20"x12" oil

I did this painting this morning at Art and Soul Gallery. I set the nutcracker up on my unopened french easel and painted him on my gloucester easel. Lot's of folks stopped by and the gallery owner says if I have it framed by next Saturday she has a buyer. I hope she is right! Happy New Year!!

12"x20" oil

Happy Christmas Eve day! I woke up and found about a 1/2" of ice coating everything outside. This central Pennsylvania weather just plain sucks! Since the sidewalk is a skating rink and my car is a freezer I'm not attempting to go to my real job. Which really is making turkey calls by the way. So what to do? Wrap some last minute gifts perhaps? Maybe bake some cookies? nahh. Salt the sidewalk. Yes. Go back to bed? No way, I'm painting containers of spices! Yes I chose red and green capped spices in honor of the holidays. I had great fun in doing this one and will pursue the subject further. If I try real hard to see, these spices seem as though they may be singing carols. P.S. I will be painting at Art and Soul gallery 900 market st. Lemoyne, Pa. the gallery is upstairs at the farmers market. I'll be there Sat. December, 27 from 10:00am- 1:00pm. Stop by!

32"x28" oil

I just received the dates for my solo show at Parlor Gallery in Lancaster Pa. The opening is during Lancaster's first Friday Events March 6 2009, 5pm-10pm. The show is titled " Variations of Light". I'm showing Landscapes and still life. The focus is on showing the sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle variations in value, color and temperature both indoors and out during different light conditions.

I had a bit of a relapse yesterday. While digging through some old photos I found one of a painting I did probably around 7 years ago. I remember not liking it at the time so I covered it with another painting. For whatever reason I like it now. So I taped the photo to my easel and went to work. I intended to to take multiple pictures during the development of the painting, but after the second photo I was so involved I forgot to take anymore. I think that the abstract quality of the piece is what interests me now. Obviously, I don't go for detail but instead try to get the essence of the subject through massing, values and composition. Oh yeah, the cat is one of our three and she is the oldest. So it is a good time to get her in a painting. Bottom photo is charcoal start. Next photo I introduce the darkest values with paint. Third photo is about done and finally the fourth is when I stopped working on it.

16"x32" oil

In these tough times, economic and otherwise, we need to stay strong. This is a painting of the Rockville bridge on the Susquehanna river. This bridge represents strength to me. The painting sold, however I'm happy to still be able to share the image. Stay strong.

10"x20" oil

Well I survived the party. Being from the introvert side of psychology recovery takes a bit longer. The bus providing transportation was a good idea and the route traveled was very interesting visually. It was a cold day with snow squalls and there was a very festive feel. I'm posting a picture from last year that was done en plein air just as snow started to fall. It got to the point where the snow crystals were inhibiting the ability to mix the oil paint. I enjoy the cool grays just before accumulating snow falls as much as the the interesting light effects that happen as the storm passes and the sun comes out.

8"x10" oil

11"x14" oil

8"x1o" oil

I'm going on a Christmas party/ house tour/ drinking bus trip/socializing party. Probably won't be functioning too well tomorrow! I'm posting a few pics to show what I work on during the winter. It's 17 degrees outside right now so indoor still life study is a bit more tempting than plein air study, however I will be painting outdoors soon enough. These studies are attempts at catching the differences in values depending on light conditions. The bottom photo is outdoor natural light. Middle photo is indoor artficial light. Top is indoor natural northlight.

14"x12" oil

I see it's pretty easy to upload photos so here's a new one of Liz. Done from a photo, arrgh, but I needed a figure study for the Art Association of Harrisburg show. Opening is in January.

11"x14" oil

A quick test to see how the uploading works. Spiral Path Farms gave us this decorative pumpkin, so I painted it.

new blog site

Well, I have decided to start a blog for easier and quicker uploading of images. I've been spending more time fiddling around on the computer than painting recently, but hope to turn that around soon. The Holiday things will be a bit of a slow down for painting. Come January the paint will fly!