Griffe

'Those who play with cats must expect to be scratched.'  Miguel di Cervantes

Jean Christophe

Giants proved themselves to be fighters in the mud in SF tonight. sudden death OT is about as good as football can get.  Hard for the fan to suffer thru but worth it in the end.  Listening to Cortot and Casals playing Sonata no. 69.  reminds me of why  Beethoven was my first favorite composer.

my sister Julie visited in me 1992 or so and did this drawing of me from a photo she took, I wasn't too crazy about it at the time but now it strikes me as being quite a good likeness.

pencil on paper, sketch of Neil  by Julie Conrad,

vigo

'Don't run after poetry, it penetrates unaided thru the cracks.'  -Robert Bresson

Paris

was on the platform at union sq. today and heard a Brahms song played on a saw.  Wie Melodien, it was so unexpected that I couldn't place it at first.  the sawist was on the next level up and as my train was not arriving right away, I went up to throw a buck in her bucket and as I did I mouthed the words as she was playing, she was so delighted that someone recognized the song.

Schumann etc

Mein schöner Stern, Robt. Schumann

recorded 12/31/11

Les Berceaux, G. Fauré

12/31/11

click on the title to hear me singing and playing

Chanson Triste, H. Duparc

bonus track

La Divina

this started life as a sketch of Maria Callas, was getting too frustrating, the placement of the eyes.  and then it completely fell apart.  looked like a 22 year old drag queen so I just decided to give it the treatment.  got to start the Callas thing over when I got the time.

the runaway train

got the urge to try to go after a likeness.

it started here but then I really wanted to change the eyes.

Baltic

feeling a good deal more warmth around in this holiday season, guess I'm just more open to it for some reason.

can you see the warmth in this one?  :)   neither can I.

I guess it's the fish if you got to have a reason.  just to name it after a sea.  a shallow one at that.  really rough when it gets going.  our ship was accompanied by an owl for a while on the Baltic.  would roost on the rope deck and fly along side when it felt like it.  was with us for more than a day.

this due for a revision but putting it up just the same.

caprice

Dreamt I was grocery shopping on my bike, riding up and down the hills and aisles.  only spent 20 dream dollars and got a free pen knife and some valuable stamps to redeem for prizes.  the help was helpful and friendly.  made shopping a breeze even tho I dreaded it from the bottom of my heart.

this is kind of old but I'm not really sure?  6 months, it fell out of a ream of paper.

Corsica

'One never paints violently enough.'  (Eugene Delacroix)

back in 1980 I was waiting tables at a rib joint in Nord East Mpls. and Emily Mann (she was just named 2011 Person of the Year by the National Theatre Conference) came in to eat with a group of associates from the theatre.  I knew her from the year before when I  was an extra there & was totally in awe of her besides having a crush on her.  She was the last person I'd have expected to show up there it was in such an out of the way neighborhood, absolutely mortifying.  a real nightmare. the party was seated in my section and I could barely speak, I managed to greet them, she was very gracious and introduced me to everyone at the table and ask nicely about how I was doing.  I calmed down a bit and proceeded to get all their orders, turned to go get their drinks and  banged right into the wall behind me.

valmont

went to the Matta show.  the paintings were so huge.  unbelievable.  and I couldn't relate at all.  nothing looked like it was really done...  went to the Mitchell show as well, I may have to go back.  maybe just wasn't the time to go looking at paintings.

Roethke

felt like I was not the same painter as in the last post.  can't pinpoint the reason.  certainly can feel the holidays coming on like crazy.  ew!

I should try to get in the spirit of things, like as far as the holidays are concerned.

Phedre

guess it's hard because I don't want to face starting over.  can be the worst thing to start a new painting.  by the time I've come to accept the present conditions of painting it's practically too late to make any meaningful decisions.  Unintentionally turns into a race between the critical and the creative.  I don't even recognize the struggle until it's fully underway and I've completely lost sight of projected outcomes.

folklore

'There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain.'  (Georges Braque)

'The eyes, those silent tongues of love.'  (Miguel de Cervantes)

triad

I was waiting for the light on first ave in the east village one day and heard the crossing guard explaining the basics of color theory to some acquaintance, he was telling him about the magic of mixing red with blue and coming up with purple.  little reminder not to walk around feeling so goddamned special all of the time.

"I want a very ordered image, but I want it to come about by chance."  (Francis Bacon)

Trondheim

this really is a retread but it feels new so I'm going to post it as a new painting.  fine!  I heard a story from a financial advisor about St Peter's Church at Citicorp;  When the church was being built in 1977 they commissioned DeKooning to do a very large altar piece for the sanctuary. it came as 3 panels and the reaction of the board was less than positive.  they  were stashed away and forgotten but 2o years later when the church was strapped for cash the accountant asked about them and they were nowhere to be found.

tivoli

'Sometimes I see it and then paint it.  Other times I paint it and then see it.  Both are impure situations, and I prefer neither.'  (Jasper Johns)

been busy with revisions, so check back thru the last few months of posts if you're interested.  some pieces that were marginally duds have picked up some life.  having trouble starting new ones, not sure why.

scherzo

7" x 10"

"I'm not an abstractionist.  I'm not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else.  I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions:  tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on."  (Mark Rothko)

expectations

'The painting rises from the brushstrokes as a poem rises from the words.  The meaning comes later.' (Joan Miro)

'In a painting space doesn't involve practical hazards.  You can't break your neck in a painting.'  (Stuart Davis)

Varese

so, I went back to MoMA to have another look at the DeKooning show.  3rd or 4th time, I have lost track.  some things really grow on me and others have lost their thrill.  the sculptures for example, not crazy about them.  i checked in on the Matisse heads on the next floor and they struck me as nonessential as well, so sculpture in bronze is not really doing it for me these days.  the late stuff they have to show, I think I've seen better at auctions at Christie's.  some of these feel kind of static.  really like a mostly black painting called, 'Painting'.  I'm sure you know the one.  it's the last on the north wall, the piece feels like a set design, there's so much drama going on. otherwise, the 'big arm' paintings are liable to draw me back and I'll reassess my appraisal of the blob sculptures.  already thinking about the drawings for them.  those I really like.

this is from september of 09.  I haven't seen it in so long, the thing kind of takes me by surprise.  it's 46" x 46"