Re Stanislavski

Who am I?

Why am I here?

Where do I come from?

Where am I going?

Form and Color

You never know what combination of form and color will capture your imagination, and, thankfully, there can be no formula. When you see it, you know.

It is all to be found in the doing.

Just for Scale, Just for Fun

In the middle of "Between Stations" both 01 and 02.

Between Stations

Shown above is one of the newer paintings that I have done, a painting done with no road map and no preconceived ideas. I like it when I am surprised by the end results. Whatever it is, I always say that you can't get to the next piece until you finish the one that you are working on.

Often, I check to see if a work holds up from a distance, and, I have to say that this one doesn't do that. I think that you have to really get up to it to see what is happening in there, which is fine on a case by case basis. This painting is fairly large for me at 36" square so there is plenty of territory to check out, and, a lot of form interaction by virtue of the close proximity of elements.

Here is the fraternal twin to the above painting, also rather large at 40" x 30". It was completed in the same breath with its twin, and was just as much fun. This painting does hold up well from a distance. I just couldn't wait to do a painting with a color palette of red, yellow, white, and black.

Both paintings bring me back in a way, to earlier times. The first to a distinct memory of my early teens, and the second to a feeling, an emotion from my earliest years. In part, I think that is what the creative endeavors are about, a sort of mirror to your essence. The question is, can you really see?

Joy of Sepia

The subtle use of color, in the middle ground between "color" and "black and white" can be a feast for the eyes, revealing an entirely new image with a timeless quality.

Can you see the porcupine posed face in to the underside of the rock? Who says animals can't speak? I hear him saying "I will be here minding my own business, I recommend that you do the same."

In The Mix

I just completed three paintings in the last two days in the studio. These were all canvasses that went through a series of iterations over the past couple of months. In each case what had been was submerged deep below the gesso, building internal strength and muting the voice of the canvas to a whisper. I listened to that voice and the work has now become realized.

It is very satisfying to have them form into finished works nearly at the same time. I am not sure how I will see them in the morning, but it feels good for right now.

I love watching paint dry!

Joy of Grayscale

The interplay of dark and light has a magic all its own.

Joy of Color

Orange and yellow, and, their friends.

Sundogs

I heard the art teacher tell the young student that water could not be orange. I cringed inside. I bit my tongue.

I thought to myself, doesn't she know that water is colorless, that water takes on the color of reflected light in the surroundings, that water could be any color at all? There are a lot of reasons why water could indeed be orange. Has she not been to Venice Beach, California at sundown and looked out over the Pacific?

Even if water couldn't be orange, does it matter? In our creation, water could be any color that we choose.

Self Portrait in Computer Chip

My cousin David, childhood chemistry prodigy, who, as a boy in the early 1950’s, used to send his dad off with shopping lists that included the makings of complex high explosives, is known to say that all science, when artfully engineered, produces superior results over science that is not artfully engineered.

By the way, his dad got wise to him, closed down the chemistry lab and bought him a telescope.

Homage, Part 2

“Spread your color around”, he said. “Learn to accept constructive criticism, recognize that it is meant to help. Be true to your self as an artist” he taught, and, he was so right.

I owe so much to this man, Harold Zabitz, artist, teacher, man of his times. When I was in his class, I felt that I was exactly where I was meant to be.

He interacted with the likes of Jackson Pollack. He is as engaged an artist now as he ever was. He continues to inspire.

The Incarnation of Purpose

Once a hearth to warm the souls of roaring twenties revelers, this fireplace and stack survived the (alleged) torching for insurance money that destroyed the complex. Having sat for decades amidst the secret wooded refuge of motorcyclists and free spirits, known only as “The Ruins”, it now finds itself central to one of the premiere golf courses in the New York metropolitan area. When and what will be the next incarnation of purpose and design for this lone stone time traveler?

Live, thrive and survive to find out.

Turn and Return

The complexities of nature as revealed in this long overturned stump, and, nowhere is there to be found a straight line.