Lines and Colors feature

I'm proud and grateful to be featured on Charley Parkers very popular art blog "LINES and COLORS". I've been reading it for several years and almost feel like "one of the cool kids" to be in the company of so many of my favorite artist. Check out Charley Parkers blog "Lines and Colors" here: LINES AND COLORS

Black and Blue

While driving down the cape, I caught a momentary-peripheral glimpse of some boats in a small cove in Eastham. I knew I would return first thing in the morning to capture them with the rising sun. I returned just after five a.m. and discovered an artist gold mine. A dozen dinghy's all bathed in that rich Cape Cod light...A string of pearls out there on the cove..OK, ...a little dramatic but what happened next convinced me that my passion may be moving into the uncomfortable area of obsession.

After taking reference photos of the boat you see here in the painting "Black and Blue", I looked around...no one there but me...I climbed in the boat and rowed around to the other dinghy's fixated on the brilliance of the light, the boats and the tranquil calmness of the water. The hair on my neck was standing.

I returned the boat exactly like I found it. That's not me or my personality to steal a boat..(borrow!)...I was in a state of mania...it was wonderful.

Old Red

This is "Old Red". It's 24x30" and is painted in oils on a linen canvas. It's a larger version of a painting I did a few years ago. You can see the older version here.

This painting represents my effort to achieve almost everything I'm after in picture making; simple design, singular focus of subject matter, a poetic use of color, texture and a full tonal range. I use these technical aspects to try and instill mood and character. I try to say something. 'Ol Red is a nod towards the leatherneck, craggy old sea salts who spend their rugged lives on rocky ships.. They are wise from the hard won knowledge of a life at sea. They smoke, drink, swear, tell dirty jokes and throw punches...their skin cracks when they laugh and sing. They are loyal to a fault...They are the old man and the sea...They are colorful New Englanders with nicknames like 'Ol Red. The chipped paint, the worn and weathered surfaces..it's all in there.

Christine Hanson 09-11-2001

This is a small sketch I did of a two-and-a-half year old girl named Christine Hanson who perished aboard United Airlines flight 175 as it slammed into the Trade Centers south tower on September 11, 2001. She was from Groton, Massachusetts and at two-and-a-half she was the youngest of the 2,973 victims. Christine was traveling with her father Peter Hanson and mother Sue Hanson, they were on the way to California for a trip to Disneyland and to see relatives.

I didn't know Christine or her family but they will be in my thoughts and prayers today.

Watching the Sunrise

This is "Watching the sunrise". I have an affection for this painting. For me, it's about the afterthought of watching the sunrise with those little birds and sharing a quiet moment with nature. For me, the act of watching light and observing how it falls on objects is at the heart of what picture making is about. The way light hits something is the first thing that stops me as a painter. It can sometimes make the hair on the back of your neck stand up...you know you've really got something. That's how I felt when I came across this boat and the way the rising sunlight was creeping up the back and side. The birds were not really there, I put them in as a device to share the experience with.

I use symmetry in my design to achieve a sense of stillness in some of my paintings. That's what's going on here with the boat and it's mirrored reflection. Everything is still; the boat, the birds, the water..the only movement is the implication of a rising sun outside of the picture plane.
This is oil on masonite, (10x20").