White Still Life with Blue Glass Goblet

This painting was inspired by Giorgio Morandi, in the compositional sense, and in keeping to a simple palette. I'm usually a quick painter, but this painting took me a lot longer than usual. There were a lot of decisions. I've learned simple is not always easy.

A Drawing by Kelly Smith

This large drawing (charcoal, 32 x 40 ) was created by my friend Kelly Smith. She's a dedicated artist and a wonderful drawer.  She lives and works in Saratoga Springs, NY.  When I saw this drawing at her studio, I fell in love with it. Next, I saw it in a small gallery show in a cafe. Originally she didn't want to sell it, saying it was a study of a detail of a girl from a James Gurney illustration.  I'm happy she changed her mind and I'm excited to have her.  Once framed, she will look lovely in my house.

Inspired by Giorgio Morandi

Painting is a crazy business, at least for me lately. My current painting is inspired by  Giorgio Morandi and what better way to understand someone's work than to make it your own.

His still life paintings are deceptively simple and minimal. There are subtle variations in his values and colors and his compositions are balanced, although tightly packed. When I looked at his work in my library books, I thought okay that's doable. I'm so naive. I based my composition on his work and not on his colors or paint application. The more I worked on my painting the more he impressed me. I like his thick paint, but chose not to apply mine too thickly. To get those subtle grays for my painting I changed my light bulb, tried many color combinations for black (there are a lot!) and decided to tone my canvas. My challenge is to paint all the objects (except the blue glass goblet that reflects everywhere) shades of gray so that they still look like white bottles yet can support my highlights and have depth. I'm 1/3 of the way through the painting and every day is a crazy, mind boggling experience. 

Boxes and Books

I had an idea for this painting after a similar one I completed last summer, The Bookshelf. I painted a small cardboard box on the bottom shelf. I liked the simplicity, colors and values of it; I decided to make the boxes the main subject here.  Inspiration comes from many things, this one came from Donald Judd's sculpture of a stack of colored plexiglass blocks attached to the wall which I saw in a museum in NYC.