How do I Paint?

Sounds like a setup for a joke - and sometimes it is. However, I am asked by other artists and I answer this way…
I am a curious person and like the challenge of something new. I enjoy painting alla prima - all in one session.  Wet-in-wet, three hours max, as in a studio session. Summer is a slow - read pretty much non-existent time for group studios. I also paint, think about it, let it dry, go on to another painting or what ever; come back and paint more. In this case, I have been brushing on walnut oil so that the surface is wet and I can work my pigments back in that way. Seems to work well, so I don’t often use retouch varnish or a mixture. Bonus; walnut oil is eatable! It also does a decent job of cleaning brushes - I just don’t eat it after I do. The pure walnut oil that is strained I can purchase from the art store, or I can get a nice large container from the nearby health food store. Like I said - its eatable.

Grill’n

I find little use for painting if I don’t occasionally add what I refer to as content to my work. More specifically, some current observations and experimenting with new symbols. For example, I use the skyscraper - well, not so new - the first was built in 1885 and was 10 stories high. Technology - phones, ipods, music players, cars, appliances seem to change; and do; on a monthly basis. Now there's some room for me to add contemporary and interesting objects for me to explore.

So, this rant brings me around to Grill’n, a way of posing for pictures, usually in groups of 2 or more. It’s an anti-portrait, totally apposed to the recognizable snapshot most of us expect. I like this painting - it is capturing an essence of modern life that I think will continue, a dissatisfaction with the status quo. Ah, the youth - the new - a rejection of me, the old - it's simply too natural. These girls - no women - no men/boys - age group - don't even see me; I am invisible to them. Out with the old; in with the new!
Grilli'n.


As this is a ‘portrait’, it creates a lot of problems for the painter; (that would be me), it needs to resemble the person(s) portrayed - but boy, does it tell a story!

"Three Daughters of Widows"

This is another of the current series of content paintings. I do not consider this a ‘dark’ painting at all, but rather a ‘true’ painting. As Thomas Jefferson wrote; “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants alike”. As a warrior I can understand the words. As a son, friend, husband, as one who left behind family and friends to pursue duty - regardless of how you view duty to country there is still the emptiness, as someone left waiting, the constant concern toward someone in a danger zone. This painting is dedicated to those left waiting; those left with memories; and the following generations affected. These women's father each served the full measure for their families, community and country.

This painting is based on a photo I took of my wife, Cathy Bell, her sister Barbie (Bell) Burnett, and Hazel Bagwell, at Arlington Cemetery, Virginia.