Work continues on paintings for my June show and I am happy to report that I am nearing completion. The last four paintings have been conceived, and I have a few precious weeks to finish up the work.

I’m pleased to share the news that five of my paintings, including the two below, now belong to J.Crew‘s corporate collection.

Someday Soon
30″ x 36″ | Oil/Canvas | 2010

Remington Standard No. 10, Profile
30″ x 36″ | Oil/Canvas | 2010

Over the past several weeks I’ve been able to complete some paintings that I’m happy with. That’s a peculiar thing for me to say.

A few years ago I worked fast, alla prima, completing paintings in only a few quick sittings. Over time, I’ve found myself slowing down considerably and becoming much more focused. Slowing down has given me the opportunity to approach challenging and highly detailed subjects.

Below are some black and white photos of some of these recent paintings on the easel. As spring rolls along I’ll be sharing these in color along with more pieces I’ve got in the works.

Recently I had the honor of painting five pieces for Anthropologie.com. They were really cool people to work with and I’m flattered that they enjoyed my work enough to invite me to do some paintings for them. During the week of February 21 – 28, 2011, the paintings were on the landing pages for each department in their online store.

Shoes & Luggage
20″ x 30″ | Oil/Canvas | 2011
• Sold

At Home – Six Anthropologie Pulls
20″ x 30″ | Oil/Canvas | 2011

Brownie Hawkeye & Necklace
20″ x 30″ | Oil/Canvas | 2011
• Click here for details

Beauty
20″ x 30″ | Oil/Canvas | 2011
• Sold

The Green Dress
20″ x 30″ | Oil/Canvas | 2011
• Sold

I have a room in my basement where I prep and store canvas, and box up finished paintings before I send them off on their journeys to other lands. Right now it’s kind of intimidating walking in to the room because I’m greeted by way to much blank canvas.

Over the next 3.5 months I have to complete at least 15 paintings, and in order to do so I have had to employ serious organizational skills.

Below is a glimpse at one piece in progress, an old Remington No.10 typewriter. Last summer I took my family to visit my grandparents and the town was holding their annual summer festival. They open up the buildings of a heritage village — a collection of buildings, like the old town hall, the doctor’s house, blacksmith, church, schoolhouse, etc. — all reassembled to form an idealized main street from the past. In one building they have an old-tech graveyard where heaps of adding machines and typewriters sit abandoned for what will likely be the rest of eternity. That’s where I step in. To the confusion and amusement of the committee responsible for the buildings, I convinced them to lend me several pieces, and will likely return again and again.

The first half of 2011 is going to be one of the busiest 6 months of my life. I have a stack of commissions I’m working on, many of which I’ll share here in a few months, and I’ll be working on 20 new paintings for another solo exhibition in June at the EFG.

I’ll do the best I can and share some images of work in progress as I go along.

I hope you had a great holiday season and Happy New Year! Now back to work…

Writer William Landay recently wrote a blog entry about my work after discovering it on the web. Check it out, I think he does a very good job of capturing my motives as an artist.

1¢ Gumballs
40″ x 30″ — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• Sold (Collection of J.Crew)

This has been a familiar theme of mine for the last several years. There’s something to behold with these large scale bubble gum machines. There’s no way you can tell while looking at the 2.5″ thumbnail on your computer screen, but this painting is large. The vibrant blue of the machine and the mutli-colored gumballs pull me in.

I can distinctly remember how quickly gum would lose its flavor when I was a kid. But still, seeing a vending machine was always exciting and worth every penny. I guess the best thing about recreating them in paintings is that it helps the flavor last much, much longer in my memory.