"From Empty To Full"

Another moon highlights on the clouds, backlights on the figures, and reflects on the vase.

"Twilight Dancers"

The moon is full
Her hand obscures his face

"Music Festival"

This limited edition lithograph was made for the Hudson summer concert series. Notice the bandstand. That is Anita Exline's flute. She was the music director in 1994.

"Music Lover / Groupie"

I always thought this painting would make a great rock concert poster. I used the images of the leather jacketed rocker and the classical lyre player on a 10 foot tall guitar sculpture. I am currently repainting the whole composition for the second time.

"Ancient Music"

My landlady and lord, Sue Berry and Michael Crouch posed for the shadows in this painting.

Listening to music is an important part of my creative process. Classical works best. My father was a great singer and jazz aficionado.

"Step To The Music"

"Ladder"

The focus of my art is the human figure in geometry. Sounds"Classical" doesn't it? That is what my Yale school mate, Barbara Kassel told me.
This was painted in NYC, 7 years after Yale. It is a self portrait shadow, grasping for the truth.

"Deborah"

Deborah was my shadow model in this portrait of her which was commissioned by her mother in New Jersey. Her shadows were projected directly on the canvas. The smaller silhouettes became little girls. This idea was further developed in "Infinite Vibration" and "Growing Up".

"Infinite Vibration"

This painting is one of my favorites and I reluctantly left it with an art dealer in the East Village. After moving out of NY, I called to have it returned. He said it had been punctured and wanted to buy it for a fraction of it's worth. I demanded it back and it is one that I refuse to sell. I made some offset reproductions.

The title "Infinite Vibration" is related to Eastern mystical ideas about sound and levels of existence.

"Growing Up"

This was painted in 1994 at Belvoir Terrace, where I was teaching painting. Some of the students were asked to pose for their shadows.

I recently saw the movie "How To Draw A Bunny" documenting the life of the late collage artist, Ray Johnson. He often made collage portraits of artists by tracing their shadows.

"Peace After The Battle" oil/shaped canvas

Painted in NYC, I brought this painting to Cleveland. It was almost sold by Terresa DeChant, but the collector didn't like the yellow orange color above the woman's head. The peace in the painting is expressed in the kitch imagery and in the stable upright triangular composition.

Peace for me was leaving NYC.

"Phases of Mythoi"

This painting was commissioned by Dr. Howard Telson, who titled it.

Mythoi is the plural of mythos which is "the pattern of basic values of a people translated through myths and the arts.

"Ganesh" oil painting

Ganesh

is the most popular

of the Hindu gods.

Representing the removal

of obstacles, this little

statue was given

to me by my friend,

Dr. Howard Telson.

The Hindu religion

accepts all religions

as true.

Even atheism

is accepted.

This is all in theory, though. The Hindu Nationalists are destroying hundreds of Christian churches in India (10-15-08).

"Family" oil on shaped linen

This little one is like a shrine and dated 1954.

I would have been 2 years old then.

A Cleveland critic said the arches remind him of a tacky Italian restaurant. A Cape Cod dealer said he couldn't frame them and, "Nothing sells a painting like a gold frame." A true friend said," You paint niches because you think of all of life as being sacred."

"I Like Weeds" oil on shaped linen

According to the rules of Trompe L'Oeil

painting, objects are painted life size. So,

this one is small.

I have never used pesticides, weed killers, or

fertilizer on my lawn. I use a mulching mower.

"Wanderlust"

This still life was painted in MCMXCVII. An ancient vessel with an image of a chariot and warrior is contrasted with a contemporary travel mug bearing the image of a space shuttle vehicle. Thoughts about love, the past & future, the Challenger disaster and a Dave Mathews lyric ran through my head: "hike up your skirt a little more and show the world to me". The painting is titled "Wanderlust".

"Nocturne" I Like Georges de La Tour

Here's the old man in a completely staged composition. Sue Berry gave me the odd Disneyesque candle stick. The owl sculpture was bought at Einstien's Attic my favorite junk store in Kent. The moth was found dead one morning inside my back screen door.

Happy Mother's Day

This print: "Many Happy Returns" was commissioned by the Southern Ohio Museum in Portsmouth in 1993.

The museum was going to celebrate their 15th birthday. I had a few pictures in a still life exhibition there. We brainstormed to make a print as a fundraising gift. Their logo has an Ionic column, so of course I was interested. A drawing about birthdays and reincarnation was done on frosted acetate and exposed directly to an offset litho plate. It was printed at Evans printing in Chagrin Falls, OH. It is technically an original offset print. Usually offset prints are reproductions in that a camera image of an original image is used.

The Vase Will Break

This intaglio print is hand colored with watercolor.

There is a vase / body metaphor.

You may break

you may shatter

the vase if you will

but the scent of roses

will hang around still

-Thomas Moore-

Portraits Are Like Mirrors

This small painting shows a girl looking into a mirror.

The shape of the Greek vase is a lekythos. This long

slender vase held perfumed oil.

Portrait of George Stiros

This portrait is done in the "See Through Greek Vase" style, circa 1986.

I wonder how many people believe in reincarnation. I would like to. As a kid I would draw pictures in front of the fireplace mantle which had two Ionic fluted columns. I somehow came up with the idea to make cardboard sandals, which didn't last very long on the concrete pavement of E. 214th Street. As an adult, a psychic friend told me I was a Greek model who wanted to be an artist.

Three Cherries

I painted the plein air landscape part of this painting on the terrace of Belvoir Terrace in the Berkshires. Western Massachuesets is truly a cultural and natural paradise. The stone texture, Greek vase and cherries were painted months later in the studio. As I was painting the sunset, someone remarked, "Oh a little of this, a little of that." I call it assymilating styles.