So, since about November or December of 2020, I've gotten back in to ink again. It kind of started out more as an exploration of paper, that paper being rice paper, which traditionally is painted or drawn on with ink. But I had originally started using ink back in the 90s, not necessarily on rice paper, and eventually drifted away from that to get heavy in to gouache. I used 100% cotton watercolor paper back then and also used watercolor paint. At some point I had bought a roll and pad of rice paper, thinking that I should see what that was like to work with that, since I was so big into Sumi ink. I dabled a bit, but never really took to it. At the time I preferred the smooth sturdy surface of hot press watercolor sheets.

Wow! I did not realize that this blog was still even in existence! Ha ha! Yes! I'm still here, making art...two-sided art even! I apologize for not keeping this blog updated, but you can always catch up at my website or instagram. Here is a photo of two stretchers that I just completed (actually I still need to tweak them a bit)

They will be a pert of a show that I am curating for summer of 2019 at Waterfall Arts in Belfast, titled "Gallery Closed".

Wow! It's been three years since I've blogged! Anyway, I'm still here making art...here's a picture of one of my recent window installations "Call Me"....actually, my first window installation! I was originally hoping to create this installation for a window at Port City Music Hall or SPACE Gallery, but chanced across The Engine's new digs in Biddeford, Maine and as they were so accommodating and available, I decided to just go for it! The red and white clothing was first exhibited as a part of

Wow, the back of this canvas, or canvases are going quite rapidly. I didn't take any pictures of the paper mache process because I thought that it would be kind of uninteresting. And now it is more than halfway complete. I knew from the beginning of this piece that I would be drawing a bunch of American Airlines Flight texts. The only surprise for me was that I decided to add United Airlines Flight texts too.

Here are a couple of detail views of the front. I showed this piece to some collegiates today and got some nice feedback...they liked the colors and felt that it created a discordant cheerfulness against the political content...also it felt very American, color-wise, real strong with the red, white & blue...though there are a few non American flags too. I'm looking forward to turning this canvas over and getting started on the back.

Wow! I think that I messed up a bit designing this painting...adding all of these little things onto the chunks of land is a little tricky...the details are a bit challenging with even my tiniest brush. But I'm starting to like the complexity of the image and am enjoying how the careful placement of the little land items improve the overall composition and movement of the larger image. I'm thinking that this side of the canvas will be complete in the next two days.

Boy, I've been struggling a bit with rendering these chunks of land as 3-D slabs...I'm s used to drawing with ink or gouache on paper, which is so much smoother and faster.
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I've begun to form the shapes that represent the title of this piece; land forms or chunks of land being held by sleeved arms. I ended up creating some real meandering shapes. I was thinking about shapes of countries or states and how they're often formed or mapped out or their borders are decided according to rivers, mountains or straight lines. I think shapes of countries have a distinct quality that is very odd and not necessarily picturesque.

What a gnarly mess of arms! Next task will be to paint hands at the ends of all those sleeves, each holding a chunk of land...stay tuned!

Ok...now I've done it...I've got all of these wiry, spindly arms that will need to get rendered with wrinkles and dimension. But I'm liking it so far and I think that it will be just the right touch for this painting and this series.
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Monroe, Maine, United States
A visual artist living in mid coast Maine.
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