Plein Air, Fort Hill, Eastham, MA

Painting on Cape Cod is a dream come true. There really is a "cape light". The Cape is a peninsula, extending 65 miles into the Atlantic. There is a tremendous amount of sun reflection from the ocean which creates an unusual clarity and sparkle.

Painting "Two Paths"

A passerby shot this photo of me. He told me how his father learned to paint: He bought inexpensive framed reproductions from Woolworths and painted over the existing brush strokes, one by one. I had many painting teachers. The best was Joseph Jankowski, who studied at the Art Students League. I took his painting course at the Cleveland Institute of Art circa 1973. I fear that good old classical painting techniques are now becoming a lost art

"Before The First Frost"

Ah, the joys of Plein Air painting! The French really got it right. I set up the French eisel on a perfect October day at Beckwith Orchard. That is the dalhia garden of Ray Wilkins. He is a retired professor from KSU. I had a nice chat with him. It was sad that with the economic
meltdown, he might have to downscale his retirement plans. As he had warned me, the dalhias all disintigrated after the first frost. I shot many photos of him and the garden, and plan to paint a series.

"Hera"

She was the goddess of women, childbirth, and marriage. Zeus cheated on her constantly. A nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from knowledge of Zeus's escapades. She cursed Echo to only be able to repeat the words of others. Neoclassicissm can be a curse if the repeating of motifs leads only to the past. A painter, R. Ryan said, "Neoclassicism is cheating."

"The Wanderer"

An art dealer informed me that these paintings were kitch. I said, "Of course they're kitch. I love kitch." I also love the late work of Picabia and the neoclassicism of Picasso. Carlo Mariani can really paint. Let's not forget John Currin. Have you seen what Jim Dine is up to? He used laser scanners to enlarge Greek figurines from 100 BC, at the Getty Villa. He then made wood carvings of them. Way to go, kitchmeister!

"He Met Her In A Dream"

There is a song by Bjork with the lyric: "I miss you, but I haven't met you yet."

"Wake Upon Another Shore"

Someone called these types of paintings my "see through vase paintings". We can see the world, the ancient life in a vase.

"Horse"

This circus painting is quite large: 96" x 48". The three ring circus idea is mashed up with transparent planes and a gold leaf outlined horse head. The picture is from a slide as are all of the circus paintings in the following posts.

"The Source" oil on shaped canvas

This painting is going to be put up for sale at Sotheby's by a collector. Yikes. It will be the first time one of my children has been sold that way.

"Sugar"

A Yogi once asked me "What tastes better? Lemon and Lemon or Sugar and Lemon? He was teaching me a fundamental truth about life and love. No, those aren't ants jumping on the grapefruit.

"On Both Ends At Once"

One of the first paintings I did in the Spring Street loft. I designed this to be hung from the cieling.

"The Double Twist Of Death"

I painted this at the Edward Albee Foundation, in Montauk, N.Y. in 1979. It was quite an experience being there. It is a summer workshop in a barn. I had a huge studio. There were two painters, and three writers there. One of the writers was James Lapine, who has come to great success: "Sunday In The Park With George" was written by him. Nogouchi dropped by one day wearing shorts and flip-flops...and I had dinner in Mr. Albee's famous mirrored dinning room. Excuse me for the poor quality of the picture: It's from an old slide.

"Out Of The Bottomless Sea"

In ancient Greek mythology, Poseidon lives with the dolphins in a bejeweled palace at the bottom of the ocean. In Marvel comics he lives in Atlantis. In this vase he fights a monster.