"Tumbled Cherries" at Abend Gallery's Holiday Miniatures Show, Dec. 2 '11 - Jan. 7 '12

My little painting "Tumbled Cherries" is at Abend Gallery's 21st Annual Holiday Miniatures Show, which runs from Dec. 2, 2011 to Jan. 7, 2012. Here's the ad for the show in the December 2011 issue of American Art Collector Magazine.

"The End of the Beginning" - Large Works Show at Abend Gallery, November 2011

My painting "The End of the Beginning" will be shown at Abend Gallery's Large Works Show, Nov. 4th through Nov. 26th, 2011. Here's the ad for the painting in the December issue of Southwest Art Magazine:

November Featured Artist at Trekell & Company

Some of my work is showcased in the November newsletter of the artist brush manufacturer Trekell & Company - thanks, Trekell! 

Paintings of Monhegan Island, Maine

I recently had the chance to paint with a group of artist friends on historic Monhegan Island, Maine. Artists have been travelling to the island for decades to paint the rocks, coast, forests and maritime scenery. This was a wonderful opportunity to experience a landscape so unlike where I live now, and of course to share ideas and learn from other plein air painters.  Here are two paintings of mine:

"Morning at Gull Cove", Oil, 12" x 16"

"Surf at Lobster Cove", Oil, 12" x 16"












And here's a photo of me with some wonderful artist friends...

L to R: Judy Carducci, Sue Braswell, Me, Greer Jennison, Alex Tyng, Carolyn Lewis, Diana Ansley

Print ad in October, 2011 issue of Southwest Art Magazine

One of my recent gardenia paintings is now available at Abend Gallery in Denver, CO and here's the ad in the October, 2011 issue of Southwest Art Magazine.

"Tumbled Cherries", Oil, 6" x 12"

A new little still life I finished recently, taking advantage of this year's crop of Queen Anne cherries.

Missing Paintings

I had a minute of mild panic today when I thought I had lost a sketch for a figurative painting I've long been eager to get to. I had drawn it a couple of years ago and  today I was finally ready to start the painting. I'd kept the sketch taped to the back of a board which, in retrospect, was maybe not a great idea. (Note to self: take photos of sketches and download onto computer, file under "Sketches for Future Paintings".)

Anyway, I found the sketch, which was only a simple working sketch, but I started thinking about all the paintings and drawings that have gone missing over the years. There seems to be a lot of representational work in particular that has disappeared. This may have to do with the lowly market status of much realist art in the latter part of the 20th century, or it may have to do with the state of many private art collections after the mayhem of the two world wars.

"Miss Nichols", by Philip de Laszlo, c. 1912. Image taken from the de Laszlo archive trust website. Painting is currently missing.


Take, for example, the status of many of the paintings by Philip Lexius de Laszlo, a famous 19th - 20th c. portrait painter widely regarded as Sargent's successor as the world's leading society painter. There are pages and pages of missing paintings and drawings found on the above de Lazlo website . I wonder if this sad state of affairs has to do with the fact that most of these paintings are portraits and the heirs of the paintings either didn't care about the work (or the person) or maybe the heirs simply have vanished as well. It didn't help that much of de Laszlo's clientele was that of now-vanished European aristrocracy.

There are a couple of books available about de Laszlo. The one I have is "A Brush With Grandeur", available on Amazon.

Photo of de Laszlo's self-portrait is taken from http://www.wikigallery.com/.

Congratulations Alexandra Tyng!

My friend Alex Tyng is a well known portrait, figure and landscape painter and has a fantastic new show at the Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine. Her big canvases take your breath away. Opening reception is August 5th and the show runs through August 28th, 2011.

New Painting: "Gardenia Frieze"

"Gardenia Frieze", Oil, 12" x 24"

This painting is now available for purchase at Abend Gallery in Denver, Colorado.

William McGregor Paxton

“Let the surfaces flow into one another in a supple envelope of light & paint
Find a new motive
Make the picture look as if it were painted in one sitting
Paint as large a piece as possible at once
Never paint on one piece too long at a time
Do something somewhere else to rest your eyes
Paint neither too thickly nor thinly
The quickest way is the best
Compose by masses of light & dark or dark & light
Chiaroscuro is what makes pictures rich
Seek a noble and ample design
Make the objects swim in the air
Paint all things in relation to the focus.”
- William Paxton, 1901

William McGregor Paxton  (1869 – 1941) was a Boston-based painter who, along with the artists Tarbell, Benson and DeCamp, painted portraits as well as interiors and exteriors using a generally impressionist palette. He painted a world of beautiful women sipping tea from china cups as sunlight streamed through windows.
The book I own on Paxton was published by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1979,  William McGregor Paxton, 1869 – 1941 . It’s hard to find, which is a huge shame, as there’s a lot of useful information for artists as well as having wonderful reproductions. The maxims quoted above are from the frontspiece of the book and I think of them from time to time as I paint, particularly the “Make the objects swim in the air” advice. 

Here’s a Paxton painting courtesy of http://www.artrenewal.org/ :

More Still Lifes From William Nicholson

Here are some more still lifes from the book  The Art of William Nicholson, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2004

I’ll quote from the book about his still life work:
“Nicholson’s still-lifes are generally considered his finest work, and there is no question that they show a greater range of feeling and development than any other type of picture he made. If in his early examples he might make traditional views of, say, elegant vases or glamorous arrays of flowers, he kept testing the theme, moving from large-size, vaguely allegorical and somewhat bizarre examples, such as The Hundred Jugs , an image of a kind of jug warehouse, to increasingly informal views of seemingly random objects. It is in his still-lifes that [his] colour is most daring and sumptuous, and he is most experimental in in his feeling for illumination, exploring the brightest, most silvery and golden tonalities, and also sheer darkness, from which reflective objects send forth glimmers of light.” p. 16

The Hundred Jugs

Art Books: William Nicholson

First of all, before I forget – hope your New Year will be happy and prosperous!

I’ve been meaning to write about the books in my art book collection for quite a while and while I've posted a couple of entries on some of my books on this blog, I haven't been terribly disciplined about this . At first I thought I’d move sequentially through the stacks (for example, you’d get a long series of posts about all my books about drawing, since that is what’s on the top of the shelf) – but on second thought, I think that random selection might be best. I’ll start the new year with the book that’s been on my desk for several weeks now, The Art of William Nicholson (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2004). [I just checked the price on Amazon – you really need to buy an art book when it’s first released, particularly an exhibition book. They get very expensive very quickly!]

Nicholson was born in 1872 in Nottinghamshire, England and died in 1949. Although he painted many portraits (and portraiture accounted for the main source of his income), today he is primarily remembered as a still life and landscape painter. He began his artistic life as a graphic artist which undoubtedly influenced his strong sense of drama and design in his later work.

His still lifes are sensually painted and are often painted from interesting vantage points. He also plays with light conditions, such as dramatically footlighting objects or having objects lit from behind. Shadows often play an integral part of the composition. I love looking at his still lifes.