ABOUT COLOR

As anyone who works with color knows, red gets redder when it is seen close to a cool color in the blue-green range. This little painting, Saiph, is about red. I find it easier to put a painting together when the objective is to play up a color. To quote Matisse: “When I put colors together, they have to join a living chord, like a musical chord or harmony.” I think of what happens when the painting becomes “right” is that it takes on energy. I like to believe that is a kind of human energy made visible. And that might explain why some literature or music or other kind of artistic expression can bring an emotional response to the listener or reader or viewer.
Saiph is a one-of-a-kind original, measures 9 x 7” and is mounted in a 14.5 x 11.75” acid-free mat. It is made of archival materials, mostly acrylic paint and collage elements that I make in my studio. For information on framing, please see "Framing Notes" in the sidebar on this page.

MEMOIR

 I paint little houses now and again. Memoir was part of a quartet painted in 1996, now long gone. There were four little houses painted on paper and mounted together on canvas.  I painted them because I needed them and then sold them because once they were painted I didn’t need them any more.


I wrote about them for a show in 2008:
The Little Houses are safe places. I started making them when my mother left me at school and walked away. I was on my own in kindergarten amongst strangers.
I have gone back to making them to comfort myself at various times in my life and they have always provided solace. They have brought comfort during times of grief and loss and loneliness. They mean home, always the best place to be.

I am away from home now which is probably why the little houses came to mind.

ALCOR

Alcor is named for a star as are all those in the series of miniatures which I will present here. I make small collages for the pure pleasure of the process. I have a large inventory of collage materials in my studio, some of it in small pieces that are great fun to put together.

Alcor is a mixed media collage painting, measures 4” x 6” and is mounted in an 8” x 10” acid-free mat. It will fit into a standard 8” x 10” frame. It is made of archival materials, mostly acrylic paint and collage elements that I make in my studio. It is signed and dated. Little paintings like this are delightful hung on narrow walls, standing on tables or shelves, or hung in a group of paintings of different sizes.
SOLD

ABOUT TITLES

I choose titles to name my paintings as you would name a baby or a pet animal. They need to be identified so when the name is mentioned, the being or thing referred to comes to mind. I choose words that I like as I did in a series that had titles that ended with “ion”: Anticipation, Coronation, Innovation, Recreation, and Conception were some of the titles. I did not choose words like defamation, fumigation, cancelation or the like. For another group of paintings I used the names of flowers. Since I tend to produce large groups of works with a similar vision, there must be a great variety of names to work with. The names of stars that title the miniatures I am exhibiting here are particularly pleasing as they seem to me to be as abstract as the little paintings. The names can be translated but I prefer to keep them as devoid of meaning as are my paintings. Stars are wonderful to look at and that is what I intend with my work.

FRAMING NOTES

For paintings that do not fit a standard size frame you might want to consult a professional picture framer. Another option is an easy and inexpensive frame kit that can be purchased from American Frame. “Choose your frame, mat, glazing, etc, then submit your dimensions. An easy-to-assemble frame kit will be on its way”. They cut everything to your specifications and include simple instructions for assembly. For gift-giving, American Frame offers gift certificates.