Skip to main content

Recent News

After my summer show at the Liriodendron in Bel Air, MD I found myself incredibly burned out with everything - art, church, family, etc. - so I took a break from painting for a few months. I'm glad I did, because it helped me refocus and begin a much needed change of direction in my work.

While I'm still going to paint the occasional icon I am going to try to do some landscape in egg tempera. I have only done two or three small such paintings in the past, but have always wanted to explore it more deeply. Andrew Wyeth's egg tempera landscapes are so compelling... not that mine will - or ever could - look like his. It is very versatile medium that allows for a lot of subtlety in a variety of ways. It will take a while to get up to speed with this, but I am looking forward to it. I already have one in progress.

As for cityscapes - my former signature work - I am burned out with these, and currently so repulsed by Baltimore and what the idiotic leadership of this once great city have done to it over the past 50 years that I cannot find any wonder or attraction to even being there... much less painting pictures of it.

I'm also getting back into watercolor. It is a fun medium that is very challenging. I used to paint in it a lot, but haven't done much now for 9 years. That means there will be lots of catching up to do. Will probably focus on landscape for now

My sacred art... this is tricky. All I can say is that I will be approaching this from a different technical angle, going back somewhat to earlier forms. Am currently working on a painting of the conversion of Saint Paul. Will keep you posted.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Some Observations About Light in Landscape Painting

As I slowly begin returning to painting landscapes the question of light arises. For most of my artistic career I have not been that interested in light in paintings, though I enjoy it in the works of other artists. However in landscape painting light is very important, so lately I've been examining the use of light by various landscapes painters, all of whom would be called "realists." What I found in closely studying their paintings is that they are not strict and mathematical, if you will, about where the light hits. In fact in many realist paintings – those of Andrew Wyeth come to mind – the light is very natural looking at a glance, but then upon closer examination is highly invented. I find nothing wrong with artists taking this liberty. The key to light in landscape painting seems to be to make an effort to simply include it in the work, and not obsess over where everything lines up and how it strikes each object in a uniform way... almost like a Bob Ross paintin

A Tale of Two Cathedrals

My wife and I just returned from vacation. While away, we got to visit the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore, which had recently undergone a huge renovation. The last time I was there was to see the famous "Timla Relic" a few years ago. Unlike some horrific church renovations that have gone on in recent years that were supposedly meant to "update" the church, this restoration was meant to "return" the interior of the building to its original Federal-period design. And I must say that it a very tasteful renovation. They did a really good job. It looks almost like an old early Episcopal church - white washed interior, minimal designs, etc. The interior is now very bright because they removed the stained glass (dark blue Willet windows), and uncovered the original skylights in the dome. They kept all of the good stuff (the high altar, altar rails, etc.), and brought some cool old stuff back (e.g. the nation's first RC epi