Wolf Kahn at Addison Ripley

A quick trip into DC on Sunday to see the Wolf Kahn show and pick up some paint that has gotten critically low. I like his paintings a lot. The well executed but in the end, these paintings lacked a certain spark. So while I was excited by his technique no paintings blew me away. These paintings seemed quite "safe" though there is no doubt that he can paint. I noticed three red dots. Two pastels and a relatively small painting. Added up to about $22K. Not bad but there is a lot of work left in the gallery. Perhaps the frames were a turn off. They looked like they were salvaged from a dump in the 60's. They were beat up, scratchy and had paint stains on them. Seemed odd for a gallery that has a high end frame business.

The weather outside is frightful...

...and our furnace is broken. Its pretty cold in the house. The main floor is really cold but it was pretty toasty upstairs under about 5 blankets. The good news, if there is any- the basement is still pretty warm so if we can't get ti fixed today, I should still be able to paint.

Back to Work

Unlike many artists that must work a day job to make ends meet, I actually like my job but it keeps me extremely busy during November and December including time spent in markets across the country. This, and wonderful visits from friends and family, has kept me out of the studio for about 3 weeks. The first couple of days back were a little frustrating. Though I did no irreparable harm to the works in progress, I felt as though I was simply pushing paint around, not getting any closer to finishing- even, perhaps taking a step back. I think it took a while to get back to normal (if that is possible) from both the time zone change and recovering from working in stores for about 11-13 hours a day. I've finally started to feel like myself, especially in the studio and the paintings are moving forward. I am trying to finish three that were close to completion before I left for Arizona a few week ago. I hope to finish them up this weekend. I really need to get some more work together. There are a number of opportunities I would like to try to take advantage of but don't know if I have enough work.

artdc.org Patron Member Show

I'm excited to announce that Lori and I will both have pieces in the artdc.org patron member show at the artdc.org gallery in Hyattsville, MD which opens this Saturday.

Here is a link to the full information:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=355099515163

Hope to see you there.

Old Haunts

On our trip back home, Lori and I got to visit a few old haunts. Actually, our first meal away from family was a Chinese buffet. They have these all over the Norfolk area and we have become fond of one near my mother's place in Va Beach. Like so many of them, it is called something like "Lucky NO 1 Buffet." We like it because it has some unusual things- my favorite being something they call Thailand Chicken. Quite a medley of spices providing plenty of heat but still terrific flavor. We then went to see An Education at the Naro, an old art house theater- one screen, balcony, affordable snacks, may made by local places. The movie was good since it was a cautionary tale for parents of a "clever" cello playing girl. I got to see some old friends at the Ghent Total Wine where I was the wine manager when it opened. Finally, Lori and I ate at the site of our first "date," Orapax. I'm a sucker for their wings. The pizza was excellent with a perfect crust. I think they may have changed the sauce a little because it seemed a little darker lending it a little more robust flavor than I remember. Lori got the spanakopita which was much larger than we remembered. All and all, a nice day. We finished by driving down Granby street, where we opened the Praha gallery many years ago. What was a pretty edgy place after dark is now populated by nice restaurants, a campus of the area community college and boutique shops. I guess we could say we are pioneers. We didn't get a chance to check them out, but I understand there are some good galleries in Norfolk now.

Back to the Studio

Well, its good to be back from our thanksgiving trip and now I'm ready to get back in the studio. When I left, I had a couple of pieces nearing completion and another canvas ready to go. I have finished the small version of Nemesis and it will be in a show art the artdc.org gallery in Hyattsville opening on December 12th. I will post more info soon but here is an image of the piece.

Blogging

I'm slowly working on updating this blog. Lori and I are moving towards having our own sites so we are using this as an intermediate step. I've posted my resume. I need to get a gallery of work up and running. Its getting there. I've also been working. I typically do not like to make work specifically for shows. I'm a slow painter and I try to place all my energies on creating the work I want to do. But recently, I have started working on some smaller pieces for the upcoming patron member show at artdc.org's Hyattsville gallery. This worked out well since I wanted to explore the same themes I have been working on in smaller format. I have finished one and will post as soon as I can get a good image. I have a number of paintings going in studio but I am also working hard on drawing again. I also plan to blog about my other interests such as wine (my day job) and music.