Blog

This blog traces my influences, studio practice, learning, and teaching of art.

"Abraham Lincoln"


A friend suggested that he looks too gray. This is an older painting, I do not know the symbolism of the yellow rose. I think I may give him color glazes, and maybe write something about the emancipation proclomation on the scroll. It is sad that some of our children know more about Teletubbies, than the founders of our country.

Three Graces


Chuck and Char Fowler commissioned this portrait of their daughters. We had a jolly photo shoot dancing around in their new house.

I painted from photographs. The middle daughter had passed away earlier, so it was a challenge to make her look a little older. I read somewhere that in heaven, everyone is around 27 years old.

Portrait Commissions





Mr. and Mrs. Fowler were living in a condo while their dream house was being built. Char called me to paint their portraits after seeing "Look Inside Yourself" at the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art (now MOCA). CCCA actually promoted local artists way back then. I took photos for reference. Charles enjoyed dressing up.




In 1995, there was an exhibition of Greek antiquities at the Cleveland Museum of Art, titled: A Passion for Antiquities Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Flieschman. I was in my element.

The adulation from Greek Vase enthusiasts was astounding for me. This painting was commissioned by Lawrence, CEO of Kennedy Galleries and is in NYC. Hi Barbara!

"Figs"

A trick to fool the eye is not to frame a painting...Imagine a gold frame on this one. It may sell to a Park Avenue matron, but would loose the trompe l'oeil ooomph. Harnet showed his paintings in a tavern. I wonder how many drinks it took to fool those eyes. This painting is a companion to "The Gravity of Desire". Suspenders are the masculine counterpart to a female's garter.

"Passion Of The Rose"

The most important rule of trompe l'oeil painting is to paint the objects at actual size. All of the objects except the figurine are painted from life. I set them up in the studio and used a ruler to measure the actual height of each object. The goal is to paint a picture which could be mistaken for an actual object. A picture frame automatically destroys the attempted illusion. We are incredibly sophisticated as viewers and it doubtful that anyone is really fooled by a trompe l'oeil painting. For me it is a challenge and a way to connect to an ancient and timeless tradition.

"A Friend Of Mine"

For the first niche painting, I mostly got the idea from a dream: I was painting a niche. I found my niche in a dream. The painter George Kozman had been doing architectural perspectives in landscape often with water reflections, so there was his influence. There is also a great painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art. It is not exactly a new idea. However, few artists have strictly followed the trompe l'oeil rules. This is a statue of Mary Magdeline, painted from a photograph. I made a cardboard niche model to study the light sources and shadows. The overlaping transparent shadows are invented.


Yale Art School 1978, MFA critique, They said: We don't know what you want to do. TRUE! I was experimenting. This is an arch, half circle, installation of hand made papers. Winifred Lutz: Where are you? Winifred taught us how to make exquisite paper making screens. That half circle
is my leitmotif-stchick. Hallelujah.

Mr. H. Carroll Cassill, 1928-2008, Professor Emeritus, Cleveland Institute of Art

After he had passed away in a dream he told me, "I was a good teacher." TRUE! Some of his bon mots: "Manifest destiny is the theme of your work for this year. Ancient techniques are best because innovative ones become outdated. Making good art should be similar to making good food. It is OK to realize that some of what your teachers say is wrong."

I also have a distinct memory of Mr. Cassill telling April, "I feel my role here is like Ma Joad's in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. I tell everybody to stay on the car all the while knowing we might never get to that happy place in California." Well, April Gornik did get there. The print room was where it was happening. It was messy and the intelectual fire was fed by John Baird.

"Shrimp Dinner"


The cat Luther was streetwise. All black, and not fixed, he came and went as he pleased. He was one of the few who could fit into the ambiguous cube. I enjoyed having the tail just touch the edge of the canvas. Tangents are a no no in art school.

"All Lights Be On"

Although our cat Rhity had never visited the

Chatham

light house, in 2007 he posed for a photo, used in this painting. Little did I know he would leave us in a year's time. Gail adopted him from Grandma Gloria. He enjoyed eating mice and

chipmunks

. Legend has it that in his prime, he killed "Shadow", a neighbor’s cat in Euclid, Ohio. He lived out his elder years in Twin Lakes, lounging on the deck sporting a harness on a tether.

Rhity

passed away on June 23 at 12:30 PM. He was 22 years old. His human family and friends will all miss him.

Some comments: "

Rhity

must certainly have been one of the best loved cats in the world. I will miss him terribly." (Missy), "

Rhity

was lucky to have had you all as his family. He was a sweet

lover boy

. " (Dianna), "We'll all certainly miss our old friend. I'm glad that he lived out his many years in a loving home." (Dr. Bob, Hudson Vet), "We all loved him like he was one of our own. We were lucky to have known him." (Lori) "He had a good attitude." Jamie

"All Lights Be Out"


When I pulled this small cat print at the Cleveland Institute of Art, the print instructor, H. Caroll Cassill, ceremoniously and silently returned a pile of bombastic abstract prints I had made. I got the message. This etching is of my pair of Siamese. After hearing a radio add for free cats on WMMS, I adopted them. They were smart enough to play fetch and raced around the Coventry apartment at all hours.