These two paintings have just arrived in New York City. I worked on them over the last few weeks of summer, just as a commission for the largest painting I will probably ever do came to me.
The commissioned painting is four feet high by eight feet wide. It is large enough for me to rent a van and move it around once it is completed. It will take me a few months to complete, but after several weeks of working on it, I already like what I see, which is good news.
My family took the dogs for a walk, and when we rounded the corner to another block, I spotted this shabby old chair on a driveway with a sign saying “FREE.” I knew I could make it work in a painting or two the second I saw it. So, I told my family to go on without me as I lugged the old chair back home.
I set it up in my studio and took out several antique books. And three of them were just given to me by my brother-in-law. A set of three volumes titled “Good Society.” I like that these two paintings are comprised of found and given objects.
The Billis Williams Gallery will exhibit these two new paintings at the upcoming Seattle Art Fair, which will run from July 25 to 28.
I was excited when this commission came my way — the client gave me a dream scenario. It would be a challenge pushing me to work very large and maintain precisely what I convey in my work entirely. I am pleased with the final result.
I’ll have new work showing at the upcoming San Francisco Art Fair with the Billis Williams Gallery from April 25 – 28.
Last year, I had a few bird ‘ s-eye view paintings of typewriters at the fair, so this year, I returned with a few more.
I am now working on a very large 60-inch x 40-inch complex commission. It will take me a long time and I’m excited to share it once I’ve worked past the difficult first few layers of paint.
Last month, I visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and saw an exhibition that displayed numerous Dutch paintings from the 17th century. They’re always so striking with the details, and the very dark settings make the subjects emerge from the depths. So, on my return, I decided to keep experimenting with my subject and paint this Corona No.3 typewriter. My technique has always been an adapted indirect Dutch master’s style approach, but I settled on a high-key bright setting for my subjects. Sometimes, it’s nice to step out of your comfort zone and take a trip back in time. This painting is currently showing in New York City at the George Billis Gallery.
I just finished this fifth painting in my Memory: Facts and Fallacies series. It’s on the way to New York to be shown at the George Billis Gallery.
Several years ago, I painted a small series of “tsundoku” paintings. You can read about them here.
I am including a few new piles of unread books in my upcoming Los Angeles exhibition at the Billis Williams Gallery.
Now that I fully have a phone-brain and a mild dopamine-scrolling addiction, I find it more and more difficult to read books the way I used to. But I am up for the challenge and work my best to set aside time to read like it’s the olden times.
The exhibition of new paintings opens on Saturday, February 24th. I will be at the reception from 4pm–7pm that day.
These two pieces will be part of my upcoming exhibition in Los Angeles at the Billis Williams Gallery, opening on February 24th.
My last exhibition in New York involved many large paintings, so this time around, I decided to work on a slightly smaller group of canvases.
Also, the black. Let’s talk about it. Years and years ago, I regularly set my work on deep black ground. I gradually phased that out and worked exclusively on white — or near-white grounds. In the past few years, I have done smaller paintings in black; it revealed my subject in a fresh and new way. So, above is the first of a slightly larger painting of what will become a new direction for my work.
Below, we have a neutral grey approach. Another way to make the subjects pop right off of the canvas.
Everything is framed and shipped to the George Billis Gallery. As I write this, many paintings are in transit, somewhere in the middle of the continent and scheduled to arrive at the gallery in New York on Monday morning.
When the paintings are in transit, I suffer from mild anxiety. It has happened a few times when the heavy-duty packaging has arrived damaged, and I dread to think of how it happens. But 9 times out of 10, everything goes as expected.
The show goes up on the gallery walls on October 3, and the reception is on Thursday, October 5, from 6pm – 8pm.
I just completed a series of three paintings for my upcoming exhibition in New York City. Three birds-eye view typewriters.
I love painting the mechanical components of the machines.
There will always be something charming and delightful in typewriters. Each piece is 2 feet tall and three feet wide. The typewriters are all depicted as life-size. My goal with these paintings is to have a viewer almost get a sense of being able to touch and use the typewriters.
When I start each painting, it never fails that I end up slightly overwhelmed at the number of keys I’ve locked myself into painting. I once told someone that my ability to sit quietly and do something as tedious as painting 150 tiny circles and squares is probably the key to why I can paint as much as I do.