'RUNNING MAN'

An itty bitty original:
The line work is pressed hard into
the rag board and
oil pastel is rubbed over the whole surface.
Watercolors 'stick' to the
recessed lines.

COMING UP....

THE NICE FOLKS
at the
KEY WEST FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL
liked my 'Nice Hat" giclee and
asked me to do a similar image for their
poster next year.
Alkyd oil on Raymar panel; 11 X 14

Giclee prints

'RHTHMN ON THE REEF'
is one in a collection of
Giclee prints I am now displaying at the gallery.
I like the permanence of the pigments
on canvas. And it's nice to have the pictures out from under
glass or acrylic panes.
Lighter and easier to ship as well.

See the framed prints;
many with gold.Click here

PARROT HEADS....

PARROT HEADS
are in town this weekend to celebrate
all things Jimmy Buffet.
"Margaritaville" is just in the next block from our gallery.
Very breezy with Hurricane Tomas south-west of Key West.
Oil on mounted paper.

How fresh?

I often clean up my brushes by putting the last paint
onto some good rag board.
This painting started on one of those
abstract backgrounds.
It's mixed aquamedia and oil pastel
and measures 7.5 X 9.5 inches.

"OLD FASHIONED'

'OLD-FASHIONED'

is Illustration Fridays word this week.

I DO like a cocktail and almost wrote out the recipe

for that tipple.

Here tho' is a gent with a rotary phone

and springy cord

acknowledging a rarity in his mail box.

dulled the whole thing down in Illustrator with sepia.

What else came to mind was something called

'ettiquette':

i thought of someone doing something nice

like holding a door open for a lady.

'QUINTET'

'QUINTET'

is not so big.

Watercolor on Canson Bristol

with collage borders.

I like the way the eyebrows bridge together

and the eye is eclipsed by the

singer's nose.

'GRATIS'

'GRATIS'

Acrylic and oil on paper.

The acrylic background of monoprint

and brushwork.

The bowl, bird , fruit and lettering

in alkyd oils.

Sometimes a stencil is the quickest way to 

conjure and lay down a simple

strong shape. That's how I arrived at the

bird's shape.

'MAKE UP'

'MAKE UP'

is a little oil on rag board.

About 8 inches square.

A Fabric design

Cute , huh?

Some more acrobats.....

'ACROBAT'

is this week's word on Illustration Friday.

I remembered this painting from several

years ago. It's called 'One Dog Circus' and the title was

faux-elegant in French.

I was going to the gym a lot then and was

doodling lots of nudes like this.

And, like this, most were humorous

and light-hearted.

Acrylic on paper; about 10 inches square.

Blue Gourds

A fabric design. Corel Painter.

PEARLS

A quick sketch using Corel Painter.

I want to make more creative backgrounds;

this one is done using the sponge feature followed by a smear with 

the palette knife feature.

COCKY

LOTS OF SWAGGERING

on Duval Street this week.

It's the bikers time to bring their  beautiful Harley's

into Key West. Generally nice folks who like the wind

in their face; and their faces cozied up to mugs of cold beer.

Perfect weather for this big fundraiser.

Key West has a bunch of wild roosters running around; they

hold their own against the stray cats. The hens and chicks fair worse...

Did this in Corel Painter.

'MY TALENTED FRIEND'

I LOVE IT
when I have an existing image for Illustration Friday.
This week's word is 'acrobat.'
The clown is letting his buddy hog the lights....

Acrylic, watercolor, watercolor crayon and type correction film on papers. About 8 inches square.

'PROVERB'

THIS WEEK'S 

word is "Proverb."

I didn’t want to illustrate a proverb, but illustrate the nature of shared oral history and wisdom. Just a doodle of different costumes and ethnicities with utterances passing through time from lips to ears. There’s even a learned robot and parrot who have absorbed some phrases.

Quickly in Corel Painter.

'DESSERT GODDESS'

POSTING THIS AGAIN

as

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY's

word is 'dessert.'

I love the convenience of having this 

pic' handy!

The original is oil on rag board with

collage of measuring tape.

Private collection.

'COMPANION PLANTING'

ACRYLIC on Fabriano 300 lb. hot press paper.

This is nearly an artifact: I used to work in the garden

when I lived in Laguna Beach years ago.

The title refers to the benefits of planting certain

types of plants near one another.

For example, marigolds benefit tomatoes.

'DORI'

'DORI'

is our girl. 

My buddy, Bill has a birthday coming:

he doesn't need a thing.

So today I did this alkyd oil sketch of

the greyhound as she lounged on the couch

in our library.

This is much easier than painting an abstract or fantasy subject:

just so I get the drawing correct.

9 X 12 inches; stretched canvas.

'YELLOW STRAW'

'YELLOW STRAW'

Alkyd oil in linen panel.

11 X 14 inches.

'SUMMER READING'

YEARS AGO

I used to do free-lance illustration.

I came across this square original in my files.

The larger markings are

yellow oil pastel on acrylic.

White acrylic makes up the negative spaces

between the flying books, as well as

the designs on the bindings.

Black watercolor is brushed over the oil pastel

to provide textural interest.

About ten inches square.

'WANDERER'

MIXED MEDIA

on collage.

MIXED BREED

DOGS

are basically good.

This is a second rendering of this topic: the original collage image.

The print is embellished with a touch of gold

on the halo and ID tag.

'STAR GAZING'

JUST A QUICKIE

for this week's word.

This is all about color choice.

Painter 11.  15 minutes.

'CAGED'

THIS WEEK'S WORD

is 'Caged."

Corel Painter.

'HOME' again...

This little guy has found a home

and

a home in my print portfolio;

it is my most popular print now.

The signed edition of 50 is gilded on the halo

and the house's rooftop.

The print also is extended more vertically

with bands of red at the top and bottom.

Click here to see it on my website.

WORKING WITH PAPER...

'PINK SAND'

has found a new home in one of the

collage wrapped mats which I made.

This reclining nude looks sharp in the new mount and frame.

F.L.'S  dog, JACK SPARROW

explores collage possibilities in the bath/studio.

'ARTIFICIAL FLOURS'

THIS

week's word is 'artificial' and

I couldn't resist the pun as there will be a bunch

of flowers shown on

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY.

Corel Painter.

'TRANCE'

REMEMBER

those collage papers I made

from scans of antique tiles.?

Here is a fixated dog

painted on top of one of them.

Ink, acrylic and watercolor

on collage.

THOSE FRAMES....

The two frames I did have ink and silver wax

with studs over turquoise enamel.

The rag mats were wrapped in paper,

and slathered in acrylic mud.

Excess paint was scraped from the mats

with an old credit card (handy tool!) and

when dry, rubbed gingerly with

silver wax.

This is also my submission for Illustration Friday's word, 'double.'

THE BEST DOG IN THE WORLD

I'VE BEEN

tidying up the studio.

I buy simple frames to refinish and have been working on a matching pair

way longer than it takes to make a painting.

This hound, about 7 inches square, will 

find his home in one of them.

Ink, acrylic, watercolor 

on rag board.

'TINY GODDESS'

I HAVE TO

post something...

This little immortal is acrylic (blue), random ink

monoprint (black) and

watercolor (hand and face details)

on rag board.

How much does the eye need to know?

Even if she was upside-down you'd know it's

a winged female humanoid.

Wings and a little gold make her

otherworldly.

'SLIPPERY TOAST'

This week's word is 

'BREAKFAST.'

Don't shave at the table, either:

have you ever tried getting half-and-half

out of your sideburns?

'MOM BIRD'

YOU SEE,

it's easiest for me to do a splurge of posts!

Especially this week as I pulled five shifts

at our gallery.

Not complaining; I'm so lucky to have my own retail gallery!

It's off-season so there's time to doodle in

PAINTER 11.

Me thinks I'll do a little brushwork on top of this

and do a little edition of it for my folio.

'DEER DIARY'

'DIARY' is this week's word

on

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY.

Painter 11

'GOOD DAY'

THIS PALETTE

of muted colors gives a cloudy atmosphere

to an 

underwater introduction.

Starting as a green form on

pink background, I started to 

think of Milton Avery's paintings.

Painter 11.

'CHANGE IS GOOD'

I SEEM TO BE

making up for the days I didn't post....

From worm to wonderful, 

this little guy is watercolor and acrylic

on gessoed rag board.

A little something to put in my

portfolio of originals

at the gallery.

'WOMAN IN BLUE LIGHT'

MONOPRINT on

scan of vintage Fortuny.

Acrylic wash and color

with enamel.

The eyes are lit with

Corectype film.

'MOON TIDE'

OIL ENAMEL

makes the darkest marks on this

scroll-like painting.

I got to do

my calligraphy and play

with 23 carat gold

below the lemon moon face.

'PAREO'

THERE'S

a monoprint here first on which

I painted the line figure in enamel.

Color is provided with acrylics.

On paper.

TRIO (plus one) enhanced...

I like the lettering on this one:
that nice big 'A' at the beginning.

'SINGERS' enhanced

I found (in my many layered studio) the antique sheet music I needed to surround the tiny watercolors of singers from previous posts. The paper is fragile and certainly not archival, so I scanned and printed it onto good rag paper. On one of these I lettered appropriate titles (TRIO, FOR THREE VOICES, FOR 3 VOICES, etc.) in nut-brown ink using old crow-quill pens. I like the way the ink bleeds and is still legible. And by now you know my interest in calligraphy and letter forms. The prints of these collages will be enhanced with these titles chosen at random, making each print unique.

A double rag mat will hold the collage away from the frames's glazing.

Bacchus

A party person .

We like pinot grigio

with fish tacos

and

pinot noir with

spicy turkey sausages

and

mashed garlic cauliflower.

SEATED MERMAN

LAST NIGHT

I worked at our gallery and did a bunch

of sketches in my new sketch.book.

I like the soft charcoal pencils best; sharpened with a razor blade for 

uneven points. 

'YELLOW STRAW'

IT'S WARM
and I'm too lazy to look if I've posted this before.
This oil on panel was in and out of the gallery quickly
and made lots of people laugh.
It's second title was
"PLEASE ADJUST YOUR SET"
16 X 20 inches.

Last on the bill...

THE last itty-bitty watercolor drawing.
'Bout the size of a book mark.

Smokey

IF
this lady got a gig on
'FATHER KNOWS BEST'
she'd be a man-hungry widow
or
the sorority sister that made all the
home-town girls
green with envy.

PEARLS (upper east side)

I like the ladies

on TV's

black and white

panel shows

.

They're smart

and poised.