Three days until my annual "open" house. My lovely wife and I have worked hard to hang all of the new art throughout our home. We have organized the inside and the outside of our home. We invite 1600 people to this "little" event. We are helped throughout these two days by 16 family members and friends. Whew.......what happen to that little get together that we had 30 years ago? The invitations were originally all hand made. Now they are in the form of postcards. We are very fortunate. No artist could do this without help.
Here's a little story that happened to us last weekend at a jurying ( a process used to select artists for a show) for a summer show. Mary Anne and I arrived with my art work to show to the juror. Just as we were unpacking it for the juror, Mary Anne's phone rang. She politely excused herself to go answer her phone. After she had left, the juror looked at me and the first painting and said, "Wow, how long did it take her to paint this painting?" I had to respond that I was the artist. Could it have been because the painting was a floral? Well, the final painting before the open house is also a floral.
I hope that you enjoy the painting- and thanks Mary Anne for your continued support and understanding. Wihtout you, none of this would happen.

It's a Friday night and I thought that I would post this mixed media painting of a chicken. Look familiar? This is actually the first attempt at the chicken that I posted earlier. There are times that I start a piece and decide for one reason or another that it is not going in the direction that I desire it to be going. I put this one aside and painted the earlier posted Chicken. I have since revisited my original and reworked it. I never throw away my mistakes. I cut them up , I repaint them, or I visit them at a later time with a fresh outlook. I personally like the appearance of this reworked piece a little better than the earlier piece. I thrive on solving problems. This undoubtedly stems from my forty years of trying to help students find success in their work. There were many days that I found myself encouraging students not to give up on their work. I hope that this "revisited " chicken illustrates the ability to find success in what was thought to be a failure. Here's hoping that when you are confronted with a problem that you think is a lost cause, you will try a new solution.

As I write this I close with a personal, but very public, message to my kids....... Dad is very proud of you and your families. How lucky can a man get!!!!! xoxo

It's a beautiful Wednesday morning. I have walked about my backyard a couple of times, checking to see what new is surfacing. Anticipation and excitement all because a new perennial is making an appearance for the season. I have rescued three frogs from my empty deep pond-well at least I thought that I was rescuing them. Now, it is time to get back to painting- sometimes it is so difficult to get started because I love my yard. Today's piece will also debut at my annual open house. In this one I try to bridge the nature that we see and know with the patterns that I feel . If you are in Ohio get out and "smell the roses" because tonight it is all supposed to change. And me- I'm off to engage my mind in the act of creating something that has never existed- it is cathartic!

Good Morning! In this painting I have tried to capture that feeling of tranquility and the brisk chill that I enjoy when I step outside early in the morning. It makes me feel good to be alive. for those of you seeking more technical advice- I have limited my palette, used linear perspective and aerial perspective. I have always loved painting the backgrounds in my landscapes. Painting landscapes affords me the opportunity to use the sensory experiences that I have as i go through my day. I always pay close attention to that which surrounds me. Here's hoping that you will find joy in your day.

I was up at the crack of dawn working on my blog. Being computer savvy, I had to work on my "scratch disk" in order to prepare my art for this page. If nothing else, I am learning a vocabulary that is very foreign to me. This piece now adorns my kitchen wall. Inspired by a white soup tureen, I became enamored with the use of an outline to punch up the hues in my composition. While a goose may have laid "The" golden egg, I elected to incorporate one into my painting. I felt that it added interest, a little mystery and the opportunity for the viewer to contemplate "my" golden egg. As you will see throughout my presentation of my paintings for 2010, pattern and line play an important role in my work. I hope you had an enjoyable Easter Holiday. Watching my Grandson collect his colored eggs was a golden moment for me!