The Cream Machine

Here is a 16x20 of my latest muse.. the Tractor... They are all over Maine and seems like when you think you have spotted the oldest working one or the strangest colored you bump into one that is a step above the others.. I personally am looking for the craziest ratio of front tire to rear tire size. Before I considered painting them I vaguely remember seeing one with at least 6 foot rear tires... I will find you!

Quote:"I paint forms as I think them, not as I see them."Picasso.

The more I paint the more Picasso makes sense.. Has anybody else made this discovery about Picasso or any other Artist? This could be good conversation..?.

Slippery Slope

This week has been a little hectic with delivering all my latest work to galleries:

Camden Falls in Camden( www.camdenfallsgallery.com ) and

CoCo VivO in Boothbay Harbor( http://www.cocovivofineart.com/ )

Also today I attended the Plein Air Paint out at the Botanical Gardens in Boothbay (a couple miles from Coco Vivo gallery) This paint out is a two day event, July 3rd & 4th. There will be a reception on July 17th for selected displayed works. I will not be there on the 4th to paint. Sorry. Beach day!

This painting "Farmers Lunch break" (14x18) is one of my favorites of recent. I think it is the simplicity that appeals to me. What do you think? This piece is at Camden Falls Gallery.

Quote: John Sloan in Gist of Art, 1939
"Though a living cannot be made at art, art makes life worth living. It makes living, living. It makes starving, living. It makes worry, it makes trouble, it makes a life that would be barren of everything -- living. It brings life to life." *Sloan

Tug of Workhorse

This piece is a 30x40 that I did recently. Seeing these two work horses back to back was almost too good to be true.

If you are a regular reader/viewer of my blog please take to time on this post to say hi or comment (positive or negative) and let me know you were here and what you think. Thanks for looking, Dan

Quote "Shadow is a color as light is, but less brilliant; light and shadow are only the relation of two tones." Paul Cezanne

Check is in the Mail....

This week has been a good one so far. I got to paint with my buddy Colin, I have only erased a couple paintings (that's usually a much higher number by any Wednesday) and I have some sweet frames on order. Hopefully! gallery season will start for me once they arrive. Then I can release some photos of pieces that have been kept top secret for no actual reason.... :))

Quote:"Above all keep your colours fresh!"Edouard Manet (1832--83).

Liberty Farms

Hi all, I want to start off this post with a big Happy Fathers Day to all the men (or women in some situations) who have been there through thick and thin. Thanks Tom!

I figured whats a better icon of Fathers Day than a sweet John Deere tractor/mower.... I cant think of one... This painting is a 20x24 (yes another one) and was painteda few weeks ago at Liberty Farms near the Edgecomb/Boothbay line. They have the best fresh eggs in Maine that I have tasted. The second painting is from the same day. It is of a painter named Pat and she was sitting pretty still and the light was right so i sketched this 8x10 with the quickness.

Anyway the photos were pretty rushed as there is much to do today (including some painting I hope) so don't give me @$%# about em. Later on today my wife and I are going to a small get together to watch Brasil win in the World Cup. Go Brasil! (and USA also! but lets be honest... not yet...)

Quote: "I surrendered to a world of my imagination, re-enacting all those wonderful tales my father would read aloud to me. I became a very active reader, especially history and Shakespeare." (Andrew Wyeth)

P Town and Uncle Smokey

So this past week (OK two) have been pretty busy. I had a friend/Artist (Kyle Martin) from Wisconsin come up to Maine for some painting. We had a blast. You can see more of his great work by clicking on his name on the right hand side of the screen.

Then I shot down to P Town to get in some painting with Paul Shulenburg, Marc Hansen, Peter Kalill, Frank Gardener, Jeff Bonasia, Logan Hagege and Jerome Greene. Jerome is the subject of this portrait. I painted "Uncle Smokey"(12x10) while we were all on the beach, in the heart of P Town. The other piece "Lost Cause" is a 20x24 I started this particular day with.

Quote: "An artist must recognize, when he is reasoning, that his picture is an artifice; but when he is painting, he should feel that he has copied nature. And even when he departs from nature, he must do it with the conviction that it is only to interpret her more fully." Matisse in his Notes of a Painter, 1908.

Reception

Busy busy busy lately framing and painting.... This is a painting that has been on my mind for a couple years... So I finally stopped a few weeks ago and got it done. If anyone can tell me where this is you will receive 10 pts. These points are good for absolutely nothing BUT...... they are yours to keep.....

Van Gogh on Learning to Paint: "As soon as I have more power over my brush, I shall work even harder than I do now ... it will not be long before you need not send me money any more." (Letter to Theo van Gogh, 21 January 1882)