"Dream Image #2"

8"x10"

Mixed media on stretched canvas

I dreamt this painting a while back, maybe a month or so, but just now had the time and inclination to put it down.  As with the first Dream Image piece I painted, it always seems like a better idea when I first wake up.  I know that they always look better in my dreams!  I also altered this piece a bit.  I added the green to it, and the third, horizontal line, intersecting the other two.  It seems that when I dream of paintings, at least the first two that I've awakened to remember and attempted to paint, have both been landscapes in as much as I paint them.  I wonder what that means? Should I be leaning towards the abstract landscape?  Hmmm, food for thought.  

"Uncovered"

40"x60"

Mixed media on canvas

SOLD

Here is the piece where  I first incorporated the jute.  I love the rough, almost hairy quality it has, and the way it grabs the paint and texture mediums when I drag the brush over it.  After areas of the jute has been covered with texture mediums and paint, I like to go back, lay some gauze over, and then go back over again with the mediums.  Pretty much, it's just a matter of layering and massaging certain areas to the background while pulling others to the fore.  I was happy to sell this piece.  It will be hanging on a cruise ship.  

"Hidden" 

15" x  21.5"

Mixed media on wood

SOLD

You may be saying to yourself, "Self, this piece looks familiar", and you'd be right.  I completed it a while ago, then put it aside, but I was never really happy with it.  I recently was putting together my show for saturday night, and picked it up, and reworked it a bit, adding some burlap, and about 3 layers of texture and gauze.  I'm glad I did, as I sold it during the show.  

The show was a success!  I can't tell you how unnerving it was to be there, with a DJ, food, wine, and lots of people, just to hang out, escape the heat (it's been ridiculously hot here lately), and see my stuff.  All in all, I sold 4 pieces, one of which was quite large.  I will post it probably tomorrow or later this week.   We had some dear friends from out of town staying with us over the weekend, and they really helped put the show together with flowers, the arrangement of the room, etc.  Sure, I hung the pieces, but the two good friends, and my wife, D  did all the heavy lifting.   Without them, the show wouldn't have been half of what it ended up being.  I had so many friends, clients, friends OF clients there... hell,  even a clown  showed up.  No really.  There was a clown at my show.  No, I didn't plan for it, it was a friend I do improv with who does clowning sometimes, who came directly from a job to the show.  Let me tell you, when a clown that tops out at six and a half feet shows up in a small gallery, it turns a few heads.  

Good times.

"Corrosion"

40" x 60"

Mixed media on stretched canvas

I finally finished a large piece!  It didn't take a very long time, either, all things considered.  I've done a lot with the screen and two different types of gauze.  I really enjoy working with the gauze.  I've begun a second large piece and hope to have it finished in time for the show in a few weeks.  In that piece, I'm trying out some jute.  We'll see what we get.