Digital imagery and Acrylic Paint

Recently I gave a free online webinar on Digital Imagery and Acrylic Paint. Golden Artist Colors has made some fabulous new products to allow you to print on acrylic paint skins. Sound crazy? Yeah, watch the video and get back to me. Way cool fun! By the way, this video is nearly 30 minutes long so get a cup of coffee and sit back. It's like a free art lesson!

How to s-t-r-e-t-c-h your paint!

Here's a short demo on how to stretch your paint by adding gel. Wahoooo!

Auction news glub, glub

The fine art auction market was sober recently as witnessed by the dismal Sotheby's auction. Read the entire story here.

I'm very pleased that the Calder sculpture made a good showing though. It just goes to show, good design is never trendy and always in demand. I especially loved this paragraph:

"One of the few moments when the salesroom came alive was for an early sculpture by Calder. The artist is one figure who manages to shine during bad times. A standing mobile fashioned from wood, steel and string — “Ebony Sticks in Semi-Circle” from 1934 — was thought to bring $1 million to $1.5 million. Five bidders, including Eli Broad, the Los Angeles financier, went for the sculpture, which sold for $3.5 million to a telephone bidder."

Not a shark in formaldehyde in sight!

Creating works on Paper

Here's a short video that shows how some of my paintings on paper are created. Enjoy!

Here's a couple from the new Italia Series, acrylic on paper.

I was inspired to name this series after listening to Chris Botti's CD "Italia". Check him out

How big a role does music play in your studio? For me it's huge. I listen to a wide variety of music and often work on a series based on a piece of music. I'm likely to have a Johnny Cash piece playing right after an aria by Placido Domingo.

Music truly does calm the savage beast, but it also wakes up my creative beast!

Obama and the White House Art Collection

President Obama rocks my world. He's forward-looking and creative and now he's bringing those two attributes to bear on the White House Art Collection. With Michelle he is bringing new work to the White House, the likes of which have never been seen before. No more stuffy 19th century portraits for our 21st century President and his wife. Read the entire article here. (Thanks to Gordon Bruning for clueing me in to this article). Some of my very faves are now in the White House; Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Rauschenberg, and Louise Nevelson just for starters.

I am excited by this as is the rest of the art world. Finally! We abstract painters have a voice in the Highest Office. So now when you are asked "what do you paint?" You can say, "oh abstracts, just like the ones in the White House!"

A recent trip to Seattle

Recently, I visited a client in the Seattle/Bellevue area to see some of my work installed. Here's a short video of the artwork installed.