When the chickens come home to roost

Lots of shuffling around of artwork is going in the next few weeks, which, if nothing else, justifies my driving a pickup instead of a Mini Cooper which I would LOVE.

Today I dropped off the above painting which just barely fit in the bed of the truck for the Art League of RI show at the RISD Museum. The show is not going to be in the big new gallery after all, (I thought that was too good to be true) but instead it will be in the OLD new gallery (the Farago wing), which is still pretty cool and a nice big space.

So I headed up Benefit St., and you know how it is when you are trying to get down really narrow street and cars are parked on the other side so you can barely get by if a car is coming the other way as it is, and then someone makes it even worse by just PARKING on the wrong side so you have to wait till traffic clears and then squeak by them. Well that was me. Not the one squeaking by. The obnoxious jerk who parked. But my painting was big, and a gusty thunderstorm was threatening, so...tough!

And it's now official. I have a painting in the RISD Museum.

Most of my other paintings will be coming home to my studio though. Monday I'll be taking down 5 church paintings from my art window . It sure will be easier to take down than to put up.  A lot of the installation is made up of branches, shells and thorns and can go right into a composting bag, the canvas curtains can get wrinkled, and only the paintings need to be saved from demolition.

My show at RWU library comes down on the 22nd, which means I'm really going to run out of room in my storage racks. This will be a good time to reorganized and clean my entire studio, try to beat back the clutter sprawl and find space for all these damn paintings.

Luckily it's off to Colorado and the Great Sand Dunes for the painting I'm working on now. Now I just have to find good homes for the others...

End of the Machine Age

Done, finally. I think the machines are over, at least for awhile. Back to the natural world. Which is really a big machine when you think of it.

I'm going soon to be part of a team that documents that machine when I join the Bioblitz on Block Island in a couple of weeks. More on that later, in fact, I may even blog from the island. Or I may just hunker down with a glass of wine in my tent after a day in the fields of BI with my paintbox. Good times.

In progress

I think I finished a painting today. I hope I finished a painting today. The reason being that it now only has a week to dry before being dropped off at the RISD Museum for the Art League of RI members show. If it seems like I've been working on this painting forever, its because I have. I even showed it once, in my show at the now defunct Gail Cahalan Gallery. But it wouldn't stay finished so back in the studio it went. If it's really finished when I look at it tomorrow, it will be the grand finale of the shoemaker series. After 4 years, it's time I moved on from the machines.

Besides, I'm really anxious to concentrate more on a few other paintings that are in the works, especially my painting from the Great Sand Dunes. I know I have a couple of months before my year's deadline is up, but I feel it's really inexcusable to have taken this long to send it. So if you're reading this, kindly Great Sand Dunes ranger, it will head west soon. Below is a snippet of the painting in progress.



I've also got several other paintings that were started ages ago. It's been so long since I really worked on them it will take some doing to reconnect, but I feel ready to follow this new direction to see where it leads.



So I'll give the big painting a good night's rest, and a signature tomorrow....I hope!

Among the Living

I guess I'm officially Among The Living, although some days it doesn't seem so. That's the name of the latest group show at Bert Gallery that includes my painting "Fourth Church". The show is up until June 18th, so if you're in the neighborhood, maybe sitting by the river and sipping a cool one across the street at the Hot Club, stop in. Or see the 3-D version just east of the gallery at the Holy Rosary Church.
The opening is on Gallery Night, June 17, which is also the opening of the Art League's show at the RISD Museum. I have a painting in that one too and will post more about that soon.

Body of Proof - the trailer

It looks like the scenes from the TV pilot my paintings were starring in made the final cut! Check out the paintings on the wall at 1:20.

I know, those pesky actresses are in the way, and the paintings seem a bit blurry, but it's only the pilot after all. In the series (Friday nights on ABC!) I'm sure they'll clear the set and get the paintings in better focus. It's not certain, though, if they are going to film the rest of the series in Providence. The show itself is set in Philadelphia and could film elsewhere, especially if Gov. Carcieri succeeds in killing the tax credits for filming in RI. 

But whatever happens, let's hope she doesn't redecorate her office!

Backbone

A spinal column is a difficult thing to paint.