witches, helter skelter

no ‘food’ painting today, but i’ve still got some treats to share-

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
Flight of the Witches, 1797/98 Museo del Prado, Madrid

Long before i fell under the spell of Goya – esp his (black) magical late works, i fell for Woggle of Witches. it’s still a giant influence, and possibly my favorite picture book ever:

more bedtime reading tonight? for some old-fashioned (if much-hyphenated) spookiness, try Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. if thou seeks something even older and wicked new-englandy, try Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown.

up for some haunting (sorry!) music? anything by Dead Can Dance – or for just one, here’s a link to Saltarello. something a little more classically-otherworldly? here’s Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens.

if you’re more about hellraisin’ & helter skelter, here’s some of my commercial work -

aerosmith’s got some new gear – for the season, and beyond, here.


from motley crue’s 2006 tour – also their current splash page, here.

finally…what’s halloween without alice?

Nocturnes, dan the animator.

Ghost House (study), 10×10in, acrylic on panel

orion is just now visible in the midnight hour. the air’s filled with witches, ghosts & graveyards – it wasn’t tough to get inspired by the season. (though because of the dark & muted tones, it was tough to get a good photo of the works.)

One A.M.(study), 10×10in, acrylic on panel

these are an initial stab at merging the imagined charcoals with the still life paintings & a very hopeful sign of larger works to come.

they’re also part of the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative’s 10×10x10 show, which opens this sunday & features more than 50 artists riffing on the theme. reception & lecture are thurs Nov 8 – all the info’s here.

In Boston, or lookin for a reason to go? RISD grad/animator/great guy Dan Sousa will be unveiling a new film as part of the New England Animation program at the spankin new ICA this sunday, Oct 28, at 3pm.

fall classics

jonagold apple, 6×6in, acrylic on panel

i’ve covered a lot of ground since this red apple, painted last fall – but the possibilities continue to open up.

lately i’ve been diggin the warmth of a big butcher block. i’m enjoying the challenge of balancing the softness of the object with the brightness and sharp shadow on the board. (the hope is that if i’m successful, the painting feels like it’s about a space- not just an object. if it fails, your eye sees nothing but sharp contrast in the lower corner. not good.)

apples, 8×8in, acrylic on panel

the Charlestown Gallery (current home of the pair above) will be exhibiting at the Boston International Fine Art Show next month. with more than 40 galleries represented, it looks to be a great event- more info in the next few weeks.

three in a row

ketchup II, 4×6in, acrylic on panel

here in new england, it’s almost perfect – indian-summery weather and 3 Red Sox wins in a row to send ‘em to the Series.

golden mustard, 4×6in, acrylic on panel

like some strange contact high, even those with no interest in baseball (ie me) know the Sox batting order…or worse, find themselves spouting nonsense like ‘5th inning pitch count.’

hot dogs, 4.5×7.7in, acrylic on panel

in the spirit of the collective madness, these 3 works (set aside for the Flinn show later this fall) seemed like a perfect fit. (well, almost perfect – true fans wouldn’t settle for less than fenway franks or saugys.)

Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary, 8×10in, Ultrachrome print on Hahnemühle etching paper

AIDS Care Ocean State throws their annual ArtBeat fundraiser gala tonight.

the Bloody Mary print (thanks to the fine folks at iolabs for the killer job!) is one of the many works of art up for grabs.

It’s also featured in the ACOS 2008 Artist Calendar (i’ve been told Bloody Mary is Miss January) along with the work of RI artists Boris Bally, Alexandra Broches, Gretchen Kai Halpert, Nancy Hart, Gertrude Perluck, Pat Schreiber, Lara Sebastian, Hiroko Shikashio, Kenneth Speiser & Thomas Sgouros.

don’t have info on where to purchase copies of the calendar just yet but will post ‘em as soon as i find out-

event details:
The Providence Biltmore Hotel, Grand Ballroom
Fri Oct 19 2007 6:30pm
for tix ($55) 401.521.3603

pumpkin, ghost dance.

pumpkin, 8×8in, acrylic on panel

fall is my favorite time of year, so this probably won’t be the only symbol of the season to pop up on the site in the coming weeks.

it’s gallery night in providence tonight. lotsa great stuff worth looking into – but if you’re on a time budget & in the neighborhood, here’s 3 words: David Michael Kennedy.

Ghost Dancer Lakota Nation, 20 1/8 X 19 5/8, Palladium Print
image from davidmichaelkennedy.com

i’ll fess up – got no connection here, folks – just sharing some tremendously moving work. This is the second show of his photography at the Gallery at 17 Peck and if it’s anything like the last, it’ll be a treat.

here’s the details:

Artist Reception Oct 18, 5-9 pm; Show runs through Nov 10
with performance and Flutes by Native Flutist Strong Eagle Daly

The Gallery at 17 Peck
17 Peck Street, Providence, RI 20903
401-331-2561

in (like) Flinn

‘real’ mayo, 8×8in, acrylic on panel

got some great news this week – the mayo piece above was selected to be part of the promo for the Food…Glorious Food! group show this dec. at the Flinn Gallery. (more info to come)

saucepan, 7×12in, acrylic on panel

this saucepan was another they’ve asked me to put aside for the show.

i was thrilled to be invited – even more when i saw the eclectic mix of artists involved.

don’t want to give it all away yet…so just one, for now – Jeff Vespa (best known as a founder of WireImage and as official photog of the Sundance Film Festival) will be showing killer large format photos of hamburgers from LA burger joints.

s-w-e-e-t.

the prodigal shrimp, art&blog love

shrimp cocktail, 2006, 4×6in, acrylic on panel -sold-

selling a painting is a terrific high…most of the time.

“hey hon, ya know that shrimp study that sold at the studio event”
“yeah, why?”
“ummm…i spaced & never got a photo of it…?!*@.”

so…i could NOT have been more surprised at our recent open studio at the return of the prodigal shrimp.

or so i thought. seconds after the owners let the cat out of the bag, they surprised me again by pulling out another piece (purchased anonymously thru a gallery) with the hopes of having the frames matched.

butter&bread, 2007, 7×12in, acrylic on panel -sold-

turns out they weren’t thru just yet – they surprised me again when they decided to bring home butter& bread.
–
ok, some art&blog love for the long weekend-

if yer in RI, Lisa Sorensen’s shibori art will be on display at the scituate art festival.

if yer in Boston, painters Stephen Coyle(Chase Gallery) & Jeff Hayes(First Friday) have openings tonight.

Longtime pal Derek Gores recently jumped back into the painting pool & started a series of small paintings to get his hand back. check out the works here.

another risd friend, Jason Brockert recently started an online journal called a year in art – inspired in part by Anne Truitt’s journal, Daybook.

yet another – san fran painter Sadie Jernigan Valeri – wrote a series of posts here about her recent ‘Art’ trip to NYC – lotsa great stuff on drawing at the Met, gallery visits, and a tour thru a classical atelier.

Bruuuuuce.

If you’re a Bruce Springsteen fan, today’s a banner day – the new album’s out & the US tour kicks off tonight. (great article on both in the NY Times this past weekend)

Sooo…what’s he doing here? Back in ‘03, these were part of a line I designed for his epic summer tour.

As a fan, it was a thrill to have the opportunity – and better yet, to hear that the Boss was blown away.

and…a red pear?

red pear, 4×6in, acrylic on panel

ok, bit of a stretch – but Providence foodies will know that the pear is synonymous with another Bruce – chef/owner Bruce Tillinghast of New Rivers. A kitchen fire shut him down for much of this year but word is that he, too, will be back in business this week.