River Eddy
2015
oil on panel
16x20


Yesterday I picked up a “new” camera at a yard sale and finally got back to shooting my work.

This is a piece I started in July when I was at Bennington College taking a MASS Art workshop taught by Honour Mack from MECA.

The course was called Painting from Perception into Imagination.

I will post some of the more perception (observation is really what she meant) based pieces soon.

The Intersection of Art and Buddhism

Singing Bowls
2015
20x16
oil on panel

















Singing bowls are used in meditation, yoga and healing.  Technically they are a kind of bell which stands rather than hangs.  They can be struck with a wooden mallet or, to produce their unique singing sound, the rim is rubbed to create vibration (like running your finger around a crystal goblet).

This painting is more about the vibration than the form of the bowls.

If you are interested in the intersection of art and Buddhism, check out the exhibit opening this Sunday, May 3rd 2-5 p.m. at The Boundless Way Zen Temple, 1030 Pleasant St., Worcester, MA.
Buddhas Over Worcester (BOW, get it?) is an outdoor sculpture event where people have been invited to create a piece about what it means to be awake in this world.
The show is in the Temple gardens and will be open daily during daylight hours until July 11, 2015.

Yes, I have a piece in the show.

R&F Paints' Pigment Sticks

Not yet titled
2015
24x18
oil and graphite on panel















This is one of the pieces I made at R&F Paints at a recent workshop.

 It is  a metamorphosis of a painting I started last summer in a workshop with Tim Hawksworth.  I say metamorphosis because like an insect, it bares little resemblance to its previous (larval?) state, but I know what's in there and that it lead me to this place.

When listing materials, I do not differentiate between tube oils and oil sticks.
I frequently used them together.

I exclusively use R&F Pigment sticks (their name for their oil sticks).
Now that I have witnessed how they are made by hand by artists who are passionate about them, I will never again begrudge the price sticker.

Seriously, there is one guy standing over one machine hand grinding each batch.

While we were there in March the paint mixers were developing new colors and our class got to test them out!  Yippee!

R&F offers many workshops and all the paint you want to use is included in the tuition.  Can I say "yippee" again ?

It was a great experience to work in this environment of abundance and generosity.

R&F makes artists the center of their mission.  The studio space is comfortable, well-lit, with good ventilation.  They have a gallery on premise, and I think everyone who works there is an artist as well.

By now it is obvious that I am a fan!  I recommend trying the sticks, visiting the factory in Kingston, or taking a workshop.

Another Great Workshop

Last weekend I went to R&F Paints in Kingston, NY for an oil stick, er pardon me, pigment stick workshop with Lisa Pressman.

If you aren't familiar with Lisa Pressman, she is a terrific artist who works in both oil and encaustic.
She has an exhibit in both media right now at the gallery at R&F.

Lisa is one of those rare people who is both gifted at making art and coaching others.

She does demos etc. of her own techniques, but has this uncanny ability to sense where you are in your artistic life and with a very "light touch" offer some words of insight to nudge you on, deeper, beyond old habits and fall-back imagery.

She kicked off the workshop with an exercise, using 6x6 squares of paper.  The rest of the time we were working mostly on our own.

Even though they are "quickies" (or maybe particularly because they are "quickies"), I am enjoying some of them.  It was also fun, back here at home to group them together.

Oil stick and graphite on prepared paper
6x6
2015



More of the larger pieces to come.
Also, next time I will get into how awesome R&F is.

work on wax coated paper

Season of Short Days
2015
wax, graphite, and oil stick on paper



I found this painting inside another, larger piece that I wasn't crazy about.

Oddly, this wasn't the section that I liked in the first attempt.
Maybe it was my lack of attachment to it that allowed me to get free and let it become something new.

It bears a resemblance to my "back yard", a wild meadow ringed by stone walls and woods.

Incidentally, I did not post dimensions because I haven't decided on a final crop yet.  There is a lot more sky, which was fun to paint, but I think the piece is stronger with like this.

The Things That Keep us Together, diptych
2014
18x12
oil stick on panels



This is from that workshop at R&F Paints that I keep going on about.
Not sure what I think of it.

Feels very busy to me, but I have not been able to find anything I want to edit from it.

I have finally gotten back into shooting my work, so I'll get some more up here soon.

I have some abstracted figure studies from a recent session in Worcester and some interesting mono prints from a delightful Sunday with Dean Nimmer.

Problem Solved!

Corner of my studio


You know I love R&F pigment sticks, but there is a dark side to every love...

As you use them, you have to tear off the identifying label, so sooner of later you (or at least I) have disorganized piles of dirty half sticks  jumbled on my work space.

I spend a stupid amount of time picking through these stubs trying to find a specific color, and making myself nuts!

But looky here:  I've come up with this space-saving, mobile organizer for the sticks and other supplies.

It is a large, metal shoe rack on castors.
The paint sticks go in little plastic bins or aluminum pans from the dollar store.

I've also got my baby wipes for quick clean up, space to hang papers or rags, and my swell new apron from R&F.

This frees up a lot of valuable area on my work counter without loosing much floor space.  Did I mention the wheels?
I love things that I can push out of the way!

Ennui
2013
12x9
oil

Paint Sketch

Semi-reclining Figure
2013
5x7
oil










This small sketch I did a couple weeks back using RF pigment sticks.
These are luscious pigments an a buttery oil stick form.
They can be tricky to work with, but are very exciting, just the same.

Figure Study in Oil

Seated Figure
2013
10x8
oil














Here's a quick little study from the figure group I have been going to.  I used R&F oil sticks which, particularly on such a small canvas forces you to generalize and work loosely.