Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Adrienne's Feast, oil on linen, 24" x 40"


I loved doing this painting because it reminded me of an Italian predella panel that tell the story of the life of a saint in the various stages of their life and work.
This is Adrienne, mother of four, cherished and adored wife, talented and much traveled cook, and animal lover. Adrienne saw my painting "Lake House after the Storm" and related to it having experienced the flooding from Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas where she lives. She had a birthday coming up and her husband Jody contacted me. After some discussion, and learning that Lake House was no longer available, Jody asked me to create a painting specifically for his wife, including things that were dear to her. Jody was wonderful to work with as he had studied a number of my paintings and had a good idea of what I needed. He also liked the composition in Lake House-a series of arches that structure the rectangle so we decided to do something similar for Adrienne's painting. He sent me family photos and pictures of their home and their dogs and cats (a wonderful menagerie!). He told me some great stories and family legends including the phenomenon of the Christ figure statuette from Rio de Janeiro that continuously turns to face them no matter how many times they straighten him to face forward. The figure is included in the painting on a pedestal...facing Adrienne. Adrienne's three sons are grown men now but in the painting they are young boys playing ball, visible through the arch on the left. Adrienne lost a baby girl but the child lives on in her heart so Jody asked that I include a little girl in the painting. She is in the arch to the right, in a translucent pink dress, releasing white doves into the sky, where images of Adriennes's mother and father and brother Michael, are subtly represented in the cloud formations. The bookshelves are lined with Adrienne's collection of cookbooks that she formed during many international trips. Adrienne is wearing a formal blue gown that she wore as mother of the groom in her son's wedding. Some other small things are another painting of mine, called White Stockings, which they have in their collection as well as a few images of creatures that come and go on their property in Houston including deer, a white heron, and the hen that is watching Adrienne closely while she prepares a feast. Note- a favorite book and film of Adrienne's and Jody's is Babette's Feast, and Jody decided that Adrienne's Feast would be a perfect title because of the way she instills love into all aspects of her life. 




Thursday, May 3, 2018

View from the Terrace-a Narrative Portrait

"View from the Terrace", oil on linen, 34" x 40"

Sometimes the resources my narrative portrait clients give me to work with allow me to take a virtual vacation in a beautiful location. This was definitely the scenario with John and Lee Stough. John is in real estate and Lee is an interior designer. They love dogs, travel, food, family and history and their lives revolve around those things. They bought and restored a medieval village house in Umbria, Italy and they moved a circa 1800 log meeting house from Kentucky to Sewanee Tennessee and built a house around it. So these were the rich and visually wonderful things I could incorporate into the composition. 
Since their Italian homes are in Umbria, I decided to structure the painting around the architecture from a painting by one of my favorite Umbrian painters- Perugino. I have always loved the geometry of the arches in Delivery of the Keys. I wanted the arches to open to an expansive landscape that would evoke the views they enjoy in both Sewanee and Ficulle so I settled the log home on a rolling hill, visible through the left side arch. A medieval village, inspired by another Early Renaissance fresco, is in the center and an Italian village, inspired by their village in Umbria, sits beyond the terrace on the right side above the grape arbor. John and Lee provided me with a photo of themselves dining al fresco and the two dogs are their beloved Brittany Spaniels Gracie and Tyler- one is on the trail of a clever rabbit (their daughter's nickname is "Bunny" and the other is contemplating disturbing a hungry Bear (their son's nickname). There are chairs at the table for both their children  when they visit and a tool box in the foreground to represent their self-confessed "addiction to sawdust". 

Thumbnail sketch 

Perugino's arches


Thursday, January 25, 2018

End of an Era- a quarter century- Private Sale

I am moving my studio for the first time in 25 years. It has been a lovely studio at the top of my house, full of light and space. I am going to miss it but I am ready for a change and with change will come more ideas and more paintings. So before I leave it I want to clear out my painting racks to make room for the next stage both mentally and physically.  I decided to have a little sale of these items for my dearest friends and patrons. There are small paintings and drawings. Have a look and if there is something you would like to have let me know right away. These are all from different stages of my career-different themes and different series dating all the way back to when we lived in Brooklyn. Sizes are approximate. Some of the photos are not that great because I have been packing my studio and decided to do this at the last minute. Some things never change!


"After School", egg tempera and oil emulsion on panel, Brooklyn New York, $500

             "Girl with Green Cowboy Boots and Cat", oil on panel, 10" x 11" framed $350 sold

Education of the other Senses-Touch, oil on panel, 20" x 24", this painting was in a solo show called "Sense and Sensibility" shown at the Tatistcheff Gallery, 57th Street, NYC. $400 framed sold

 "Angel and Bear", 9" x 12", oil on panel, unframed-from the Toward a Peaceable Kingdom series $100
"Girl Catching a Ball", 5" x 8", oil on panel-from my Brooklyn days $100 sold

Liberation of the Tigers, oil on panel,  16" x 20", Study for the Peaceable Kingdom painting of the same name that is in the Cleveland Clinic, Naples FL, $350 sold

Lovers, oil on panel, 9" x 12"-from my Brooklyn days- $150

Sisters, 11" x 14", oil on panel, Brooklyn days, $150

The Guardian, 11" x 14", oil on panel, Block Island, $350 framed sold

The Rescue,  28" x 32", oil on wood- I am and will always be in awe of Italian predella painting and for a period when I was living in London, I did several multiple panel narrative paintings inspired by them. I have always loved telling stories.  $500 sold

 Three Graces, 10" x 12", oil on panel- from my Girls and Ravens series. A painting from this series is in the Polk Museum in Naples, Florida.This was a study for the large version, which resides in DC $350 framed sold
Zebras Running, oil on panel, 16" x 20"- Study for The Peaceable Kingdom series. The large version 
is in the Cleveland Clinic (I think) sold

Drawings
all drawings are $200
"Arbor Day", sepia ink on paper,  study for painting of the same name which was shown at Tatistcheff Gallery, 57th street NYC 
"Black Bird Fly", charcoal on paper, study for a big painting called Black Bird Fly that I did in London which was shown at Tatistcheff Gallery 57th street

"Cello in the Woods", graphite on paper, study for a painting in the Stories from the Woods series

 "Counting Sheep", charcoal on paper, study for a painting I did in London and was shown at Tatistcheff Gallery, in Chelsea sold
"Let the Poet Sleep", sepia ink on paper, -a theme I have done several times and will return to. The first "Let the Poet Sleep was done in Warsaw, Poland and shown at Tatistcheff Gallery, 57th Street

London Mounted Policeman, charcoal on paper, a study for the painting "Black Bird Fly", which was done in London, and shown at Tatistcheff Gallery 57th street sold

Rowboat, Hyde Park, charcoal and white chalk on paper, study for a huge painting I did in London called Sirens of the Crescent Moon which is in a large corporate collection. 

"She Heard the Midwives Whisper", charcoal on paper, study for a painting inspired by the Isabel Allende book "House of Spirits" 

"The Conversation", charcoal on paper, study for a large interior, which is in Boston 

"The Queen of Hearts",  sepia ink on paper, study for a large painting that was auctioned to raise money for the Clown Care Unit of the Big Apple Circus. The man and head clown who started the Clown Care unit, owns the painting. The story is in the archives on this blog. 

"The Virtues of Air", charcoal on paper, study for a painting from the Painted Stories series, London

"The Weather Channel", charcoal on paper, study for a painting that is in an environmental law firm in DC

"Trained Garden Rabbits", charcoal on paper, study for a painting in my Enchanted Garden series that was shown at Tatischeff Gallery in Chelsea sold

"Woods Angel", charcoal on paper, study for a painting of the same title from the Stories from the Woods



"On the Walk Home" Highgate Cemetery, London, print on paper, framed