils, and markers, but I’m also painting the same subjects from the same old photos and slides; the only difference is the 30 plus years of experience behind each drawing.

Whatever the reason, I am having fun, enjoying my armchair journeys to other places at another time. After weeks of “traveling” all over Paducah and the mid Atlantic states, I am beginning to focus on the 2 cities that have been a major part of my life, Wilmington Delaware and Philadelphia. While going through the first of several slide carousels of Philadelphia yesterday I realized that “my” Philadelphia existed over 30 years ago, and the many storefronts, markets, and streetscapes that I knew are long gone. The drawings from these old photos and slides are capturing fond memories, reminding me that I once thought of myself more as a story teller than an artist because of the subjects I painted, small storefronts, markets, shops, and streetscapes, on a human scale. The grandeur of large skies and endless horizons would come years later.

The new old...






And the old old....


1983

1979