Looking at my own paintings
My unfinished paintings surround me here in the studio. I never look at them; rather, my eye studies them, and I try to make my eye happy. I hear “It…
New palette
Christmas was wonderful again this year. One of my gifts was a new palette. My homemade one is decrepit, as you can see in this photo. I prepared the new…
Another canvas ready
I applied the second and last oil ground to this new 44″ x 60″ canvas. I made the tone by adding a little burnt umber and burnt sienna to the…
I think no, I mean yes
…but it’s all wrong… So the song goes. This is a painting that I turned to the wall for a long time as I tried to work out what was…
Winter doldrums
This winter has been harsh. The temperature hasn’t been above freezing in many weeks. Lake Erie is 100% frozen for the first time since the ’90’s. It snowed a lot,…
Ill-omened moon
I’ve seen blood moons before, the red moon that appears during Fall evenings, but I’ve never seen a red moon in the morning until today. When I first saw the…
My Prison Studio
As a member of a Federal works program, I taught art in community centers around Dayton, Ohio. My fellow teachers were performers, musicians, and artists. The director was a dancer…
Struggles
I have been struggling with a painting for the past week. It was not going as I wanted and it was difficult to “see” it. This “blindness” happens to me…