A New Day

Oil on canvas
20 x 15.5

I had a lot of trouble getting a decent picture of this. Between the glare and the value contrasts it was a minor nightmare. There's still a little glare, but I think you can get the basic idea.

I'm not entirely sure I like this painting. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it strikes me that it may be too much of a cliche. Well if it is, so be it. I'll leave it to you to decide. I also don't have much to say about it. So feel free to make up your own story. I will say that it reminds me of a Thoreau quote from Walden. It's toward the end, maybe the very last phrase. "There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star." It seems to apply.

Lilies of the Valley

10.5 x 8.5
Oil on Panel

I don't do a lot of still life painting, but occasionally something catches my eye. Outside the window of my little painting space (I hesitate to call this cave a studio) there is a patch of Lilies of the Valley. In the spring it's really quite pretty. After the flowers die down it leaves a pretty dense patch of foliage, and that's the part the cat loves because it provides cover for a variety of critters for her to watch. She seems particularly fascinated by turtles.

Preliminary drawings

I thought I would drag out a few of these to show some coming attractions as it were. In reality this may be as far as any of them go. Odds are I will never get around to finishing them assuming they even get started. Perhaps you can tell I'm feeling a bit down. No matter, here are the drawings and some of the images that have been rolling around in my head.


pencil with white chalk on pinkish paper

This one has been started and screwed up beyond all recognition. I could probably continue on and save it, but somehow it just doesn't seem worth the trouble. Maybe that will change, and I'll go back to it some day, we'll see. This drawing doesn't seem too bad though so it wasn't a complete waste of time. If I would have done a couple more prelims maybe I wouldn't have messed up the painting or I would have realized I was going down the wrong path sooner. Jump right in, no guts, no glory is usually superceded by fail to plan, plan to fail. In honor of the election, I'll be speaking in bumper sticker from now on. I can be as annoying as any politician. Whoops, spiraling again, sorry.


charcoal with white chalk

Don't hold your breath on this one. I like the drawing. I like the image in general a lot too, but I don't see me really jumping on this one and doing it. First, it's figurative so the marketability is limited around here at least. Second it would be recognizable further limiting marketability. Most people don't want pictures of people they don't know on their walls regardless of how good the image is. Maybe that's just a local thing, but that's what I've got to deal with. All in all, this is a piece that I would be painting strictly for myself, and I've already seen it in my mind so why bother.


pencil with white chalk

This one was done so long ago I'd forgotten about it. Again I like the image in general and I think it would make a good painting, but I'm afraid I'd be doing it for a very small audience of one, me alone. I actually showed it to one of my galleries. They made some joke and blew it off as unmarketable. Not really encouraging.

So am I worrying too much about marketability?