Look for the peppers...in art stores near you! MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

Pepper Party  8x10"  Acrylic

Pepper Party  8x10"  Acrylic

My recently posted pepper painting was commissioned by Strathmore Paper Company, for the front cover of their new product, black canvas paper pads, which you can find in retail art stores. I could not reveal that information until they officially introduced the product on their website.  Nor could I offer the painting for sale because they needed the actual artwork to photograph. It arrived back today, and is available for any would-be collectors.

BTW If you've never worked on a black surface, try it, you'll like it. The colors really pop!
Click here to read more about Strathmore 300 Series Black Canvas Paper.

Chelsea Building, NYC SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016

Chelsea Fire Escapes  14x14"  Acrylic

Chelsea Fire Escapes  14x14"  Acrylic

Lately I am working with old paintings that were started but never finished. In this case I barely got the painting going when apparently life got in the way and it got shuffled to some uncommon place, not to be seen for years. Who knows what reference I was using, a sketch? a photo? whatever, it's gone. It can be freeing to work out of my head when no reference is available, and give myself permission to make fresh decisions about how to make the piece work. I decided to work in a triad color scheme - tried and true red, yellow and blue.

Playing with Color Notes WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

Jazzy Nude  8x10"  Acrylic  

Jazzy Nude  8x10"  Acrylic  

In early December I went to Florida to attend a 5 day conference sponsored by Golden Paints. The event included presentations by my colleagues on topics such as internet marketing, how to plan travel workshops, intuitive painting techniques, mixed media and collage, and much more. I learned so much my head is exploding.

One of my favorite workshops had us start out in an abstract, spontaneous manner, using a variety of mark making dry and wet materials, and gradually rein in the painting. Here is one of my paintings using that technique. The reference I used was a traditional figure painting I did back in the '90s, painted very realistically. I started out with a quick sketch and explored from there. It's an interesting approach that lends itself to abstraction, intuition and imagination ... a very enjoyable process!In early December I went to Florida to attend a 5 day conference sponsored by Golden Paints. The event included presentations by my colleagues on topics such as internet marketing, how to plan travel workshops, intuitive painting techniques, mixed media and collage, and much more. I learned so much my head is exploding.

One of my favorite workshops had us start out in an abstract, spontaneous manner, using a variety of mark making dry and wet materials, and gradually rein in the painting. Here is one of my paintings using that technique. The reference I used was a traditional figure painting I did back in the '90s, painted very realistically. I started out with a quick sketch and explored from there. It's an interesting approach that lends itself to abstraction, intuition and imagination ... a very enjoyable process!