Falling Pears

I have been watching this underpainting on gessoed, unstretched canvas which has been taped to my studio wall for several weeks. At the same time, I have been working on pieces to enter in a juried show at LibertyTown called Feast for the Eyes, which is all about food. It is paired with a contest on April's First Friday where the foodies and food sculptors get to create art with food. It is quite a fun event.

Yesterday, I began a painting of falling pears and leaves on the canvas from the shapes of several of my block prints used to create the underpainting. You can see them in the confusion if you enlarge the photo above.


I don't want to lose all of the visual texture provided by the first layer here, but I do need to resolve some of its impact. I am also considering how I might use collage, as well. I'll keep you all "posted!"

"Piles" of Gumballs

This picture is a little dark as compared to reality, though the paper I am using IS pretty dark with age. This is the piece I had in a previous post marked as "beginnings."

Below is yesterday's addition. I based my shape on a jelly bean machine that Bill, a talented colleague of mine at LibertyTown, keeps in his studio. His work is so cool, he doesn't even need the bribe to keep people coming back to see more!


I'm not done. More light and shadows and details will be added (I hope today if it is dry enough.)

Autumn Leaves II

This commission is complete, unless someone wants to give additional critique. The last steps of the painting were to add some leaf groupings. The leaves are really too far away to be seen individually, but we perceive them more as shapes and color. The birch tree was added in the front picture plane with its bright white look in the sunlight and gray shadows.

Beyond the Dunes

Beyond the Dunes, oil, 2008

Some days, all I can do in my studio is just show up and move stuff around. Showing up is important, even essential, to the process. But, right now, I'm in a creative phase, which energizes me. It makes me want to express gratitude for all the truly wonderful things in my life: loving family, great friends, the best job in the world and a spectacular place to do my work-- LibertyTown.

One particularly good thing happened this Fall. I entered work in an international call for entries at the Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. The show is called 5 x 5 (x 5), and all work must fit into the measure of--you guessed it--5 inches by 5 inches. Beyond the Dunes was accepted by juror Elaine Levin and will be on display at the Torpedo Factory from December 11, 2008 through January 11, 2009.