In The Studio

Happy Friday!

It's been another great week of keeping the creative juices flowing. Recently, I finished the piece in this week's photograph, "Love Tattoo."

I am a huge fan of tattoos, and the artists that create some fantastic indelible designs. I am also fascinated with the diversity of sentiments regarding why people get certain tattoos on their bodies. Although I don't have any ink on me, I have started to paint tattoos on canvas and paper.

One of my best friends got married recently. This piece is my expression of a "forever" love, painted just for the newlyweds!

Retro Tuesday

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Going through some old photographs, I came across this one. While I was in college, my mother fulfilled one of her dreams: to own a gallery for emerging artists. It was around 1993 or 1994 between Mizner Park and the Pink Plaza in Boca Raton, Florida. My mom represented a handful of sculptors, ceramicists, watercolorists, jewelry makers, and painters (me included). As you can see in this shot, she dedicated an entire wall for me. Back then, I painted on a relatively large scale. Most of these pieces are 48" x 48" and 36" x 48", depicting some of my favorite celebrities including John Lennon, Madonna, Baryshnikov, and Elton John.

It wasn't too long before I went to my first international art exhibition in New York and my mom decided to turn the gallery into a working studio for me. She became my "Mom-ager" and focused her efforts on representing and promoting my artwork, thus commencing my career as a professional pop artist.

In The Studio

Happy Friday!

It has been another busy week in my studio!

One of the pieces I was working on and touching up for one of my collectors is this piece of Jerry Garcia. At one point in my life, I was a Dead Head by association. My roommate was a diehard Grateful Dead follower, so naturally, we always had that hippie, patchouli, tie-dyed, free-spririted philosophy about us. I own many of their albums and have continued to keep their music alive in my playlists (my parents always told me I was born in the wrong decade). I still love my tie-dyes, too!

My roommate and I even each ended up owning VW buses. Mine was a 1969 Camper with a hammock, black furry seat covers, and a legacy story of travelling to both Woodstocks! A couple hundred thousand miles later (only a small, minute fraction of those were mine), my bus died and went to VW heaven. I have a few remnants of it still: original "moon" hubcaps, the original shifter, the screen that its original owner emblazoned with a giant peace sign (at Woodstock ca.1969), and the vanity plate that beared its name, PapaBus, after the late great Papa Bear, Jerry Garcia.

Retro Tuesday

Hope everyone had a lovely long holiday weekend!

This week I want to share with you a very special and rare piece of art, and one of very few self-portraits.

When I was in school at Skidmore College, I took a studio 2-D Drawing class. I relished spending the 8 to 10 hours a week in this class, and my professor was amazing, too!! My college career was short lived, but I was like a sponge and took it all in. I was never formally trained in art, but rather self-taught. Classes at Skidmore were the first exposure I had to "real" art technique and teachings.

This self-portrait was assigned as a 3-hour study. Because it was my first Thanksgiving holiday from my first semester at school, I opted to complete it at home. I carried this huge piece of paper on the plane, along with my artbox filled with pencils, kneaded erasers, charcoals, and conte crayons. I got home from the airport and before comiserating about the whole college experience with my family, I explained I had an assignment, and excused myself for 3 hours to complete it. In my room, I had a full length mirror on the back of the door which was a necessary tool for doing a self-portrait. I taped the 25" x 40" (really big!) paper to the wall, got out the charcoals and erasers and got to work. This piece took me every second of the 3 hours, but when it was done, I was surprised that I recognized myself, hand in my pocket and all!

Throughout my late teens I was famous for wearing a pony tail in a Greek sailor's cap, Doc Marten boots, and a big silver ankh around my neck, all of which are depicted here. At that time in my life, I was dealing with a lot of different things, all contributing to the fact that I believe I look sad in the drawing. Recognizable, but still sad. This is one reason that even today I have a hard time looking at it; I feel so much happier now! It leads me to the idea that it is time to do a new self-portrait. It is also the reason that it is such a special piece, as this is the first time that anyone except my immediate family has seen it! But for the record, my parents adore this piece and it actually hangs in a beautiful frame in their home!

Seasons Of Love

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Please welcome "Seasons Of Love" which is my brand new edition, premiering this Saturday, February 14, 2009!! It is a 12" x 12" edition of 214, representing its romantic debut date.

"Seasons Of Love" has a long history: My mother loves hearts. The shape has become a symbolic image that reminds me of her, obviously very sentimental.

I was playing around with oil pastels one day. I really liked how the colors were vivid, sometimes blending, sometimes overlapping. I loved how the pastels were so soft, they seemed to melt into the paper. A heart is a pretty simple shape to execute, so I started to use the oil pastels to create very colorful hearts.

Twelve 4-inch hearts, all different pallettes of colors, came out on different sheets of bristol paper. I roughly cut each of them into a square composition and presented them all to my mom on a Mother's Day, one for every month of the year. They are pieces that my mom has held near and dear. I decided to choose 4 of my favorite hearts and use them for this edition, representing the 4 seasons. In this edition, I chose not to have a traditional background, but instead, used a famous romantic poem by Lord Byron. "She Walks In Beauty" is classic, timeless, beautiful, and a fitting match for my mom and the pastel hearts that were first given to her, and now to the world.

A gift of "Seasons Of Love" will be cherished every day of every season of every year.

Retro Tuesday

Greetings, all!!

Grammy fever has been in the air! Those who know me know that I love music. My music library is very eclectic. Most often you will find me jamming out to the cool sounds of singer songwriters from the '50s and '60s all the way through today. None of my friends truly share my love for folk/folk rock, although they are kind and try not to laugh when I sing all the words to "Tom Dooley," by the Kingston Trio.

Anyway, this time of year I often reflect on some of the spectacular moments in my life. I have been fortunate to have been able to attend a few of the Grammy Awards shows, and as I have mentioned in previous posts, I got to go to some of the extra events and parties in conjunction with the Grammys!

One Sunday night back in 1997, I was a rock star. I invited my sister to New York City for the event at Madison Square Garden. I remember weaving through the grid of NYC blocks when all the streets were closed off for the parade of black stretch limos, all going to the same place...I was in one of those! My sister and I walked the red carpet, as very important people...wearing our best rockstar threads. Mine consisted of a silver velvet shirt and holographic Doc Marten shoes (well it was the late '90s)!!

We actually had to arrive in the early afternoon...many awards were given out before what most people see on television. Ellen DeGeneres was the host, and although she and I had yet to meet (that would happen months later) she was my favorite comedian and tv personality. Eric Clapton and BabyFace won Song Of The Year with "Change The World."

Jessica and I had great seats just behind all the famous people. I was watching how everything worked. How when the winner went up to receive their reward, someone came and filled their seat temporarily. That's how that lower section always looks full when we watch from home.

Needless to say we had a great time, and it was a LONG, LONG night. When it was over, we had the arduous task of finding our limo driver in the long line of limo drivers. Everyone had to go to the same place and we miraculously found our car without too much commotion. I remember Pat Boone was waiting for his limo right in front of us and he looked to me and matter of factly said to me how crazy it was trying to find the right car. I matter of factly noted that he was only wearing a vest and tie, no shirt. My sister and I were driven to an after party with extravagant decorations and over-the-top catering. Open bar, of course. We had a blast. Just being part of that energetic night was amazing. So was the gift bag on the way out with lots of make-up, colognes, sunglasses, etc.!!

I donate to MusiCares, the charitable arm of the Grammys. One year I offered this painting of the Gramophone, with a gold leaf background. In this photograph it was still a work in progress.

Butterfly Effect

Happy Friday, everyone!!

People ask a lot of interesting studio-related questions. One of the most common is: "Are you a morning person or a night owl?"

This week is perfect to answer: It depends. Usually, I am early to rise, which I guess puts me in the "morning person" category.

I make myself a cup of coffee, take care of the dogs, get dressed, and since my studio is attached to my house, I don't have a far walk to work. I am very disciplined when it comes to painting. I paint, sketch, and prepare canvases and paper virtually everyday because I love what I do. Fulfilling commissions and exhibition deadlines is another reason I am always busy.

This week is special because I have been on a roll, artistically speaking. My motivation is alive and kicking right now and that alone just keeps me pushing forward.. I've been burning the midnight oil this week. After dinner, I've been drawn back into the studio to keep painting or to do one more sketch.

So, this week in particular, I have been a bit of a night owl. But, I welcome this situation. It's great to feel productive and then look around and actually SEE the output.

In the picture above is a new image I have been working on called "Butterfly Wing (Right)." And yes, a "left" wing is also in the works. Years ago I painted a canvas with a butterfly wing. Again, just one of those pieces I put aside after I finished it. For whatever reason, now I have butterflies on the brain; therefore, butterflies emerge in the art.

Retro Tuesday

Hey! Hope everyone is recuperated from Superbowl Sunday!! Not only was the game, a great one (and not just because the Steelers won), but also I loved Bruce Springsteen at halftime! He can really get a crowd all riled up and feeling good! "Born To Run" is on my list of favorite songs, by the way.

So remember how last week I was going through old portfolios of my art? Well, here is a picture of an unfinished Ebony pencil piece of Jimi Hendrix that was started while I was in high school (more than 15 years ago!!).

The story that I can recall about this piece was there was this kid that I was friendly with who loved Jimi Hendrix. He wanted this particular image of Jimi...a photograph out of one of his favorite books. Back then, I didn't paint. I only used pencil and colored pencil. The largest of my pieces was about 18" x 24" on paper, just like this one. Because there was so much space for the darkest pencil shading, my wrist couldn't handle the workload and about fell off. Needless to say, I never completed the piece. The kid never did ask about it again, but I should probably thank him for sparking my interest in the genius of Jimi Hendrix. This is one of the few unfinished artworks in my portfolio. Ironically, I am content with keeping it just that way.