Two new in progress

(both acrylic on canvas, 9x12)

Blue Triptych

(each acrylic on canvas, 9x12)

Recent Collage

Harborcoat/Overcast

This was originally made way back in the winter and I just put it aside. Recently pulled it out of the pile and realized that I didn't like it at all, so I just decided to sacrifice it to further experimentation, and I'm quite pleased with the results. This is much better than what it used to look like (see below).

(acrylic on canvas, 12x16)

I inverted the original so that the gold is now on the right and the weird red, white and blue is now on the left. And then I just decided to treat the entire thing as background for some gloomy weather kind of trip. 

No Flag

(acrylic on canvas, 9x12)

Metals and Shells I

(acrylic on canvas panel, 8x10)

New beginnings

Elixir/Lithium Collage

Elixir III

B-sides

Some from the vaults that I may not have posted before. Apologies if I have. Just clearing out the files before a torrent of new stuff hits the blog. It's all percolating right now.

Collage - May

Collage of some of the highlights from May's output

Purple Series (continued)

Wave Petunias

Water

Remember? We sat on a slab of rock.
From this distance in time
it seems the color
of iris, rotting and turning purpler,

but it was only 
the usual gray rock
turning the usual green
when drenched by the sea.

Water 

Robert Lowell

Lithium: "Elixir Made of Dew"

More paintings inspired by Robert Lowell, again from Kay Redfield Jamison's very interesting book about Lowell and his bipolar disorder, Setting the River on Fire. There is a section about Lowell's introduction to lithium and its impact on his creativity. Somewhere in there she addresses the history of treatments for mania. Even arch-Puritan John Winthrop had some thoughts about cures, and in what may have been a reference to an early version of lithium, if not the thing itself, he describes a natural treatment in powder form that he referred to as an "elixir made of dew." The powder changed color over time according to the spectrum below, from blue to black to green to gray to oyster white. The first painting is the manic episode on fire underneath the treatment. The second is merely the sequence of colors Winthrop describes. There may yet be a third blending of these.

Here Comes a City

Often when I think something is only "in-progess," others say that they like it just the way it is, so I let it sit for a while to decide whether or not I agree. This is a case in point. It feels unfinished to me, but some people like it like this. So I'm leaving it for now. It's 16x20, acrylic, in case that makes any difference.