Allen and Randy

Allen and Randy  16x16 acrylic

The painting is an ode to imperious big brothers and the younger siblings who want to be close to them (usually, an unappreciated sentiment). The title is a sly nod to inlaws who have been hugely helpful in house/pet sitting, etc.

I am always reminded of the Smothers Brothers (oldster alert!) "Mom loved me best" or as I often tell my older brother "They had you for practice."

Long-stemmed Rose

Long-stemmed Rose acrylic 16x16

I know some people don't like the collage bits, but I do. I like the texture. I feel it adds something to what was a boring background plus the movement ties the painting together. It's also just sunny and happy and I like it. I lifted the horizon line a bit. I find adjusting the horizon lines often help the abstract design of paintings. I find that a sheer glaze of color can help tie a painting together so I sometimes coat a painting with a glaze of quincadrone yellow azo or a crimson shade. The mellow yellow glaze also give it an antique feel.


I struggled with photos yesterday because I couldn't fine any good light to set them in. It was to cold and icy to venture outside. I will photograph them again at a later (warmer) date.

Reverie

Reverie 16x16 acrylic

I quite like the feel of this one, very warm and nostalgic.

I just started reading " A Girl named Zippy" about a precocious girl growing up in a very small Indiana town in the 1960's. It reminds me a great deal of my own childhood. Certain passages, like this one "Everyone in Mooreland believed in God (except my dad). There was no such thing as multiculturalism--no people of color, no exotic religions, no one openly homosexual (there was one old bachelor who had suspiciously good taste in furniture, but we didn't question his private life)."

For the most part, my childhood was calm and safe. We were free-range children who roamed wherever our bikes could take us. The Dads were mainly farmers and oil field workers, WW2 veterans who picked up their lives and soldiered on, careful to refrain from swearing in front of wives and kids. The Moms raised varying assortments of children to mostly good effect. Everyone grew a garden and canned for the winter. They laid crude oil on the gravel roads in the summer to lay the dust. I loved the smell of it so much I could almost eat it.