"Figs"

A trick to fool the eye is not to frame a painting...Imagine a gold frame on this one. It may sell to a Park Avenue matron, but would loose the trompe l'oeil ooomph. Harnet showed his paintings in a tavern. I wonder how many drinks it took to fool those eyes. This painting is a companion to "The Gravity of Desire". Suspenders are the masculine counterpart to a female's garter.

"The Gravity of Desire"

The apple bough was given to me by Mr. Beckwith of the Beckwith's Orchard. The garter was a challenge to paint and it was difficult to find one in a store that wasn't real tacky.

"A Value Much Greater Than Pearls"

As a boy, I once bought plastic pearls for my Grandma on the walk home from Holy Cross School. After she passed away I painted this as a rememberence of the Mother who raised me. Every object was painted from life except the sculpture which is from a photo.

"Milk And Honey"

All of the objects were painted from life except the Egyptian statue which was painted from a photo. I remember painting this at Belvoir Terrace where I sometimes did painting demonstrations during class. One student suggested I add the apple slice to symbolize the sweetness of life. Another student was intrigued by my technique of using two colors simultaneously to paint pitted stone texture. "Aha! I knew it was a trick." she said.

"Toys Of The Dark Ages"

In 1995 I bought these very realistic plastic toys for one dollar each in the inner city neighborhood where my studio was located. Before painting the guns, I easily removed the orange plastic tips with pliers. These tips were presumably added to distinguish the toys from real guns. How can we expect our children to resolve conflict in a safe and sane way when this is what they play with? Around the same time a youth was shot and killed by police who thought his toy gun was real.