"Sauternes et carte postale française"

I like the innocence of this old french postcard. Painting it reminded me of the fashion paintings, albeit on a much smaller scale. À votre santé!

"Château d'Yquem - 1980"

This is one of the paintings that I couldn't post until after Christmas. My friends celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary two years ago with a spectacular party at what was then the Boston Ritz Carlton. To commerate the occasion, they opened a case of 25-year old Château d'Yquem sauterne -- quite a treat for those of us lucky enough to be invited. I managed to squirrel away mementos from the party in the pocket of my tuxedo. They came in handy when the wife asked me to paint something as a Christmas gift for her husband this year.

"Peggy and Zack"

Perhaps you can teach an old dog, new tricks. By that I mean this old dog. The daily painting exercises have given me fresh eyes. This piece was commissioned posthumously to commemorate the life of Peggy, the yellow lab. You can see by her muzzle that she has some years on her. This was yesterdays painting and I was given the green light to post it. ...R.I.P. Peggy.

"Corkboard with pushpin"

Oil on museum quality gessobord panel - 6" x 8"

I don’t what is so compelling about wine corks. These little speckled, brown cylinders just delight me. Maybe it’s their infinite variety - the myriad designs and colors. Perhaps it’s their ultimate demise that makes me save them. My minions pay token when coming to parties with bags full of corks (and foils and champagne medallions). As an artist, I like units - things that can make up larger things. I am currently visualizing a mosaic of Julia Child using wine foils as pixels a la Chuck Close. I have made many 2’ x 4’ bulletin boards with corks. Some recipients of these find it hard to use them for the purpose for which they were made because they don’t want to cover them up. This painting answers that problem. It is a small section of my board in the kitchen.

"Cépage Laguiole corkscrew"

Oil on panel - 5" x 7"

Many artists have been dining at the “wine painting” table of late. It is easy to understand why. The full spectrum of colors that come from different varietals and the play of light off of glass, metal, cloth, and cork make for unending compositional possibilities. I am known to have a thing for corks. Should the great flood come tomorrow, our house would rise up and float away with the thousands of corks stored here. Every flat surface in my studio is taken up with stuff so I have gone vertical and have made large bulletin boards of wine corks. I almost hate to cover them up - they are so handsome. The stelvin closure (aka the screw cap) is starting to surpass the cork as the best way to seal a good bottle of wine so corks may be going the way of the 8-track. Enjoy them while you can!

"Back in the swim"

Just like falling off a bike, you have to dust yourself off and get back in the saddle. I thought I should paint something that had a lot of textural possibilities and that I could have fun with. This fish fit the bill.

"Sharpies"

Oil on panel 5" x 7"

This little sketch tested the limitations of my paint box. I finally got to use a bit of rose madder and cerulean blue, colors not usually on my palette.

"Vice-grips"

It seems only fitting that I should end my quest for the perfect vice painting with this quick sketch. It may not be perfect, but I couldn't resist a good pun.