Beneath The Albizia julibrissin

A work in progress, oil on birchwood.

Lola, Part 5

"Lola" oil on linen, 14 x 16.

I think I am just about done with this painting.

A James Taylor song has been stuck in my head for a week, here is the first verse:

We were ring-around-the-rosy children
They were circles around the sun
Never give up, never slow down
Never grow old, never ever die young...

Lola

"Lola", 16 x 14. Oil on linen, a work in progress.

Alice

"Alice" Oil on linen, 18" x 14".  This is about the 4th or 5th day I have worked on this.  Tonight I think I spent about an hour working on the canvas, so maybe about 5 hours total.

Alice

"Alice" oil on linen.

This is about day 3 with this project.  Not quite done yet.

Painting and watching CNN

"Alice" oil on linen.

Working and watching CNN on this inauguration day.  The most memorable inaugural parade was the day Alice was born in 1989.  We had a room with a TV in the hospital, and it was quite nice.  I have this vivid memory of the doctor sitting in the corner of the room eating a sandwich, and casually looking over Amy's chart.  The parade was on TV, and the president was walking alongside of the limo.  The nurse announced that the baby was about to arrive, the doctor looked up and calmly said, "time for baby." A minute later, Alice arrived.  Just like that.  The next day she greeted her big sister Dorothy.  Dorothy was just a month shy of her second birthday, and not sure what had just happened.
We still have Alice's first pair of scuffed and well worn sneakers in the kitchen.

Alice, a little further along

"Alice" oil on linen.

I started this painting of my daughter last week.  I am using burnt umber, ultramarine blue, and zinc white for the underpainting.  This evening I started adding more color.  This weekend I did not get as far as I would have liked on the painting, but I will have fun working on this during the week.  I painted Alice when she was four years old, that painting can be seen here.

Alice

"Alice" oil on linen.

I just started this painting of my daughter this evening.  I am using burnt umber, ultramarine blue, and zinc white for the underpainting.  I painted Alice when she was four years old, that painting can be seen here.

Gracie

"

"Gracie," oil on canvas.

This is my first painting of the new year, however I started the painting in 2011.  Gracie has been sitting behind my easel all this time, and has suffered a few minor spills of painting medium, coffee, and a tiny splatter of gesso.  She is painted on some of the remainder pre-gessoed canvas I bought several years ago at Plaza Art Supply in Bethesda, Maryland.  I have a whole lot of that canvas around, and as I have mentioned before, it gets taped to masonite before I start painting.  Not very elegant, but it is fast when I just want to start a piece just to paint something.

The palette for this piece consists of the following colors: Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Flake White, a very small touch of Zinc White, Ultramarine Blue, and Indian Red.

Self Portrait in Red Sweatshirt

I started this painting on Christmas Eve, and finished it last night.  When working on quickie personal projects like this, I duct tape pre gessoed canvas to a masonite drawing board, and stretch it later.  I have a bunch of canvas that I use just for this.  I keep about 4 different types of canvas in the studio all the time.  The finer work goes on a fairly heavy Belgian linen, and the big stuff goes on heavy canvas.  I have another linen that is almost like silk.

The palette for this piece is limited; Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Indian Red, Mars Black, Zinc White, and just a touch of Cerulean Blue.

Here is a brief plug.  My daughter got me really hooked on Spotify.  I have been rediscovering loads of music, and I spend more time at the easel.  Look out Sirius, you might get replaced.

Eumelia nearly completed

"Eumelia" oil on linen, 26" x 16.  I may do a little more work to this painting, but for now I am going to let it dry for a week or two.

Antietam II

Oil on birch panel 18 x 24, in progress.
This is a painting I started over the summer, and has been worked on in between several other projects.  The plan is to have it completed by the end of the year.

Scratching The Brain

An old drawing and painting from a few years ago.  This was a piece that sat in my head for over a year.  I think about it now with winter on the way, and all of the other old places that I see everyday in West Virginia.  It is time to find another lost dream.

Eumelia

A close up of a work in progress.

Candy

Acrylic on masonite, 5 x 5.

Pulley

I painted this watercolor over the weekend in my sketchbook.  For several months, I have been carrying around a little kit with handy watercolor pencils and a small tin of regular watercolors, along with an assortment of pencils.  It is a challenge to sketch on the spot, rather than rely on a camera to capture an image. 

Dunkle's Gulf

This is a painting I just finished for a wonderful customer in Pittsburgh.  The truck is a 1938 Ford that was beautifully restored.  I placed the truck in front of Dunkle's Gulf, a service station in Bedford PA that dates back to 1933.  It sits on the old Lincoln Highway.

Dunkles Service Station

"Dunkle's Gulf"  Oil on masonite, 11 x 14.

This is sort of a study for a larger piece that I just completed.  Dunkle's Gulf is a gas station in Bedford PA. It was opened in 1933 by Dick Dunkle and is still in operation today.  It sits right on Rt 30, which used to be a major east-west route that ran from Atlantic City NJ to Astoria Oregon.  This painting is available at the Locality Gallery, in Bedford PA.

Late Night Donuts, and Sheetz Coffee

"Late Night Donuts" oil on panel, 5 x 5.

Dorothy and I picked these out late Saturday night, or maybe early Sunday morning after a trip to Sheetz for coffee.  The studio is pretty much a 24 hour operation.  Dorothy is up all hours, and I work evenings and sometimes until the wee hours.  I have a large commission to finish this month, coffee and the occasional unhealthy snack are brain food.  The powdered donut in this painting was my favorite part.to paint.  The places where the powder do not quite covering the donut is pink-purple and not the brownish color one might imagine.  Color relationships get very interested when you study an object closely.  The background is a very dark blue, almost black.

Painting Snack Food

Hostess Sno-Ball (RIP), oil on panel, 5 x 5.

This is what I sometimes wash down with turnpike coffee late at night.  The Hostess Sno Ball is one of those foods I wanted, but seldom got when I was a kid.  I like the look of them in the package, so inviting, and somewhat disappointing.  But late at night, on the way back to Maryland from Edinboro PA, I always grab one at the Pilot Truck Stop with a large coffee.