Tricycles

I started painting tricycles nearly a decade ago.

Very early on in my fine arts program there was a project where we had to select an object as an idea and work with it over and over, repeating the image in different styles, mediums and formats. A friend had a fantastic ancient tricycle and it just resonated with me. I painted it in a classic realist manner, but peeled away all the surrounding imagery and focused on the tricycle alone in a straight-forward visual language stuck with me and never left.


Tricycle XIV
36" x 30" — Oil/Canvas — 2009
• SOLD


Two Tricycles
20" x 40" — Oil/Canvas — 2009
• SOLD

Books

What I love about books is their versatility. They offer and endless bounty of compositions for me to work with, and they have themes and symbolism in a wide variety of manners.


These Are Our Friends
12" x 24" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD


Red Book
12" x 24" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD


Stacks of Books & Espresso Cups
12" x 24" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD


Origins & Apple
16" x 16" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD


Vintage Research
20" x 20" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD

Chairs

Light Reading
48" x 30" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD


Luggage, Chair & Shirt
28" x 22" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD


Chair & Stacked Antique Books
24" x 18" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• Sold


La Chaise Verte II
24" x 18" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• Sold

Typewriters & Books

Sometimes I sit and contemplate what I should say about my paintings. Sometimes that's not the right approach. It's good to just let the paintings do the talking themselves every now and then.


Remington Typewriter & Antique Books
20" x 36" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD


Books, Paper, Pencil & Typewriter
20" x 36" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD

New Paintings - Show Catalog

$10 — 5.5" x 8.5"
• 30 glossy pages with 28 color plates
• contact the Elliott Fouts Gallery for shipping details
• also available on eBay

The gallery produced a really fantastic catalog for my upcoming show. Seeing the paintings printed is a different experience than viewing images on the web. It's more tactile and crisp. The gallery will mail them throughout the United States & Canada. Contact them at efgallery@sbcglobal.net or call 1-916-736-1429 for details.


A random sampling of some of the pages.

Iperborea Catalogo 2010

The book publisher Iperborea in Milan, Italy, is using one of my paintings for the cover of their 2010 catalog. Again, it is an honor to have them select another image of mine, they used one before for the cover of another book. Very nice design, they pulled the vibrant, bright green from the bottle and wrapped it around the entire book.

The Show Poster

$25 — 9" x 17"
• click the image to see it larger
• contact the Elliott Fouts Gallery for shipping details
• also available on eBay

The gallery has produced a poster for my just-around-the-corner solo exhibition (June 5 - July 2). If you are interested, the posters are $25 and ship rolled. Contact the gallery at efgallery@sbcglobal.net or 1-916-736-1429 for details. The same image is also in the June issue of American Art Collector magazine.

A Difference of Opinion

28" x 22" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD

You can say so much with so little. I don't mind the dense, thick imagery in the still life and interior paintings of the masters from centuries past. There is so much to learn and understand in those paintings. For me, living in today's world, I'm experimenting with simpler images, with a simpler narrative. We live in such a media and image crazy culture, so I'm giving a quiet message with my work. There's enough screaming and yelling going on elsewhere. Painting is a respite from it all.

Blue, Red, Green - 10:00, 11:00, 12:00

Blue, Red, Green
16" x 24" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD


10:00, 11:00, 12:00
20" x 36" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD

Threes. It's something that happened without any real consideration or conscious decisions. Over the last year or so, I started painting horizontal compositions. Perhaps because they are "read" from left to right, as the titles suggest, moving your view across the surface of the painting. Whatever the case is, I like the rhythm it creates.

Manual of Psychology & Espresso Cup

Is anyone else aware of how close June is?

I have a couple dozen paintings that I have been looking forward to sharing. I keep the compositions as simple as possible with a heavy emphasis on rectangle, square and triangle designs. I find them so relaxing and easy to absorb. As per usual, I have kept the palette to a minimum, focusing on warm golden tones found in the pages of the books. In many of the upcoming paintings I have added small accents of color in reds, blues and green.


Manual of Psychology & Glass of Water
18" x 18" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD


Espresso Cup & Antique Books
18" x 18" — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• SOLD

Fine Art Connoisseur

I am thrilled to announce that I am featured in May/June 2010 issue of Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine's "Three to Watch" section. Find it on news stands or check out the PDF here. It really is an honor to see ones work in the pages of such a fantastic magazine.

Over the next few weeks I will share many of the paintings I have been working on for the last several months for my solo show running from June 5 - July 2 at the Elliott Fouts Gallery, in Sacramento, California.

Perez Fine Art Gallery - Spring Exhibition - 1st Place

My painting received 1st place in the recent Spring Exhibition at the Perez Fine Art Gallery. It's a real honor and I appreciate it very much! Check out the on-line gallery to see some of the fine work from artists around the world.

Perez Fine Art Gallery - Spring Exhibition

I have a painting in in the 2010 Spring Exhibition at Perez Fine Art Galleries. There is really incredible work in the exhibition and it's an honor to have my work included among them. The piece I have included will also be in my June 2010 show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery.

Take the time to look at the current exhibition. You can vote for your favorite pieces until March 21st.


7:00, 8:00, 9:00
20" x 40" — Oil/Canvas — 2009
• SOLD

A Glimpse of the Studio

I've always wanted to document the process of my paintings and share a glimpse of the studio. But these things always seem to turn in to make-work projects that interfere with with the real work in the studio.

My solution is to take simple black and white photos of paintings in progress. You can check out a slide show of the images or you can visit the set of images directly, where you can hover over each image to get a bit more explanation. You can also subscribe to them if you use an RSS reader.

Happy New Year

It's the 1st of January, 2010. As a kid, I thought that was an impossibility. 2010, the number alone looks so futuristic.

I've been plugging away in the studio and have many paintings and ideas on the go for my June 2010 solo exhibition. I'll also be participating in two other shows after that, so my calendar is full for the year.

I look forward to sharing all the paintings I'll be doing. I also have plans to share progress photos and snapshots of the studio (like the "class photo" below of all the dusty clocks I've got hanging around).

Happy New Year!

Three Pencils & Pen

12" x 9" — Oil/Canvas — 2009
• SOLD

This is the last piece I managed to finish for the upcoming December show. This is the sister painting to "Green, Red, Blue, Yellow". It is more grown-up and sophisticated, but there is still the connection between the different types of pencils.

I think these paintings are interesting because of the simplicity and the way the lines (pencils) converge and make an 'x' design. In actuality, the entire composition is made up of the most simple shapes — some rectangles and a few lines, yet they translate to recognizable objects.

Green, Red, Blue, Yellow

12" x 9" — Oil/Canvas — 2009
• SOLD

Here is another "smaller" painting for the upcoming December group show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento. I forgot how enlightening smaller studies like this can be.

This is my interpretation or an extension of the classic cut flower still life. And you can expect more intricate and expanded versions of these in the future from me. I think they'll be fun!

Delicious Apples

Red Delicious & Antique Book
12" x 12" — Oil/Canvas — 2009
• SOLD


Red Delicious & Two Antique Books
12" x 12" — Oil/Canvas — 2009
• SOLD

These pieces will be in the upcoming December show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento. They are smaller pieces, I haven't worked that size in months. It's a very different experience.

Perez Fine Art Galleries

My work is now showing at the Perez Fine Art Galleries — an online gallery of fine art created and curated by Alex Perez. You can see my page here. It is an honor to have been invited to show along side artists from round the world.


Please visit the gallery and check out all the fine work. It is a real feast for the eyes.

Off to School II

20" x 40" — Oil/Canvas — 2009
• SOLD

When I was working on the smaller piece with the Off to School book, I set up this. Or, rather, it set itself up. While trying to control the position of the books they sort of slid in to this arrangement. I thought the angles and lines pointing in different directions and overall horizontal composition worked well.

I'll be participating in a group show in December and I have a solo show coming up in June 2010. It is only October, but I need to get cracking now. I used to keep frequent updates to this blog, but while I go in to production mode for the show, things will be quiet around here.