Charcoal/Still working this through?

18" x 24"/Charcoal + pastel

I often think I overwork pieces.  And that desire to make adjustments or revisions confuses me.  I like to consider my work an attempt to follow the example of expressionist painters and I imagine them to have worked themselves up into some sort of sublime state of nonjudgmental creative energy every time they worked and at the end they discovered they'd made something remarkable in some way or another!!  And I tell myself that I am making marks just to see what happens but that notion begins to coalesce into a "plan" and there goes my "thoughtless" expression!?!
I bet they (the expressionists, e.g. Chagall) didn't actually paint that way.
With respect to the piece above, I'm going to leave it alone.  I just decided.
And of course,  this is a recurring theme in my blogging about my work so please indulge me, if you will.

Charcoal portrait with Red

Soft pastel and charcoal/18" x 24"

Nina's Nook Exhibit

18" x 24"/Charcoal and pastel

12" x 16"/Oil on board

The lower image is a view of a larger work on display at a local gallery exhibit of erotic art.  Not sure but I feel it is at the margins of what I understand to be erotic representation but none the less I was pleased it was chosen to be included in the collection of work produced by local painters, photographers and sculptors.
The venue is Nina's Nook, a unique space located at 125A Avenue A, Turners Falls, Mass. 01376.  Turners is just a quick jog off of Rt. 2 between Gill and Greenfield.  More about the exhibit, gallery hours, etc. can be found at www.ninasnook.com.
Above is one of several pieces on paper I did some time ago.

Landscape

Oil on canvas/24" x 36"

Have a bit of a series of landscapes going.  In October of last year I took a drive up to the hills around Shelburne Falls, took some photos and did some drawing and painting.  The work in the studio continues.
And no, taking photos of my work isn't something I've been able to improve much on...unfortunately.

Drawing with charcoal and pastel

Pastel and charcoal on paper

This piece is about 18" x 24" and was done recently.  She's seated on an invisible chair and surrounded by an aura or field of extra energetic random squiggles which seem to keep her from falling.  More really soon.

2013/First Post

So, this is a watercolor I did about four years ago.  I worked from a charcoal drawing I'd done about three or four years prior to this rendering.  It's a favorite of mine and many family members; it suggests or reminds us of a particularly challenging and stressful period during which medical treatments, hospitals, and hope saturated our lives.  That hope and treatment brought rewards and viewing this image rekindles a place of strength, warmth, optimism and successfully pushes worry to the side while it's delicacy acknowledges that we are all frail when living in time.
Although I've been silent here for just about a month I've spent time working on several larger pieces.  I've not neglected the art but have not done much of a job recording my activities.  That will change in the days to come!  I have lots of work to present and will, I hope, have lots to say about it, too.
Oh, and the image above is one I'm hoping will displayed in a local figurative show which opens shortly.

Darkness and light

In recent days I have been occupied with thoughts of  life and loss in the lives of others as well as in my own.  But especially in those of others, those affected by the pain accompanying sudden loss of life, sudden challenges to feelings of security and safety we all want to embrace us and embrace at all times; the disconnected continuum of love, support and nurture, which is offered most naturally, where does it go?  How do we respond to these losses which we all share?
I felt what I can only describe as a profound empathy for parents and grandparents.  The loss of a child being without comparison, in my mind.  The surviving siblings and the classmates of the tiny lives taken left with only a vacuum to contemplate and the limited ability to comprehend. Their paths to maturity have taken a jolted  redirection.  To contemplate it is one thing, to support these losses will be a continuing challenge and responsibility to individuals as well as community.
Hopefully, the attention to this horror won't fade but will become embedded.  Not just the safety aspects will be appropriately considered and modified but a healthy, long term effort will evolve to care for all who were harmed.
I feel fairly confident that individuals will accept the challenges and responsibilities; I am not so confident that  the nation will match the care and concern of individual citizens.  I hope that isn't the case.
It only takes light though, it seems.  Hopefully it will reach each of us and we'll be surprised and pleased by the experience.