"Whippet Portrait"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

I used Will as a model a few months ago and I was fascinated by the variety of hues in his fur. The subtle pinks and blues in the shadows begged for more exploration.  Also, the other piece was painted on linen mounted on a birch-wood panel.  While I enjoyed that painting, the use of gessobord allowed the brushwork to be more pronounced.  Tightening up the composition also changed the attitude of the painting by focusing on his lovely profile instead of his long, slender legs.  I'm not sure which I prefer.  To help you decide for yourself, here is a link to the May 2008 iteration of Piper's Will Power.

Will (a.k.a Ch. Piper's Will Power) and his progeny and canine cohorts can be seen at www.piperspuppies4u.com

"Radishes" - What's the madder?

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 6”

What's the Madder?  I am talking about rose madder lake, a very expensive, crimson-like pigment, which I have in my paint box but never seem to have had an opportunity to put on my palette (until now).  I was at the market on Saturday and these radishes called out to me.  "Paint me, paint me!" they shouted.  Radishes don't always agree with me, nor I them, but this time they were making sense.  Wegman's has an automatic misting device in their produce department, and, as if on queue, the spray nozzles came to life and applied a dazzling sheen to these guys that intensified their color and sealed the deal.  If I needed another reason, other than the classic, Christmasy goodness of the color scheme, the tips of this vegetable, just before going white, are a distinctive rose madder hue.  I  had to have them, if only to pull out that dusty tube and give it a little squeeze. Why did I buy the pigment in the first place?  I had heard of its beauty and during a half-off sale at my local art emporium, dropped a tube in my basket.  This place marks their prices in code - pigment such and such is "Code A", another "Code B" and so on. When I got to the counter, I found out what "Code E" was.  Even half off, the small tube of pigment was $35.00. What the hell, I bought it anyway, and there it has sat until now.  I could have faked it with alizarin crimson, but why?

From Horse Feathers:

Student: Oh, Professor, you're full of whimsy. 

Professor Wagstaff: Can you notice it from there? I'm always that way after I eat radishes.

"Lobster on Ice"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

I meant for these lobster paintings to be a "before and after" set but oops, I sold the other one already.  I am going to hold this one back for the Ice House show in October.  I had fun scumbling in the barnacles and craggy spines and, of course, ice is always fun to paint.  

"Izzie"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 8” x 10”

Another small study of Izzie, the Pembrook Welsh Corgi. Dear Izzie was involved in a altercation with a neighborhood brute and came out on the short end. Plastic surgery was required to restore her nose to its original beauty. Like Violetta in La Traviata, she will always have this portrait to reflect on her past glory, although I am told her schnoz has healed nicely.

"Newport Lobster"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

My first job, years ago, was a crab steamer in Baltimore. I was in my teens and although I enjoyed the independence that those first meager paychecks brought, I was not comfortable sending thousands of crabs to their death every night when I opened that steam valve. I resigned myself to my place on the food chain and took comfort in the thought that they gave themselves to a greater good. However, my heart wasn't in it and soon, when an opening came up, a found myself in the kitchen as a short order cook and my love of food and cooking began.  

 

I was in Newport, Rhode Island last week and met two of these guys up close and personal. Thankfully they steamed them on the dock for us.  Even with my notorious past with crustaceans, I don't have the heart to plunge one of these guys into boiling water.  That said, they were delicious.  

"JJ on the sofa"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

With Cats, some say, one rule is true:
 Don't speak till you are spoken to.
 Myself, I do not hold with that -
 I say, you should ad-dress a Cat.
 But always keep in mind that he
 Resents familiarity.
 I bow, and taking off my hat,
 Ad-dress him in this form: O CAT!
 But if he is the Cat next door,
 Whom I have often met before
 (He comes to see me in my flat)
 I greet him with an OOPSA CAT!
 I've heard them call him James Buz-James -
 But we've not got so far as names.
 Before a Cat will condescend
 To treat you as a trusted friend,
 Some little token of esteem
 Is needed, like a dish of cream;
 And you might now and then supply
 Some caviare, or Strassburg Pie,
 Some potted grouse, or salmon paste -
 He's sure to have his personal taste.
 (I know a Cat, who makes a habit
 Of eating nothing else but rabbit,
 And when he's finished, licks his paws
 So's not to waste the onion sauce.)
 A Cat's entitled to expect
 These evidences of respect.
 And so in time you reach your aim,
 And finally call him by his NAME. 

                                                       T.S.Eliot 

That name would be JJ.

"Mimi"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 8” x 8”

This sweet Bearded Collie belongs to my friend Diane. Mimi was a rescue dog who now lives with her two brothers, both Standard Poodles.  There is no question who is the leader of the pack and that's Mme. Mimi.  I caught her just before she struck a less ladylike pose that begged for a tummy rub.

When I think of Mimi, I think of the tragic heroine of my favorite opera; Puccini's La Boheme:

Mi chiamano Mimì, 
ma il mio nome è Lucia. 
La storia mia 
è breve. A tela o a seta 
ricamo in casa e fuori... 
Son tranquilla e lieta 
ed è mio svago 
far gigli e rose. 
Mi piaccion quelle cose 
che han sì dolce malìa, 
che parlano d'amor, di primavere, 
di sogni e di chimere, 
quelle cose che han nome poesia...

Mi chiamano Mimì, 
il perché non so. 
Sola, mi fo 
il pranzo da me stessa. 
Non vado sempre a messa, 
ma prego assai il Signore. 
Vivo sola, soletta 
là in una bianca cameretta: 
guardo sui tetti e in cielo; 
ma quando vien lo sgelo 
il primo sole è mio 
il primo bacio dell'aprile è mio! 
Germoglia in un vaso una rosa... 
Foglia a foglia la spio! 
Cosi gentile 
il profumo d'un fiore! 
Ma i fior ch'io faccio, ahimè! non hanno odore. 
Altro di me non le saprei narrare. 
Sono la sua vicina 
che la vien fuori d'ora a importunare.

They call me Mimi, 
but my real name's Lucia. 
My story is brief. 
I embroider silk and satin 
at home or outside. 
I'm tranquil and happy, 
and my pastime 
is making lilies and roses. 
I love all things 
that have gentle magic, 
that talk of love, of spring, 
that talk of dreams and fancies - 
the things called poetry ... 

They call me Mimi – 
I don't know why. 
I live all by myself 
and I eat all alone. 
I don't often go to church, 
but I like to pray. 
I stay all alone 
In my tiny white room, 
I look at the roofs and the sky. 
But when spring comes 
the sun's first rays are mine. 
April's first kiss is mine, is mine! 
The sun's first rays are mine! 
A rose blossoms in my vase, 
I breathe its perfume, petal by petal. 
So sweet is the flower's perfume. 
But the flowers I make, alas, 
The flowers I make, alas, 
alas, have no scent. 
What else can I say? 
I'm your neighbour, disturbing you 
at this impossible hour. 

"Urinal"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

OK, so I lied.  Perhaps it doesn't have to be an animate subject to have fun with the light and paint.  While I was in "chrome" mode I thought I would experiment with some loose paint and a piece of iconic porcelain.  No Dadaist I, but I figured if it was good enough for Marcel Duchamp last century with his readymade "Fountain," why not have a go (no pun intended) and reprise it here. This particular plumbing fixture resides in the mens room of the Dogwood Gourmet in Baltimore.  Elegant marble tile, rose tones and dramatic lighting raise the lowly pissoir to new heights, creating a theatrical aquatic display. 

I'll be out of the studio for a couple of days.  Look for new work on Saturday.

"Harley-Davidson"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 8” x 10”

So much for taking it easy after my operation.  The painting you see here may prove to be what is known in artistic parlance, as a "unique" -  a unicorn, dodo bird, an Ivory-billed woodpecker, the last of its kind.  I don't know what possessed me to undertake such a painting other than my love of motorcycles and needing to ramp up the wow factor after my being away from the easel.  Do I like this painting?  Most definitely.  Would I do another one? I'm not sure.  Although I am delighted with the finished product, the application of paint was tedious; observe, mix, dab, repeat.  No subtle glazes and bravado brushwork, merely precise placement of just the right color. Wearing an opti-visor and using 1/8th inch filberts and a lining brush is really not my thing.  I am and have always been about the creative process, not necessarily the final product. If the process is good the resulting product will follow suit.  Perhaps that is why I like painting people and animals. There is room for the brush to interpret. Maybe painting inanimate objects isn't in me.  I have always been a figure and portrait painter.  I like my work looking back at me as I go along.  OK, maybe oysters don't exactly gaze out of the canvas, but you get my drift.  So enjoy the Harley.  Which is all I can do with my own Harley - look at it, as I am not allowed to lift it off the side stand for another 4 weeks.  I couldn't have had my appendix out in the dead of winter.

So close

Nurse Susan says I have over done it today and so I must wait until tomorrow to finish the Harley painting.  She is probably right, as usual.  Oh well.   Check back, it is a very strong piece. 

"Cold Comfort"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 5” x 7”

Here is another painting for the upcoming "Fish and Fowl" show at the Ice House Gallery in Berkeley Springs, WV.   I am putting it on the Daily Painters site as "contact me for availability" since it is possible that they may swim back upstream to the studio after the show.

"The Cat's in the Bag"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

I still had the notes on my palette set to paint JJ so I thought I'd add a touch of whimsey and go a bit graphic with this one.  There is a painter in New Orleans named George Rodrique who has made a handsome living painting his dog Tiffany, aka the Blue Dog.  His "Blue Dog" series is good fun and while I am not attempting to emulate him here, there is an amusing similarity. I like the fact that it is a total opposite of his (i.e. orange instead of blue, cat instead of dog).  I should paint something completely different tomorrow, JJ is getting a big head from all this attention. 

"Cat and Mouse"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

This is my cat JJ's favorite place to sleep. In the afternoon the western sun shines through the office window and warms the great mahogany desk and the small laptop, already warm from its own power, becomes a relaxing pillow. Needless to say, my wife has to coax him off with treats to resume work. More often she will use the downstairs desktop, rather than disturb him. She used to leave the laptop open, but that resulted in him sending odd e-mails in secret, cat code that only his feline friends could decipher. Leaving the laptop half-closed was no good either. It took him no time to figure out how to close it all the way, resulting in turning off the computer; oops, where was I? He is a great cat and a fantastic mouser to boot. He has found quite a few in his forays into the basement. I couldn't resist the visual pun here.

"Hummingbird"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 5” x 5

I have paid my dues to the appendix gods and have laid about for a week being a slug. I am happy to report that I am on the mend and able to stand for a few hours at a time. That said, I decided to start off small. It doesn't get much smaller than a hummingbird, so here she is, as seen from my kitchen window. I am endlessly amazed at the aerial acrobatics of these tiny creatures. They are quite territorial and protect their turf with the intensity of a World War I Sopwith Camel dogfight.

Technical Difficulty

Standing in for Mark for this post is his wife.  You know, the one who so often looks at one of his finished paintings and says, "I love it all, but for that little splash of white there," to which Mark replies, "That's exactly what makes it sing to me!"  And I usually come around to appreciating the splash of white in time, though occasionally the splash of white will be softened to appease me.

Mark is currently in the hospital, having had his appendix removed Friday afternoon.  Pesky little things, appendix.  What purpose do they serve, anyway?  If you can do just as well without them, then why the heck do we have them in the first place?  Be that as it may, my poor boy's appendix was quite angry - I believe the semi-technical term is "hot."  And so the hospital is where he will remain until Monday.  I don't know how much time he will have to recover before being able to stand in front of an easel for hours on end.  I would suggest you will likely see a few small, simple pieces in another week or so.  It may be a while before he can tackle anything as complex as the hounds.  And so this site is temporarily on hold due to technical difficulties.  Please keep Mark in your thoughts and I know he'd love to hear from you via comments to this post.

"Foxhounds"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 8” x 8”

Here is the finished painting.  I am happy to report that freezing one's palette does work to keep the paint from drying out or skinning over, even earth pigments.  You learn something new every day.  I read this tip (no, not from Heloise) on the comments page of someone's blog.  Whoever mentioned this, I am grateful.  I used to submerge my palette in a tray of water, which also works but it is not ideal. 

Call it perverse, but while I painted this piece I was listening to a recording of the original Broadway production of CATS.  Anna, who is on my lap as I type this, thinks it was purrfectly fine.  She does question my masculinity on occasion; show tunes and all that.

Midnight 
Not a sound from the pavement 
Has the moon lost her memory 
She is smiling alone 
In the lamplight 
The withered leaves collect at my feet 
And the wind begins to moan 
Memory
All alone in the moonlight 
I can dream of the old days
Life was beautiful then 
I remember the time I knew what happiness was 
Let the memory live again 

Every street lamp seems to beat 
A fatalistic warning 
Someone mutters and the street lamp sputters
And soon it will be morning 

Daylight 
I must wait for the sunrise 
I must think of a new life 
And I mustn't give in 
When the dawn comes 
Tonight will be a memory too 
And a new day will begin 

Burnt out ends of smoky days 
The stale cold smell of morning 
A street lamp dies, another night is over 
Another day is dawning 

Touch me, 
It's so easy to leave me 
All alone with the memory 
Of my days in the sun 
If you touch me, 
You'll understand what happiness is 
Look, a new day has begun... 

work in progress - "Foxhounds"

In keeping with the dog days of summer, I have started this painting of a group of fox hounds waiting to be blessed on Thanksgiving morning in Glyndon, Maryland.  Here is a rare glimpse of my working process.  I am going to try and freeze my palette to preserve my mixed pigments.  Look for the finished painting here tomorrow.  

"Let sleeping dogs lie"

Oil on linen mounted on birch wood panel - 8” x 10”

What is it about a patch of sunlight that draws an animal to it like moths to a flame? My cats JJ and Anna live for these hot spots. On any sunny morning, the competition to see who gets to sit in the chair by the east window in the kitchen begins, each cat vying for that precious patch of solar real estate.  My studio faces due north, so there is no direct sunlight, much to their dismay. When we were looking to buy our first house years ago, the realtor would remark about the wonderful sunlit room that would make the perfect studio. Perfect for getting a tan, perhaps. The reason north light is great for painting is that it is cool, constant and indirect. That beacon of bright sunlight is not a welcome guest in the studio, reflecting its warmth off the oak floor and onto my canvas. My studio has two huge north facing windows and skylights which are a wonderful source of illumination. However, two oval windows, high on the east and west walls, alert me to brave Helios' presence. The west window I can easily close off by going into the loft and covering it with a makeshift cardboard disk. The East window is more of a challenge. Closing this aperture requires a long telescoping pole and some dexterity to place the disk just right. 

The Wiktionary (sorry Daniel Webster) describes the expression "Let sleeping dogs lie" as thus - To leave things as they are; especially, to avoid restarting an old argument; to leave disagreements in the past. - Eventually, they decided to let sleeping dogs lie and not discuss the matter any further.  I have found this to be sound advice in matters domestique.

These sleepy-heads belong to my friend Anne. In case you are interested, she tells me she has two new litters waiting in the wings.  You can see them at:  www.piperspuppies4u.com

"Paris Carousel - Blue Manes"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

This painting is the first in a series of four  6" x 8" paintings gleaned from a carousel in Paris.  The fun twisted chrome poles are a challenge to paint and add a bit of sparkle.  All of the horses in this series have different colored manes and different attitudes, which should be fun to group together as a team.  My daily painting site is embarking on a month long theme - "Tribute to a Beautiful Earth; celebrating and conserving our planet with dailypainters.com" You may have to wait until September to grab the brass ring. 

"The Hunt Master" - Study for "Blessing of the Hounds"

Oil on museum quality archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”  

Everyone has their Thanksgiving traditions.  Some folks, still in their pajamas, watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television, Bloody Mary in hand.  Others are busy getting the bird in the oven; the center-piece of a glorious holiday feast for family and friends.  In a field across from a small stone church in Glyndon, Maryland, a festive band of merry men and women, horse and hound, prepare to pit themselves against that cunning little creature, the fox.  With much pomp and circumstance, horse and rider congregate, greet fellow equestrians, pose for the crowd and await the arrival of the clergy to come and bless the hounds. The tradition of the Blessing of Hounds dates back to the eighth century and marks the Feast of St. Hubert (the patron saint of hunters) and the formal opening of the hunting season. Once consecrated, they make chase across the countryside in pursuit of their prey. The baying of the hounds, the ringing of trumpets, the colorful costumes and pageantry is all pure theatre.   

"Amy in the Studio"

Oil on double primed grey board - 11" x 17"

Everyone dreams of finding a lost Rembrandt at a yard sale, an undiscovered Vermeer in a dusty corner of a thrift store, a forgotten Dürer etching sandwiched in the pages of a second hand book. While this painting of Amy isn't quite so lofty, it did resurface today, clipped to a forgotten drawing board, to help me in my hour of need. You see, I was having "one of those days" in the studio today where I just couldn't focus. Being an artist is a dream job, if you can call it work. There are worse fates than being excited about what you do on a day to day basis, and can make a living off of it. However, the business of making and selling art is more than standing at the easel and I had let a lot of the prep and paperwork slide. Today I decided to clear away the piles of unread mail, answer some long overdue correspondence and reevaluate the hundreds of files of ever-growing reference material.   

  I'm not sure of the date of this oil sketch.  It is a couple of years old.  I found it clipped to a drawing board behind a stack of paintings.  I remember deliberately painting it on a piece of primed grey backing board so I wouldn't be tempted to get fussy with it (Oops, oh well).  The loose, sketchy nude is the Holy Grail for me.  Oh, how I envy those who can splash around in the paint.  It is the curse of the ex-photo-realist; the inability to fully let go and have fun with the paint, come what may. Though not exactly archival, I figured if cardboard was good enough for Toulouse-Lautrec, it is good enough for me.  If you arrived here from the daily painters site to consider buying this piece, you should consider this: the image is 11" x 17" painted on a 16" x 20" board.  It can be framed and matted or cut down and framed edge to edge.  Some framers are loathe (and rightly so) to cut up someone else's artwork. I will me glad to do that before it leaves the studio.

Here is what it looks like in the raw, as it were.: 

"Half and Half"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

What can I say about a proper pint of Guinness and Harp? When done right, it is a thing of beauty. A half-and-half is often just another name for a Black & Tan. However, in most North American Irish pubs, the Bass/Guinness combination is called a Black & Tan, while the Harp/Guinness combination is called a Half-and-Half. Either way, it is delicious. Two days ago I painted a black and tan dachshund named Henry.  I knew there was a reason I liked the little guy. Could this be a theme?  Of my two studio cats - one is black and tan; a frail but beautiful 18 year old, seal-point Siamese queen named Anna.  The other, J.J., a foundling white and ginger American shorthair, is a half and half - half angel/half monster (mostly angel). After yesterday's technically challenging sprite, this painting was a walk in the park; a fun, colorful exercise.  I even broke out my ancient trowel palette knife to add some color and texture to An Poitin Stil's worn wooden table.    Sláinte!

Study for "Nymph"

Oil on museum quality archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 9” x 12”

"Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remember'd..."

My studio is surrounded by forest and I have often taken models into the woods to play "Nymphs and Satyrs." It is not an ancient woods but old enough to have some interesting flora and fauna. I like to contrast the warmth of the flesh against the lush, green foliage. A few years back, I was taking a photography class at The Maryland Institute College of Art called "The Nude in the Landscape." The instructor needed a place to hold the last class and I volunteered my ten acres of property, on which there is a small stream, a hidden glade and a lot of privacy. It worked out well and a good time was had by all. My nearest neighbor was out of town (I think). He would have been amused to see four nude models and seventeen photographers frolicking in the back yard. One student in the class thought it would be nice to have a model sprawled out in a lovely patch of vines down in the glade. He got some beautiful images of her, the three shiny leaves catching the sun just right. It's a pity these city boys don't know poison ivy when they see it - Ouch. I know Marianne will think twice before posing in the woods again.

Ch. Pipers Mr. Longfellow

Oil on museum quality archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 8” x 8”

Although Mr. Longfellow, A.K.A. Henry, is a star performer in the show ring, his poise and posture propelling him to 16th best dachshund in the country, he is loathe to perform for the camera. It took a lot of perseverance to get him to acquiesce to pose for his portrait. He and his cohorts reside in Ohio and provide service and amusement for their owner Anne. Many of the canine portraits seen on these pages have been her dogs. If you are entertaining the idea of having a dachshund or whippet companion, you owe it to yourself to check out her website: http://piperspuppies4u.com/ It is no surprise that painting animals has captured my imagination lately. Indeed, I have often tried to convince a portrait client to include the family pet into a portrait of a child to give the painting some added interest. A friend sent an e-mail the other day saying - "What's with all the dogs?" To her I can only say - "Get used to it; I like painting dogs." I have been using the daily paintings as a way of trying to figure out what it is that truly gets the creative juices flowing. This is one subject that I have a lot of fun with.

@#%&*! mail server!!!

If anyone has sent me queries about commissions, photos, questions about paintings, etc., recently, please send them again.  Last night everything in my markadamsstudio account - all my saved mail, all my new mail, my address book; everything, was gone.  The account is still open and I am getting new mail but it was a clean wipe of the account info.  Anne - Your pics are in a separate file on my desktop {;-)> so don't worry.  Everyone else might want to follow up if you haven't heard from me regarding your question/commission. 

I am taking the weekend off so check back on Monday or Tuesday.

Post script - My web-host solved the problem this morning and all my files are back - yippee!

Study for "Izzie"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 12” x 16”

After yesterday's "Gimlet," with all its tediousness, today I allowed myself to splash around and play with this portrait of Izzie, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi.  I eschewed the blending brush in favor of a loaded bristle, pushing color into whites and generally laying it down in a Manet-like flatness.  I am honing in on a more finished portrait of her for the future and used this to reacquaint myself with the breed.  I had a Corgi myself, many years ago, named Pippin (no surprise).  He, too, would sit like this; his feet splayed comically out behind him.

"Gimlet"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

I can't drink a gin gimlet without thinking of Harvard Lampoon's "Bored of the Rings," a clever spoof of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" - -

"Gimlet, son of Groin, your obedient servant," said the dwarf, bowing to reveal a hunchback. "May you always buy cheap and sell dear."

"Frito, son of Dildo, yours," said Frito in some confusion, racking his brains for the correct reply. "May your hemorroids shrink without surgery."

The dwarf looked puzzled but not displeased. "Then you are the boggie of whom Goodgulf spoke, the Ringer?"

Frito nodded.

"Do you have it with you?"

"Would you like to see it?" asked Frito politely.

"Oh no thanks," said Gimlet, "I had an uncle who had a magic tieclip and one time he sneezed and his nose fell off."

Frito nervously touched a nostril...

  Tolkien's dwarf character Gimli, son of Gloin becomes Gimlet, son of Groin. Bilbo becomes Dildo; Frodo, Frito;  Aragorn, Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt, and so on.  Their quest is to cast the ring into the Zazu Pitts.  It is an amusing read for hardcore Tolkien fans such as me.   My daughter's middle name is Lórien, that tells you something.  I sent her birth certificate back because they hadn't put the accent over the ó.  Holly will be 35 this year, so you see how long I've been a fan.  She's fortunate that she was was not stuck with Galadriel as her first name; cooler heads prevailed back in '73.  Luckier still, that we didn't have a son.  I shutter to think what young Frodo would be up to today, other than hating his dad for saddling him with such a goofy appellation.

Since I had been wrestling with this painting for a while, I decided to celebrate its completion by shaking up a restorative gin/lime concoction to drink while I wrote this copy.  The bracing astringency of the cocktail is as refreshing at 2:00 am as the rose' was at dinner earlier this week.   This piece had its share of hoops to jump through (pun intended).  The perfect oval in paint can look contrived and any variance from that perfection looks wrong, even if it is just slightly off true.  So how did I solve this conundrum?   The only option was to stay loose and free and go with the flow.  It is PAINT after all.  If I wanted a photo of a gimlet, a could have grabbed my Nikon instead of my brush.  If ellipsis means to leave out - tomorrow's painting will have an ellipsis of ellipses, I promise you. Calligraphy has always been my nemesis.  Indeed, my everyday handwriting is so illegible that you'd have to take a hastily written note to the local pharmacist to have it deciphered.  Forkner shorthand ruined me.  Thank you, Mrs. Falco.

“A Glass of Rosé"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

Summer is finally here and once again it is socially permissible to drink rosé.  Like not wearing white shoes after labor day, etiquette dictates that we wait until warm weather to enjoy rosé.  I’m not talking about the stuff we that we cut our teeth on back in college either - Mateus, Lancer's, et al., that cloyingly sweet pink wine that we all thought was the perfect drink, whatever the season.  Come on, admit it, you had a drip candle in a Mateus bottle on your wire spool table in your first apartment.  I can almost hear “Stairway to Heaven” playing on the phonograph and  smell the mixed aroma of incense and pot.  Times have changed, we’ve matured (well, some of us) and thank God, so have our palates (and our palettes). I suppose white zin has its place, but give me a lovely French rosé on a hot summer evening and I am a happy guy.  Now where did I put my white bucks?

“And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll
Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven”

"Cold Fish"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

To purchase this painting click here: http://www.dailypainters.com/artists/artist_gallery/1238/Mark-Adams

There's something fishy going on in the studio these days.  I am preparing for a show at the Ice House in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, so you may see some cold, clammy and colorful panels in the next few weeks.  The show is called "Fish and Fowl".  I haven't played with our avian friends much, but I may have a go.  Speaking of ice , this painting has plenty of it.  Ice is a cool thing to paint, no pun intended.  It allows for some abstract interaction; scumbling, scraping, using the stick end of the brush, etc.  I had fun with this one.

"Antique French Hobby Horse"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 8” x 8”

While in Paris this past January, I went to Les Puces de Saint-Ouen which is also known as the Clignancourt Flea Market.  What a treasure trove of imagery.  From the look of it, this hobby horse was enjoyed by countless French boys and girls.  Well, perhaps maybe just the girls, given the floral pattern of the saddle, but then those were simpler times and powdered wigs and makeup was de rigueur and there was no clear line between what was masculine and what was feminine.  Barbies for girls and GI Joe for boys would come much later.

I chose to reach back into my distant past and use a technique that I used during my "mime" period.  When I was contemplating a career in art, I thought of becoming a fashion illustrator.  I loved the wonderful flowing lines of the sketches in my mother's Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines by René Gruau and Cecil Beaton.  I had no thought of actually designing the couture but I did want to draw it.  All that exposure to the fashion photography of the time seeped into my brain.  Placing figures pictorially on a grey seamless became my modus operandi.  Richard Avedon and Irving Penn had this wonderful shade of grey that soon found its way into my work.  A blend of equal parts alizarin crimson, yellow ochre and Prussian blue mixed with white lead was the perfect grey.  Oh sure, any combination of complementary colors will produce a neutral grey, but by using this triumvirate, you could pull it in all directions.  Want a greener grey? -- add more ochre; a cooler grey, more Prussian and so on.  The extraneous elements in the reference added nothing to this painting so I edited them out completely and, taking a page from my own book, I simplified the composition to its bare bones.  I think it works.  Click on the word "mime" and it will take you to the old theatre paintings that I did in the 70's.  A mime is a terrible thing to waste.     

"French Postcard, Cork, Art Glass Vase, and a Glass of Château d'Yquem Sauterne on a Damask Tablecloth"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 8”

Perhaps it was the recent Turner exhibition at the National gallery that compelled me to give my painting such a lengthy title.  I am trying to outdo "Steamboat off a harbor's mouth..." There are some reoccurring elements in this painting that I never tire of; nudes, corks, wine and intense red.  Puccini's - La Bohème  was playing on the stereo when I composed this painting so I guess you can say this piece is about wine, women and song.  The turquoise of the vase bridges and tones down the Christmas colors, although the Holly pattern of the Damask still makes me say "Ho, ho, ho!"

"Clovis"

Oil on linen mounted on wood panel 6" x 8"

Being the foodies that we are, a trip to Lucullus in New Orleans French Quarter is always on the menu. Watching over the vast array of culinary antiques, aside from proprietor Patrick Dunne and his partner, Zoubir Taboug, is resident English Bulldog, Clovis. Here he is taking a break from his duties as epicurean antiquarian ambassador.

"Round Pegs in a Square Hole"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 6” x 6”

Oysters! Did you miss 'em? These beauties were had at Lillet on Magazine Street in New Orleans this past April. I couldn't help but notice the way the array of pin spots above rained down on the soft flesh of the oysters nestled in their bed of ice casting reflections of light like some distant galaxy. No mere gulf oysters were these but highfalutin cousins visiting from the northeast. They begged to take a dip in the black hole that was the deep red mignonette. Does July have an "R" in it? No? Damn, two more months until September.

"Whippet with Paperwhite Narcissus"

Oil on linen mounted on birch wood panel - 6” x 8”

I'm not sure why but this piece reminds me of something Gauguin might have painted. Perhaps it is the flat simplicity of the composition. Or perhaps that Tahitian pink at the bottom right. The visual repetition of Olive's spots in the flower pot is fun too. Her gaze is one of introspection, as if she is contemplating her own elegance and beauty.