"Lite Life"

Another in the 'cherries is life' series, this is more the quiet view, almost a parody of the previous one..... and yet, in its way, an interesting if not complicated way of viewing one's life... colored pencil on 9" x 12" stonehenge paper...

"Full Life"

This is another in a growing series of cherries - this being, of course, a visual metaphor of 'life being a bowl of cherries'..... is colored pencil on 20" x 30" stonehenge paper..... and yes, is a personal statement of my life, all considered - or many others, when one considers all the things done and seen in the lives....

"Bearly There"

Taking a break from my more serious works, did this set of teddy bears, each with its own 'personality' and uniqueness.... a fun project with color pencils on a larger than usually done scale - 20" x 30".... there is a projected second shelf - "Bearly There Too" - which may or may not be done, in which the sax player's sax is where the Fore Bear is readying to swing the ball to [Soul Bear is that one's name]... there here - Wild Bear, Ted E Baer, Bare Bear, Hairy Bear, Cannibear, and Fore Bear, with Air Bear underneath.... the slate was the consequence of a 'save' as the pencil slipped and left an unwanted mark.... all these, btw, are from imagination with the exception of Ted E, who became the instigator of the piece.... Air Bear, of course, is taken after Lucille Ball, red hair, beady wild eyes and all....... Fore Bear, of course, was inspired by the 'Golden Bear' of golf....... the really fun deal was imaginating the shadow, visualizing in my head how it'd look, then doing it.....

"The Birthing Tree"

This is a metaphoric work of many levels.... there still are, in some parts of the world, actual birthing trees, where women go to give birth, then carry on afterwards - but what was of more import was the idea of the tree itself being the source of the life sprouting over the layers of rock off into the distance, as well as the implied same with the woman as symbol of humanity doing likewise.... another of the proper function of being human, to transform the given to suiting the wellbeing of the flourishing human......

"Venus Pool"

This was, as far as known, my first color pencil painting, from the late 60's...... no longer in existence, it marked my first attempt to create a totally imaginative scene - tho there was somewhere a reference to the figure, but long lost..... and no question of the Wrightian influence here...... my presumed hoped for idyllic life-to-be...... the photo was presumed long lost, so was a pleasure discovering it among boxed materials..... may sometime try for a remake.... and perhaps call that one - "Aphrodite's Playground"...

"Presage"

This is one of the few ever done with the use of 'models'.... the tomatoes were too great looking to not try for... the rest came from the bin in the refrig... as is with all my works, there lies a metaphorical relating involved here - and particularly note that tho a veggie still life, there is NOT a sense of decay, as seen in ever so many other such over the centuries, displaying a much different sense of life.... while more lettuce could have been used, the base view of this is one of the beginnings of a salad, yet there is, as one 'sees' when reflecting on the work, several other layers - indeed, the red onion itself implies that 'layers within layers' ....

Sullivan's Dictum

This is one of my more obscure metaphorical outings, the dictum being refered is Louis Sullivan's "Form Follows Function".... and the idea, of course, was to take the bonsai and treat it as if were a natural landscape item, instead of what it really was, on a wall ledge overlooking the waves.... one of my first attempts at using color inks, did succeed in the tree, tho wish had been able to do more with the coloring of the water... in this sense it looks much as a wood block print than the painting attempted....

Close-up... the background wasn't done at this time, tho the mouse was.....

Critical Mass Revisited

This is a return to a work done last fall, only in an 'update' fashion..... as seen, there is now a crack in the jar, hence the mouse being much further away.... this, btw, was done with color pencils..... and, as was with the original, there is a 'Harnett' carving in the panel behind.....

Bird close-up of "Mother Lode"

Mother Lode

"Mother Lode" originally was to be with pregnant figure on left, where the saplings are, and a seated figure with face turned to viewer, where the auxillary trunk is... originally, too, was a background of islets, as if the vegetation 'spawned' from this overlooking the bluff tree.... but decided wasn't necessary, as well as being tired from doing all the leaves - and that, tho hard to see in this phoro [need see them in the close-up one], are birds, more or less outlining what would have been where the lowest layering of leaves would have been..... metaphorically, is a 'nature' rendering which is actually not one, but perhaps best called a parable viewing.....

"Festival"

Another in a slowly growing series rendering in color pencil, this shows a still life just a bit different from the usual - no decaying fare here, nor flies and other bugs around - just good healthy and vibrant foods, along with a container in which to eat them, and a cup by beans, suggesting coffee to join.. and a floral decoration adding to the festivity..... the metaphoric in this is obvious, tho also obvious yet not likely to be noticed is that all are products of man - even the veggies are man-created, not wild fare - so there is as much the celebrating of being human in this as anything, the flourishing as proper to being human, and the thanks to being human so that this could have come into existence.......