out of sight

For the final day of August, another ice cream bar wrapper painting (part of this series). Fortunately, September is still a good month for ice cream.

I am noticing now that this is not the best photo. I will replace it shortly. The truth is I have finally gotten an iPhone, so I'm starting to take photos with it and upload them directly, but so far they're not looking so great- I know there's potential for taking decent pics with the phone camera, I just haven't learned how yet and when I sit down to study it, I just.. space out.

Oh, and.. these new paintings (and more) are for sale over in my Etsy shop.
And.. over in my Spreadshirt shop you can get 15% off a dummy light t-shirt through Sept 2. Though even after Sept 2, they're just $25 and are now available in several colors.

I may start an Instagram feed soon, which is something else I need to understand more about, but I think it involves posting work quickly and frequently, collecting oodles of followers and watching as they click links to 'buy this item' over and over. Must look into this. I'm seeing stars.

pop art series

I've been making a series of paintings based on vintage ice cream wrappers. The more of them I paint, the more I understand about why I'm doing it. Some are from a small collection of actual wrappers my friend got in a letterpress shop, for others I found images online-- there are still plenty for sale on eBay, though it's the selecting and translating the designs into painted objects that I am after. So many small ice cream companies across the country once, producing an endless array of treats. Here are six-- acrylic on wood panels 3/4" thick, varying sizes up to 14". All are for sale in my Etsy shop.

my paintings at caffe macchiato

I hung several paintings this week at Caffe Macchiato, a great cafe at 99 Liberty St in Newburgh. All works are for sale and can be viewed larger on my own website. (Some are also available on my Etsy shop.) Open every day except Mondays, the cafe will be closed Aug 25-31, then reopen in September, and my work will be on view for the month. 

The weekend of September 27-28, 2014 is Newburgh Open Studios, and I will show some new work in a friend's studio on Spring St a couple of blocks away. More info about this event as it draws closer!

square hojo's

Here's the painting in the 'Famous for 12 Inches' show at Castle Fitzjohns Gallery (98 Orchard St) now through Aug 22. You're supposed to visit the show in person, then vote (for me!) by sending an email to info@castlefitzjohns.com and putting my name as the subject line. The artist w/the most votes gets a year's representation by the gallery. My friends and I decided that the results could be a bit skewed- popularity vs quality- but it draws attention to a nice gallery and it got me down to the lower East Side to talk to a few people, after fueling up with a pineapple margarita down the block.
There was a large variety of media applied to all those 12"x12" surfaces. Mine is factory-made high-pigment acrylic paint on canvas. Pthalo turquoise, cadmium orange, mars black and palest blue.

famous for 12 inches

I'm in this big group show opening tonight, Aug 8, at Castle Fitzjohns Gallery, 98 Orchard St on the Lower East Side in NYC. Canvases are all 12"x12". I don't have a good photo of mine yet, but it is a variation on my Howard Johnson's painting, and I think it's pretty sharp. But is it sharp enough to win? People can vote on their favorite work, by coming tonight, 7-10 pm, or stopping by any day through Aug 22.

the 2-minute apple

Go here on YouTube to see a time-lapse video of me painting an apple. My 13-year-old nephew Theo made it. I touched up the painting (12"x12") a few days later, since I used oil and there's only so much I could do at once before I had to stop and let it dry. Still, the painting process went pretty fast for me (if a bit longer than 2 minutes). The video compresses 28 min of shooting. I could knock out a bushel in a day!