It certainly has been quite the year since we had my last art show back in 2020. Quite frankly that is an understatement!  So many friends and family were impacted during a time that was relentless in its quarantining and isolation.  No schools, no parties, no football or basketball games.  At times it seemed as if we were living on another planet.

For me artistically I was spared.  I have never had more opportunity to spend time in my studio, exploring, dreaming and creating.  Now that the vaccine has taken hold and a kindling of new hope to normal is on the horizon we are preparing to debut my first show for 2021.  "Awakening" is an appropriate title.  We're on the cusp of daylight savings time and those extended hours and the warmth of Spring's temps and colorful blooms could not be more inspiring.

I have a bounty of new transitional landscapes and contemporary paintings that explore the all the boundaries of my palette.  Since I transitioned from watercolors to acrylics there is an air of freedom of being an amateur once again.  I sit at the throttles so to speak and open it up, wide open.  No fear, simply diving into a realm of inventiveness and originality.  

Over the final weeks there are dozens of paintings that are hibernating from months of sitting in wait and they will debut this coming May 20 -22.  I would be honored if you would join me during that time as we open up the Studio and celebrate a new "Awakening".

Acrylic has provided some lively and entertaining works this year but there has been a particular aspect that I have throughly enjoyed.  It's actually "pouring" the paint onto the canvas.  This large colorful pieces certainly capture your attention from across the room and the more you gaze into them the more entertaining they become.  Below are a few pictures sharing some techniques I use as well as works in progress.  

The first order of business is to prep my canvas by stretching it among four stools.  These stools will be pushed and pulled allowing me to manipulate the direction of the paint as it flows off the canvas. "Well - kinda sort of!"  Next I determine my palette of colors and pre mix them into one gallon containers making sure that I have enough on hand to complete the project.  

I use a variety of cup sizes to direct the flow and as I pour one layer of color on top another, that's when the "magic" happens.  Depending on the viscosity (thickness) of the paint they play with each other on the surface creating the most interesting effects.  It's here that I could never imagine some of the amazing translucent colors that come about and how they align themselves, almost playing peek a boo with each other.

After I compete the pours I have the painting stretched then come back and paint over some of the pours, making some more pronounced and having others recede.  This summer I spent six weeks on the project and created twelve fabulous works.

I hope you will find a window to stop by the Studio sometime and take a look at some of them.  There is nothing quite like seeing them in person!

To say that 2020 has been different is an understatement for sure!  But for me it has been a blessing in many ways.  It allowed me to spend more time with my family, helped to get some priorities straightened out and best of all truly focus on my artwork.  Back in March I had events planned every month from trade shows to speaking engagements to new shows all across the state and like many of you everything was simply erased in one fail swoop.

But where there is challenge there is also opportunity and once again I'm grateful that I was allowed to retreat to my Studio on a daily basis and explore a variety of new directions and to explore this new medium of acrylics that I had taken on just a few years ago.  Three is noting like being humbled particularly after you have been a seasoned professional for more than forty years, but the novelty of being an amateur once again holds such an air of creativity and freedom that I haven't enjoyed in many years.  Don't get me wrong, I have always loved the medium of watercolors but it had become 'wrote" to me and one that I had mastered many years ago. Taking on acrylics was equivalent to learning how to ride a unicycle.  Sure I had ridden my bicycle for a lifetime even on one wheel doing occasional wheelies, but to constantly be on one wheel, well that's exhilarating!  

That is what acrylics has been like for me.  I have gotten up more times with skinned knees, bumps, bruises and scrapes literally.  But that has been the love affair.  It's the chaos, the fear, intimidation and not knowing what's going to happen  that has taught this old fella a bunch of new tricks.  I have found new textures and atmospheres that I have never had the pleasure of capturing before.  The ability to be fluid and to caress the medium and push back of the canvas has felt as if I were playing an instrument.  It's so tactical that I literally feel as if I am part of the process like I have never been before.

Now after five years and really, just two years of pouring myself into this new craft wholeheartedly that I present to you "New Work, New Show and a New Book".  I'm quite proud of how its all has come about and it would not have come about so quickly or beautifully had I not been sequestered in the Studio this past six months.

I look forward to sharing all of it with you and hope that you will join me in the upcoming days, weeks and months as I continue to celebrate this new "transition".

It's been nearly two years since I closed the Gallery on Lawndale Shopping Center.  It was a stellar facility showcasing my newest paintings, latest publications and licensed partnerships.  Now that I have retreated to my studio I have reimagined my career once again and over the past five years I became an amateur once again. Watercolors is a brilliant medium but I longed to do more and at a different scale.

Now that my responsibilities are minimal I have the freedom to explore new stylizations and mediums. I have a new fascination with acrylics and it has allowed me to broaden my work in a new dimension that are quite adventurous with a fresh new appeal.  As a means of celebrating this new direction I decided to put together a new book titled "Transitions" showcases these new works that have mesmerizing techniques.

Joy Ross my longtime associate and I have complied more than 100 new works as I talk about my "transition" and what is involved in creating these bold new creations.  Besides a bounty of colorful contemporary works is a portfolio of new transitional landscapes celebrating nature and and reflecting a keen awareness of my roots.

We're in the midst of publication and books will be available in early November.  I look forward to sharing this new volume and would be flattered to personally autograph a copy for you and a friend.