bees reprise

About this time last year I painted my first round of bees. Now I'm at it again!

Whilst in L.A.: Fresh Paint

Last month, during my Spring Break from teaching, Tony & I set off for L.A.-- a trip we had long spoken of, but somehow had a hard time getting around to.

It was short, but great in many ways. We went to lots of galleries-- in Culver City, Bergamot Station, & Beverly Hills, along with visiting the Getty Center.

I was particularly happy to get to visit Fresh Paint, a gallery in Culver City I had sent some work down to in the Fall as part of a group show. Here's some of what was on the walls the day we visited (all photos taken at Fresh Paint). Tony had a good time connecting with the gallery dogs, as well!

(click to enlarge any image)

six feet wide, with six feet tall

made with the Mandala HD app for iphone, see below.

more fun with apps...kaleidoscope version

I've been enjoying endless fascination & color palette analysis with my latest iphone app: Mandala HD, which spins out variations from any photo you take. I've been shooting areas from my paintings, and then watching what happens. What a great tool for a fabric designer, eh?

Angie Lewin, printmaker

I just discovered this artist-- Angie Lewin, predominantly a printmaker, who lives in the U.K.-- when I picked up her (beautifully designed) new book in a bookstore yesterday.
Don't know why I haven't known of her work sooner. She loves seed-pods & umbel flower forms... well, even more than I do.
Much info on her exists on the web, including her website.

Makes me think about exploring woodcuts for the first time in many a moon.
And maybe visiting England.

Click over here for photos of Queen Anne's Lace (a classic umbel) from the summer.

Their Own Page

Yup, now the portfolio of B.L.T.'s collaborative paintings can be seen over on their own blog.

Moving it along

work continues on this painting in progress 48 x 72 inches.

Keeping the ball rolling

With B.L.T.'s first exhibition hanging, we're eager to keep up the momentum. Here are two starts, heading off to Oakland.
The painting at left is all Tony so far, whereas the painting at right has been worked on by all three of us.
(More about this collaborative project over at www.bltcollective.blogspot.com)

Here's a work in progress-- gotta get back to it!

segments

Here are a couple of segments from out of the painting I'm currently working on.

The overall size of the painting is 6 feet wide, 4 feet tall.

Originally, it was inspired by some visitors not long ago who loved this other painting-- (6 feet tall,4 feet wide), but needed something horizontal to fit their home.



(I need to re-shoot this earlier piece as I've definitely changed it beyond this point as seen at left!)

vintage fabric

This fabric has been around the house, catching my eye for some time. Originally (when I bought it at a neighborhood rummage sale) it was sewn into a sort of shoe (or something) organizing thing-y. Eventually I disassembled it, and yesterday, started gluing it in to my current painting.

I haven't actually collaged fabric into a piece in a couple years (?)-- but it just felt right.
I love this print.

the color blue

In honor of the painting I'm currently working on (though it is nowhere near this intense) I bring you moments of inspiration by the color Blue.

Infinite caves

"Rare cave pearls fill dried-out terrace pools near the Garden of Edam in Hang Son Doong. This unusually large collection of stone spheres formed drip by drip over the centuries as calcite crystals left behind by water layered themselves around grains of sand, enlarging over time."

More info here, & many more photos are here.

wishing you all...

a very happy new year.

Thank you to all who have followed my humble & sporadic blog both recently & over the long haul!
and thank you especially to those who have supported and encouraged me along my artistic path. It's been a good year.

Truthfully, I tend to see it as a continuous flow, without big divisions at years beginning and end-- I don't tend to get caught up in 'the year's best' etc... Yet tradition encourages us to look back at what we've accomplished & experienced-- and forward to what we desire.

And so I say, It's been a good year!
And there is still so much to make & want & see & do!

Onward...

(image made with 'brushes' app on an iphone + photoshop words)

Today: Gauguin

Gauguin was a favorite of the little group with whom I toured the DeYoung Post-Impressionist Exhibition last week (see also Cezanne, below). Here are a couple of the paintings that were there.

Tony knew the backstory to some of 'em, as I gave him this book last year, a big thick volume extensively following the couple of weeks Gauguin & Van Gogh spent working together in the South of France-- and he actually read it.

He knew for example that Gauguin was not terribly happy with the landscape shown here...
I'd call it a good day's work!

I bring you Cezanne

On Thursday last week Tony & his mother, Alice, & I visited the DeYoung in SF, where the Post-impressionist collection from the Musee d'Orsay is visiting... It was a beautiful sun-sparkled winter day, and it was great to stand before these masterworks, close enough to touch their brushstrokes-- you know, when the crowds would part a bit.

So, in honor of that excursion, I bring you some Cezannes-- though none of those shown here were actually in the show.



When I do my large tree paintings, I try to channel a little Cezanne, truth be told.

Show continues through Jan.18th. Deyoung Exhibition info here.

As always, click to see larger.

Wishing you all the best that the season has to bring.

And promising far more posting of actual paintings in the New Year!

(one more from the 'Brushes' app for iphone. with photoshop for text.)

'brushes' compositions:

...now featuring a return to our regularly scheduled color palette!


click on any image to enlarge it,
and scroll down for more info...

Two more...

small iphone paintings made with 'Brushes'. (see previous post)


After seeing the previous batch of paintings all together here, I decided to try starting from some darker background tones...