Week 34. "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo, 2010" 24"x48" acrylic on board

This is the third piece I've done with what I call a cock-a-doodle-doo theme. There are obvious Peter Pan influences here. The same visual pun exist in all three paintings with a boy giving a "cock-a-doodle-doo" while behind him is a sun that looks like an egg yolk within an egg shape. When I painted the first one I felt that the boy was saying something like "I'm here... come on! Let's do it!" and saying it with some arrogance. But now I feel that the boy is just joyful. He's enjoying life. He's in the moment and living in the now. He's free of fear, criticism or envy. He just is. This is the first piece I've done using acrylic paint in a few years. Acrylics dry in a matter of minutes where oils dry in a matter of days. That fact alone changes everything about the painting process. There's also the fact that acrylics darken as they dry making it difficult to get the exact tonal quality desired. Still, I had a lot of fun this week and plan on further re-acquainting myself with the possibilities of acrylic paint. Below are the first "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo" (24"x30", acrylic on canvas) as well as the second, titled "Dream 5, Dawn" (12"x12", oil on canvas).

Week 33. "Seahorses" 18"x18" oil on canvas

Oceans have been on my mind having spent most of last week camping along the seashore in Maine and then attending a beautiful wedding right on the water in Rhode Island a couple of days ago. Normally I would never demand a new painting of myself after spending so little time at home but, you see, I have this blog where I said I would paint a painting every week and post it. So here it is, "Seahorses". With the little time I had I fought with this piece. I scraped most of the paint off a couple times and had to start all over. Meanwhile I could hear the clock was ticking. But here it is with 3 hours and 15 minutes before my last moment to post and I'm diggin' it.

Week 31 and 32. Red Light Red 18"x24" and Red Light Green 18"x24"

Anyone paying attention noticed that I did not post a new painting this past Monday. I do have a good excuse. I've been painting Red Light Red and Red Light Green simultaneously. Every time I would bring one of them up a step further I would then set it aside and bring the other up to the same point. So, although I didn't post this past Monday I am still filling my quota. Let's say Red Light Red is for last Monday and Red Light Green is for this Monday coming up.

Both of these pieces are expansions on the idea from "Pomegranate" (week 30) but these two are meant to be shown together.

enjoy... H

Week 31. "Pomegranate" 18"x24" oil on canvas

Pomegranate fruit, pomegranate blossoms and a coquette. As always I was paying very close attention to the colors here. Greens and reds are always fun to juxtapose but the real fun was trying to get the skin of the coquette to really glow. I'm also enjoying the abstract features in my work lately, especially in this piece. The forms and tonalities in the background give a feeling, an idea of a place but not enough to define it. It's left up to the viewer to decide where she is and what's happening.