Gaia Walks Among Her Dead

Stage two. It is hard to see in this photo, but I am getting into pointillism with a lot of dots in the dirt. Now, Mother Nature has her plant, which she will use to start repopulating the scorched earth. I will be away from this painting for couple of week while it dries and I soak up some sun in the Southwest.

MOTHER NATURE WALKS AMONG HER DEAD

This is a sort of a first draft of a painting that I started working on when, somewhere, I heard the phrase, "Mother Nature walks among her dead".  The image seemed quite clear to me.  There would be a field of scorched earth, littered with dead - natural beings and human trash alike. The animals are there to suggest the dying earth and the trash is there to suggest that it is the fault of humanity.  As I work on this, I will make the ground browner and deader with more debris.  The key to it all, the most important part, will be that Mother Nature will have in her hands a tiny plant seedling.  I hope that this painting works out with the clear message that it is only Mother Nature who has the power to clean up the mess that we have made and repopulate the Earth with teeming life and diversity that belong here.  It will take a long time though.

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST

At some point in the career of a painter, there comes a desire to do a selfie.  This is mine.  Sometimes, one lacks a model to paint.  Sometimes, as in this case, one is asked to attend a dinner party for artists to which each guest is expected to bring a self portrait.  So I did this one in two short sessions.  Not exactly alla prima, but almost.  I did it one day and touched it up a bit the second. It is kind of fun to do a self portrait, but revealing. I became acutely aware that I am not seventeen years old anymore. Oh, well.

FACEBOOK ART CHALLENGE - DAY FIVE

Day 5 - art challenge. Recently, my interest has been directed toward painting greatly enlarged views of tiny natural objects. This are pictures of the decaying autumn leaves of the floating pond plant, Water Shield. Too much fun. 

FACE BOOK FIVE DAY ART CHALLENGE - DAY 4

 TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL  - oil on canvas - 24"x30"

 THEY PASSED WITH NOSES IN THE AIR - oil on canvas  - 34"x30"

 COLLATERAL DAMAGE - oil on canvas - 40"x34"

 STATE AND MAIN - oil on canvas - 54"x40"

PERSEPHONE - SHE'S BACK  -  oil on canvas - 20"x24"


This group of paintings is from my Social Realism Series. The series deals with some of the ever present problems in our lives, including a new one - Global Warming.  The last one offers a bit of hope as Persephone emerges from the under world to bring Spring back to us.

Face book art challenge - Day three.

This is a group of portrait studies all done from life at the various painting groups that I attend. Some are years old, one I did two weeks ago. Learning to paint is always a work in progress. For every one of these these that turns out well, about ten are thrown away. 

2nd day of the faceebook art challenge

Day 2 art challenge.  Haying in Vermont and some landscapes done on a cross country trip about 8 years ago.