framework

Five small works of mine that someone had collected over the past few years- she asked if Jon could make a frame for them as a group- I think it looks quite nice, sets the little pieces apart from everything else where they might get lost, and I like how they look in relation to each other.

And these below don't have anything to do with the frame, just some favorites from a classic car show I attended recently in Geneva, NY with my family.
I've somewhat neglected my blog this July- but another month is only minutes away, so I'm sure I'll catch up before the wood-stackings start to fill up my time once more. I've been painting, and will be relieved to share- especially a large-ish (24"x48") oil landscape that occupied my energies for several weeks as I puzzled it out.

the booth is out there

This booth was in Garrison, and was likely the site of late-night cab calls, as it was (is? I haven't been back in a while, but I believe it remains) situated by the train station and a long-shuttered bar. Faded green and phoneless. Here it somehow became a sort of ghostly faded skeletal relic in a gray landscape. Oil on wood, 10"x14".

chalk to the nearest exit, or, the c train

For the 2014 Perry Chalk Art Festival, our 5'x10' chalky interpretation of the theme 'Transformations'. (Click here to see the one I did in 2012)

Jon and I, grubby and relieved at the end of 4-5 absorbed hours chalking in the sun

The MTA's Artificial Reef Project, begun in 2001, involved taking decommissioned New York City subway cars and deploying them to the ocean floor to create new habitats for marine life. These included the old 'Redbirds', which rode the rails from 1964-2003. The cars were stripped of doors & windows and any materials that might leach into the water. Within 3-5 years- usually sooner- the structures were covered with coral and algae, transforming into strange & beautiful places of refuge for fish and providing a feeding ground, increasing catches for fishermen, and enhancing the topography of the otherwise barren floor of the Mid-Atlantic.
(from my accompanying statement taped to the concrete.)

People feared this scheme was a thinly-veiled attempt to turn the ocean floor into a junkyard, but it seems that the cars, chosen for their durability, weight & roominess, show little to no damage or disintegration of materials. You never know the whole story of course, but it appeared to be a successful project, and the scuba diver's photos I'd found online are eerie and magical. A challenge to replicate in chalk, especially as I hadn't done it in two years and Jon never had, so we just dug into it. Somehow we snagged second place. By morning, just as when I chalked 2 years ago, the rain had all but washed it away, rendering the underwater portion even more realistic.

(painting) table-to-farm

More of the signs I've been painting for Fishkill Farms. See strawberries, a sweet memory now- but fortunately the farm produces an abundance of fruit throughout the summer, and I believe the idea is that the signs, once installed, will help guide wandering u-pickers to the correct fields. It's a lovely place to wander.
I have yet to find a perfectly clear exterior polyurethane varnish; it always yellows, and I wonder if it's inevitable. In this case at least, the antiqued look is okay. I do like using the oil-based One-Shot, it creates an easy precision with the lettering, while practically dictating my brushstrokes with its shiny, tacky stickiness when I paint the fruit.