Perfect Harmony

The length of one of my best friend's hair at the time of our first meeting never fails to amaze me (we're talking Crystal Gayle). I met Leslie way back when in Denton, Texas. We became instant friends and life long supporters of each other's artistic pursuits. Her gorgeous singing voice also never fails to amaze me. Leslie Sisson is an incredible musician.



During our younger years I often watched her play solo shows in coffee shops. At some point in the early stages of our friendship we made a brief attempt to play music together but quickly realized I was better suited to hold paint brushes. More recently I've been heading over to the Doug Fir everytime she comes through Portland with two bands she perfects: The Wooden Birds and Matt Pond PA.

Leslie has been hard at work on a new solo album. There was no hesitation on my end when she asked if I'd like to do the artwork for it. My favorite track (at first listen anyway - they're all favorites now) was Harmony, a hauntingly beautiful song evoking images of a vast open sea.

The early stages of a six panel watercolor and ink painting:

Paper waves added:



And finally the girl in a boat, keeping whether she is headed home or out toward the stormy sea all to herself.

Summer! So Nice to See You

Gods and Goddesses


So now that summer has finally arrived here in Portland, Oregon, I've been doing my Maenad duty by running about sampling wine and beer. While recovering from my sampling I've been enjoying three new books I picked up at William Temple:






The faded red one is a 1933 copy of Dangerous Acquaintances with some risque illustrations by Alastair. That combined with re-reading Edith Hamilton's Mythology resulted in this new illustration of Daphne.


The Other William Morris


My boss at Oldimprint.com, Elisabeth Burdon, just returned from Brighton where she participated in a symposium on the map-maker MacDonald Gill. His pictorial maps are amazing!


She brought me back this lovely tea cup with a beautiful William Morris pattern:

Inspired to come up with something slightly less creepy than my previous root works, I completed the two pieces below on Sunday.

 

Untitled (2011) - 8 x 8 inches, watercolor, ink, and layered marbled paper.



Untitled 2 (2011) - 8 x 8 inches, watercolor, ink, and layered marbled & vintage paper.

Root Canal Inspiration

I survived my first (and hopefully last) root canal today. Here are my latest Root Paintings just finished Tuesday night. They are wee little works, 3.5 inches square.

Underground Disco (2011)

Footsie (2011)

Chair Envy

Used to be that my mid-century Made in Sweden chair was the highlight of my studio apartment. It certainly has become my cat Norman’s favorite furniture to sleep on.

A few weeks ago I noticed a slow collection of garage sale items amassed on the front porch of where I work at Oldimprints.com. In the center of it all was an old and dirty rocking chair. I’ve always wanted a rocking chair so I asked my boss, Elisabeth, “How much?” She and her husband, Craig, said I could have it, gratis.

Craig told me the chair is about 100 years old, came from somewhere in Ohio, and is made of oak.

To Cane or Not to Cane

I happily took the dirt covered chair home, determined to spice it up by re-caning the seat cover so that one day I could sit on it whilst reading a lengthy novel.

After taking the disintegrating leather seat cover off I determined that a portion of the wood was cracked and caning was no longer an option. I would make a new seat cover myself and add re-upholstery to my long list of useless talents.





Fabric Choice

Before leaving for their exciting new life in New York City, my friends Suzie and Don left me a bunch of items including a half completed skirt. Recalling my painful experience trying to sew an apron, I knew well enough that I would never finish the skirt. The fact that it had the same basic shape as the old leather seat cover made the decision to reclaim the pretty purple fabric quite easy.

I trimmed it to the approximate size, added some batting and backing, and finally machine quilted it together. There was no way I was going to produce any form of straight line so I opted to create some wavy, fake wood-grain type of lines. I then re-covered the seat with the fabric by hammering it tight with tack nails.

My Rockin’ Chair

And here she is. A thing of beauty. Oddly enough I have yet to see Norman try to sit on this one. In fact he’s curled up on the Swedish chair right now.

A Heart's Journey

Sometimes the most beautiful heart is the one with the most stitches.




A Heart's Journey (2011)
7 x 7 inches
Watercolor, ink, thread, and antique marbled paper.


I'm finishing up another version on stained wood. A little darker. Maybe even some blood involved! Fake paper blood of course. Stay tuned...

Forest Layers

Today I finally figured out how to take the best photos possible with my sister's camera that I have basically hijacked since I bought it for her. The bright sun really helped too. These are some old paintings mixed with a brand new one. Enjoy!

Forest Layers (2011)

Finally a new tree painting! The recycled cabinet doors from the Rebuilding Center are being put to good use.

Reichstag (2005)

This belongs to my sister now. I've never been able to capture the color accurately until today which is super exciting for a nerd like me.

I See Myself in You - Symmetry (2008)

The silver background used to be an issue but now you can see all of the detail.

My Dad, The Conqueror (2002)

My all time favorite painting of Mr. Berretta which was inspired by an old photo of him standing by his hobby horse.

Some of these are now available as archival prints at my Etsy shop!

A Fine Artist

Etsy recently featured a seller, Jeremy Miranda, whom is what I consider a true fine artist. His large compositions of haunting icebergs and shelves of books looking out at open seas are as amazing as the smaller studies made in the process.

Library by the Sea No.2

But I’ll be honest. The thing that really tugged on this art history nerd’s heart strings was reading his interview and learning that Winslow Homer and Rockwell Kent (a.k.a. in my circle as The Other Rockwell) were influences on his work.

You can read the entire interview here.

Just this afternoon I spent a few hours going through our collection of Winslow Homer wood engravings. I’ll have to photograph most of them next week. Lucky for you my favorite is already on our website at oldimprints.com.

The Bathers by Winslow Homer
Wood-engraving from an 1873 Harper’s Weekly

Awhile back I found a copy of Voltaire’s Candide illustrated by Rockwell Kent. It was published by The Literary Guild, New York, 1929. My personal favorite images from the book are the title and publication page:

Last Tuesday I found this well loved and worn antique book:

The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Published by James Miller, New York, 1870. With illustrations by Sol. Eytinge, Jr., W. J. Hennessy, W. Thwaites, and C. G. Bush.

Works by these artists were also found in Harper’s Weekly. In fact, this image kind of reminds me of a Homer…just a little.

Romance of the Swan’s Nest

Who would of thought I'd be reading poetry?