Paros Weeds

Two weeds loom tall high up on the island of Paros looking down at the view of Anti Paros.

I did a Paros Weeds sketch June 2010 then this oil painting which has gone through various forms from just the two weeds with a plain background, to two weeds against a pen & ink background to this final view with some of the background painted in.

Alphabets for Christmas Anyone?

My latest alphabet is called the "Scribble Alphabet."  See if you can figure out the image for each letter (hint P = pigs).  Alphabet posters make great gifts for young children (and others) who need to learn their a,b,c's!

More alphabets are on my website at Redcrowartworks.  Any image found there can be purchased directly from me.  I'll print, sign and mail a museum quality poster OR a cheaper version can be purchased from my account at artistrising.

Additional alphabet product is available at Zazzle

Sister Susan

Another portrait in the style of Alice Neel, this time using her portrait of Andy Warhol as reference (view the New York Times linked slide show to see the image referenced).

My biggest critic says of this 12x16 oil painting "That doesn't look like your sister.  I think you should give up on portraiture."

I agree Susan is better looking than this painting (as can be seen from the photo below) and she was never in this hotel room in Paris (I was, in 2003) but I kind of like this painting!

Running Boy With Dog - Anatomy of a Painting

This new 12"x16" oil painting has a unique history.

I first scanned a painting done by my mother in the 1960s or 1970s of a beach in Santa Barbara (see below), then digitally added the following:
1.  A cut-out of a boat also painted by J.L. Autrey
(see further below)
2.  A cut-out of Newfe the dog running (a rare event) photographed in Portland this year (see below)
3.  A cut-out of one of the neighbor Smith kids I played with in the 1950s (see polaroid photo below taken in our El Sueno yard  in Santa Barbara). 

I put all the pieces together and printed out a digital composite to use as reference.  But when I tried to paint my digital composite, I hated it so I painted over most of the background and then added some houses and smoking stacks from a painting by Hungarian artist Tivadar Csontvary Kosztka of Castellammare Di Stabia

Without the computer, it would surely have been harder to combine paintings and photographs of Santa Barbara, Portland and Hungary to come up with a new painting in the old medium of oil on canvas.

Amber

As an assignment in Chester Arnold's painting class at the College of Marin, I chose to paint a portrait in the style of Alice Neel.  The original image (see below) was a B&W photo of Amber taken in 1984 before a ballet recital put on by Virginia Stapleton's ballet school.  The photo was taken by the very wonderful Art Kaye who sadly passed away this year.

Poppies in Ceramic Pots

The final version of this painting is now live with some other new oils at Redcrow Artworks.  I repainted this background three times! 

Missing You

I painted this picture titled "Fred and Myrtle" in Greece in June of this year.  I must have known subliminally that Amber, Matt and the twins were going to move away and Lucy (Myrtle) and Sam (Fred) would soon be pining for them.  I guess Myrtle is just going to have to fly north to visit.