Neil Plotkin - Artist

New Work

2012-01-31T12:40:00.001-08:00

So it's been a very long time since I last posted work. I now have a new studio outside my house which has been transformative. I'm able to do work and focus on it without worrying about my son. And I get to use all the solvents I want which had made my painting very difficult at home.

Before I had moved my studio out of the house, I started to draw piles of my art books. I had initially wanted to take piles of white paper and create landscapes with the paper so I piled my art books up to see what that would be like. I did a bunch of drawings of the piles to see if it was something I was interested in pursuing. As it turns out the books are much more interesting to me than the paper would be. I wanted something that would be all white and the pages of the books are ostensibly white but through age and printing nothing is actually white. So I'm painting all white things where nothing is actually white at all.

I'm a star

2012-01-24T12:49:00.001-08:00

I recently posed for a friend, Sangram Majumdar, for a painting in his show at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects. It's one of the main paintings in the show. Having painted so many people it was nice to be on the other end of the process. What was the strangest thing to me wasn't seeing the painting (and I think it's a fantastic painting) in it's finished state but rather seeing how it changed from session to session. He took the painting in very unexpected directions and that is what was so interesting to me. The process was great and I hope to write about it too. I photographed the painting in each of its different states. Sangram projected a space - my wife's aunt and uncle's stair case near Orleans, France - onto me and the wall behind me and even had a door open behind me which made the space even more complex but edited much of that out. You can still see the door handle. The painting has already sold which is a little sad to me as I like it but hopefully it will end up in a public collection.

It's better to be a writer than a painter

2012-01-20T04:11:00.000-08:00

I was just at a friend's opening (Sangram Majumdar) and I was introduced as "Neil's a writer and an artist". The writer came first always. I guess that means I need to be posting more often about the writing that I've been doing!

Well the good news is that I have been made a staff writer for Painting Perceptions. I have just finished an interview with Sydney Licht which I feel is very interesting. She's a lovely painter - the work seems simple at first but as you spend just a little time with it, you realize how complex the compositions are. Her use of color is really fantastic as well. great paintings that's for sure

I'll be posting some of my recent events soon. i've got a lot of changes to report

A very late update

2010-09-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

As many of you may already know, I spent a couple of months in London. I was really lucky to be able to visit a ton of museums with my son and a ton of galleries. Having lived there 18 years ago, it was really a wonderful experience to see it with new eyes. My previous experience of living London let avoid doing the things that first time visitors often feel the need to do. This let me really focus on seeing a lot of artwork and researching the things that I saw. I have written more articles for Painting Perceptions about artists that I saw there (Judith Green and there will be more to come) and about the history of painting in the UK post World War II Slade School of Art part 1 and Slade School of Art part 2).

My son the critic, didn't think much of the artwork at the Tate Modern - the best piece in the museum according to his taste was the barrier to a sculpture which I've forgotten about.

Despite my encouragement, he also didn't seem to think much Frank Auerbach's drawings at the National Gallery.

But he did seem to really enjoy the Constable room at the Tate Britain - or at least running around the room and being a boy he really loved the jet fighter by Fiona Banner as well.

Oil and Water on Painting Perceptions

2010-05-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

I have recently written a review of a show called Oil and Water for my favorite blog, Painting Perceptions. It is, I hope the first of many reviews of shows. I worked Jenny G (aka Jennifer Gilchrist) to finish the article. It was really fantastic speaking with Fred Bancroft and Steven Harvey about the paintings and the process of pulling the show together. Please take a look at the review and if you feel up to, comment on it. I would love the feedback.

I'm incredibly excited that I now have an outlet for writing about art and more specifically painting. Look for more!

Relaunch of my website

2010-04-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

I have been a bit remiss in updating my blog and I am very sorry for that but as a consolation prize I have redone my website - nice new fonts, two new cool series of paintings, new email address and a great time for all who visit - come on over and check it out!
neilplotkin.com

Zeuxis Group show

2010-02-06T15:15:00.000-08:00

I've been following a blog (Paintingperceptions.com) and read a review of the Zeuxis Group show which is based on a towel. Each artist in the group was given a towel and they needed to create a still life painting with it. This sort of exercise really appeals to me on so many levels. It seems to be a show about a towel but when all the artists incorporate the same object into their paintings, it becomes a show about the artists. The painting becomes a formal study of composition or color or paint or handling of the physical materials or about juxtaposition to other objects. It is what is very interesting to me about the history of painting. People will address the same issue but come up with very different solutions or they take a previous painter's idea and reinterpret the idea to suit their needs. I love that there is a dialog between the works and to artists of the past as well. I thought that I would do my own still life with the same type of towel to "participate" in the show as well.

On the posting, there is a link to Imogen Sara Smith's wonderful essay for the catalog of the show which discusses still life painting.

my new life

2009-12-12T04:10:00.000-08:00

this my new life.he's pretty cute though!

this is the drawing on mylar. it was finished by someone moving the set up before i was done. that's life.

Updating my website

2009-11-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the process of trying to update my website to reflect some of the work I have done in the past year. I have hundreds of paintings to cull from, but it will be pretty easy as the best work always stands out. The work has evolved a great deal over the past year to a point where I am very happy with the direction I am heading in. This is the first time that I have been able to say that in almost 20 years of painting. I am happy for my mistakes and failures in the past as they are now useful tools in my work. The last few blog entries are a taste of what the work will be like.

On another note, I will be heading to the south of France with my family for a family wedding and Christmas with Oscar's great-Grandparents, parents, aunt and uncle and his favorite cousin. I am hoping to be able to do a little work while I'm there. It would be a shame not to!

Crab Apples - another view

2009-10-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

This is a similar painting to the one i had posted previously.

Gourds

2009-10-26T03:01:00.000-07:00

As I work on these paintings, I am thinking about borders. Borders, edges, and boundaries are porous and malleable. There are very rarely true and hard lines demarcating the ending and beginning of anything. Each side is always mixing with the other influencing the other and eventually creating something new.

Crab Apples

2009-10-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

Newest Creation

2009-10-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

Oscar Albert Plotkin!
He's here and doing great. Born on October 12th and has been pretty awesome ever since (not counting diaper change meltdowns). He's super cool!

His middle name is after Alberto Giacometti but we thought Alberto would be a bit (to say the least) pretentious so he's Albert.

checking in

2009-09-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

As I have recently moved house and am very busy preparing for an addition to our family, I have been very remiss in posting. I'm still painting (between doctors, lawyers, contractors, etc) and the work is finally on the track that I am very interested in pursuing. I have a few paintings that I will post in the near future. I am very pleased with the direction that I am heading in and will hopefully continue developing for a long time to come. I am sorry that the posts have been pretty sparse as of late - and I suspect that once (God willing) we have another member in our family i will be posting between diaper changes at very best. Stay tuned.

Revisit

2009-06-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

Cherries are in season again - probably in Washington.

Further down the line

2009-06-10T04:39:00.000-07:00

These are the paintings a few efforts later.

Quince

2009-06-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

This is another painting of the quince.

Moving forward

2009-06-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

I recently saw a show by one of my favorite painters, Alex Kanevsky, and felt like I had gotten a shot in the arm to boost my efforts. His work is simply paintings and done incredibly well. No pretensions to be anything more than reflections on life.

My work has recently evolved a bit and I feel like I am very close to making the kinds of paintings that I want to make. Of course, I'll never make what I imagine and it's always elusive but I am feeling like it's closer than it's been before. My intention in these paintings is to simultaneously build up the image and break it down and to do it in a fresh and honest manner.

quinces

2009-05-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

I have done the drive for my friends' son Kai and am now able to focus on painting a little again. This is a painting of some quinces. I've wanted to paint quinces for years and finally have found some at the store. They are in my mind perfect for painting because they seem to be formed perfectly but with too much effort and thusly they have these bulges and irregularities where you wouldn't think they'd have them. The painting is a transitional painting for me. I have been trying to make paintings for years that are both spontaneous and at the same time visually complex. I believe that the way I'm painting can bring me closer to that goal.

Update

2009-04-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Kai Anderson is looking for a bone marrow donor. I am working with Kai's teacher to organize a drive at the YMCA in Park Slope. We are currently working on finalizing a date at the end of May or beginning of June. We are looking for anyone who can help in any way. Please feel free to contact me if you feel that you can help.

thank you

Kai Anderson

2009-04-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is a very serious and sad posting but you can help! These are very good friends of ours who need anyone and everyone's help. Kai is the son of the Andersons.

Just days ago Kai had symptoms that his parents thought might be the flu, or even just a cold. Now he is in the hospital, diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia (Philadelphia Chromosome-Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia), being treated with a cocktail of seven chemotherapy drugs. Only, for this acute, high-risk form of leukemia, chemo is rarely enough. Kai's best hope lies in a bone marrow transplant.

That's where you come in.

The Anderson family absolutely need your prayers, kind words, home-cooked meals, practical assistance and generous donations for the enormous medical costs ahead (at www.HopeForKai.com). More than you can know. You see, last year, Kai's dad and special buddy, David, was diagnosed with a type of cancer (also rare and complicated) called Mantle Cell Lymphoma. That's right. Two cancers in one small family. Kai's parents are operating day-to-day with unimaginable levels of stress and heartbreak.

But right now what they need, more than anything, is a way to save Kai's life.

Thanks to amazing refinements in medical technology, a miracle may yet be possible. But it will take all of us.

Bone marrow transplant is probably very different from what it was the last time you heard about it. Getting tested for compatibility takes only seconds. Dab a swab on the inside of your cheek and register with the national bone-marrow registry. If the marrow is a match, donors are asked to undergo one of two minor, non-invasive outpatient procedures that extract some of your healthy stem cells to replace a patient's unhealthy cells. It is that simple to give someone a second chance at life.

Astonishingly, despite these advancements, every year thousands of patients in desperate need of bone marrow transplants go without, due to a lack of available compatible matches. Less than 20% ever get the transplant that may be their last chance for survival. The technology is there; it's the donors who are not. That's not only shameful, it's
short-sighted. Because this is something that can happen to any of us, to any of our children.

If you can't attend the bone marrow drive above, please visit www.dkmsamericas.org for a free kit you can use at home. Then help spread the word by forwarding this e-mail to everyone who may be able to help.

Kai and Birgit Anderson have been part of the Hudson River Park Mothers Group from the beginning. He is her firstborn, the one who made her a mother. And from the beginning, the Hudson River Park Mothers Group's mission has been to create a caring community for families. The only assurance we can offer our children, and the most valuable lesson we can teach them, is that while bad things in life can't be prevented, their load can be shared. Please do what you can to help us share this one.

Who knows?

The thing that could happen to any of us may just be cured by one of us.

Thank you!

The Hudson River Park Mothers Group has organized all of this

Asparagus

2009-04-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

I've been away for a bit working on many different projects as of late so it was great to be able to paint again. I did a painting that I would normally do and another two which were a break from that. One is painted on a toned ground - actually I created a colored gesso and put that on panel. It was the most fun I've had painting something in a very long time. and the last one is an attempt to paint something and give it a patina of efforts.

Dexter's Lesson

2009-03-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

So I was sent a link to an artist's website that I draw with, Dexter Miranda, today. I really like the drawings because he remembers that too much finish is the death of a work.

I redid this painting trying to remember to leave more out of the painting.

Jirka's soft shot

2009-03-05T12:31:00.001-08:00

When I lived in Prague, I used to shoot pool with these Czech guys. Jirka Vrbicky is a pretty in your face kind of person - never shies away from anything - especially women - but when we would shoot pool all of his shots would be incredibly soft. It has always been a lesson to me. Pull back some of the time.

This is my first larger image in a while - it's 40" x 60" (roughly a meter by a meter and a half)

Brecker Brothers

2009-02-28T07:08:00.001-08:00

I started this painting by painting only in white because of a concert I had seen with a friend in Prague (William Binay-Tay) who unfortunately passed away 10 years ago. He insisted on seeing the Brecker brothers - two guys who are actually brothers - who play with a ton of jazz greats. There was a part during the show that the drummer did an intense and long solo. He played the drums so incredibly that it sounded like there were other instruments playing along with the drums. I figured doing something in all white could emulated that. I used the results to create this painting.

A prickly sunflower

2009-02-24T06:31:00.000-08:00

As it turns out the artichoke is not only related to the thistle - a gorgeous plant by the way - but it is also related to the sunflower. And when you hear that you say oh of course because there are so many similarities.

This is a drying artichoke. when i was in college my graduation project was doing drawings of thistles. these artichokes take me back to that.

Artichoke

2009-02-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

Evidently, in 1935, Fiorello LaGuardia decided to prevent the Mafia from gaining too much influence over the trade of any particular vegetable or fruit and banned artichokes from being sold or even owned.

This is my first sketch of an artichoke.

Sandpaper

2009-02-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing that I did on sandpaper.

Tangelo?

2009-02-05T15:24:00.000-08:00

I've forgotten what this is but I'll look it up in my notes. They are supposed to be really tart so I wouldn't like them much.

On Panel

2009-01-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

I've been working very hard to find a way to make my paintings on mylar a more permanent type of painting. I am very happy with a very fine finish on a gessoed panel. This is my first panel.

Kerry

2009-01-28T03:22:00.000-08:00

These are some paintings based upon comments that I received from a friend.

Inaugural Satsuma

2009-01-20T07:43:00.000-08:00

I don't want to get political but today is a very incredible day in my country's history. I feel that anyone who is an American should feel exceptionally proud. And on some days everyone in the world is an American.

Satsuma

2009-01-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

Satsuma Tangerine - They originally came from China and were brought to Japan by a Monk. The U.S. got them from Japan in the 1800s. I think after our civil war. They come into season around Christmas as far as I can tell which is why I'm painting them now.

Close 2

2008-12-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

The first drawing is my usual oil on mylar and the last one is oil on paper. I did a charcoal drawing then put shellac over it and painted over that. It's an old method and I'm doing it in a updated manner.

Close

2008-12-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

This is my third attempt at this painting. It's 42" x 18" and the landscape format seems to suit this.

Muang Squash

2008-12-04T13:46:00.000-08:00

more. and a second pass at what i had done the day before.

Muang Squash

2008-12-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

I painted this thinking of aerial photos of volcanos or other large land formations. I plan to try and edit this down more tomorrow.

Squash

2008-12-02T14:39:00.000-08:00

Here are three different paintings of the same subject. Painting the squash is really wonderful in that it allows me to tie still life painting and landscape painting together. I approach these paintings as though they are landscape paintings. The set back is to me hills in the background. I am also trying to winnow down the paintings to its essential parts. I feel that the paintings should explode into existence without telling too much. The viewer should complete the paintings.

Squash

2008-12-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

This is one of several paintings I've done of a beautiful squash which grows in a very unruly manner.

Another leaf

2008-11-10T09:31:00.001-08:00

This is one of three wonderful leaves I found on my way into the studio the other day. The leaves are quite large but i've blown it up more in my painting. painting is about 30 or so inches high by 20 or so inches wide.

A leaf

2008-10-24T03:32:00.000-07:00

This is a leaf that I painted the other day

New Studio

2008-10-23T07:41:00.001-07:00

So I have recently moved to Brooklyn and moved my studio as well. New studios mean new work. I am currently trying to adjust to the new place and making work that is cathartic. The world has been so crazy as of late and add in a move and a job change (that's what a new studio is). i wanted to make things that are a lot more simple and quiet. I have decided to use this period of flux to focus on painting leaves. We consider fall a transitional time and the leaf represents this beautiful and short time.

I have limited myself to single leaves for a several reasons: 1. as a way of keeping the paintings quiet 2. I find the idea of a single leaf representing an entire tree as very exciting 3. I love the idea of the simplicity of one thing in an single color environment.

There is so much going on in this simple sort of set up. The leaf tells a story of its relationship to the tree and to the world around it. If we just slow down enough to look at the simple things underfoot, our lives can become much more quiet and that's what i was trying to do for myself.

New Series

2008-09-11T02:58:00.000-07:00

I have just updated my website to show the work I've done in the last couple of weeks. The work takes as it's starting point a few of the cherry drawings and paintings that Philip Guston created about 35 years ago.

Cherries

2008-08-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

I've gone back and painted the cherries in color trying to remember to keep it simple.

Cherries

2008-08-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

I did a couple of other paintings - this is one that was more successful. I'm quite happy with this one - I'm back. I heard an interview with George Carlin and he talked about editing and editing. I am working to apply that to my own work.

Cherries

2008-08-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

So I went to the MOMA today to pick up a catalog on Antonio Lopez-Garcia and took a look around. There was a show downstairs of Philip Guston. They had a painting of his where he painted cherries. I had bought some cherries last week to do some paintings and thought i would do something a long the lines of what he had done since I liked the painting. This was my first stab at it.

Happy for failures

2008-08-15T08:31:00.001-07:00

An artist that I admire once congratulated me for having a day filled with failures. It's what pushes you forward she said. You learn from them. So this is today's toils.

the chair in the corner

2008-07-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is the 3rd attempt at this painting. I don't know if it's done yet but i'm doing my best.

NEW WEBSITE!!!!

2008-06-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

ok so it's not really all new to you but I recreated the entire site to make it better. Well actually I've added a series that I'm currently working on. I am very happy with the work. The series is, in part, about is a sense of absence.

2008-06-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

This is a painting that I did as I was cleaning up from making another painting of cherry blossoms. The flowers were wonderful before they fell off the branches but also really beautiful on the floor too.

Executive Chair 2

2008-06-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

The chair is a little further closer to becoming finished. I have also done a few other paintings which will get their chance here soon.

Executive Chair

2008-05-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is another painting that I'm working on but it's not finished. It's got a long way to go. The paintings take a long time to build up enough layers to make them seem to have some presence.

stacked chairs

2008-04-28T13:35:00.001-07:00

This is the painting that I'm working on now. It is not finished but is probably pretty close to being finished.

Painting of the studio

2008-04-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

This is a painting that i'm working on. I'm thinking about the artists i normally think about but am interested in looking at Turner's water colors. they are these wonderful washes of color and all about light and space.

Study

2008-04-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

This is a study for a larger painting of an empty shelving unit near my window.

Develpment of a painting

2008-04-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

This is the next painting in the series.

New Painting

2008-04-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

I have been traveling a great deal as of late so have been unable to post but now I'm back. I am still trying to develop this series and it keeps taking new turns.

Barcelona

2008-03-02T12:12:00.001-08:00

So I am in Barcelona right now to work with Vicky Colombet on her project with Enric Ruiz-Geli. I had a chance to walk around today and see a little of the city. It is such a perfect city. The buildings are beautiful and not too large in scale. there is art nouveau stuff everywhere. Gaudi building is 2 blocks away. Everywhere you turn there is another incredible building.

If one of the lesser buildings here was in any U.S. city, it would be the jewel of the city. There are just tons of them too.

the broom

2008-02-14T11:50:00.001-08:00

Here is a painting that i'm working on. It's one of a few in which I'm trying to work out a few solutions.

More painting

2008-02-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

I am at the point where I find that writing and thinking about the words that accompany my blog posts interferes with my creation of paintings. As I have posted less, I feel as though I am getting closer to what I am after in my painting. This is the 5th chair in the series of the empty studio. the painting has been changing as the exercise continues. I still feel that I have a lot more that I can explore in this series before I move onto other projects.

An update

2008-01-24T16:00:00.002-08:00

So it's true that I haven't been particularly good about updating my blog but it has been very good for me as an artist to just focus on my work without worrying about issues outside my studio. I have continued on the empty studio work but have started to use the paint in a different manner. I am breaking the paint down a lot more and creating veils of colors which overlap and help to create a final image. The work has been able to take from all of the projects I've been working on and I hope come together to create more compelling work.

This painting isn't finished but I think that you might get the idea. I am trying to build up the image and then break it down and then repeat the process over and over again.

Back in the studio

2008-01-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

After being away far too long, I am finally back at work on my series the Empty Studio. I just wanted to post a poor photo of some of the work I've done recently. I have been working on a lot of drawings trying to figure out the next group of paintings in the series and hope to get them started very soon. I'll keep you posted.

Reflections on the Witch Fire

2008-01-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Now I'm back in New York and can reflect a little on my experience of working in the field in the remnants of the Witch Fire. I intended to paint the destruction in a manner that captured the beauty of nature - even in it's destructive moments - but to balance that with the fact that many people lost all that they owned except their lives. I was very aware of the burned piles that were once people's homes and made a decision not to paint them or put them in the center of the paintings.

What I did see was the path of water throughout the entire landscape. The land erodes with every rainfall and especially after a fire. This is more obvious observation. As I painted I could see this process throughout but what I found to be surprising is that because the water flows in the lower areas, the vegetation is more bountiful there. The irony is that during the fire, the lush areas had more fuel and therefore burned more thoroughly. I found this so odd that where there is bounty there is so much more room for destruction. I think that there are so many lessons in nature and we miss them so often.

The Witch Fire

2007-12-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

The Witch (Creek) Fire started at 11 am on October 21, 2007 in east San Diego county. It burned 1040 homes, killed one person, injured 41 people, and destroyed or damaged another 750 buildings. I have been out in the area painting the the valleys and trying to capture what the countryside looks like with such dramatic changes. There is a huge amount of activity as the people in the area are trying to get their lives back to normal. The landscape is very moonlike but life pokes through in very small ways already. there are tiny bits of green showing through the ground in places. I will post some of the paintings when I get back to New York as I don't have a camera here. And I hope to organize my thoughts more about my experiences near Ramona.

Happy holidays to everyone!

NEW WEBSITE!!!!

2007-12-05T11:59:00.000-08:00

So I've been a bit lax on the blog updates because I have been working on my updated website. It's new. It's colorful. It's improved. It's got new pictures. Go and check it out!!
Neilplotkin.com

The Heidelberg Project - The gem of Detroit

2007-11-24T04:19:00.000-08:00

The Heidelberg Project is a neighborhood art project in the middle of Detroit. The artist Tyree Guyton started the project 20 years ago as a way of cleaning up his neighborhood and as a protest against the way the city ignored its neighborhoods. Guyton basically took all the garbage in the neighborhood and all the abandoned houses in the neighborhood and made them his materials and canvases. As you drive to Heidelberg Street down Mt. Elliot, you see a very bleak city - burned out buildings, collapsing buildings, garbage everywhere and then you come to something different. A burst of color and debris put into an order making some sort of statement. You can't help but come away from the neighborhood with a smile and a good feeling. Guyton made a profound statement about the state of living in Detroit - and this was actually a universal statement about people in forgotten communities. Because of his great statement city administrations have done everything they can to stop him. They have knocked down some of the buildings that he had used as a part of his projects. It has been a big fight for him and he has been recognized throughout the world for his work.

As luck would have it, Tyree Guyton was out in the street when we visited. I had a chance to talk to him about how the fight with the different city governments only made him stronger. He also mentioned that he wanted people to confront what they are afraid of. I took this to mean the problems between the suburbs and city and the fear of people in the suburbs to come and rejoin the city of Detroit. We talked about the role that art plays in making changes in the world. Mr. Guyton couldn't have been more welcoming or inspiring : thank-you Tyree !

Some pictures of the Heidelberg Project:

Full circles part 1

2007-11-17T03:07:00.000-08:00

So i think that one of the great and most wonderful things about life is circles. When things in our lives come back to us in unexpected ways. It is just wonderful when you don't expect anything and then turn around and know that your life had been interconnected to someone well before you even knew who they were or that your web of life brings you into contact with people you never expected to find in your life.

I am currently taking a class at the New York Academy of Art as a way of meeting other artists and to keep my figurative skills us and running. The class is taught by Robert Armetta. I just met Robert in my class this fall and have had great conversations about painters and painting. Well Robert and I were talking about an artist that we both absolutely love, Antonio Lopez-Garcia, and about how in the past (before the internet made things so easy) it was so difficult to get information on Lopez-Garcia. I told the story about how 10 years ago my dealer knew a guy who might have an extra copy of a rare catalog of Lopez-Garcia's work and be willing to sell it. I had searched for this catalog for a few years at that point and jumped on it. I paid $250 for it and read it over and over. I would look at the images so much that I would just fall asleep with it in my bed. As we were talking, yesterday, Robert told me a story of being in Spain and being at Lopez-Garcia's gallery. He was talking to a woman at the gallery asking her how he might be able to get a catalog on him. The books were no longer available there either. She asked him how many he wanted. He emptied his pockets of money and said "as many as this can buy me". She brought out 9 copies of the book. The woman was Antonio Lopez-Garcia's daughter - the one in the picture above. He lugged those books back to America and happened to give one to his friend Mathew Bruckner. Mathew is the guy who sold me my book on Antonio Lopez-Garcia. The book that I prize the most was carried across the ocean by someone I met 10 years later who had been given the book by the daughter of the artist.

Life is wonderful!

Review and overview

2007-11-11T06:01:00.000-08:00

I want to thank all of the people who were able to make it to my open house yesterday. It was fantastic seeing so many people and talking about what I had been up to with my work since I started being a full time artist. I showed the work that I did for my Economic Transitions series, the work I did in France, and the series I'm working on now called the Empty Studio. I was so pleased by the positive feedback that I got from everyone. It makes sitting alone in my studio day after day a lot more rewarding. The most exciting aspect of the open house for me was that people responded so well to the new series of work that I'm doing. I have been doing the work for myself - as every artist is supposed to - and not thinking about how anyone else would respond to it. I have been dealing with a broad range of ideas in the paintings and didn't expect other people to be interested in the work. So I was very happily surprised that people were very enthusiastic about the new body. Some of the work is on the blog - the chairs in different states. I am planning on updating my website in the near future so that you can see more more current work. It will be a big superstar event to be sure!

I want to again thank all of the people who made my open house an absolute success. I also hope to see all the people who have asked for private showings in the next couple of weeks.

OPEN STUDIO!

2007-11-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I left my job at Bloomingale's at the end of June to focus on painting full time. Many of you have expressed interest in seeing what I have been working on since then, so I will be holding an open studio in November, so you can drop by and see the work at your leisure, and we can catch-up.

Here are the details :
Saturday, November 10th
12-6pm
488 9th Avenue #4N (I need to run down the stairs to let you in so please be patient after buzzing)
Between 37th Street and 38th Street

If this date doesn't suit you, or if you'd like to come another time, drop me a line.

Let me know if you think you can make it.

the empty studio again

2007-10-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

As I work more and more in my studio, a series has slowly started to evolve and gain momentum. I initially started the first painting of my first chair as a warm up exercise and as preparation for hiring models. But as I worked on the painting, I felt that there is something interesting in showing paintings without the models. there is the potential for the model and also a sense of loss in that the model. It is this along with the ideas of the existential painters. They (Giacometti, Freud, Kanevsky, Gale etc.) paint in an effort to prove their existence or the sitters' existence and it is the process of painting those sitters that becomes important. Without the sitter, are the paintings less important?

On another note, I'm going around to more and more artists' studios and websites. I hope to start giving profiles on some of the artists soon - if that's interesting to all (the millions) of you.

Open Studios

2007-10-22T03:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to open studios at the Elizabeth Foundation over the weekend. It was really wonderful to see around 80 artists' work. The work was almost always of the highest caliber and made from so many different perspectives. I am going to try and list some of the work that I found to be particularly interesting and that I can find links to. There is a print studio, the Robert Blackburn Studio, as well which is open to members. I found that to be particularly interesting. I am hoping that I might be able to do some print work to help develop my own work in new ways. I spoke to their master printer Phil for quite some time about how printmaking can play a strong role in the development of an artist's work. It can break down the what a person does into steps which can them be examined and refined. There is even a gallery open to the public on the 2nd floor with shows. So i'll try and find some links to show the work of some of the artists today

The Empty Studio

2007-10-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

So here is another attempt at my second chair in this series. I have also started on a larger painting of a chair - about 42" x 42". which is only in it's first pass of paint at this point. it's again hard to know when to stop on any of these paintings.

Sorry for the delay

2007-10-15T06:58:00.000-07:00

The worst thing about being a full time artist - besides having to sign all the autographs - is doing the administrative stuff. I spent all of last week cataloging all my french paintings. I have new booklets and am planning on changing my website in the near future to reflect the new work. So eat up while you can; )

i'm finally back in the studio working on my empty studio series. As I've stated i'm trying to build up and break down the paintings at the same time. The pictures are of the second empty chair that I'm working on. The first photo is the 2nd state of the painting and the the second is of the 3rd state of the painting. I have removed the apple from the painting because it takes away from the empty feeling and fights for attention that the chair should hold.

I am hoping that these paintings will lead to the next series which will be with figures addressing similar issues of breaking down and building up of the figure.

Stretching the Canvas

2007-10-04T03:19:00.000-07:00

So I went to Newark, New Jersey to perform my piece, Stretching the Canas, on Tuesday. The piece is about the skin of alienation and gender insecurity being stretched over the framework of an indifferent post humanist and deconstructed class structure within our society. In the piece, I stretch the canvas of a painting that I did previously over stretcher bars in order to make a finished painting. The stretching implies the strains of the transgendered Republican preachers in America under the boot heel of a society which is incapable of feeling their isolation. It was an absolute success! The critics went wild again! Being an artist is hard - I had to sign autographs for hours.

I was also hoping to see a painting of mine which is in a courtroom in Newark but I ran out of time and came back to my studio to paint the chair more. It seems that it's always one step away from being finished.

Newark

2007-10-02T03:42:00.000-07:00

I'm going to go to Newark, New Jersey today to do a performance piece. I call it "Stretching a Canvas". I will talk about the work tomorrow and have photos. I am also going to visit a painting that is hanging there. More about that tomorrow as well

Here is a new painting from yesterday : the fall light in the studio is really great and I'm loving painting here. Click on the picture to see it full-size, and see the colors better.

The Darn Chair

2007-09-27T04:40:00.000-07:00

This is another take on the chair...there are so many ways to shape and convey it, its an endless source of interest. When you're in the flow of painting, every thing in your studio seems to want you to look at it in a new way.

On another note, I promise to try and get some performance pieces on the blog or for those of you who don't share my obsession with this chair.

The Chair

2007-09-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

I am posting the chair that I have been working on since I got back into my studio. This is the fifth state of the chair. I want to balance a break down of the chair while also keeping the chair realized and specfic. I feel very strongly that a painting can only become strong and meaningful if the artist is willing to risk everything and destroy the image. These paintings are my search in the effort to realize that concept.

Lemon

2007-09-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

This is another painting in a series of more abstract work, exploring the boundaries between space and shape. These days I am drawing a lot of inspiration from abstract painters and their ideas about color, space, technique and complexity. I am looking a lot at Richard Diebenkorn. It's great to rediscover all the artists I studied as a student, with fresh eyes and a new reason to look at them.

Chair and Pear

2007-09-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

So i'm still plugging along drawing 7-8 hours a day and I try to do a painting when I get home to keep my skills up. I haven't posted the drawings because they are only exercises and i'm waiting to have some hot stuff to impress all of you! in the mean time this is the chair i'm working on at my studio. the painting is still a work in progress.

i'm also posting 2 paintings of pears. The first one is my normal stuff and the second is based upon what i'm trying to do in the painting of the chair.

Van Gogh's Letters

2007-09-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

When I started planning for my transition into working full time as an artist, I was talking to my friend Amy Stein about living in France for the summer to paint. She suggested that I read the letters of Van Gogh. I can't believe how interesting, inspirational and enlightening the letters are. Van Gogh was anything but the crazy madman we often find depicted. It sounds so much more interesting to have a crazed man with a paint brush slashing out these amazing paintings but this is unfair to him and his accomplishments. He helped invent a new concept in painting - expressionism. And this came from his intense work and study of other artists. His sincerity and dedication in his efforts are just amazing.

I found it funny to read his early letters when he is trying to become an artist. He hopes to become an artist that conveys emotion and feeling and his hopes seem to be quite modest. If only he knew the world would pay hundreds of millions of dollars for his painting because of the emotion conveyed in those paintings.

I feel like every artist should read his letters as they convey what all of our hopes and dreams are and how to try to dedicate ourselves to this calling.

The New York Academy of Art

2007-09-14T06:34:00.000-07:00

I am busy working at Minerva's for about 7 hours a day four days a week for the time being. I am also starting a class to get a different perspective on painting techniques at the New York Academy of Art. This is the school that I have the most connections to here as far as training goes. I have been taking classes from time to time here for the last 12 years. I have a great number of friends who have studied here and also teach here. The school teaches based upon the 19th century French academic ideas. What this means is that the training given is quite rigorous and based upon the human figure. Drawing is very important and one learns by studying the human form. The painting methods taught are also very rooted in the nearly 1000 year old tradition of oil painting.

As there are so many complexities to oil painting, it makes sense to me that one would start with what has been successful in the past. Once the fundamental concepts are understood, one can play with the concepts and methods to meet contemporary needs.

Meet Minerva

2007-09-09T07:01:00.001-07:00

Minerva is the wonderful woman who runs the Spring Street Studio.
She taught drawing at Parson's School of Design for ten years before opening the Spring Studio in SoHo. For fifteen years she has presented figure-drawing sessions there open to the public seven days a week. The studio has exhibited the works of hundreds of artists, both professionals and students and has presented many events of music, dance and writing, and Body Painting based on the nervous, muscular and circulatory systems. So basically you just walk in with a pad of paper and pencil and draw a nude model for 3-4 hours. It is a great place to learn how to draw by looking at the model and by looking at other people's work.

For those 15 years, Minerva has been helping artists with all different issues surrounding what it means to be an artist. She has encouraged me since I first started drawing in her studio - I think about 10 or 11 years ago. She spent an hour yesterday telling me about different things to consider while I work on developing my own voice and work patterns. She is a generous and kind person who has really helped me in my drawing and painting. I am very indebted to her.

I am planning on spending a few weeks in her studio just drawing all day long. I want to explore drawing models in the same way as I explored painting landscapes when I was in France - total immersion. I am intending to eventually hire models in my studio to work on longer term paintings.

Another day of work

2007-09-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

As the weather has been good, I painted outside. it's very different from the French countryside. I haven't adjusted to it yet and it may take me a while. I really loved the open space of the Loir et Cher area and New York doesn't have a lot of that! I'm still working on trying to find a rhythm for my day to day

FIRST DAY ON THE NEW JOB

2007-09-05T02:47:00.000-07:00

Ok i've said that before but this was really the first normal day at my new job. I went into my studio and tried to get it straightened out a bit for doing work. The light is great and i'm very happy to have the space set up. I am very interested in trying to do some work with the figure and plan to hire models. I am hoping to spend a great deal of time painting the figure in a more formal way. I am hoping to spend this time to develope in a way similiar to Alex Kanevsky (http://www.somepaintings.net/Alex.html) or Ann Gale (http://hackettfreedman.com/templates/artist.jsp?id=GAL). I went to Spring Street Studios for a little warm up on the figure. It has been a few years since i have done any figure drawings and i was really proud of how bad my first sketch was

but i was able to get back up to speed and ended up with a few drawings that weren't horrible.

I am trying to get settled in this new phase of my life. I don't know exactly what sort of work I will be making and am trying to figure it out as i go along.

I'm really back

2007-08-30T08:31:00.001-07:00

So i'm back in the good old U.S. of A! I finished up in Paris for a few days. I went to the Musee D'Orsay and the Louvre for some marathon sessions of looking. I am currently reading the letters of Van Gogh so seeing all of his work at the Musee D'orsay was really wonderful. The letters are so much more interesting and inspiring than I would have ever thought. I think that they are a must for every artist. He was such a complex and interesting man and very different than the crazy art martyr that he's made out to be.

The Louvre has a unique collection of Corot's landscapes that he did on his early trips to Italy. I found these paintings to be so incredible and inspiring especially after I had spent my summer painting landscapes. There was also a show of his drawings and sketchbooks which were just incredible. His economy in telling you what is in nature is incredible. I have come completely full circle with my impressions of his work. I now see why people swear by him.

There is so much more to say about those two museums. But I need to get back to making work here.

Good Bye Martray

2007-08-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Paris and then to New York with a large pile of paintings. This is the painting i did of the house in martray. i spent more time on this to make a more finished painting.

i hope to be back soon to paint here again. this is the end of a very very nice chapter in my life. I don't think i'll do any painting in paris - too many museums to see but i might get a drawing in here or there.

thanks for reading so far and i'll catch up once i'm back in new york.

Rain!

2007-08-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Another day of rain and threatening of rain. I went out and started a painting and it rained all over my painting. so i hauled it and all my equipment back to the house - i was dragging my easal and brushes stuck under my arm - basically i looked pretty stupid. I get back to the house and it stops raining just as i arrive. I head back to where i was painting dragging all my stuff and just as i arrive it starts raining. and the place was a fair distance in the mud. then after painting i had to talk to all the locals about all sorts of things like chickens dying or beans being picked and then i had to drink local wines and had to spend the evening with a local family and had eat a ton of really nice home made food at the old mill for one of the local towns. it was a rough day in france. btw that's sarcasm

A lot of rain

2007-08-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

It's been raining almost every day here and i haven't had too much time to paint. This is a sketch of a home/garage behind the house here. the guy next door came by with some home made jelly. It's made from elderberries or so we think. It's incredibly good - it tastes like fruit in general but you can't tell what flavor. It's made from these berries on a tree in the yard. The guy told me that the seeds are poisonous and should be avoided but the fruit makes amazing jelly!

Too much other stuff

2007-08-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

I've been painting as much as I can but since there's a lot going on here, I haven't been able to spend as much time on the painting as i'd like. this is the continuation of a painting i started yesterday. I'm painting a bit larger in the home stretch of my stay here. but this is what i've got

i'm back and painting

2007-08-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

The weather was a bit rough today so i was only able to paint outside for part of the day and from not too far away - in case it rained - which it did and i had to sprint with all my stuff back into the house. I am trying to use up all of my painting materials which means i am trying to paint a little bit larger. I am very close to finishing up my 3 foot by 60 foot roll of mylar and a bit of canvas. I'm pretty happy about having done that much work. i think i've been averaging about 3 paintings a day on the days that i've painted. I've only got a few more days of work left so i'm trying to make sure i get it all done. this is a painting that i did in the middle of the valley in front of the house.

Basel/Alsace

2007-08-19T22:41:00.001-07:00

I have been on the road and haven't had access to the internet so i'm sorry that I haven't updated the blog lately. I was in Basel and then in the Alsatian countryside. It was a bit of a relief to be able to speak in German rather than French and at this point I can understand Swiss German pretty well. I only miss the words that the whole conversation is about. Ehhh what can you do. I was able to go to the Basel Art Museum which has fantastic Holbeins. I believe the painting of his wif and children is one of the most touching portraits i have ever seen. From what I remember, he pretty much abandoned his family to paint in England. One would imagine that he wasn't that interested in his familyy but when you look at how much care went into the painting of his wife, it seems impossible that he didn't love her very very deeply.

ALSACE:

The place where we stayed in Alsace was this wonderful building built by the grandfather of a friend's wife. There are three buildings on the property and the building is decorated with everything from local farms and houses. It is fantastic. The interior shot is where we had dinner which we had cooked over the open fire.

I was unable to paint all that much but here are some more paintings from the Loir et Cher department of France. I will be leaving for America in about a week so there will be some different paintings coming up soon.

Menhir

2007-08-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

This is the name of the stone structures left by the celts in Brittany. The two photos are of a few structures near where I was camping. The celts have been in that region for a few thousand years - the language is closely related to cornish and similar to welsh. You can see standing stones all over the region. these are the two that we visited. i've included my photo so that you could get a sense of the scale of the stones

The painting is of an outcrop of stones on the beach. The dark rectangle on the side is a German bunker from the war. There are bunkers and block houses throughout the area. It's a strange that these things are still here and still used. One set of block houses was turned into farm storage in the the area that we were staying in. One had been destroyed in the group too. The one on the beach was used by teenagers to get drunk in without being seen by their parents.

This is of the view of a port to the east of where we were. It was painted at 6 in the morning and the temperature couldn't have been more that 40 degrees. i was cold to the core - in August no less!
More paintings to come.

I'm back!

2007-08-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

I was in Brittany for a week and I'm back. It was an extremely wonderful time and I'm very sad that my time there has ended though I do think that I will return many times in my life as I am now tied to the area. The land was once celtic so there are stone henge type areas all around the country side - places where people have gone for thousands of years to try to be a part of the world in a more spiritual way. The church here is a very good example of a Brittany Church - it's about 800 years old.

More soon

The Ritchie's Caves

2007-08-03T00:57:00.000-07:00

I haven't mentioned this in my blogs yet but this region is loaded with caves. The hills are mostly made of limestone. Because of that, people have been been digging out holes here for at least centuries. The people dug out caves to make stones for homes and other buildings. these caves are extremely common around here. If you have a hill, you probably have a cave. People often use them as storage places. But it's also quite common that people live in them too. In the back of the house here in Martray are a bunch of caves which I have posted.You can see from the fireplace that people once lived in the cave. You can also see that sometimes they collapse - I don't think that is very uncommon. There is a another 2 complexes of caves here in the back yard but they are so overgrown that you can't get to them - also there is an open well somewhat covered that drops 20 feet but no one seems to know where it is.

The entrance after the entrance - don't ask me

You ask well what's inside the caves? old junk of course

The fireplace of the people who lived here

The collapse

The neighbor's cave

On the other side of the hill

This is Mr. Le Bris and his son. I was painting the other day on the other side of the big hill in front of our place when I met a boy and his father. They had recently been to the American southwest and invited me over for a drink. Ok it was cool across the board. He clearly ran a business with some sort of construction aspect. As it turned out, he is a plumber and electrician and had done all the work in our house. So he was in his cave with a couple of workers. He offered me some cider that his friend makes - which was very good i might add - and showed me the cave. This place was huge. It was the size of a mid-sized warehouse. True to the story, people had dug out the cave for stones for buildings. There was a small hole at the back of the cave something like 18" x 6" and he said that that hole was the part of an enormous natural chamber - which obviously had other entrances. He was incredibly kind and generous with his time and explanations of his property, his family and of course the cider. I went by today and got a picture of him and his son. If you need some plumbing or electrical work done in the Loir valley i'll put you in contact. I assume he might give some cave tours too.

I've promised to post some pictures of the houses that are caves. This is just one but there are tons of them around here. I'll try and get some more pictures of the troglodytes homes

Just so that you don't think i've stopped posting, I will be on vacation for a week

Meet the Rogers

2007-08-02T05:04:00.001-07:00

The Rogers across the street are a couple from Paris. The house has been in the family for many generations. We met them last year and invited us in for coffee and cookies last year. They are very nice - every day they ask me if I need any bread (the bread delivery woman is on vacation). They invited me over last night for coffee. It was a great time - I made a painting of an apple for them and Mrs. Roger had made an apple gateau (however it's spelled) for us to eat. It was perfect. We sat around for a few hours talking about France and other things that were generally not to tough for me to understand. Sometimes i was completely lost in the conversation but i can tell you this: French is much much easier than Czech!

I have been painting a lot since I will soon be on vacation in Brittany and will not have the same sort of blocks of time. I do plan to paint there too but I won't be spending as much time on it.

here are a few paintings from the last couple of days

2007-07-31T23:54:00.000-07:00

On my run this morning i was thinking about what paintings are to me. On good days, they are merely the remains of a search for a better way to capture the life around me in paint. I see painting as very similar to story telling (aka writing). It is as old as human beings are. It is the same old everything but every generation is able to reinvent these things. People say that painting is dead at times or that the exciting stuff is happing in video or where ever - my feeling is that those things are great areas for expression but for me painting is where i want to be discussing what I find important. Painting is completely malleable and can be changed to meet the needs of every generation. I am very eager to spend my time trying to capture that essence of what it means to paint in the 21st century. And my paintings are just the left overs of that search. I think the reason we tend to hold certain artists up is that we sense in their work an honest search for a truth (which is usually unattainable) and the art work is just what was jettisoned on the way to that truth by the artist. As I work through all these paintings - usually 3 a day - i realized that i don't have time to get precious with them or to look at them that much. They just get left behind.

ok this is serious enough! So yesterday I decide that after painting a whole lot of paintings I would go on long bike ride. It's all nice - lots of cliche views of France - for example

and i'm heading farther and farther away. It's so nice and the sun's out and the birds are singing and it's all great. I ride for an hour out of town on top of a giant plateau. I decide it'll take me an hour to get back so i stop to turn around and head back. well remember that wind i kept mentioning? Yeah well it had been at my back the whole time and i didn't know it. so it was like swimming to get back to the house - it was a lot slower coming back. beware the back wind

Farmers

2007-07-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

So I was going to post about a performance piece but i've decided that the stain performances have lived their lives - although the staining is still continuing -Got to make the donuts.

My time here has been surrounded by the activity of the local farmers. I hear the tractors all day long, I see all the different things grown in the fields, the harvesting of the different things, the preparing of the fields. These are all small farmers growing a very wide variety of things. This being a European country the way the farms work has been worked out over the centuries. Nothing seems to be by accident. The fences are raspberry bushes, the waste is fed to pigs or chickens, horses and sheep and cows keep the fields in good shape (and not needing mowing) and I could go on but will spare you. The farmers are utterly resourceful and in this world of environmental problems these people seem to work well with the environment (yes i know there a lot of problems with pesticides etc and this is not a utopia but just work with me here for a few minutes). I've just come away with a better understanding of why the French fight so hard for their farmers. And I certainly have so much more respect for farmers in general

I've been painting a lot and been getting a lot of paintings done. I am experimenting with different ways of putting the paint on my surfaces. I haven't figured this problem out yet but I do think I'm getting closer to figuring out how to better use the mylar material I'm working with. anyway I hope you like my farmer paintings.

Another windy day

2007-07-30T04:09:00.000-07:00

So I painted in basically gale force winds (ok may be not that strong but the wind was strong enough to constantly knock over my easel. I was trying to paint clouds coming over a hill. The wind was blowing so hard that I couldn't possibly capture a cloud the way it really looked. The wind just kept changing everything. But I did get a couple of paintings out of the battle. i decided to pack up for lunch and within 5 minutes of getting home the skies opened up and rained the rest of the day. i was feeling pretty clever for heading home when I did.

When to stop

2007-07-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

When you read much about the creation of art, a very common discussion is about an artist knowing when to stop. It can be critical to stop at the right time in order to keep a work fresh looking. It's very difficult to walk away from a work when you know that you could keep adding.

I have found that I have been getting caught up in details in a lot of my paintings. In order to stop doing that, I limited my time of working on a painting to one hour for the day. It was an interesting exercise but I can't say that I am all that happy with the results. The point is to limit myself to stop touching a painting when it has been cooked enough. I do plan to try and do a few more exercises like this.

On another note, I was searching for an image to use as a way of illustrating what I meant by learning to leave things less touched and came across this interesting address by William Kentridge. It is a poignant to me as I try to make my start in art making. The advice he received is very intersting to me as I read through books on how to remain focused on what it ultimately means to make art or be an artist. You ultimately cannot give advice other than to remain focused on what it means to yourself to be an artist. Like all things valuable - we have all the answers but we just need to find them within ourselves. Well, I'm looking all over the place and if I find any answers, I'll be sure to post them here.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.javaribook.com/wkn-chapters/kentridge04a.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.javaribook.com/wkn-chapters/0967916186.htm&h=530&w=400&sz=25&hl=en&start=0&sig2=E99u7XgBROQIv7K4vvHYqQ&um=1&tbnid=LbxGK_B8fr_mVM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=100&ei=RSOsRujEOoaiwAH61eCPBA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmatisse,%2Bdrawing,%2Bwoman,%2Brear,%2Bthree%2Blines%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DG

btw sorry I don't know how to make that a link yet so you'll have to copy it and paste in the browser.

Troo

2007-07-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

Troo (pronounced Troe or Troh - of course with a gurgly r) is about 8 miles from here. It's an amazing little town on top of a hill which seems to be unusual for this area. There are all these trolodytic homes (caves if you will) that people still live in and there's this amazing church on top of this mound. So the town also makes a small artisanal cheese which I happen to like a lot. So we drove out and I painted by the side of a road about 1 mile from the city. I seemed to make friends with a local farmer who kept driving his tractor up and down the country lane. It's currently wheat harvesting time - there is a lot of activity in the region as farmers harvest. You can always hear very loud tractors driving around. While I was painting, I did get to see a man driving a cart being pulled by a donkey. That was a bit of a surprise. So I painted again in a howling wind. I had results from some paintings that led me to the idea of doing a marathon of paintings. You'll get to see those later. I may actually use some of the stain from my "performance pieces" to make it look as though I really did some performance art.