Ivory Chicken, Portrait in Oil

  Fine Arts League of Cary  is having it's annual members show at  Page Walker Arts & History Center  in downtown Cary.

The jurors gave this "Ivory Chicken" an award.  Thank you!











Oil 8x10
Available $300.

Rooster Portrait

So how did the Picasso show influence my painting? There are no words scrawled across the canvas, although I was tempted.  There are no black outlines, oh, but it is very orange and white.
Thank you Pablo.










Oil 8x10
Available $300.

Picasso Orange and White

I visited "Picasso and  the Allure of Language"at
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University . Every Picasso show I have ever seen I am blown away by the scope of his work. Here was a whole new dimension to explore- the influence of language in his work, particularly his early years in Paris when he was hanging out with Gertrude Stein and company.  The guy certainly was prolific!  It is not surprising he didn't do well in his personal relationships.   Oh, yeah, this blog is about art.
After  a powerful visual experience, I like to pay attention to how it effects my painting.   Most striking was a series of lithographs from a book of poems LE CHANT DES MORTS for Pierre Reverdy. Several of the wall of the gallery were painted in this brilliant red orange offsetting the simply framed pieces. The overall sensation was spectacular.  I didn't want to leave.



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Lavender Iris Watercolor

I am still working away on a large canvas with five big chickens under a fig tree.  On days when the bigness feels overwhelming.  These little baby watercolors are a perfect remedy.



 Spell check is letting me say "bigness"?



Watercolor 3x4"

Orange & Golden Leaves of November

Our many windowed house sits in the middle of a beautiful woods.  So right now, the first day of November, I am nestled in a world of warm autumn colors.   Yellows and oranges against a clear blue sky makes for a fine palette.




Watercolor 4x7
Available $150.

Heavenly Blue Morning Glory Watercolor

When most of the veggie garden has been forgotten, these beautiful volunteer Morning Glories twisted around the fence are still delightful.










Watercolor 6x8

Scarlet Tulip Garden Watercolor

Red Tulips.

White & Yellow Tulips on Blue

Usually, I start laying strokes on the paper and see what happens.  But occasionally I  like to paint in a very deliberate manner, knowing exactly where every stroke will go.  It's good therapy when life gets a bit hectic.  I can always find order in  painting.













Watercolor 5x7
Available $150.

"Elegant Art" Group of Artists at Triangle Town Center, Raleigh, NC

Here is the Elegant Art tribe.  Denise Lincon, Susan LaMantia, Jillian Goldberg, Michael Grohs, Elke Brand, Amy Hautman,Natalie Winters and Kathryn Casper.


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Apricot Peach Lily Watercolor

Like so many other flowers this time of year, this comes completely from memory.
The gardens are pretty much a mass of green right now.  I just planted pansies which will make it through the winter here. How did they get their name?




Watercolor 3x5
Available $100.

Golden Chick Watercolor

This began as a graphite drawing.  I left the pencil lines after painting because they became an important part of the piece.
I  hope you can see the gray lines and the Arches paper embossing which is kind of neat looking too.  I often wonder how much of these subtleties come across on computer  screens.








Watercolor 5x8
Available  $150.

White Petals

As any bumblebee can tell you, it is beautiful in the center of a flower.













5x6 Watercolor
Available $100.

Yellow, Pink and Purple Tulips Growing in a Bowl, Watercolor

Last week I posted a large painting of tulips in a vase.  I had several inquiries from people thinking it was a smaller piece.  I considered that a challenge and painted this tiny painting using a #8 watercolor brush (medium size) with a fine point. I am now plagued with a stiff neck from the contorted position and intense focus such an undertaking demanded.  When painting I get in such a zone, I barely notice the ergonomically dangerous positions I hold myself in.  

Watercolor 5x8

Available $150. + ($125 chiropractic bill   ;)

Wood Duck Painting by Robert Hautman

My brother Bob, painting this beautiful acrylic painting of a Woodie to enter in the 2010 Federal Duck Stamp Competition. Hautman Duck Stamps

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"Red, Orange, Yellow Tulip Trio" Watercolor

 The furnace is started up and I am wearing my first turtleneck of the season. I don't like the cold so I am enjoying eternal spring in my studio by painting tulips.
Watercolor 5x12Available $200.


  

Russet Red Fall Leaves

The leaves are just starting to turn from green to red and yellow all playing against the gray blue sky. What a perfect palette from which to work!







Watercolor 4x6
Available $100.

Pink & Purple Tulip Bouquet in a Vase

Russet October Leaves

I painted this last fall and yesterday I took it out of the frame to add one little thing. Then I saw another little thing and another little thing and at the end of the day- it barely resembles the original painting.
I think it is much better.


Oil on Canvas 8x10
Available $300.

Two Golden Polish Chickens on Blue & Gold Watercolor

This painting is called "Chickens Deciding" but SEO (Search Engine Optimizer) experts seem to be showing up in my life lately. Is it the new fad job after Consultant and Web Designer? Anyway, they say that in order for people to find a painting in any database a title needs to be descriptive. So the title of the blog is not the title of this painting. Fair enough? ... I can't decide.
I could have called it "What is Important and What is Not? But art and chicken lovers would never see it. Is that important?

6x7 Watercolor and Graphite
Available $200

Nasturtium Study Watercolor

We delivered art to the 64th Watercolor Society of North Carolina Juried Exhibition in Calabash, NC. which will be unveiled next weekend, October 10th, 2009.  The show will take place at Sunset River Marketplace which is an impressive 10,000 foot gallery filled floor to ceiling with original artwork from the Carolinas.  

After soaking up a little sun on Sunset Beach, (the most southern beach along the NC coast) we visited Silver Coast Winery and Gallery tucked away on Ocean Isle Beach, NC.

There are so many fun things to do and see and taste and feel, it is hard to find time to paint.  But I always do!

3x7 watercolor

Available $100.