Getting the Life in Still life

Things on a Shelf
2013
9x12
oil on canvas

Right out of the gate, I will tell you that I don't get too turned on over still life painting.

Even if I think I am going to approach one from an abstract sensibility, I find I quickly succumb to what I call the tyranny of things.

The vase, the lamp or whatever looms large in my mind and bullies me into trying to illustrate it.

I started this at my friend, Ann Hick's home, when I few of us had gotten together to paint.  The day was fun, but my results were quite tight and uninteresting to me.

Weeks later, back at my studio, with the specifics of the objects blurry in my memory, I finally pushed it to a point that is satisfying.

The tyrant ultimately loosened his grip, and I was able to get to the life in this still life.

Torii
2013
7x7
monotype on rice paper











Torii are those iconic Japanese gates that were originally put at Shinto shrines to demarcate the boundary between the sacred and profane worlds.

Right now I seem to be turning over in my mind the concept of change, transition.

Whether it be in space or time, there is something magic about the moment the shift occurs when one moment you're in one season or world or state of mind, and the next, you are completely in another.

Forsythia
2013
60x20
oil on canvas












Don't misunderstand, I don't think Forsythia are particularly gorgeous shrubs, but they are so very emblematic of Spring, at least here in New England.

One minute the world is very grey, roadsides are downing in road sand and freshly revealed trash, and the next, the Forsythia burst on the scene with their brash, assertive yellow sprays of blossoms.

By the time their flowers have faded, the landscape is fully roused from its winter slumber, and everything is growing, greening, blooming at a manic pace.

New Landscape

March Wind Across the Hills
2013
15x45
oil on canvas



This piece is about transition and movement.

The hills of Central Massachusetts in March are lit by the much stronger spring sunlight, animated by the still chilly and wild North wind, and colored by dry grasses, patches of lingering snow, and low areas of rich mud.
Green growth has not yet begun to push, but you know it is there, just below the surface.
In a few warm days the whole scene changes, like when The Wizard of Oz goes to color.

So, yes, it is a landscape, but really, it is a lifescape:  transition and movement.

The Journal Series Continues

You Gonna Tell Me
What Control Device I Must Develop To Be A Human?
2013
acrylic
36x36


I am still working away at this found journal series.

See the explanation back on Jan 17, 2013 if you don't know what I am referring to.

 I intersperse this work with oil painting and printmaking because it is so intense and emotionally draining.  Very rewarding, though.

2013
13x10
monotype with oil pastel
















I really enjoy this process of press-free printmaking.
As a matter of fact, I went out and picked up a jar of the oil-based ink in sepia, just like we used in class so I could do more on my own.

Mmm.... More Mixed Media

Sleep Cycle
2013
12x18
monotype with mixed media


This is a monotype print on paper that I later drew and painted into using acrylics, charcoal, pastel and conte crayon.
I love the layering of processes.