Moravska

Wow... June is zipping  by and I am just getting around to posting... I have been so busy painting commissions and with my new responsibilities at Art Plus Gallery that I seem to have no time to post anything!  I don't know how some people keep up with everything you should be doing as an artist in the 21st century.....
Anyway, this is one of my latest paintings.. It is a new one in my latest series of paintings that are more illustrative and narrative.  Although, if you were to ask me what this one is exactly about, I am not sure I could pin it down. At the time that I designed it, I was really thinking about the sad plight of elephants in our world... (and all creatures that are nearing extinction..)  I am just in dis-belief that in our lifetime, we could see a world without elephants.  But it is true.  It has already happened to the Western Black Rhino.  It is sad, terrible, lamentable and a clear testament to some of the worst qualities of human-kind, which is our tremendous disrespect and irreverence for the well being of our home.... Mother Earth.  While contemplating these very concepts, an image began to appear on the slate of my mind and this is how it developed as the painting you see below.  As I said above, I am not entirely sure of it's direct relationship to my thoughts, but, I am fine with that.  I hope you can find some kind of message that you can relate to....
I have entered this one into the 35th annual BAA juried exhibition... Keeping fingers crossed that it will make it in!

Moravska, oil on textured, 3/4" cradled panel, 24" x 30", nfs (yet)

For You

Sometimes as an artist I am inspired in unexpected places.  This painting came from such an experience.  One of my all time favorite things to do in life (although time does not always allow) is read to my kids at bed time.  Currently, I am deep into the "Little House on the Prairie" series with my son.  He is loving it and I am reliving the books because I read them to my daughter years ago.  A few weeks ago, I came to the end of a chapter and there was just a beautiful passage about 'Pa' playing his fiddle in the evening and a Nightingale singing back to his playing.  Laura drifted off into blissful sleep listening to the two of them talking back and forth to each other.  It was so eloquently written.. such a beautiful and inspiring image... I immediately knew I had to respond to the emotions I was feeling just reading those words with some artwork of my own... a painting.  So, while this is not a picture of 'Pa'.. and it definitely is NOT on the prairies of wild North America.... This is what I came up with!   I ended up in Paris... with an older gent... with a nightingale on his head... I also had to put that young lady in red bicycling by in the background... She seems to be showing up in many of my paintings... :)    Anyway... I am loving this new direction my art is taking me.  I attribute the new work somewhat to my research into vintage posters, as they 'tell a story' in their own way.... This new painting, I hope, tells a story also... whatever story you want it to tell....
It will be available, framed (with a solid wood frame hand crafted by yours truly) in the upcoming Art Plus Gallery show which opens Friday, May 8th.

For You, oil on panel, 18" x 24",
contact me for pricing on this painting