"Young Girl"

Oil, 12" x 10" . I used an alkyd white because I wanted this to dry quickly. Funny how different whites act differently. There's a lot of layering in this piece.

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Show Preview and Link for "(R)evolution" Catalog

Principle Gallery now has a page displaying all the work which will be up for the "(R)evolution" show this month, please visit and take a look at all the paintings that will be there. A lot of these paintings are large and so it will be fun to see how they are all displayed together!* Hope you can make it to the show, I think a lot of us will be there.

Meanwhile, I keep forgetting to post the site where you can order copies of the catalog for the show  - it's  from Madder Deep Publishing featuring the uber-talented team at Chez Terry Stickland .

The catalog image is a portion of the powerful painting "Rising Tide" by powerhouse artist Alia El-Bermani- here's the link.

*This is what you should listen to before viewing pictures at an exhibition. Turn the sound up loud!

Solvent Free

[EDIT: the dishwashing detergent shown in the photo was fine for the synthetic brushes I've been using lately but not the best thing for sables, badgers, natural bristles, etc. - see the comments to this post for other recommendations. There's a lot of bar soaps and other products out there for oil paints that are kinder on brushes.]

The condition of being "Solvent Free" is not to be confused with the rarer condition of "Solvency", which is another thing entirely, especially in the representational art community.

Going solvent free means getting rid of the solvents in your oil painting working methods. Common paint solvents such as odorless mineral spirits (OMS), turpentine, etc. can be dangerous to your health, especially when you work with it every day in close non-ventilated quarters. Several of my artist friends have also developed allergies to the stuff.

A few months ago I was at an open studio and watched a young man paint a portrait using a jar of walnut oil to clean his brushes instead of OMS. His work looked fantastic - lush paint, expressive strokes, fresh and clean. I went back to my studio and decided to research this. Apparently you can use either safflower oil or walnut oil to clean your brushes - don't use linseed oil because of its flash point. Linseed oil soaked rags are a cause of fires since they can accidentally spontaneously combust. Don't leave oil soaked rags sitting around, dispose of them right away.

Watch this, artists!

Did you know that human beings can spontaneously combust, by the way?

A half hour after I finished writing the above, but before I posted this, I read a story about human spontaneous combustion in the Sept. 7-8 weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. Apparently,  a case of spontaneous combustion took place in Oklahoma in February of this year, so it's nothing to joke about or to sneeze at.  Naturally, being the alarmist that I am, I researched this a little further. One theory postulates that energy patterns, the Kundalini, that run up and down your spine become misaligned, triggering a temperature spike and you ignite. ( I'm not so sure about this theory.) Another theory is that there are energy anomalies in the earth itself, since suspected cases of human spontaneous combustion are geographically clustered. Hmm. The real estate agents never tell you that, do they?

Back to our story. I wanted to try painting without solvents because I was travelling to a far away land with zero hope of getting solvents when I landed there.Meanwhile, I really like the way my paintings are turning out using safflower oil and dishwashing detergent as brush cleaners. I use small amounts of Oleogel as my medium lately, but I also use other products as mediums. The brushes are incredibly supple and responsive to varying degrees of pressure. I wipe off as much safflower oil as I can  before reusing the brush in another color and it usually works, but if I'm going from dark colors to light I change brushes. At the end of the day I wash them in the soap and shape them.

Many thanks to the marvelous Master of Maastricht, Scott Bartner for his encouragement to pursue anti-solventation, though he has much more to say about this subject than I've covered here.

"A World With Stripes"

Oil, 24" x 36"

This is the second of my three paintings which will be at the impending Women Painting Women: (R)evolution show at Principle Gallery (opens September 19th, 2013).

I love stripes, not only for their graphic design possibilities, but for their symbolic aspect. Artists have been on to this for a long time. Much as been written about the mysterious way nature incorporates spirals into her work. You don't have to look far to see this - hold out your arm and see how your muscles spiral and alternate down your bones. (What, no muscles? How do you expect to win arm wrestling contests?)

Circles are also a powerful symbol of nature and rebirth and have been used by artists for centuries to explore various concepts. I'm fascinated by them too and I frequently paint circular pieces ("tondos"). (You could also say I'm "painting in circles", which may also be true.) Circles are also a powerful symbol of time (obviously referencing the analog clockface) and eternity.

This is in a way a still life, and to my mind, a form of vanitas, a reminder that earthly things will pass, time is short, all is transient, and all those other things you don't want to hear about.

The model is the lovely Cheyenne. We spent many hours on this painting. I learned a lot about my studio and where I have to back up to put models near this window (which turned out to be me smashed against the wall). I ended up painting the spiraled hoop from a photo since the repeating stripes drove me crazy and anyway, Cheyenne ended up moving out of town. She's wearing a selection of items from my costume closet, including a 1930's silk nightgown. Playing dress up with her was great fun all on its own.

Not everybody can be a good life model. The good ones understand somehow in their bones that there's an attitude that needs to be conveyed and they give it to you. Really, it's a form of acting, where you get beyond your self-consciousness. A good life model also displays impressive amounts of proprioception and can get back into the same pose after breaks. If you think this is easy to do, just try it sometime. If you are good at this, contact me, please.

Incidentally, you probably can't see this, but there's a circle within the circle, the locket on her necklace, which has a little rodent at the center - available from the wonderful painter Marina Dieul.

Alex Tyng's Solo Show, Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Maine

My friend Alexandra Tyng has become one of the country's most interesting representational painters and her new show of narrative figurative paintings at Dowling Walsh Gallery is a major event for anyone who cares about the direction painting is taking in this country.

I can't say enough good things about this show. I've seen a few of these works and I'm amazed by their power, imagination and depth of emotion. She has a remarkable ability to transmit universal themes while at the same time pursuing a private, deliberate journey and Alex's ability to show the quality of light in her technique is extraordinary. They're intensely personal paintings with mystery and intelligence.

I'm so very proud to have such an inspiring master as a friend. Alex is a brilliant artist, painting at the top of her game. I really wish I could be there tonight. Go, Alex!

The image above is an ad from the recent issue of American Art Collector Magazine.

Show opens up in Rockland, Maine tonight, Friday, Sept. 6th; for more information, go to Dowling Walsh Gallery

"Portrait of Jim" on display at Scottsdale Artists' School

I teach weekly classes at Scottsdale Artists' School and they often hang samples of teachers' work in the halls and lobby. The other day they put up my "Portrait of  Jim" (my brother). I really enjoyed painting him and I'm delighted to see him on the wall, so thank you, SAS!

I've got a wonderful family and it's my great good fortune to paint them - I'll get to everybody one of these days, I promise.

Family members show up in a lot of my artist friends' work. I wonder how they really feel about it. I imagine that it can't be easy, at least some of the time.

What about those crazy leaves, you ask?! More about this painting can be found in an earlier post here .

"Gardenia Quadrille"

Oil, 20" x 16". It's at Principle Gallery.

 I paint a lot of gardenias, you'd think it would get easier, but they are still pretty maddening. I love the wavy starburst pale green shapes of the calyx formed by the sepals. (Yes, I did just go and Google those terms, it's not as if they were in the front part of my brain.) I might do a painting of just a bundle of calyxes next time.

Now go and Wiki "Quadrille", it's interesting, actually.

You will also of course remember Lewis Carroll's "The Lobster Quadrille" . I used to memorize poetry when I was younger and I remember trying to decide between this poem or Jaberwocky . I picked Jaberwocky, but mostly because of the illustration, I think.