The daily dose of art CURB SIDE ICONS

Never underestimate the "eye of the beholder".  It is amazing where one can find beauty.

The daily dose of art A PRODUCE MARKET RUT

I can never resist a colorful corner market, especially if it has a grand awning and lots of produce.  And when I can't find one, I simply imagine my own on a small piece of watercolor paper.  The small watercolor sketches today are the result of my imagining.

The daily dose of art MINIATURES

Once in a while I get lazy.  Well...maybe more than once in a while, and when I do, I turn to the minis, watercolor or acrylic paintings 8x10 and smaller.  They are easy and fun, and make me feel like I'm being "productive".

Barbed  watercolor  3x7

Acrylic Diptych I 8x8

Acrylic Diptych II 8x8

The daily dose of art HERE & THERE

Enough with the trees.  Today we will wander about with no specific destination in mind, something I've been getting a little to comfortable with lately.

Somewhere in Lower Delaware  watercolor

Lowes, KY  pastel

East point LH  on Delaware bay  watercolor

A WILMINGTON PORTFOLIO

Now available online

A Wilmington Portfolio is a collection of paintings of the city from the 1970s and 80s, depicting a broad range of  subjects, from the grand elegance of the civic architecture to the intimate shops, nooks, and crannies of Wilmington’s diverse neighborhoods.

The 150 page hardcover book measures 11x14" and contains 176 paintings and 7 B&W drawings.

For more details, and To order and/or preview this book click on Blurb Bookstore.

The daily dose of art TREES - GETTING TO KNOW THEM

It did not happen overnight.  My fascination with trees developed gradually; they became an integral part of the paintings composition, and at times the primary focus.

Autumn Trees  acrylic  12x48

Summer Trees  acrylic  12x48

The daily dose of art TREES, A LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP

How do I really feel about painting trees?  Conflicted.  But that has not kept me from making them the focus in many of my paintings over the past 10 years.  This may be a good time to take a look at some of them.

These 2 paintings were done entirely with a palette knife.

                                

Sepia Fields I & II

Acrylic  30x15

The daily dose of art THE NEGATIVE TREE

There are times when the absent tree becomes the perfect way to frame the subject. 

The daily dose of art AN AVERSION TO TREES

When I first began painting I had a great deal of difficulty with trees - I still do - and my solution was to simply ignore them.  If they were needed in the composition I included them, unpainted, which was not very painterly of me.  Eventually I overcame my aversion, but I still have a tendency to avoid them whenever possible.

A Retail Icon  watercolor

Philadelphia Academy of Music  watercolor

The daily dose of art THE EARLIEST ACRYLICS

I first began working with acrylics in 2006.  Prior to that I worked with watercolor, pastel, and the clay printing, all of which required framing in order to be effectively exhibited.  Because of the expense, I decided to try painting on canvas, choosing acrylics for their quick drying time.  I grossly underestimated the adjustments I would have to make with a new medium.  I began using the palette knife in order to overcome my difficulty with the brush, and have continued to do so some 9 years later.  Here are two of my earliest paintings, each 30x40":

Dark Forest  acrylic  30x40

Red Sentinel  acrylic   30x40

After all these years I still consider them two of my better paintings.

The daily dose of art SUNDAY'S CHURCH

Out of the ER and into the Church, at least for one day.  Today's  church can be found in North East Maryland.

St. Mary Anne's Episcopal Church  watercolor - 1992

The daily dose of art THE QUICK SKETCH part 2

Another page from the ER sketch book today:

the Resident

Walter from the Dumpster

The daily dose of art THE QUICK SKETCH part 1

Nothing exercises the hand and the eyes better than the quick, on the spot sketch.  It is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice.  I've always found it more rewarding to limit myself to pen & ink for on the spot drawings, and pencils for preliminary sketching in the studio - a very arbitrary choice.

Today's sketches were lifted from my Emergency Room Journal. (5x7")

The daily dose of art "CLAY DRAWINGS"

Staying with the clay for one more day - a few years ago while working on some clay printing inspired by my month in Italy, I began drawing on discarded pieces of clay prints with markers and felt-tip pens.  It was the beginning of a love affair that lasted several years.  The initial drawings were followed up by a series of drawings of Italian street scenes, and later, Paducah architecture.

Several clay prints to be used in the drawings.

Tribeca

Bologna

Must be somewhere

The daily dose of art THE VERSATILE CLAY MONO TYPE part 2

Quarter Moon  clay mono type  32x15

Untitled  clay mono type and ink

The 

The daily dose of art THE VERSATILE CLAY MONO TYPE

A weeks ago I began working with the clay, after a hiatus of almost 2 years.  I restored the surface of the clay base and began exploring new ways of creating mono types.  Alone, or with assorted mediums added to the process - pastel, ink, acrylic - it is possible to produce a wide range of images, from total abstraction to imaginative realism.  For the next few days I'll be sharing some of the clay mono types hanging around my studio.

Bologna Series #3  21x13

Contained  10x10

Tuscany in clay  pastel enhancement

the daily dose of art....FROM START TO FINISH

Working from a photograph, this commission was somewhat of a challenge.  Here it is, presented in stages:

Cambridge UK  watercolor   22x30

The daily dose of art Sunday's church from Portugal

Several years ago my Facebook artist friend Julio Rodriguez and I exchanged paintings of our favorite churches.  He painted Friendship Church in Landisville NJ for me, and I painted this church in his hometown in Portugal.

Julio's Church  watercolor   16x20

The daily dose of art Consider the Grain Elevator

These sentinels of the prairie will not let go of me.  For a while I was photographing everyone I saw but had to stop because my files were being over run by them.  I've lost count of the number of times I painted them.

This first painting is the first one I did, showing a grain facility in Delaware, about 20 miles south of Wilmington.  It has since been demolished.

Grain Elevators & storage  watercolor

The second piece is one of my imagined grain elevators, inspired by all that I saw on my firs cross country drive through the plains states.                            

Prairie Grain   pastel   20x30

The daily dose of art DELAWARE ARCHITECTURE

I was driving about New Castle, exploring parts of the town I had not seen before, when I came across this:

I could not believe it.  This beautiful 'villa' just sitting there, and for all of my visits to this town I never knew it existed.

This elegant Victorian can be seen in Dover, about 30 miles south of New Castle.

The daily dose of art WORKING SMALL

I will show restraint and refrain from using the tired cliche - Good things come in small packages.  I can be more creative than that.  So today we see that size doesn't matter as we look at several mini paintings.

Cottonwoods  watercolor  4x7"

Early Morning Light  watercolor   3x4"

High Plains  acrylic  4x4"