Louise Nevelson

It was on this day September 23 in the year 1899 that acclaimed sculptor Louise Nevelson was born.



Louise Nevelson is known as of the most important American sculptors of the twentieth century. An artist friend who was in NYC in the 60's has told me fascinating stories about seeing this wild eyed woman digging through dumpster on the street in the village. One day he asked an acquaintance about her. He was informed that it was Louise Nevleson looking for fodder for her work.

I think that that would be a very cool memory to have indeed.

It's the time of the season....

Guess what today is folks? Why it's the first day of autumn! And as I've stated before - I love this season. I love the colors of the leaves, the crispness of the air, the golden amber hued light, faded sweaters that you know like a best friend, incredible sunsets, mums apples and pumpkins, Halloween and Thanksgiving… I could go on and on.

So, on that note - here are two wonderful sites that I have found online that specialize in Autumn courtesy of the USDA Forest service. The first one is the Fall Color Page for 2005.

http://www.fs.fed.us/news/fallcolors/

This will show you the progress of Fall Colors by region and there is even a Fall Color Hotline!

The next is an informative page also by the USDA Forest Service that explains everything that you would like to know about these colors entitled "WHY LEAVES CHANGE COLORS"

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/misc/leaves/leaves.htm

Now onto something different yet equally beautiful…



It seems that experts are close to proving that the above painting entitled "Mary Magdalene" and painted in 1515, may have been actually painted by the master Leonardo da Vinci. As an artist, I find this fascinating. You can read more about the story by clicking here. And while you’re at it, make sure and read this highly interesting article from UK’s The Guardian entitled "Art detective exposes hidden images to fuel Da Vinci Code conspiracies". Be sure to view the PDF document attached to that article to actually see the amazing sketches previously hidden for the last 500 or so years! Amazing!

Those autumn leaves drift by my window….

Well folks, in case you were unaware of it, today is the last official day of Summer 2005.


The above image is one that I took last week at what my partner and I call the "Bay House". We call it that because the lovely Rehoboth Bay is about 7 feet from the edge of our back deck. This photo was taken at sunset.

I won’t say that this has been one of my more enjoyable summers as it has not. I spent the majority of this summer in my studio furiously painting in preparation for my shows. My partner George and I both also spent most of the summer dealing with all of the leaping through hoops that has to occur while attempting to sale this house while at the same time juggling the delicate china of attempting to purchase two other homes (we sold this one, and put the proceeds into a smaller place here and a second home in Philadelphia).

Now the process of moving from one house into two that are two hours apart from each other begins. But this is alright because I have this to look forward to…



And I must admit that I do indeed love autumn.

Self-Portrait Tuesday

It's Tuesday. Here's my pic.



This was taken with my cellphone but I had to tweak it in Photoshop. I'm standing in front of my one my paintings entitled "Ingenue"



Today also happens to be the 71st birthday of one of my favorite actresses...Sophia Loren



So unto her I say...Happy Birthday!!

"I was crazy about her. She had incredibly kissable lips" Sid Luft on Judy Garland

This will probably be of interest only to those Judy Garland fans ( hello Jeff!), but I just read today about the death of Sid Luft on Thursday, September 15, 2005 at the age of 89.

This burly street-wise man was married to Judy Garland for 13 years and produced the much acclaimed Oscar-nominated 1954 film "A Star Is Born"



Here is a photo of them from the 1950's.



They were married during some of her craziest, prescription pill popping and alcohol addicted times.



I can only image the stories that this man could have told...

"I can't Manny. I'm stuck in the spokes."

When I was just a little tyke, this was THE movie that all of the kids were talking about. I was only in 2nd grade then and too young to go see it myself, but news about the film would trickle down via the television or from other kids who’s parents or older siblings had seen it, or from - most impressive of all on the playground - other kids who had actually been to see it with their parents themselves, which, to my knowledge was still somewhat of a taboo thing to do 33 years ago.

I think that this was the first in a long line of disaster movies that glutted the film industry in the 70’s. There were earthquakes, raging fires, unmanned airplanes, runaway super trains and more. But, I believe that this was the granfather of them all.

The only reason that I bring this up in the blog today, is because I ran across these brilliant little dolls while surfing this AM...



I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them! I said to myself, “Is that Shelly Winters in the role of Belle Rosen from the Poseidon Adventure?!” And to my delight - it was.

There are 9 dolls in total and they can be found online by clicking here.

Shelly Winters has received a lot of flack over the last 35 years or so starting with her role in the P.A., ( she gained 35 punds for the role) but she actually is an amazing actress (she has won two Best Actress Oscars and was nominated for two others including for her role in the Poseidon Adventure). At one time was known as a blonde bombshell in Hollywood and even taught Marilyn Monroe a trick or two...



On a different note, I also ran across this online today



In my opinion, this digitally altered image would be humorous if it weren't for the fact that it is so sadly symbolically true. I may catch a lot of grief for this, but I can barely stomach what our country has become and is becoming under the so-called “leadership” of this patrician idiot.

I would also like to ask this to all of those folks who voted for this buffoon - are you still complaining about the high cost of gasoline when you fill your gas guzzling SUVs which you only purchased as some sort of artifical status, keeping up with the Jones’s, symbol of “prosperity”. I know that you know deep down inside that you can only blame yourself at the pump.

Unless you either actually haul more than 3 kids and a dog around more than several days a week, or use your SUV to transport large items on a regular basis, or work on a ranch or some equivalent thereof, then YOU DON’T NEED A FREAKIN’ SUV!!!

Does anyone over the age of 25 actually have clear memories of being driven around in SUV’s when they were kids? No? Why?

BECAUSE NO ONE HAD THEM except those who used them for work.

THINK ABOUT IT FOLKS!!

Why do you think that so many autos on the road now are SUVs? How many times do you see those filled with kids or materials or covered with dust from working out on the farm?

If you own one, tell me, when was the last time you went “off roading”?
How many times in the last month did you drive it somewhere with every seat occupied with someone?
When was the last time you had it fully loaded with big things that you had to transport somewhere?

I thought so.

http://www.thedetroitproject.com/ads/default.htm

La Ciociara

Last night I watched an amazing film entitled "Two Women" ("La Ciociara") starring Sophia Loren. I have always wanted to see this film and when I saw it offered as a choice on Netflix I immediately placed it into my queue.

The film was directed by one of my favorite directors Vittorio De Sica. He also directed “The Bicycle Thief” ("Ladri di biciclette") which is another one of my all time favorite films and has been considered by some to be the best film of all time.

"Two Women" was released in 1960 and even after 45 years there are scenes in this film that really shook me. Loren's performance is one of the best on screen performances I have ever seen.

Really.

She deservedly won the Best Actress Academy Award in 1962 for her performance and in doing so became the first recipient of an Oscar ever given for a performance in a "foreign-language" film.

This is an extremely uncompromising film and it deals with some very serious issues of survival and political party loyalty taking place during Word War II in Italy. The scene in which Loren and her 13 year old daughter are brutally gang raped in an abandoned church is particularly hard-hitting

and may prove to be rather upsetting to some viewers.

Also, the quality of the DVD that I received from Netflix was visually inferior to say the least - though not so much that I didn’t comprehend the amazing nuances of this film.

I would suggest trying to find one with English subtitles (like the one I watched) as I have read the English dubbed version is inferior (though Loren dubbed the English in herself).

Also, look for famous French New Wave cinema heart-throb Jean-Paul Belmondo in the pivotal role of Michele.



I would consider this film to be without a doubt a "must see before you die" film - however, do your homework and try to find the best version on DVD that you can.

The computer will be easy to use...

I found the above image online this morning and I just had to post it. In case some of you are unable to make out the words, it reads:
Scientists from the RAND corporation have created this model to illustrate how a “home computer” could look in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use.

Amazing no? My favorite part is that giant monitor hanging on the wall. Also, I really want to know what the hell the giant double steering wheel is for.

Oh say can you...

For some reason, I found it of interest that it was on this day, 191 years ago that Francis Scott Key wrote his poem "The Star-Spangled Banner" after watching a battle at Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812.

Here he is on a postage stamp with a rather serene look upon his face. Perhaps this is the look that all poets must possess whilst writing their works.



Here's a photo of Beyonce singing the impossibly difficult National Anthem at the Super Bowl last year.



She certainly doesn’t look like she’s singing the National Anthem does she? I never thought of that particular song as something sexy. Perhaps this version of the image will cast a more appropriate light upon the performance.



In this version, we can see the very Patriotic (though not as sexy) backup band behind Beyonce.

I personally think that "America The Beautiful" would make a much better National Anthem than the musical version of Key's poem.

"It matters more what's in a woman's face than what's on it" : Claudette Colbert

First:
This is for (and this is my first time officially doing this here) Self-Portrait Tuesday...



(taken with my cell phone)

---

Today would have been the 102 birthday of Claudette Colbert. For those of you who don't know, she was a 2 time Academy Award winning super star of film during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She was greatly respected in the industry and she was working well into her 80's (she won an Emmy at the age of 84).

Here she is in one of her more famous films, "It Happened One Night", with Clark Gable for which she won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1935.



Here is another image from the same film where Clark Gable has removed his shirt. This was very controversial at the time...



And here is a great image I found of her from 1924 which I have digitally enhanced



Here's another great photo of her



And here



And here she is in 1986 at the age of 83 with actor Stephen Collins in "The Two Mrs. Greenvilles" for which she won an Emmy Award.



To learn more about the live of this important actress, click here

Ex post facto...

Ah, back from my big solo show weekend in DC. I actually arrived back here yesterday morning, but it has taken about 24 hours to decompress.

First, let me state that the opening was great! I had an incredible time, the exhibit looks great ( thanks to gallery director’s Kate Fraser’s and my partner George Thomasson’s hanging great eye for hanging an exhibit - there really is an art to it).

I would guess that including those that were in the Art Tour, there were about 200 people that came through the exhibit that evening - give or take 20. I had to give 2 different speeches on my work over the course of the opening, which, while unexpected, went over well.

I saw many old friends that I haven’t seen in quite a while was able to introduce them to some of my newer ones who came to the event as well. The one thing that was forgotten to do was to take photos!

Everyone just became so caught up in the moment, it seems to happen at every show. I do have some pics of the gallery taken the next morning which Kate will email to me. I’ll post them as soon as I get them.

The exhibit in DC will run through October 12 so stop by the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda and check it out.

My next exhibit will be in Baltimore at the Light Street Gallery. That show is titled "Ex post facto" and it runs from Oct. 19 - Nov. 26, 2005. I think the opening reception will be held on Saturday the 22nd.

---

Here's something interesting - I was surfing the web late last night and I ran across an shop in Arizona that sells prints of my work. The place is called S!mply ARTrageous. True the name is stomach wrenchingly awful, but they did chose to offer some of my work so I can deal with it. What’s strange for me is that they sell these prints without any info on the artist behind them. So, basically the person that purchases the print will never know that I was the one who painted the original unless they run across that info somewhere along the way.

It was a very peculiar sensation seeing prints of my work offered for sale like that without any involvement, but that is the nature of the print business I guess.

I think that they carry three of my works. Here's one here. It's the "Oath Taker" and it is simply described as "a girl looking intensely ahead".
Funky.
Speaking of funky - here this for all of you technocrats....


That's high-tech a la 1981 for you.
William Shatner certainly has changed over those 24 years eh?

Though I still get a kick out of him. Here's something else from that year...



And here is the current incarnation...



Time - can't live with it can't live without it.

In memoriam....

Bob Denver - aka Gilligan. A true television icon, and from what I have read, a wonderful and loving person.

Rest in peace....


Bob Denver
January 9, 1935 - September 2, 2005

And the band played on....

I came across this image online today - don't ask me how or why...


Words can not express......

Arrrrrggghhhhh!!!!!

Almost 2 weeks since my last update! I have been amazingly busy however. I can't go into details yet, but here are some tidbits...sold one house, bought another, someone died, created 4 paintings, negotiated publication of work in yet another British Fine Art book, met several new people, entertained out of town guests, several dinner parties, overdrank a least twice, found a 5 dollar bill floating in pool...

I'll be back soon with more posts - my solo show in DC opens in a little over 2 weeks! Aaiieeeee!!!!

Here's one of my latest works...

In memoriam....

I was saddened to learn of the death of actress Barbara Bel Geddes. Though she was most known for her portrayal of Miss Ellie Ewing in the television show "Dallas", I thought that she was wonderful in Hitchcock's masterpiece "Vertigo". Her character in that film has a timeless irresistible spunk about her as well as incredible pathos.


Barbara Bel Geddes
October 31, 1922 - August 8, 2005

Staying Busy....

Just taking a quick break from the studio for a quick visit here. I've been a busy painting boy. Here's a recent one:

(click for larger version)
Which I am posting courtesy of a wonderful new image hosting site called ImageShack which I will use over and over again methinks.
I spent most of last weekend with my wonderful friend Michael Bell. He and his lovely wife Lisa came to visit. Of course,that meant that Michael and I had about 3 hours of sleep and a gallon of vodka each as we spoke with great intensity about art, life, and love. We even found time to make a great little painting together (of which I will post a pic of here later). When we're togther, we're like Van Gough and Gauguin and I treasure him for it.

I'm a compassionate mime....

It’s no secret that I’m a liberal Democrat and proud of it. So, I love it when I run across little gems online like the following Flash cartoon parody entitled “Leave It to Bush”. I find it laugh out loud hilarious - with special appearances by Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Walken!

Click the image below to view:


I was also very pleased to read this morning that Bush's approval polls are at the lowest yet (38%!!). And what’s even more amazing is that fewer than half of those polled now think he's honest and six out of ten think that the country is “headed down the wrong track”. Those are amazing numbers and they tell me that this country is finally starting to wake up and see what the hell is going on here in the name of “freedom”.

READ THE ARTICLE

The world may never know.....

My partner George and I went out to dinner last night with our friends Larry and Tom. We took them to a recent discovery called “La Quezelteca”. It’s a wonderful Mexican restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It’s huge ( it may have been an old skating rink at one time), the food and service is great and very authentic, and on Wednesday nights they have kick-ass $1.99 Margaritas.



I wish this were it, but it isn't. Though, it has a simular look and feel minus the giant hats and cool retromobiles. After we finished and we’re on our way out, Tom discovered a huge glass canister filled with Tootsie Drop Pops.

So, we each grab one (my favorite is Raspberry), and we head back home. Which is when this little guy pops into my head.

Which made me say with my best Mr. Owl voice
“One. Two. Three.”
“CRUNCH”
“Three”.

This of course triggered the same imagery in the heads of everyone in the car and a friendly debate began as to when the commercial was on air. I did some online research and discovered that it first aired in 1970. The year in which I was 5 years old.

I also discovered that it is known as one of the most popular commercials of all time and that when you put “owl” and “tootsie” in a Google.com search engine, you will get over 35,000 hits.

Wow.

I couldn’t seem to locate an web cast version of the commercial, but I did find this.
CLICK HERE
Just looking at the graphics made me feel briefly like a wide eyed happy little boy…

FREEDOM OF SPEACH IS AMERICAN!!!

It's a little after 9PM and I've been in the studio most of the day. I received a nice email from my friend Randi Rhodes today about my latest work. She's a kick-ass wonderfully liberal talk radio personality out of NYC. We fell into an internet friendship about 2 years ago shortly after I first called her show and she went to my site live on the air.

I think she is amazing and I suggest that anyone with liberal sensibilities tune into her show. I stream it live off of airamericaradio.com or you can do the same thing at her site at http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/

We email each other about this and that and, well, I just think she's amazing.

So, I haven't done this in a while but here is a WTF??!! for today.... First, the official WTF photo lead in.


It's an article from the Progressive magazine about an art exhibit in California.
CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

Now, especially if you're an artist like myself, that article will really make you say WTF??!! After I sent the article to my friend Randi, she emailed me back this
"The world is becoming a place I don't recognize as my own."

Alas. By the way, here is the latest work that I finished today. It's titled "Chapeau VII" and it measures 36" x 36". Acrylic on canvas.

I have been in high-production mode I’ve been spending most of my time in the studio. Above are the last two works that I have completed. The top one measures 36” x 36” and the bottom, 48” x 48”. That one took me longer than I expected, but I’m happy with it.

Back in the studio today though off to Philadelphia tomorrow. Have a great weekend folks...