If There's

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a painting with writing or graffiti or cursive in it - I'm there. . .

So there we were in Old City, Philadelphia - overcast, kinda drizzly (my kind of day). We had seen almost every single gallery in that area and were nigh unto sensory overload. We came out of Snyderman-Works Gallery and thought we were done and about to head back to the bus and supper and home - when someone spied the most unusual thing up under a tree a couple doors down. Awww, another gallery. But how unique and different and cool. It drew us all in, just like a magical story. The Bahdeebahdu Gallery is magical. This picture doesn't give you a clue and words cannot describe the wonderful time we had there. What a perfect end to our day. You must check out this hilarious, wonderful, fantastic Gallery that is different from anything you've seen.
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First Painting

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This is the first painting I ever sold. Moved here from Georgia (USA) in 2000 and up until then had never sold a painting (never actually tried). Well, when I was in my 20's living in Harrisburg, PA, another artist tried to take me under his wing and got me into a group show where I exhibited two drawings in cheap, surplus store frames. On the day of the opening I overheard some people discussing my work, but it was all about the cheap frames. I skulked out of there and never showed again till I moved here.
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This is titled "St Jacquelin" - because to a lot of people of that time thought she was at least royalty if not a true saint. And it's one of the first newspaper paintings; an ad from the NYTimes for a show at the Met or something. Had a hard time doing her halo - looks like a hat brim . . . . Hung it in a group show here at the mall. Right off a man came up and bought it. That felt good.
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Newspaper Paintings

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Of all my different styles, it's the "newspaper paintings" that are the most popular.
You gesso your canvas - when dry, apply fresh gesso and apply your newspaper page. The wetter it is the more bubbles that will appear - not so wet, it's easier to coax those bubbles out. The tooth from the gesso gets into the paper and creates a nice velvety surface that just begs to be drawn on. Pastels(chalky) and pastel pencils are used to color the images and then I "fix it" with Krylon Matte spray (clear). Then apply Golden's(or Liquitex) Matte Medium which will give you a fresh, porous new surface for pastels or paint. . . . and repeat - pastels, spray, matte medium - for lots of wonderful layering.

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The above painting -"Queen Tut & The Pouty Prince" was an absolute hoot to make. Started out with the 2, full page ads and applied them with toned, matte medium on a gessoed canvas. Colored the guy on the left realistically, but when I got to the lady I loosened up quite a bit. (I can only take so much realism) haha
So here was this nice composition with two colored heads and the red bar which says "between the two of you". Bor-ing. Then the fun began. Gave her a crown of Naples Yellow, squirted right out of the tube; then a beard and glasses. After giving him a silver chain with dangling heart, I squirted a couple of other hearts and arrows - all straight out of the tube and all the while laughing myself silly. THIS, was fun ! I had done another painting titled "Queen Tut", but now she had a pouty prince - it all made sense to me and kept me in stitches.
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I've been amazed by all the different reactions to this simple (and to me hilarious) painting. Someone thought it was racial with sexual overtones, another person thought it was about gay marriage, supposing the person on the right was a guy in drag. It was in an exhibit at the local mall and I noticed a gentleman studying it for the longest time. When questioned, he paid me the nicest compliment by saying that he regularly did the big Art Museums of Europe and they had all become quite predictable and boring, but to him this was fresh and captivating. WOW. Suddenly I felt validated and honored..
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Several Years Ago

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A young couple decided to open a coffee shop on the square (in Horseheads, NY) So Dale and I went in and spoke with the Missus about hanging our art there. Yes.
We came back with paintings and tools to hang . .
This was back when I had cleared off the side porch and was using it for a studio. And having tired of 16 x 20 cnvases, I took to using luan as my support and also trying to eliminate that pesky framing process that has to be addressed when one finishes a painting. It's funny now, but at the time I thought this painting was really cool. I'll tell ya - it's fun writing right outta the tube. But I went through this whole framing from behind thing where the painting was in front of instead of IN a frame.
Looking for some pics of the screened-in-porch-as-studio. haha The time to organize fotos is when you FRIST get them into the pc. I'll post some pics later . . . .
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Strange Plant

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Have had this plant for a year or so and have no idea where I got it. It tried to bloom before - the

bud turned a pretty yellow and fell off. It got buds again before Christmas and then a week ago one started to open. But I must have over watered it again cause the petals fell off the next day. The flower consists of 4 very fleshy petals. The flash makes them look whiter than they are. A very creamy yellowish, white. If you have any knowledge of this plant - please let me know.

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What Is Art

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This is a question that has always been relevant and will continuely be re-answered. So, thought I would just offer my humble opinion - cause that's where I'm coming from. Got my first job in junior high school as a reference page(part time) at the James V. Brown Library in Williamsport, PA. What a wonderful job, surrounded by all those books and magazines. My job was to retreive matterial for patrons as requested and then to put those items back in stock. And by constantly handeling all this information and knowlege; well, it was like a kid in a candy shop . . . Around that time I became enamored with Picasso, et al, and read what I could (at my level of understanding) about them and Modern Art. It seemed that there must be some special "thing" that made these particular paintings "Art", (asside from the text) and why they were presented in this hallowed way in the history books. A formula started to emerge. It doesn't matter what materials you use, nor the colors, style, content or subject matter. It's that inner balance when suddenly everything works together like a good math formula. Somehow the painting becomes equal to itself and there's nothing more for it to say, it's complete and balanced internally. For me, that explains what makes a painting, Art instead of just paint on canvas. In the ensuing years, and especially now, by being able to research on the internet, I've come to understand more of the "why" that makes things "Art". What makes certain works"important". And of course, that's all very true. But for me, my formula still works. Without a formal art education, it was hard for me to break away from realism and find my own voice. Well, actually it was quite fun - understanding it or knowing how to go about it and trust myself was(and is) the hard part. I don't pretent to be an important artist or that I make great art ( well, actually I DO pretend, but I'm sane enough to know my place) - but it's just plain wonderful to have an idea and be able to turn that idea into an object that can be admired, enjoyed and appreciated. It feels great to be an Artist and make Art.
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Who Is An Artist

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It was the last week of high school and it seemed that everyone had plans but me. What did I want to be when I grew up. Being an artist, that would be neat. Had always enjoyed drawing and painting and always thought of myself as some sort of artist. So after some researching I decided to check out the Maryland Institute College of Art - even went down there and drove around the campus. But at that point just didn't have enough of a goal or gumption to enroll.. At some later date I was again revisiting the idea of a career as a great painter like Picasso and I had a dream. In this dream there was some kind of house/tent/studio (some vivid yellow curtains billowing in the breeze) and standing there, surrounded by my paintings, it just seemed like a lonely experience. Of course it didn't have to be that way, but the thought was that maybe it'd be better to go out into the work world and experience life with "regular" jobs around "normal" people. And I'm happy I did even though I also regret not pursuing a career as an artist.
At this point in my life, I feel that I'm an artist because I AM. And whenever the mood has struck me - I paint. And from what I've seen out there, there are lots of painters, etc, who are not artists - so conversely, there are artists who are not painters. Who is an artist? Someone who makes art. Sometimes the art they make is not always the recognizable objects that we think of as art - it's more about what they DO instead of what they make. Maybe we're surrounded by a lot of undercover artists - and that's what makes so many things in life, special.
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