Something About Trees

My wife pointed out to me the other day that I paint a lot of trees.  Its funny how you can paint for years and not realize you are always returning to a certain subject.  I guess for me its trees.  I think its the shape that appeals to me.  Its dramatic without being overly complex.  You can hold a lot in a tree.  It stands alone, or it can be accessorized.  Whatever it is, you'll be seeing a lot of trees in the future.  I have a lot more trees coming.

I cant remember how I came up with this idea, but I love the tidiness of a clean cut square.  The ability to put a tree, with all of its many pieces and textures into tiny squares appealed to me @ the time.  Tell me what you think.

TREE-DAY AND NIGHT

This was an idea I came up with a long time ago after seeing Rene Magritte Exhibit @ the LACMA- Los Angeles County Art Museum. Magritte had an amazing way of painting light and darkness together.  I first fell in love with Magritte's paintings on a day trip to a art museum in Brussels, Belgium while staying with a friend in Paris. 

René François Ghislain Magritte (21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images. His intended goal for his work was to challenge observers' preconditioned perceptions of reality and force viewers to become hypersensitive to their surroundings.

Haus and Fletcher



 Haus and Fletcher are our dogs.  They have always been a inspiration to me over the years. The last painting is of Rosie, our friend Deb's dog.  I think all artists get much inspiration from their pets.  Just look @ Picasso and Lump

Zebra

I often find photos of things that I think are interesting and don't know what to do with them.  It seem like we all clip items out of magazines, or save thinks on to the computer only to never look at them or forget they exist.  I found a photo of a zebra's face and wanted to make it a little more significant that just a old saved photo.  The top pic is a photo and the bottom piece is my painting.

White Crane

OK.   So here is one of those paintings I did and I am not sure if I like this or not.  Originally it was just the crane on the green background.  But, I thought that was boring and not really my style so I added some gold stripes.  I think it has some potential.  My wife hates it.  So I need some other peoples perspective to find out if this is genius or crap or some where in between. 

Giraffe

The idea for this painting came from this Jonathan Adler Ceramic Sculpture.

William Shakespeare Comes to Dinner.

This is one of my first paintings I ever painted.  Oddly enough it was inspired by the movie Bringing Down the House, with Steve Martin and Queen Latifah.  There is a scene where the french bull dog, named William Shakespeare is sitting @ the dinner table.  the movie was mediocre.  But, this shows that you can be inspired from anything.