Figuratively Speaking - Deep Thought

5"x7" oil

I want to paint the kind of paintings that are so intriguing that you fall into them over and over and don't get complacent or tired of looking at them.  I realize that this isn't always going to happen, but it is nice when it happens once in a while.  Interesting shapes that illicit memories or feelings will do it.  The painting above that he is looking at is like that....a summer scene on a lazy day when you are just kicking back with your good buddy, sitting on the grass.  Maybe you'll both go fishing later on.  It has a nostalgia creating narrative.  Abstracts can do it too without the narrative.  The colors and shapes and lines swirl around in infinitely interesting ways, sometimes looking like one thing, sometimes like another.  I want to live my life like that!  I want to find what makes the day worth being alive and hold on to that for a moment, then come back later to find another reason or feeling that is interesting, fun, curious, sweet, whatever. I want my brain power to grow a little bit and my body to feel its own strength and flexibility.  I want what I eat to make me feel energetic and enthusiastic.  I also want to get a good night's sleep...so I think I will go do that now.  Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Prince Izzy's Favorite

8"x10" acrylic Price $180

Izzy is my grandson.  He, his siblings and his mom took me to the Portland, OR, Museum of Fine Art for my birthday this past summer.  I asked each of the kids to show me their favorite pieces of art and Prince Izzy chose this modern art painting. This is titled, "The Prince Patutszky - Red" and was painted by Jules Olitski in 1962.  Prince Patutszky was a nickname his father gave him when he was young.  He was born in the Ukraine and named Jevel Demikovski.  As a child, his mother and grandmother immigrated with him to the US after his father was executed by the Soviet government. After his mother remarried he changed his name. He ended up getting his masters in art from NY University and later taught at Bennington College, here in Vermont.  He was well received and renowned during his lifetime, working with large areas of color.  This painting, like others he did in the early 60's, included orbs of color using stains and thinned acrylic.  He did a whole series of Prince Patustszky paintings. Some of them were sprayed with thin areas of color creating an ethereal look.  They were about color and nothing else. Throughout his career he was interested in ways of laying paint, ink or stains on canvas as well as presenting unusual combinations of color fields. We are living in an amazing age, where much of what interests me is, figuratively speaking,  floating in cyberspace.  Go Google! Go Figure!

Quiet Corner

5"x7" oil

I am getting so excited about all the things I can do now that I can walk and drive!  It is exciting to be alive and well.  I really want to make a trip to one or more of my favorite galleries/art museums.  On another note, I have had 3 requests just today for donations of art to auctions to benefit worthy causes.  I am glad to do this because I paint so frequently, but I know a lot of other artists that get asked as often as I do, and they don't have nearly the inventory.  It would be interesting to see some actual numbers on the amount of art donated by artists around the world every day, and see all the different causes it helps.  So, if you go to a fundraiser that auctions art, think of those artists who are donating and do your best to purchase something you love.