Venus #1

Pastel and Carbon Pencil on White Paper

8" x 9 3/4" $60.00 SOLD

I don't know why, but I have always been fascinated

by classical sculptures from ancient Greece and Rome.

I have spent a great deal of time doing drawings of

them in many different media. My favorite is pastel,

however, which I usually do on acid-free sketch-weight

paper, using veils of color, vine charcoal, carbon pencil,

and several different types of fixative.

I start out with a layer of Nupastel (hard) in some color that

I like, and draw into that with a very skinny piece of vine

charcoal. The great thing is that if you don't like what you

draw, you can just keep covering it up with more pastel

until you get an image that you think you can work with.

At that point I will usually spray it with Workable Fixative.

Not too much, but just enough to make changes if I want.

Then I start adding more colors, more drawing, more vine

charcoal. I use the carbon pencil (Conte), because it doesn't

smear like charcoal pencil does.

After awhile, I will deliberately spray this with Crystal Clear

or Matte Finish, or other Krylon Fixative (outside of course!!), or

even Sennelier Fixatif Latour, which, being made from a citrus

base, I can spray right in front of my face, but it has a tendancy

to wrinkle the paper, as it has some water in it, I think (it can also

deposit some spots, but this can be a very happy accident sometimes!).

At this point I am deliberately trying to make the picture darker.

Then I continue to work on it with the same materials, until I have gotten

to a place where I am happy with it.

Next to my post is a small example of a larger drawing that I was very happy

with that is not for sale, because it is part of my private collection.

Thank you for viewing my work today.

Christina

Drypoint Etching , 4" x 5" $50.00
Click Here to Bid

This is a drypoint drawn on a metal plate

of my daughter's friend Christina. It is

wiped clean with no plate tone, because I

liked the lines, and tone clustered around

her head.

Impression of a Night in Venice

Acrylic on Archival Paper laid down on board, SOLD

5" x 6" $50.00 Click Here to Bid

This paiting was composed partly from a photo, partly

from memory, and partly from imagination. It was a

long time ago that I was in Venice, but I never forgot

how entranced I was by it. It is so quiet there, because

there are no cars! Just canals and boats. It is very

mysterious, but grand at the same time. I stayed in

a hotel that had a chandelier in the dining room that

was made entirely of blown-glass flowers in many colors,

hanging from the ceiling. It was about eight feet long.

I was amazed. It was probably made at Murano, in the

bay off of Venice, where they do all of the famous

glass work. I would love to go back there someday.

Tiny Pre-Raphaelite Sophie l

Oil on Board, 4" x 4" $50.00 SOLD

This tiny painting of my daughter was done from a

photo I took of her quite a few years ago. I manipulated

the photo in Photoshop - something I love to do - using

the lighting options, so that I vignetted her into this

circle. I just thought it had an unusual, "times past"

look. With her flowing hair, pensive expression, and

colorful kimono, she struck me as very similar to some

of the models used by the Pre-Raphaelite painters, who

seemed to favor extremely pale, long haired, pensive

women. My daughter is actually bright and and happy -

she's just a good model. I've done many paintings and

prints of her. She wanted to be an actress for a while,

and can be quite dramatic, which makes her a great

person to draw and paint!

This is just a quickly-done

painting, but there are things about it that I like.

"Essence" Copy after Degas

7" x 9", Oil Paint on Paper SOLD

This is an example of a technique known
as essence, that was used a great
deal by both Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec.
The oil paint is laid out overnight on
paper towels or blotter paper to soak out
the linseed oil. The next morning the paint
is transferred to a palette. Then, using
only solvent ("essence" is French for "solvent"),
one paints with the oil-less paint on any paper.
The paper does not need to be prepared in any way,
thus you can paint on bond paper, drawing paper,
pastel paper, charcoal paper (like this), Canson
Paper, brown wrapping paper, whatever. It is
really fun - and archival! That's how Toulouse-
Lautrec did all those paintings on cardboard that
are in the National Gallery in DC!!

Tiny Figure

Drypoint Etching, 3" x 4"
SOLD
This really is a tiny figure. I had it
in mind to do a series of these. This
is the first one. It is based on a photo
that I took of woman who used to model
for my classes who was fabulous.
Unfortunatetly, she doesn't model
anymore. She was tall and stately,
and really fun to do gesture drawings
of, because she had really long legs
and expressive hands, and she always
had her hair up, but it was always
falling down into these great shapes.

This was drawn on a zinc plate, and printed
on French Rives BFK printmaking paper.
I only printed a couple of prints today, and I
think I'll probably only get about eight good
ones out of the edition, because the lines are
so delicate. But, I am very happy with the
image.

A Lazy Pear and a Turquoise Background

Oil on gessoed rag board, 6 1/2" x 5 3/4" $100.00
SOLD
I had fun painting these pears. I actually started them
yesterday, so I was able to use some glazes, which deeped
and enriched the colors in the way that I like. There aren't
many shadows, because that is just the way it was set up.

I use bosc pears to teach in my painting class. We do
a really fun exercise, because the class is one in indirect
painting (like they did in the Renaissance and in the early
days of oil painting). The students first paint a grisaille,
which is a black and white underpainting, and comes from
the French word for "gray".

After that dries, they cover that with a very, very thin
layer of a glaze made up of Liquin and Gamblin's Transparent
Red Earth. Voila. Pears! Well, not exactly. They blot the
glaze off here and there, because they have to keep painting,
using a limited palette, and painting into the pears and
background with opaque paint, using little or no medium.
It's amazing the results they come up with, though. Pretty
sophisticated - and some of these people have really never
painted before.

Indirect painting - that's what Jeff Hayes does, if you're
familiar with his blog and all his excellent sequential photos
of his paintings - is really the easiest way to paint. You
basically separate the drawing from the painting part.

Well, it's not quite that simple, but if you're a beginner,
it's worth a try. I'll be teaching it next year at The Art League
School in Alexandria, Virginia, if you happen to live near there.

Tuscan Farmhouse

Acrylic on Paper mounted on Board, 5" square
$100.00 go to eBay

I did this painting as a copy of a gouache painting

that I did in a sketchbook that I had prepared to

show a group of students who were potential

participants in a workshop in Florence. The workshop

ended up getting cancelled for various reasons, but I

was so happy with the gouache painting that I did

another, larger version of it, and here it is.

I love the simplicity of Italian farm buildings. I remember

riding around in the country when I lived in Italy. I didn't

own a car, so that was a very rare treat. The most spectacular

thing was to see the fields covered with red poppies in the

spring. I'll never forget that. It was amazing. Italy has to be

one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Early Evening Boston Studio View ll

Acrylic on Paper, 4 3/8" x 4 1/8", $80.00 SOLD

This one was done from a photo I took out the window

of my studio in Boston when I lived there in the 80's.

I never tired of seeing the different sunsets. I know I

mentioned in my last posting of this view how fascinated

I was by the buildings. The way they seemed to glow here

is not my imagination. There was something about the fact

that they were all made out of bricks, and were up high on

a hill, combined with the fact that the window faced

due west, that created a sort of nimbus around the

building sometimes.

This was easy to create in oil with a glaze of

Gamblin's Transparent Earth Red. This is acrylic, so

I just sort of did the best I could with some burnt umber

mixed with some orange and acrylic medium. A different

animal completely....but I'm developing a fondness for them,

I have to admit.

I'm planning on trying oils over acrylic. I think

that ultimately I'll like the range that will give

better than just straight acrylic.

I'll keep with the acrylics for awhile, though, just

to really get the hang of it. They are fun.

Sketch of Potomac River in the Summer

Gouache and Watercolor, 4" x 6" $100.00

This is actually right near where I live. It is nice to live near the river.
I love to see it in every season, but my favorite is definitely the
summertime. It isn't so great when it floods - which it did a few years
ago, wiping out a lot of my neighborhood. That was not pleasant.
But, we must be crazy. We all know we live in a 100-year flood plain.
And we haven't left ......yet.

I did this in a Canson sketchbook. I have several of them for different
themes. They are great if you keep your pictures rather small. But, if
you do anything larger than 5" x 7" the paper starts to buckle, so it's
better to keep the compositions on the small side. That's OK with me.
I enjoy working small a lot of the time. Everyone's different!

Blue Ridge Sketch

Acrylic, 4" x 4" $100.00

Sunset after a Storm

Acrylic on Gessoed Board, 6" x 6" $100.00

This is another made-up picture. I guess it's the Caribbean. The

places that I have been there have made such an impression on me.

Particularly the skies.

This is one of my first acrylic paintings. You can probably tell....

There are certain aspects of acrylic that I like very much. For someone

who loves glazing as much as I do, the instant-dry factor is very

convenient. But, blending is problematical, and so is getting soft

edges. Spraying water on it, as I read David Hockney does, helps

a little bit. But it certainly is fun to play with. All in all, I think I'll

remain a big oils fan. I love the maleability of it, and the softness

of the edges that you can get with it like nothing else except maybe

pastel, or oil pastel.

Mrs. White's Yard

Oil on Panel, 6" x 8" $100.00

This was a really, really fast sketch I did of the yard next door. I
love very refined painting, as I am a diehard fan of early Renaissance
work. But, every once in a while I just get in the mood to really
let go and paint as fast as I can - even sacrificing reality if I have to
in favor of abstraction if that is what happens. I like the energy in
this little sketch - it was a cloudy day, so that is why you don't see
any shadows.

Christina in a Chinese Jacket

Drypoint Etching printed on Archival
Printmaking Paper, image 5" x 7" $85.00 Go Here

I didn't have a chance to paint today, so I am
posting this drypoint of my daughter's friend,
Christina.

I drew it with a diamond point on a plastic
plate, which has several drawbacks. First
of all, you cannot correct any mistakes, so
every mark you make must be correct or
pretty correct, anyway. Also, it doesn't
tend to have the beautiful plate tone that
copper or zinc have because it is totally
non-porous.

One thing it does do well though is take marks
from roulette wheels. Those are tools used by
printmakers to create texture. They are literally
small barrels attached to handles that have different
types of texture on them, like lines, dots, sharp
points for roughing up the plate, etc.. The texture
that you see in the background of this print was
mostly made with roulettes. Everything else was
drawn by hand with my diamond scriber.

Once I finish my drawing, I ink it up with
etching ink, and run it through my press with a
piece of dampened printmaking paper.

I love drypoint! You can't get big editions,
as you can with etching, but what you can get
is unique and beautiful.

Early Evening View from Boston Studio Window

Oil on Gessoboard, 4" square $100.00

This was the view out my studio window when I lived
in Boston for nine years. I lived on the back side of
Beacon Hill, which was an odd place to begin with -
all those buildings clustered closely together on that
little artificial hill - but there was always something
about this view that reminded me of the Middle Ages.

The odd shapes of the structures on the tops of the
tenement buildings; so many of them were surmounted with
these glass pyramids topped with little balls. The pyramids
would change color according to the light in the sky.
It was intensely urban, that's for sure. Were it not for
the Boston Common and the Public Garden a short walk
away, I think living there would have been unbearably
claustrophobic.

But, oddly enough, sometimes I miss
it. It's probably nostalgia. My studio was only my studio
until my daughter was born in 1986. What joy. Then it became a
baby's room, and the center of my life ceased to be my
artwork for quite a while. If I had to do it over, I wouldn't
change a thing.

Vita breve. Ars longa.

Irish Sketch

Pencil and Oil on Denril Paper, 5" x 7" $110.00 eBay

A lot of my ancestors, including my grandmother on
my mother's side, and my grandfather on my father's side,
were from Ireland. But I've never been there. I hope to go
there someday though. This is another one of those imagined
pictures. It is what I think a collection of buildings on an Irish
hillside near the ocean would look like on a sunny day. I had
a lot of fun doing it.

Denril paper is actually a translucent paper made for
architects. But, because it has a treated, impervious surface,
you can paint right on it in oils. You can also wipe it right
off too, because it doesn't sink in - which makes it really
fun to work with. It's also great for colored pencils, or
plain graphite. It looks like Mylar, but it's soft and pliable,
and is an actual paper. It comes in large sheets also.

Plowed Field in Spring

Oil Color Monotype, 4.5" x 6" $100.00 go to eBay

This is an example of a monotype done with watersoluble
oil paints on Yupo watercolor paper as a base. The Yupo
watercolor paper is white, of course, but it's also a piece of
thin white plastic, which is perfect for releasing the paint
onto a piece of damp printmaking paper in a press.

Before I do the painting, I will coat the plate with some
Grumbacher Slow-Drying Medium for watersoluble oils,
and roll paint into that (using Speedball soft rollers), and
also brush paint into it. It give a good overall surface to work
into. Then, after soaking the printmaking paper for awhile, and
blotting it so that there is no standing water on it, I'll place the
Yupo paper on a thin metal or plastic etching plate to raise it
up a bit, and then print it in an etching press. This method will
remove every bit of paint from the plate and give a good, clean
and sharp print.

This image is rather impressionistic, but I like the sense of
space that it conveys.

Sunset in the Tropics

Oil on Gessoed Wood Panel, 6" x 8" $125.00

This is an entirely made-up painting, with a nod to Frederick
Church (whom I could never hope to equal). I have been to Jamaica
several times, but always to the north coast of the island. I love it
there. I think the landscape, above and below the ocean, and the people,
are beautiful.

I have also always admired Frederick Church's painted
"sketches" (amazing smaller paintings he did in preparation for huge
studio paintings - a typical 19th Century artist). I have had a book
of them that I got in a great sale at the National Gallery years ago, that
I have pored over many times.

So, here I am imagining that I am looking
at a sunset over the Blue Mountains in Jamaica. It's just a feeling I'm
trying to get, nothing exact - but I do think I caught something of the
humid atmosphere there, so I am happy about that!


P.S. I have decided to go through and put the prices under all of my
paintings, as I have been advised to do that, and also feel that perhaps
people are embarassed to broach that subject. I plan on opening up
my ebay store again, eventually.

Oil Sketch of Alan

Oil on Gessoed Rag Board, 7" x 9" $100.00

This quick gestural sketch of one of my
favorite figure models, Alan, was done
with a limited palette, using burnt umber,
naples yellow, cadmium red light, and
cobalt blue. The gesso had been washed
with a light neutral gray before starting.

I was trying to demonstrate to my students the
mapping out of broad planes of light and dark, and
how one can simplify the complexity of the back
just to get started (the back can be so intimidating).

Although this is an "unfinished" sketch, I felt that
I had really "caught" Alan, and his energy and grace.

Sunset over St. John

Oil on Linen laid down on board, 3 1/2" x 5" $80.00

This tiny landscape of St. John in the Virgin Islands, is one of

several that I have done of this same composition. The shapes

and colors of these clouds just fascinate me. The pink really

was this intense.

Egret in Huntley Meadows Wetlands Park

Gouache on Canson Watercolor Paper SOLD

4" x 6"

This beautiful white egret really stood out against

all the darker reds and greens of the wetlands. It is

good that they stand there for so long!

I love working in gouache. It is similar to oils in that

you can work fairly thickly and continually overlay

different colors. But you have the option of also using

washes, which is nice for underpainting or just

giving the whole composition a particular tint.

I like the sketchiness of this piece.

This was done in a Canson watercolor notebook,

and because the dimensions of the piece were so small,

I didn't have to worry about wrinkling. In watercolor, that

certainly is one advantage of working so small!

Bearded Iris ll

Watercolor, Gouache and Pencil
on Archival WC Paper, 5" x 7" $120.00

Go to eBay

I just couldn't get over all of the colors
in this iris. They were really something.
I was experimenting with Aquapasto
today. A wonderful watercolor teacher
at the Art League School, Tedd Betts,
who passed away a couple of years ago,
told me that you could squegee a thin
layer of this stuff on your paper with
a credit card. He used it to incredible
effect. Particularly in painting trees
in the wintertime. His paintings were
beautiful. It's really a shame he wasn't more
well-known in his lifetime.

Using the medium has its advantages and
drawbacks for an artist. You can completely
lift any paint put over it, and washes can be
laid down next to each other without flowing
into each other, but that's just the thing -
the washes don't really flow at all, and that
can be frustrating. I guess the solution would
be to figure out what effects you want to achieve
before you start, and use the medium where it
would be most effective. Anyway, it is fun to
play around with.

Memory of Ellett Valley, Virginia

SOLD

Watercolor on Acid Free Watercolor Paper, 7" square

This was one of the most beautiful places that I was ever in.
It was a valley that basically ran parallel to the town of
Blacksburg, Virginia, on the other side of a small mountain
range. Back when I spent time there in the 80's, before they started
building developments with "cul de sacs" and mini-mansions, it was
full of wonderful old pig farms, and Virginia vernacular architecure.
It also had rolling, twisting roads, almost like a roller coaster that
seemed to go on forever...not to mention the cornfields, sunflowers,
sweetpeas, and cows. I haven't been there in years. I think I'd rather
remember it like this.

Milena Posing in a cold light in class

SOLD
Oil on Canson Paper, 10" x 13"

This semi-clothed nude study was done very
quickly in an interesting technique that was used
very often by both Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec.
It is know as peinture a l'essence, which literally
means, "painting with solvent". If you notice, a lot
of Lautrec's paintings were done on cardboard.
Well, this is how he did that.

To use this technique, the oil paint has to be placed
on blotter paper or paper towels overnight to soak
out all of the oil from the paint. The next morning
(or the day after that...), the paint is transferred onto
a palette and can be used to paint on bare, unprepared
paper, diluted only with turps or paint thinner. No medium
is used, of course, because that would defeat the purpose
of having removed the oil in the first place. It is really fun,
and great for gestural figure painting! You should try it!

Sharon's Back

Drypoint Etching, Printed on Archival
Italian Printmaking Paper, 3 1/2" x 4 3/4"
$75.00 Go to eBay

This is my model Sharon again. Always
graceful, and always inspiring.

Sharon Posing during Figure Class

Drypoint Etching printed on Archival
Italian Printaking Paper, Image area
5" x 7", margins, 2" $100.00

I did this from a photograph that I took of
this model. She has been modelling for me
personally, and for my classes, for about 12
years. I have done at least ten paintings of
her. She is a fantastic model, even now at
the age of 50, after bearing, raising, AND
homeschooling six children! She just has a gift
for modelling. And, did I mention - she's also
an artist, with a real gift for color, but unfortunately
not a lot of time to make art. I own one of her
paintings. It's a luscious painting of a tomato done
in acrylic. I keep it in my kitchen, and get enjoyment
out of it every day.

I did say, when I introduced myself, that I would
be working in several different media. I just can't
help it. It is not that I am a dilletante. I actually
have a Masters in Printmaking, but have been
much more of a painter in the past 25 years. But,
every once in a while I get struck by the urge to
make drypoints.

They don't take long. All you have
to do is make a drawing with a diamond-tipped
scriber on either a zinc, copper, or acetate plate,
ink it up with etching ink, soak your paper and blot
it, and then run it through your etching press, and
Voila! You have a print. And you can make about
ten more good prints.

To get more than that you really do
need to have your plate electrolitically steel-faced
(can't do that to plastic, of course). They (whoever
"they" are...) have actually taken some Rembrandt plates
that he himself cancelled by scoring them with a big
X - indicating he didn't intend to make any more prints
from them - and had them steel-faced, just to make
money off of them. Greed will make people do really
inane things. Expecially in the art market.

Bearded Iris

Watercolor and Gouache on Arches Cold Press

Watercolor Paper, 4.6" x 4.6" $100.00

I really thought this bearded iris was spectacular
and I just had to do a painting of it. I didn't have
much time though, so it is really just a sketch.
Next time I think I'll use oils. They are SO much
more forgiving! I'm so glad that its finally spring!