big red

The garage was painted in May.

I smile every time I get the car out.

What's the biggest thing 

you've ever painted

 red?

big wave tango

The trades have been in irons for the last three days. Hot and humid and still. Last night, storms finally broke them free and the surf began thundering in again. The 30 ft. waves are big enough to shake the house.

Oh yes. This is what we love. The camera and the paint are all set up. Ready o roll. The camera jockey is happy shooting world-class surf jockeys. And painting is a pure pleasure. Problem is, I can't ignore the combination of the surfers out there and the tango playing in my head long enough to paint more than this quick sketch.

Then there's the issue of so many shrimp, so little time...

p.s. Note to self: head should not look like coconut.

up against the wall, emeffer!

I have hit the wall.

Against my better(?) judgement, I'll show you what

I just emailed to Jala across the street:

"I just got so pissed at my paints (it happens), I put them all away. I mean, packed all the tubes in boxes, stashed the brushes, stacked the canvases, washed the jars and pails and scrubbed the table. Sick to death of, okay, frustrated by mixing colors. While I was doing all of that, it occurred to me that I could maybe NOT mix colors and use em straight out of the tube. Even bag the brushes and squirt the shit straight onto the canvas.

Or I could, OMG, use pastels. I can make the same friggin' mud outta them.

Or I could embrace making a mess and go multi-media.

At any rate, something's gotta change."

Then I said something about spending time working in the garden.

Thrashing the dirt always helps.

Then I said something about having me a couple of glasses of whine.

I don't drink, so this is a questionable strategy.

In the meantime, here's a medium I can handle...

Ever had a day like this?

leftovers

I like how Celeste Bergin uses

the leftover paint on her palette

to paint a little something else.

The object is to use up what's left, not to do a masterpiece.

I'm nothing if not casual.

first wave

I could've painted more in Hawaii, but it seemed superfluous.

Eventually the colors became irresistible, and besides, the humidity kept the acrylics workable for two whole days. Amazing. Here in Colorado, they skin over in less than a half hour. Ironic, since I sat on the porch and watched this

paint itself in no time at all.

chocolate moose

juniper

Like a fool, I sometimes paint dogs who exist only in my head. Admittedly, it can be pretty dark and scary in there. Just me and Cerberus deciding who gets through. There are no photos; there are no posers. Although, just like people, some of the dogs certainly have enough attitude to be poseurs. Because I have no visual cues for these paintings, they can wind up looking, well, quite literal. Okay, so my mind's eye can be a little anal. Depending on my mood, it has either too much discretion or not enough. Ain't it always the way...

I start with a sketch, made with the charcoal leaving nothing more than an outline. Occasionally, I do check photos for anatomical references. Anything after that shows up while I paint. What the values and hues are, where the lines get lost and found, the impression, the expression; one thing leads to another. I apply a few rules but generally try to stay out of the way. That's how dogs like Juniper get to be here. Believe me, I'm not about to tell him he doesn't look right.

running backwards

For me, blogging is running backwards in wet sand. I fall down and I can't get up. It's not blogging that boggles me; it's computers. Okay, it's both. For whatever reason(s), I just don't seem to be able to even want to compute.

For now, I'm going back to the studio to do what I know how to do. Life is short, and I sure don't want to spend it hassling with computers. I'd much rather do what feels right, so I'm going paint. Period. To me, doing both is like patting my head and rubbing my belly. I'll figure out another way besides blogging to show my art. A yard sale comes to mind. That's not to say I won't use this blog as a place to post occasional blurbs, scrawls and brilliant bon mots.

I admire those of you who can do it all. Keep it up. Meanwhile, I'll be in the studio with all the dogs and their brilliant knowses.