London Was Lovely

We spent the past week in London, England. The weather was absolutely sensational with sunny weather and temps in the low 80's, light sweaters needed at night. Jody and I walked the city from one end to the other. It doesn't get dark until 11 PM so we had plenty of time to plod around time. One day our pedometers recorded 11 miles.

From the Camden Town Market to the British Museum and of course Big Ben we had a really great time.

If you haven't been to London it really is a great city. It is a true melting pot of different cultures, sights and sounds.

See Ya Gang!

Getting ready to catch a plane and wanted to say thanks to our wonderful friends for the great send off. Honestly, what a great group of people.

Watch my blog for updates while we are away. I will try to post regularly to let everyone see what we are doing to keep ourselves busy.

Besides swilling beer and freezing our booties off. (Sounds great doesn't it?). In the meanwhile "Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt. Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth." (Mark Twain)

Painted Dome

I did a little side job today and painted ceiling dome in a masterbath. The client requested blue sky and birds. I kept the painting a bit understated as the room has wall paper and marble with strong patterns. The room felt very traditional so I didn't want to create anything too over the top.

The birds are sort of a blue bird hybrid. I painted the birds on mulberry paper and chine colled them to the ceiling. I did that to cut down on time spent "on site". Which is always nice for both artist and client. Also nice for the client, I finished the mural so quickly I felt obligated to reduce the price.

Professor Martin- Thank You Very Much!

Here is an image from my new body of artwork which was delivered to Florida Craftsmen Gallery in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is a gorgeous space located in the historic downtown district. If you find yourself in St. Pete, please go to the gallery and take a look around. Don't be bashful, visit an art gallery. The most amazing part about Florida Craftsmen is that the price point in the gallery fits most everyone's pocket. I found pieces for under $20 all the way up to several thousands of dollars.

This piece titled "Feather Your Nest" is made out of fired ceramic clay, it is glazed with slips, underglazes, and oxides and measures 7 inches high. This piece is a decorative box, please notice the small square shape on the front is a drawer. Just the right size for jewelry or other small treasures. I will update the rest of my new work on my website as soon as I am able.

Back to Work

Hello and I am sad to report to those of you who don't know, but my father died on May 5th. As a result blogging sort of went down to the bottom of my list of things to do. Only now almost a month later do I feel like I am finally coming out of the fog.

I thought I would pay a small tribute to my father by posting a couple of images of him back when he was strong and able bodied. These are pictures of the father I want to remember. The man who used to bring me home a dill pickle in his lunch box. The man who could grow anything in his garden and taught me to respect nature and all of her creatures. Daddy O, Til We Meet Again, I love you.

My Father- On an Indian

This photo is my father, taken when we was 16 years old in Canandaigua, New York. Dad is going in for surgery this week and I thought I would share this image of him in hopes as you look at it, you will send him loving, healing energy. Besides, it is a happy photo and I personally think he was a cute little bugger.

Usually when men see this photo they ask "what kind of bike is that". To the best of my knowledge, it is an Indian. He used to race them when he was young (an Indian riding and Indian). Perfect.

Something for Me

Still super busy and creating so much work for everyone else, the other night I just had to sit down and paint something for me. Sometimes you just have to do stuff for yourself. I am not sure of the title yet but I am calling it Manifestation for now (acrylic on canvas: 24" x 36").
Something really cool happened as I painted. I was holding a lamp over the canvas and all of the sudden I started seeing colors emerging. They were like colored halos around the edges of the angel. (cool coincidence seeing halos around an angel).
There was bright emerald green extending from her fingers, blue and reds framed her face. As I worked the colors kept appearing in the same places. So I told myself if I am seeing these colors why not paint them?