Category Archives: contemporary art

Bouquet

Another teeny one. Oil on canvas, 8″ x 8″.

I am a coward

I still don’t have a finished painting that is good enough to put on a postcard.

I need to finish the larger canvases.

The few that seem close to being “done” seem equally deserving of being set into a roaring fire.

I need boldness, big brushes and brash strokes.

What I have is timidity, the tiny brush and the endless noodling.

Psychological paralysis and incessant worry.

If something doesn’t change soon, I don’t know what will happen with my May show.

If I set tiny paintings ten feet apart and say, “I meant to do that,” do you think anyone will believe me?

Corazón entre Nubes

Oil on canvas, 8″ x 8″.

Once in a blue moon

We are coming up on the second of two blue moons that we’ll have this year.

I don’t know what the odds are of having two blue moons in a year, and my geekery level isn’t high enough this evening to find out.

I’m too busy trying to paint a Mexican wrestler.

Good news- a trio of great shows at CORE New Art Space. Opening tomorrow with an artists’ reception on Friday evening, this show features three artists at different points in their careers, working in different genres.

All three are gifted and dedicated artists, and I recommend you come to see this show if you can.

My friend Claudia Roulier, is one of the three artists in this show. Claudia makes me feel like an underachiever; she is so prolific and talented, and her (often delightfully creepy) work is a must-see!

Gregor’s Prayers

Another tiny one. Oil on canvas, 6″ x 6″.

Earworm

12″ x 12″, oil on canvas.

Delight

I mistrust my own feelings of delight and have for several years, knowing that what goes up must come down.

But- I feel delighted nonetheless and the light is certainly changing in Denver. All at once, things are warmer and brighter and the arrival of spring seems certain. This has lifted my spirits considerably… I have cut forsythia branches and taken them inside to brighten the house within the next week or two. They are johnny-on-the-spot reliable when taken inside at this time of year; outside, it’s much iffier. Late freezes can kill all those hopeful buds.

I have a largish painting, a Cabatisto, on the easel and in the works this evening.

I have a smallish painting about earworms in the works as well.

It is Lent and that means something to me, though I’m not sure why.

I think of Lent, I guess, as the darkness before the dawn and a good time to exercise self-sacrifice- knowing that this must have as many meanings as there are souls out there.

(I haven’t smoked in two months. I think I smell fabulous, but that’s entirely subjective.)

This is something else that delights me as I paint tonight- a pianist named Geno Pallila. A lovely Chopin improvisation. I thank the gods for technology, which makes this huge world smaller in so many inexpressible  ways.

Crossing The Waters

(Flowers for Esmin Green)

Oil on canvas, 40″ x 30″.

If any one can define specifically for me the what the “pompitous of love” is I’ll give ’em five bucks.

(It’s about all I can spare.)

Je ne sais pas

Some people think the most important phrases to learn in a new language are “Please,” “Thank you,” “Direct me to the washroom,” “I am in pain,” and “How much does this cost?”

Those are all very useful, but for me, what I most want to learn to say in any language is “I don’t know.”

Because I never do.

Right now I don’t know how many paintings I’ll have for my May show or how I’ll manage to bring the one on my easel right now to a satisfactory resolution.

I don’t know what the paintings will be “about” (and some one is bound to ask me that-ugh) or what I’ll title my show.

I’m tempted to call it “More Paintings about Rats and Balloons.”

Maybe I’ll resist that urge. Maybe not.

Maybe I just need a good night’s sleep.

I don’t know if that will be possible tonight.

Je ne sais pas.

Kay Sorpresa

The Patron Saint of Shock and Shiver.

24″ x 12″, oil and gold leaf on canvas.

May god forgive me for the terrible pun.