Artists Magazine contest winner!

My painting “Three Women" is one of ten winners of the Artists Magazine Over 60 Contest! Will be featured in the April 2019 issue.

Pix from the Agawam show reception

I had these four pieces accepted into the Agawam Public Library 10th Open Juried Art Show. The first one, Early Snow, won First Place in the Oil category!

River Valley, Pencil

 

Trees, Hadley Dike, Oil

 Mt. Toby from Mt Pollux with South Congregational Church, watercolor

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Piedmont Show opening

I went to the Piedmont Show opening yesterday. Very nice show and people. They had a simple but valuable innovation - giving the artists name tags! Often at group shows you don't know who to compliment if you like something (or hassle them if you hate it, I suppose). I got to meet Doug Gillette whom I have long admired.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Three Women had gotten Honorable Mention.
Sorry about the last pic - it was hanging behind the food table and it was hard get a clear shot.

https://www.somersct.gov/boards-and-commissions/cultural-commission/

Bike Mishap

I was tooling along by the river when a yellow jacket landed on my hand and stung me. I tried to swat it off but lost control of the bike. Fortunately, I landed on grass and suffered only minor bruises.

This is a reprise of my bike crash episode of 2012:

Perhaps I can make a name for myself as the guy who racks his bike up and draws a picture of it.



A concerned friend asks "Egads! What do you do if you crash and immobilize your left hand!?"

That would be bad! I am forthwith commencing a regimen of practicing right-handed drawing, just in case.

Had four pieces accepted by the Piedmont Art Show in Somers, CT, opening reception September 16, 2018, 1:00 - 3:00 PM.

Three Women

Trees in Snowstorm

Stand of Trees

Hartsbrook Farm from East Hadley Road

pen sketches

Very rapid sketches at breakfast place, looking for relationships between people more than individual likenesses. The first was an animated group, in which the guy in the front right was having an intense discussion with the woman diagonally opposite, while the woman on her right leaned in to hear. The man on the back right was leaning back, seemingly disengaged. The second sketch is a mother and young son reading a book together, both looking very happy.

Life Drawing sketches

These are all recent sketches from my life drawing group. 30 - 45 minute poses, Cretacolor Nero pencil and white gouache on toned paper.

Cape Cod Sketches

Study of breaking waves, Pilot Falcon fountain pen with white Gelly Roll pen on toned paper. I tried to include the complete cycle in one wave: on the right, it is pulling in the backwash from the previous wave, then it starts to break, with the water pouring over the top and turning to foam, then crashing down onto the front of the wave, and finally exploding upwards and outwards onto the shore, sending a surging flood of foaming water up the beach, which will drain back to be sucked into the next wave. This sketch is the result of watching many waves come in and trying to get the next bit of information from each to add to my construction.

Homage to James Gurney. Telephone pole in Truro, Massachusetts, morning light. Pilot Falcon pen, white Gelly Roll pen on toned paper.

Found an intact (dead) horseshoe crab, which the 11 year old in me wanted to take home, but it was pretty pungent and host to ants and other scavengers, so I drew and photographed it as much as I could before leaving it. Perhaps an actual 11 year old will find and appreciate it.

Limulus Verso

A random doodle evolved into an old 19th century painter returning from painting the sea, and ended up looking a lot like me. So it’s a self-portrait by way of Homer.

Watercolor sketch on 4” x 6” postcard of Cape Cod Bay looking south from Truro.
I did this for a condolence card for a friend who just lost her husband.

Interview at Monson Arts Council Ice Cream Social

My part starts at about 2:30.
Video produced by Monson Arts Council, used with permission.

Cone of Sere-ness

I’ve been looking for a way to paint in the rain. I thought these portable shelters were cool but too small to hold me and the tripod, much less allow for stepping back to look, until I had a brainstorm: Put the tripod inside...

and reach in to paint, like Homer Simpson fondling the plutonium.

Folding the thing up was a struggle, but the website assures me it’ll get easier with practice.

It is possible to carry along with backpack and tripod, but I wouldn’t want to take on a hike of any distance- it’ll be more of a car trip companion. 

We’ll see how it goes in an actual rainstorm.

Painting on site at Monson show

Participated in the “Artists at Work" and Ice Cream Social event at the Monson House of Art, where I’m also showing a couple of paintings.

 www.monsonartscouncil.org

 It was a beautiful day to be out painting and chatting with passersby.

Saw the inimitable Robyn Hitchcock and the fabulous Emma Swift at the Iron Horse Tuesday and did these sketches. I've seen him numerous times and tried to sketch him but found it to be devilishly difficult to catch his likeness. The top one is the nearest I've come. I showed it to Robyn, who annotated the facing page.

Some heads I’ve had the pleasure to know

 45 minute sketches using Cretacolor Nero pencil and white gouache on toned paper.