Monthly Archives: December 2019

And Then There Were Two

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"Rock & Roll", "Fish & Chips" and "Jack & Coke"

“Rock & Roll”, “Fish & Chips” and “Jack & Coke” – art that pops makes it Pop Art!

The three paintings shown above are a rather dramatic departure from my surrealistic style. I believe they would fall into the category of ‘Pop Art’.

The idea behind them originates from yet another departure I took almost 40 years ago with what I called ‘stick paintings’. That’s where I would smother the canvas in paint and then literally ‘stick’ objects into the paint. The first one I ever created was also the first art work that I ever actually sold at my first gallery showing back in 1981. It was called, “Sealed For Your Protection”.

That was back when I was still doing airbrush painting. I had a small canvas and didn’t know what to do with it. So I decided to cover the canvas in color, using a palette knife to spread on paint from every tube of paint I had. It ended up being kind of a mess. Looking around, I noticed that I had all these tabs that had been pulled from my air brush bottles of paint. The tabs were all marked with the words, “Sealed for your protection”. Looking at the gobs of paint on the canvas, I thought, “Why not?” So I stuck about 40 of the tabs into the paint. When it dried, the tabs were literally sealed into the paint.

Jump forward about 34 years and while we were visiting my son, Tom, while he was studying at Oxford, we went to The Tate Museum of Modern Art. It was there that I saw a canvas that had been painted black. The artist had then used a knife and cut a big slice into the canvas, revealing a white canvas beneath it. Modern art.

That journey rekindled memories of my first ‘stick painting’ and I decided to bring back the concept, using items that were linked by an ampersand. The first one I did was “Nuts & Bolts” featuring hand painted yellow screw nuts and their accompanying bolts. I liked what I had done.

So then I created, “Nickels & Dimes”, “Salt & Pepper”, “War & Peace” (click here to see it) and “Sticks & Stones”.

I was thinking of doing more in the series, just to take a break from my more time-consuming surrealistic paintings when I decided to give the word pairings a different treatment. So that’s when I came up with “Rock & Roll” as the first of what would be a series of at least three paintings.

“Fish & Chips” was my second in the series. I had a number of different options for the third but a conversation with Tom Jr. convinced me that the third painting should be “Jack & Coke”. The idea was his. The execution was mine.

When you view the three paintings all in row, they make quite a visual statement as each one is 24″ x 48″. I thought they would look excellent on a gallery wall, or a game room or perhaps a restaurant.

But “Rock & Roll” was recently purchased, and no, I’m not upset about that in the least. So now there are two.

I’m contemplating painting a new version of “Rock & Roll” – using a different rock and a different type of roll. Or maybe the same. Or maybe something new altogether.

That will be a 2020 decision as I’m currently trying to wrap up one last painting for the year.

So stay tuned. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year to you and yours!

If you know anyone who you think might enjoy these updates and overviews, I recommend that you sign up for my free newsletter.

Also, if my prices are keeping you from purchasing anything, know that you can order prints of my work, as well as get my artwork put onto a variety of items like iPhone covers, pillow throws, tote bags, greeting cards, coffee cups, shower curtains and a wide variety of other items by visiting my other website on Pixels. As if that weren’t enough, more items are now available on Vida on an even wider variety of items – from umbrellas to yoga mats, clothing and jewelry to household items. I also invite you to follow me on Instagram to see work in progress from start to finish!

Why “The Traitor” is called, “The Traitor”

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The idea behind this name is meant to tell a story.

The idea behind the name of this painting is meant to tell a story.

The concept behind my most recent painting came to me in a dream. Perhaps I’ve been overdosing on political coverage recently and all of the backstabbing taking place on either side crept into my subconscious where they later emerged as a vision in a dream.

Whatever the case, I woke one morning a few weeks ago with the thought of five men standing in a row, backs facing us. Four of them were holding a gun, and one, had a bouquet of roses.

Generally, when thoughts like this stay with me upon waking up, I act on them, so I quickly sketched out the visual. At first, they were going to be on the steps of the Capitol, tying the visual even more to politics.

I went out and bought a new canvas – but before I did that, I looked at the overall dimensions and decided that there should only be four men. That way, they would better fill the space. That’s also when I decided that the men on the steps visual was too obvious. I wanted something more nebulous that would be truer to my surrealistic roots.

I chose to have them looking out on a body of water and wanted the sky to be a mix of blues and purples and have some turbulence going on. At the same time, the rays of the sun offer a glimmer of hope in what is upon first glance, a rather ominous painting.

As I was sketching my new creation onto the canvas, the name came to me – that’s often the case with my surrealist paintings. I knew it had to be called “The Traitor”.

And why? Because it adds an all new dimension to the painting. It creates a story. Why is the man holding the roses, “The Traitor”? Who or what has he betrayed? And how do you even know that “The Traitor” is the guy holding the roses?

Is the man with the roses planning on killing someone with kindness?

None of these story lines would have ever even crossed the viewer’s mind had I simply called the painting, “Guns ‘n’ Roses”. Just like putting the men on the steps of the capitol seemed too obvious, I like to have the names of my paintings add to the potential storyline inside the viewers head.

So the answer to why I called this painting “The Traitor” is really quite simple.

I did it for you.

If you know anyone who you think might enjoy these updates and overviews about my art, I have an art related website where anyone can sign up for my free newsletter.

Upon visiting, if my prices are keeping you from purchasing anything, know that you can order prints of my work, as well as get my artwork put onto a variety of items like iPhone covers, pillow throws, tote bags, greeting cards, coffee cups, shower curtains and a wide variety of other items by visiting my other website on Pixels. As if that weren’t enough, more items are now available on Vida on an even wider variety of items – from umbrellas to yoga mats, clothing and jewelry to household items. I also invite you to follow me on Instagram to see work in progress from start to finish!