Portrait Of Me!

Immortalized by the artist, Landon, age 11.

November: Month of Thanksgiving

The month starts with a nod to All Saints and moves to a national holiday of Thanksgiving.  How fitting then to get this amazing gift from friend.  My Aussie friend Rod visited the gallery of Australian artist, Ken Done, in Sydney and bought me these lovely kitchen linens.  And while there he also purchased a postcard and then met the artist himself!  And got an autograph for me.  What a wonderful saint of a friend and I am so thankful for his generous presence in my life.

Such A Gift!

Some weeks back this wonderful gift of an amazing watercolor painting arrived out of the blue from my friend, Dean Grey.  For sometime now I've been toying with how best to frame it. And only recently it hit me--the reason why I was struggling. I had to come to the idea of not using any matting. 

It needs to be framed like a proper work of painting. Like a renaissance still life with that "trompe l'oeil" sensibility. Next move is to get it situated in the dining room proper. Here the detail I previously shared and the full work in its frame.

Yup, that's it! At the head of the table. Doesn't it just pop!?

A Gift To Myself

Sometimes I buy really nice things for myself, too. This is my holiday present to myself. A one of a kind, hand turned maple burl bowl made by my friend, Tim. Tim is way too modest and sells his art way too cheap, but it's my win in this case. He has been a demonstrator of this art form all over the mid-Atlantic region and when the Smithsonian Institution's Renwick Gallery across from the White House planned a celebration of wood craft arts, they invited Tim there to share his work and demonstrate for the opening weekend. Tim's day job just happens to be at my school. I was years ago privileged to work with his son and daughter (both now in college) so my friendship with him began as a teacher-parent one. Life is good to each of us, I know. Who do you walk with who is simply amazing?

April Rimpo

Bought of lovely painting of hers a few years back and I'm on her mailing list!

Throw Back Sunday: 1986 Wilmore, Kentucky

Throwback Sunday....I'm cleaning and in the process discovering...It's a slog for sure. So I came across this painting in a closet and then all the wonderful memories, too. When I first came back from Costa Rica, I returned to central Kentucky and got my first apartment. It was two bedroom and so I also always had an apartment mate. Often they were friends from college who remained to continue their studies at a local seminary. And so my circle of friends went from college students to seminarians. My apartment was close the campus and so it became a sort of hang-out for seminarians and their friends. We'd have dinners, story reading evenings, music evenings, even a watercolor club! 

The painting is the first made by Jonathan Moore who would become a roommate and often led the music gatherings. That's also him in the hammock on one of our camping excursions to the Smokey Mountains--what a trollop! 
The other is a picture of my then roommate Bill Seitz discovering his inner Picasso. What good years those where.

Another Acquisition

I have a friend, Rod Coysh, who is a photographer.  He makes such amazing images of his world in southern Australia.  With Rod, it's a non-stop tour de force of wonderful images.  And I was most pleased when he consented to sending me this one via CD.

It was my project to get a quality print made of it and frame it over this holiday, and I spent a good portion of today making that happen.

It now hangs in the upstairs landing above a book self adjacent to my bedroom.  Isn't it lovely?

Found Bookmark

Purchased at The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom; November 2002.

"Just a few words of good wishes for I am not sending xmas chards.  This must needs be a trying time in every sense of the term bit we hope you are all well & have good news of Vere.  I send regards from mother & T. F. K." ~ 24 DEC 1917

Out Of Death...LIFE!

Last October, a storm whipped through that left my beautiful "wiggly willow" felled and impossible to repair.  In removing it, I gave a few of the piece of the trunk to a wood turner friend of mine and then forget about it.

That is, until Friday, when Tim presented me with this amazing bowl that he created from one of it's remnants.  It is the epitome of his art: organic, true to the wood's natural characteristics, impeccably crafted and finished.  20 years in the making, I can't think of a more fitting memorial to this once magnificent tree.

Summer Tradition?

My newest painting purchase (top) joins the one I bought last year around this time (bottom). Perhaps I should start every summer with an art investment?

Christos Mysterios T-Shirt from Palehorse

Recently bought this beautiful T-Shirt from the studious of Palehourse.com. It's a high quality and amazing product. The transaction was easy and.....

it came with stickers for my skateboard (Hey, STOP laughing! I might buy one some day.) and a Laffy Taffy! No shit. I piece of candy. How classy is that?

I did it!

I bought this watercolor painting by April M. Rimpo on display at the Baltimore Watercolor Society's 2011 Mid-Atlantic Exhibition on display at the Strathmore Mansion gallery in Rockville, Maryland. I fell in love with it on my first encounter on Wednesday, April 20th. Stewed over it for four days. Returned on Saturday, April 23 to find it still unsold, and then bought it.

I have some amazing paintings in my collection. At least two artists who have grown to out-price me from any further acquisitions, and one work by Leonard Baskin that my ex- pointed me to which now is worth 10x's plus that I paid for it.

So art is an investment on any scale. Mine is a very humble abacus. My freedom is that I can buy things I love, images that surround me with beauty. The names of the artists increase: April Rimpo, Leonard Baskin, Douglas Witmer, Dean Gray, Jennifer Purdham, Andy Au, Todd Boebel, Renee Shaw, Barbara Kahla, Lynn Bennett-Carpenter, Bob Franks, Paul Rhymer, Della Baxter,
et. al....and the beauty of their works bring me both joy and comfort.

Holy Maple Leaf!--Batman...

My friend Dean who is an artist and aspiring cartoonist in Chicago sent me this beautiful work of art. It's a painted maple leaf. He is so talented. I am so blessed to know him and call him my friend.

Art I'm Owning #11

My latest acquisition from Chicago-based artist, Dean Grey. Entitled "One Is The Loneliest Number," far from melancholy, it absolutely glows with joy. Sometimes we mistake one-ness for the miracle of each thing's unique spirit. I originally purchased it with a gift in mind, but now I'm thinking of just amending my Will and hoping they outlive me!

Art I'm Owning #10.1

Framing a work of art can be very traumatic. Especially when you want it to be perfect! Most of the art I own is well framed, but there are a couple of pieces that work yet don't really measure up. I've learned to live with them.

For this particular painting, however; mediocrity was not an option. This painting was long sought after, came as a precious surprise, and simply had to be perfectly framed.

My initial concept was an elaborately constructed custom frame that incorporated fabric as an acknowledgement of my relationship with the artist. It would have been adequate. And as I processed it further from concept to execution, it's reality became more and more muddled in my mind. And then, I randomly rediscovered an old frame that I had long kept in the minutia of my clutter.

It's a frame that was my grandmother's and came to me when I raided the junk from her estate. Originally, it held this little oil painting of a landscape--but that had disappeared by the time I got to it. Finding it, I thought, I wonder if this would even fit? Trying it out was like fitting the glass slipper upon the foot of Cinderella. I knew two things that belonged together had been united.

Art I'm Owning #10

I have a friend, Barbara, who's a wonderful artist (we're quilting buddies) and from whom I have long desired a work of art. After a another friend posted photographs from his trip to England I shared the picture of a waterway that he posted with her, just because it was so beautiful. Low and behold, on the sly she painted it for me! I hope you agree with me, it's stunning. Joy, joy, joy!

Art I'm Owning #9

An exciting new discovery, James Sebastian Sikorski is a fresh face on the art world...in fact, at scarcely 4 1/2 years old, he's a fresh face in any world! Here we see how fully he expresses that unique jouie de vivre so indicative of the middle years of early childhood. Free from the bonds of infancy (and diapers), he expresses his liberty in vibrant colors and intense movement. A master of the dab and slide, one has only to wonder where this little prodigy will take his patrons next. I'll be waiting with baited breath! Won't you?

Art I Owning #8

After my first purchase from Chicago based artist Dean Grey back in the autumn of 2009, I have been so happy with it. So when he finally produced this companion piece entitled "Survivor," I just had to try and purchase it to go with it's mate, "Crumbling".

And the bottom line? I won.

Dean is an amazing artist, who no doubt has more beauty in him to come out in works of art than he has days on the calendar. And every expression of that beauty is a gift. I hope he's still making amazing art, long after these examples are in the homes of my heirs or some museum somewhere. For me, the subject matter is especially precious. I love trees.

I have always loved trees. Growing up as a boy in Michigan, my first love was the monumental crabapple in my backyard that literally spanned the whole yard and topped out with the pinnacles of the telephone poles that traversed the rear fence line of the yard. I've never seen a larger one anywhere. And once you're hooked, you just keep noticing and admiring trees. Can leaves be far behind?

Not for me. I've familiarized myself with hundreds of them as tools for identifying species, and it's like so much in my hyper curious world, I've only just scratched the surface. That this is a water maple leaf by shape is a no brainer. That the colors defy everything I know about the species ~ a brilliant curiosity.

And here is the first painting again. A Silver Maple in traditional colors. No matter, they are amazing exercises in contrast. The old iconic arguments between The Real and The Ideal, perhaps. I know that they will give me much joyful contemplation thoughout the life I've been given: I've Crumbled, and I've Survived.

Art I'm Owning #7

This postcard arrived on Saturday with a holiday greeting from my friend and photographer, Todd Boebel. It's entitled "Loew's Kings Theatre" Flatbush Ave Brooklyn New York © 2007 by the artist. Who knows? It may be the inspiration for an upcoming Lego creation? And in any event, it made me cry. The continuity of friends in a world given to fleeting moments, I guess, but then I tend to cry easily...

Art I'm Owning #6

Some of the art I own is my own. I've already shared how I'm a quilter--and proudly so. I also paint in watercolor.

Here's a male nude that I painted back in 1991. It was when I was working on the human form. I thought I did a pretty good job, and then I showed it to my friend Susan. She seemed impressed with it, yet when I next encountered her current boyfriend, he siddled up to me to ask about the nude painting I'd made of a woman.... Oh bother, I guess I didn't quite get the chest...but honestly the abs, the genitals?