Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Sept 23, 2025)

Here is my painting as it looked on Sept. 23, 2025. At this point, I was working hard to get it ready for the  the "Homer" event at Porter Mill, featuring paintings inspired by the Iliad and the Odyssey.  I wanted to participate because the Iliad was one of the first books I read as I began graduate school in Comparative Literature (and I have some lovely memories of those days) and also because I think the Iliad still has important things to say to us in 2025. 

This painting will become part of a series of literary-themed paintings that I have produced over the past year. This series came about more or less unplanned because of a run of art shows with literary themes that I have recently participated in.  So now I have done paintings related to "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "The Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream," and now Homer's "Iliad".  These paintings  are all the same size (20 x 20), and done in the same style, so maybe at some point I can exhibit them as a set. And maybe there will be more to come.

Anyway, this painting represents the shield of Achilles, but instead of fantastical images (as Homer describes it in his poem),  it is decorated with Homer's words:   the opening line of the "Iliad,"  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

On Sept 23, I added a translucent layer of metallic paint (gold acrylic) to the body of the shield, and added a second coat of gold paint to the edge of the shield.  As I worked, I corrected a few small mistakes.  At this point, the painting was almost finished. There was already one coat of blue on canvas at this point (though it doesn't show up well in this photo), but another coat was needed.  Time to seal the edges and attach a wire.  And obsess over invisible mistakes.  Almost there.

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Sept 22, 2025)

Here is my painting as it looked on Sept. 22, 2025. The deadline was fast approaching for the "Homer" event at Porter Mill,  featuring paintings inspired by the Iliad and the Odyssey.  I wanted to participate because this painting will become part of my series of paintings with literary-themes. This happened somewhat by accident because over the last year or so,  I have participated in a number of shows with literary themes:  "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream," and now Homer's "Iliad".

This painting represents the shield of Achilles, but instead of fantastical images (as Homer describes it in his poem),  it is decorated with Homer's words:   the opening line of the "Iliad,"  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

On Sept. 22, I added pale blue background to the corners, hoping to evoke the sky.  And I used metallic gold paint around the edge of the shield.  This was now getting very close to completion.

Reposting: Pink Apples on a Branch (Oil Bar Painting)

This is an oil bar painting that I did in 2021.  I am reposting it today because I am sending it with wishes for Shona Tova for those celebrating the Jewish New Year, and wishing everyone happiness, health, peace, love, and success in the year ahead.

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Sept. 17, 2025)

Here is my painting as it looked on Sept. 17, 2025.    I was getting this ready for the "Homer" event at Porter Mill,  paintings inspired by the Iliad and the Odyssey.  This painting is going to be part of a  series of paintings with literary-themes, something that happened by chance because over the last year or so,  I have participated in a number of shows with literary themes:  "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream," and now Homer's "Iliad".

This painting represents the shield of Achilles, but instead of decorating it with fantastical images (as Homer describes it in his poem),  I am decorating it with words,  the opening line of Homer's "Iliad,"  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

On Sept. 17th, I continued to work on the outline of the shield, trying to get the lines of the circle right.  I also began to clean up the corners of the canvas, to get them ready for the background color.  I made a lot of very small changes to the lines of the spiral and to the lettering. Perhaps attention to these details seems too much, but I think that the simpler the design, the more important these little corrections are. This painting was getting close to what I wanted to see, but there were still some things to do. . .

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Sept 14, 2025

Here is my "Homer" painting as it looked on Sept 14, 2025.  I was painting this for a Porter Mill event, paintings inspired by the Iliad and the Odyssey. So this painting will become part of a  series of  literary-themed paintings.  The series was unplanned; it came about because I participated in a number of shows with literary themes:  "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream," and now Homer's "Iliad".

This painting represents the  shield of Achilles, inscribed with the opening line of Homer's "Iliad,"  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaens countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

Two weeks had passed since I last worked on this, and so it might look like progress is slow.  But I reworked the lines of the circle and the spiral, and put another coat of gold on the shield.  Stopping to re-checking and correcting the geometry is not fun, but it is necessary.  To be continued. . . 

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Aug. 30, 2025)

Here is my "Homer" painting as it looked on August 30, 2025.  This painting is for the upcoming Iliad and Odyssey show at Porter Mill show. I have somehow wandered in to creating af a series of  literary-themed paintings by participating in a number of shows with literary themes:  "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream" so far. This painting will become part of the series.

This painting for the show on Homer represents the  shield of Achilles, inscribed with the opening line of the Iliad,  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaens countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

On August 30th, I had worked on the outer border, trying to get the lines of the outer circle to work.  I also decided on a color for the two negative shapes created by the spiral within the circle.  I mixed a bit of purple into some silver paint and applied it.  I began to feel like I was getting somewhere.

Hy Zagon, Pueblo, Colorado at City Park Zoo, 1942

I like to post photos of my father on August 28, which was his birthday.  So I was looking through my photos and although I have seen this one often, I don't think I have posted it here. This is from my mother's war-time album that begins with their first dates, then their wedding and honeymoon photos, and then Army pictures my dad sent back from Europe juxtaposed with photos of Pueblo. My mother met my father at a USO dance.  He was a Brooklyn boy, in the army and stationed in Pueblo for a short time. They married six weeks after they met,  had time for a honeymoon trip to Brooklyn, and then he was shipped  overseas to do his bit against the Nazis. 

This photo is one of the earliest photos in the album, and I believe this was their first date.* Today I cleaned it up a bit in Painter and iPhoto, but left it pretty much as it was.

This image might seem a strange choice to mark my father's birthday, but this moment marks a turning point in his life.  He was a young man from Brooklyn, just passing through Colorado at the whim of the US Army, but because he had met my mother there, his life would change, and he would come back from the war to live in Pueblo, not Brooklyn.  Here he is, a young bachelor, enjoying an outing at Pueblo's little zoo, enjoying the company of the woman he would marry.  Years later, as a husband and father, he would make many, many trips to this zoo with his daughter,  to show her the animals, let her climb "Monkey Mountain" and ride the carousel. across the street.

*(I know, there are other soldiers in the photo, so I could be wrong. But this is part of a little set of photos and I think my mother took this picture.)

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Aug. 27, 2025)

Here is my  current painting as it looked on August 27th.  This painting is for the upcoming "Homer" show at Porter Mill show. This painting will be part of a series of  literary-themed paintings creating because I have participated in a number of shows with literary themes:  "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream" so far. 

This painting for the show on Homer represents the  shield of Achilles, inscribed with the opening line of the Iliad,  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaens countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

In this photo taken on Aug 27, I have begun work on the outer edge of the shield.  As you will see, it is not easy to square a circle. 

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Aug 19, 2025)

Here is my  current painting as it looked on August 19th.  This painting is for the upcoming show at Porter Mill show with the theme of the Iliad and Odyssey. This painting will become part of a series of  literary-themed paintings that I have wandered in to creating by participating in a number of shows with literary themes:  "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream" so far. 

My painting for the show on Homer represents the  shield of Achilles, inscribed with the opening line of the Iliad,  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaens countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

In this photo taken on Aug 19, you can see the inscription again The day before I had added a barely transparent layer of gold paint over the letters.  So the next day, I went over the lettering again.  Now the painting was beginning to take shape.  There is a lot of cleanup to do, but this is the basic idea.

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Aug. 18, 2025)

Here is my "Homer" painting as it looked on August 18th.  This painting is for the upcoming show at Porter Mill show with the theme of the Iliad and Odyssey. This painting will become part of a series of  recent "literary" paintings that I have done for a number of shows with literary themes:  "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream" so far. 

My painting for the show on Homer is a representation of the shield of Achilles.  It is inscribed with the opening line of the Iliad,  as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

In this photo, you may have to take my word for it that those words are there.  On August 17, I had already arranged the words on the shield against a pale yellow background (underpainting), you might say. I was pretty happy with the lettering and layout, so it might seem strange that my next step was to cover the lettering with a  layer of gold paint that was almost opaque, but just transparent enough to allowed me to see out the lettering beneath. I did this to quickly establish the gold background color, so I could then go over the lettering again.  It seems counterintuitive but I find it easier and faster to do it this way.  To be continued. . . .

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of August 17, 2025)

Here is my current painting as it looked on August 17th.  This painting is for the upcoming show at Porter Mill show with the theme of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. This will become part of a little unplanned series I have going of  paintings related to lliterature (so far "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream" so far.) 

For the show on Homer,  I am painting a representation of the   shield of Achilles inscribed with the opening line of the Iliad,  e, as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaens countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

I had already roughed in the lettering, so on August 17, I put some pale yellow as a background for the text.  This is just an undercoat for the area that I hope will look golden when I am finished.  And my plan is to have gray areas are going to look like silver when this is finished

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Aug 15, 2025)

On August 15th, I got underway with my painting for the upcoming Porter Mill show with the theme of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. This is part of a little series I have going of paintings related to literary works (on "Moby Dick",  "Alice in Wonderland",  "Scarlet Letter" and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream"  so far.) 

For the Homer show, I decided to paint he shield of Achilles inscribed with a quotation from the Iliad,  the opening line, as translated by Robert Fagles.:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaens countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

  I had already laid out the text in pencil on canvas, so on August 15th, I went over the lettering with brown Sharpie marker, followed by brush work with paint.  This is still rough, but my goal was to work out placement of the text, which is actually part of the composition.

Rage of Achilles (Rough Sketch on Canvas) as of Aug 14, 2025

This is a rough sketch for a painting for the upcoming Porter Mill show with the theme of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.  (By happenstance, I have a little series of paintings going, all related to literary works, a departure from my usual painting subjects.)  Over the past year, I have participated in  two literature-themed shows at Porter Mill (one on "Moby Dick", and one on "Alice in Wonderland") and a "Scarlet Letter" show at the Salem Athenaem and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream" show at TAG in Boston. 

So when I first learned of the Porter Mill "Homer" show, I said yes, and my idea came right away. I would paint he shield of Achilles inscribed with a quotation from the Iliad.  After some indecision on the quotation, I  chose the opening line, as translated by Robert Fagles:

"Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaens countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

On August 13 and 14, I worked on the layout for this painting, using pencil on canvas.  My main goals:  create a spiral within a circle, and establish rough placement of the words.  I had to do a little digital cleanup to make it possible see the sketch.

Quick Sketch for "Homer" Painting as of August 12, 2025

This is my idea for a painting for the upcoming September show at Porter Mill, with the theme of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.  In a departure from my painting preoccupations,  I am building up a little series of paintings related to literary work; these opportunities came along by chance, but I  was open to them   because of my interest in art/literary relations that was my focus in graduate school.. So over the past year, I have participated in  two literature-themed shows at Porter Mill ( one on Moby Dick, and one on Alice in Wonderland) and a "Scarlet Letter" show at the Salem Athenaem and  a "Midsummer Night's Dream" show at TAG in Boston. 

So when I first learned of the "Homer" show, I said yes right away and knew I would paint a shield (the shield of Achilles) inscribed with a quotation from the Iliad.  It took me a while to decide on the  quotation, but I chose the opening line, as translated by Robert Fagles. The problem was how to arrange the text in a circle so it would be readable,  and in the end, I decided to use as spiral, just as I did in my painting about Moby Dick. So a few days ago, I grabbed a piece of paper and a Sharpie and started to work out the composition.

The quotation is:  "Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaens countless losses hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls." 

"Brothers and Sisters" (Portrait as of Aug. 9, 2025)

It has been a while since I posted progress on this commissioned portrait, but I have been working on it all along, time permitting.   The first step was figure drawing, getting the positions of all four kids in the right place.  This took a while, and there were lots of mistakes along the way, and each time I made major changes, in the figures, I had to rework the faces too.  So the likenesses came and went with each change.  Once I was pretty happy with the figures, I started to concentrate more attention on the faces, and after lots more changes, I am finally getting there with all four faces. This is still rough, but I feel like it is on track. I held off posting progress on this until I was reasonably happy with the faces, but now I am, so here it is.

"Midsummer's Flowers" (Acrylic Mixed Media Painting)

Here is my painting on June 28, finished and ready to be packed up for the trip into Boston. This is my "Midsummer's Flowers" painting, headed for the "Midsummer Night's Dream" exhibit in July at the TAG gallery in the SOWA district. My painting is based on a short poem from Shakespeare's play.: "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows / Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,/Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." Each of the four lines of the poem is written around the four sides of the painting.  And six flowers that are mentioned in the poem appear In the center of the canvas,  in the style of botanical illustration. Back in early June, I thought it was just about finished and photographed it for the required digital image. But since then, I repainted the blue background, making it look a little more blue, but softer, like the sky. And I added a layer of gold acrylic craft paint to the border. I went over all the straight lines with a T-square.  I went over all the lines and shapes of the flowers. I made many, many small corrections in the lettering.  And yes, at the last minute, I realized I was spelling "eglantine" in two different ways: with an 'i' as in the poem, and with a "y", a spelling that crept in from looking at flower images on Google. So I fixed that. I am happy with this now and am glad I kept going.  I often say that art is about making mistakes and correcting them.  I think that it is also about persistence.

Near Colorado Springs (for Galatea and Friends Show)

I chose this painting for the July "Galatea and Friends" show. I painted this back in 2021, based on a photo that I took during trip to Colorado a few years earlier.  This is a spot that you see when you drive from Denver to Colorado Springs; this is just north of the Air Force Academy.  My friend Pam Peltier, showing with me at Galatea, used to live close to that location,  so I thought this would be a good choice for the show.  

Guest Artist: Pam Peltier Dickinson

This image is artwork by my friend Pam Peltier Dickinson.  I met Pam in high school in 1965 and we also took art classes together in college.  So when I learned that Galatea Fine Art was having a "Galatea and Friends" show in July 2025, Pam was the obvious choice.  She mailed this artwork to me and I took this photo of it on June 20th.  The title is "Sous la Lune d'Automne" (Under the Autumn Moon).*

*Pam enjoys French and that is another tie that connects us because I was her "language lab" when she studied French in college.

"Midsummer's Flowers" (Painting as of June 3, 2025)

This is my "Midsummer's Flowers" painting as it looked on June 3. This painting is for the "Midsummer Night's Dream" exhibit in July at the TAG gallery in Boston. My painting is based on a short poem from Shakespeare's play.: "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows / Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,/Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." Each of the four lines of the poem is written around the four sides of the painting.  And six flowers that are mentioned in the poem appear In the center of the canvas,  in the style of botanical illustration.  On June 3rd,  I went over the lettering under each flower with dark blue.  And I added dark brown to the inside and outside border. Although the painting wasn't finished, at this point all of the elements of the painting were in place so I could see how it was going to look. This was good because even though I didn't have to deliver the actual painting until the end of June, the deadline was fast approaching to submit a digital image of it to the gallery.  To be continued. . . .

"Midsummer's Flowers" (Painting as of June 2, 2025)

Here is my "Midsummer's Flowers" painting as it looked on June 2. This painting is for the July "Midsummer Night's Dream" exhibit at the TAG gallery in Boston.  I decided to base this painting on  on a short poem from Shakespeare's play.: "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows / Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,/Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." I wrote each of the four lines of the poem is around the four sides of the painting.  The six flowers mentioned in the poem are represented In the middle of the canvas, shown in the style of botanical illustration.  On this day,  I began to add some gold tones to the border.  The gold tone is just yellow and brown acrylic paint. The idea is to make the border look like a picture frame. To be continued. . . .

"Midsummer's Flowers" (Painting as of June 1, 2025)

Here is my "Midsummer's Flowers" painting as it looked on June 1. This painting is for the July "Midsummer Night's Dream" exhibit at the TAG gallery in Boston.  My painting is based  on a short poem from Shakespeare's play.: "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows / Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,/Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." Each of the four lines of the poem is written around the four sides of the painting.  In the middle of the canvas are of each of the six flowers mentioned in the poem,  done in the style of botanical illustration.  In this photo you  can see that at this point, I was working on the lettering for the text of the poem, which runs around the borders of the canvas, one line of the poem on each of the four sides.  I also added guidelines for the border, which I planned to paint to look like a picture frame.

"Midsummer's Flowers" (Painting as of May 31, 2025)

Here is my "Midsummer's Flowers" painting as of May 31. This painting is for a July exhibit at the TAG gallery in Boston.  The show has the theme "Midsummer Night's Dream" by Shakespeare.  My painting is based  on a short poem from the play.: "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows / Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,/Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." I write each of the four lines of the poem around the edges of the painting.  In the center are representations of each of the six flowers mentioned in the poem,  done in the style of botanical illustration.  May 31, I added more color to each of the flowers with Sharpie markers and acrylic paint.  I began to put in thebackground color. Instead of white -like the pages of a botanical illustration, I chose a very pale blue, which suggests the sky. 

"Bonita Bacalhau" at Cod Auction Preview

This is "Bonita Bacalhau," the wooden codfish that I decorated for this year's "Cod and Whale Auction," to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art.  I took this photo at the Cod Auction Preview on May 30th. It was great to see all the decorated codfish and whales all on display.  If you are interested, bidding ends on July 6th, 9 pm Eastern time. (To bid, go to m.biddingforgood.com/auctions/341802044; then click on Search Items and type "Bonita" in the search bar)

"Midsummer's Flowers" (Painting as of May 30, 2025)

Here is my "Midsummer's Flowers" painting as of May 25. I am painting this for July exhibit with the theme "Midsummer Night's Dream" by Shakespeare.  I based my painting on a short poem from the play.: "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows / Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,/Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." I placed each of the four lines of the poem on the border of the painting.  Inside the border are paintings of each of the six flowers mentioned,  in the style of botanical illustration. On May 25, I began to apply color to the sketches of the six flowers, beginning with Sharpie markers to outline the blossoms and leaves.

Color Sketches for "Midsummer's Flowers," May 25-27

Yesterday I posted a  collection of the pencils sketches I drew around May 23-24, as I prepared to include these flowers in my painting "Midsummer's Flowers." Today I am posting a second set of flower sketches for the painting, this time done in color with Sharpie pens on paper May 25-27. The painting is for show in a July with the theme of Shakespeare's play "Midsummer Night's Dream." I am basing my painting on a short poem from the play: "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows / Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With musk-roses and with eglantine."  In my painting, the text of the poem is written around all four sides of the image, on a border painted to look like a picture frame.  Within that frame, I will paint each of the six flowers in the style of botanical illustration. To do these sketches, I had to figure what Shakespeare understood by these names, which aren't all in contemporary use.  (There is a whole little industry on botany in Shakespeare.) And then I looked at a lot of photos to figure out leaf shape, petal number, etc.  and then made these sketches.  Sometimes the photos didn't agree, especially on leaf shape, so I had to choose.

"Midsummer's Flowers", Painting as of May 24, 2025

Here is my painting as of May 24. I am painting this for a July exhibit with the theme "Midsummer Night's Dream" by Shakespeare.  My painting is based on a little poem from the play: "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows / Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,/Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." Each of the four lines of the poem appears on the border of the painting.  Inside the border are paintings of each of the six flowers mentioned, done in the style of botanical illustration. On May 24, using as reference the sketches I had made on paper,  I used conte crayon on the canvas to block in the location of each of the six plants.  At this point, I was just trying to establish the layout and the composition. 

"Midsummer's Flowers" (Painting) as of May 24, 2025

This painting is for an upcoming exhibit with the theme "Midsummer Night's Dream" by Shakespeare.  I am basing this painting on a little poem from the play.: "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows / Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,/Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." Each of the four lines of the poem appears on the border of the painting.  Inside the border are paintings of each of the six flowers mentioned, done in the style of botanical illustration.

Pencil Sketches for "Midsummer's Flowers," May 23-25, 2025

This is a collection of the pencils sketches I drew around May 23-24, as I prepared to paint these flowers in my painting "Midsummer's Flowers." The painting is for an upcoming show organized around the theme of Shakespeare's play "Midsummer Night's Dream." My painting is based on a short poem from the play that mentions these six flowers.* In my painting, the text of the poem will run around the edges of the canvas, like a picture frame, and within the frame I will paint each of the six flowers in the style of botanical illustration. So while I was laying out the composition on the canvas and establishing the lettering, I was also researching images of these plants, and then sketching them.  Big breakthrough as I figured out how to create a collage of these sketches!!!

*The poem: "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows / Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With musk-roses and with eglantine."

"Brothers and Sisters" (Portrait as of May 24, 2025)

Here is the portrait I am working on as it looked on May 24th.  I continued to work on the positions and proportions of these four little kids.  I had been struggling with the position of the feet, but found a secret weapon.  In my reference photo, the kids are standing on a surface of rectangular pavers, which provided a grid for me!  So I got out my protractor, checked the angles in the reference photo, and then tried to reproduce those angles on the canvas.  This sounds like a strange way to begin a portrait, but it was really helpful.

PS. If you look closely, you can see a number written on each figure: that's the child's age.  I want to keep that in mind because proportions change as children grow.

"Brothers and Sisters," Portrait as of May 23, 2025

Here is the portrait I am working on, as it looked on May 23rd. I am making haste slowly, try to get the proportions and positions right for all four children before I go forward.  It would be more fun to dive right in and paint the faces, but it is important to do this first.  The way the face looks really does depend on the position of the body, so I need to be patient and work this out. At this point, I was struggling with getting four pairs of kids shoes in the right place.. . .

"Midsummer's Flowers" (Shakespeare project), Painting as of May 23, 2025

This is the painting I am working on for the upcoming art show with the theme of  Shakespeare's play "Midsummer Night's Dream". On May 23, I continued working with the layout, concentrating (and correcting) the text around the edges of the canvas.  Each side is a line from the poem that I am using as the basis for the painting: "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." I am planning to paint the borders to look like a frame. And within the frame I am going to paint the six different types of poems names in the painting, in the style of botanical illustrations. You can see the labels on each rectangle: wild thyme, oxlips, nodding violets, woodbine, musk-roses, and eglantine.  I this point, I was just concentrating on straightening out the placement of the lettering.  This part is messy and also tedious, but it has to be done because the text is an important part of the painting. To be continued. . . .

"Midsummer's Flowers" (Shakespeare project), sketch on canvas, May 22, 2025

I am working on a painting for an upcoming art show with  Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" as it's theme. On May 22, I started working on the layout, sketching on the canvas with graphite (always a nightmare).  This quotation from the play is the basis for the painting: "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." I am laying out this quotation around the four edges of the painting, which will be painted to look like a frame.  Within the frame are six rectangles, one for each of the six flowering plants mentioned in the poem: wild thyme, oxlips, nodding violets, woodbine, musk-roses, and eglantine.  Inside each of the rectangles I am going to paint the plants (as labeled), but in the style of a botanical illustration.  (There are a lot of plants in Shakespeare, and lots of people have written on the subject.  There are even books on botany and Shakespeare.)  This sketch is still very rough, including the lettering, which is hard to read. At this point, I was just trying to set up the composition.  To be continued. . . .

Brothers and Sisters (Portrait) as of May 22, 2025

I am getting started on a new commission, a portrait of four children.  My source is a vacation photo supplied by their father.  At this point, I am sketching on canvas with conte crayon, just trying to get the layout right and establish the positions of the figures.  Maybe you can tell I am working out proportions, which change as children age.  The figures might seem to be positioned too low on the canvas, but that is because I am leaving room for the background, which will be a castle.  

Rough Sketch for "Midsummer's Flowers" (Shakespeare project)

I have an opportunity to participate in an upcoming art show with the theme "Midsummer Night's Dream." I am going to base my painting on this quotation: "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine." I had been thinking about painting the scene, and looked up images of all the flowers. But couldn't come up with a good way to incorporate the text. (I have done several of these literary theme paintings lately, and like to include some text.) Yesterday I finally had an idea.  I decided to paint each of the flowers in the style of botanical illustration, and then paint a border, making it look like a picture frame, and that would serve as the background for the text. I drew an exceeding rough pencil sketch, but this was enough to give me confidence that my idea was workable.

Bonita Bacalhau (Codfish project 2025)

Here is Bonita Bacalhau, my entry for the 2025 Codfish Auction held to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art.  (This is an online auction and people can bid from anywhere.) This year I decorated my codfish form with patterns inspired by Portuguese tile, hence her name, Portuguese for Pretty Codfiah.  On May 2nd, I finished obsessively correcting small mistakes, painted the back, and attached the hanging hardware.  I put her up on the wall to make sure she would hang correctly, and then took this picture to send in with my paperwork.  This was my "farewell" picture, because the next day I delivered her to Marblehead.  But I will see her again (and so will you) because she will soon have an official photo taken for the auction website, and I will post that here.

 

 

Bonita Bacalhau (Cod Project) as of Apr 30, 2025

Here is my project-in-progress for the annual Cod Auction to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art.  (Each year some 50 artists are invited to decorated wooden codfish forms which are then auctioned to benefit the organization.  The auction is online and people can bid from anywhere.) This year, my codfish is decorated with a pattern inspired by Portuguese tile, hence the name "Bonita Bacalhau", which means "Pretty Codfish" in Portuguese.  When I took this picture, this project was almost finished.  I had spent some time repainting the background color, and going over the white and dark blue areas, cleaning up whatever mistakes I found.  Almost done, just needed to paint the back and sign it. (I always try to make the back look good because these are displayed on easels in Marblehead stores and so people can see the back.) Almost time to say goodbye to Bonita!

Bonita Bacalhau (Cod project) as of Apr 25, 2025

This my entry for the Marblehead Cod Auction as of Apr 25, 2025. Every year, area artists are invited to decorate wooden codfish forms, which are then displayed in downtown Marblehead, and later auctioned to benefit Marblehead Festival of Arts.  The auction is online and people can bid from anywhere. This year, my codfish is decorated with a pattern inspired by Portuguese tile, hence her name, Bonita Bacalhau, which is Portuguese for "Pretty Codfish".  Having spent the prior two days fussing over the pattern and considering adding design elements, I finally figured out that the design was fine but I wanted more contrast in the colors. So on the 25th, I continued repainting the existing design with a slightly lighter and greener blue, closer to my original design. I also worked on decorating the fins and tail.  At this point, my cod project was almost finished. . . .

Bonita Bacalhau (Cod project) as of Apr 23, 2025

Here is my entry for the Marblehead Cod Auction as it looked on April 23rd, 2025.  This annual auction is held to benefit the Marblehead Festival of Arts. Area artists decorate wooden fish cutouts which are then displayed in downtown Marblehead and later sold in an online auction. (You can bid from anywhere).  This year, I am decorating my codfish with a design inspired by Portuguese tile, and so I named her "Bonita Bacalhau". On the 23rd, it was time to begin adding white, first to the center of each of the fish tiles as well in borders marking the main part of the body.  I also added areas of white between the "tiles", to look like grout.  This was a bit tricky. First I widened each of the blue lines separating the tiles so there was enough room to add a strip of white. This looks simple, but it was tedious and it ook a while! You can see that this still needed to be cleaned up, but even so, I already liked the result and I was happy that I did it.

Bonita Bacalhau (Cod project) as of Apr 22, 2025

This is my entry for the Marblehead Cod Auction as it looked on Apr 22, 2025. This year, my design is based on Portuguese tile, hence the name "Bonita Bacalhau).  At this point, I had drawn in the design in dark blue marker and ink.  There was more to go, but I had decided to modify the background color, which had somehow strayed from the blue-green color I had used in my digital sketches, but I had decided to bring it back.  (I had chosen the colors by looking at examples of Portuguese tiles on line.  Lots of Portuguese tile is strictly blue and white, but I found some examples that use blue with a soft blue-green and white.) So in this photo perhaps you can see that I am in the process of repainting the background color to more of a blue-green. 

Reposting "Self-Portrait with Self-Portrait) (Oil Bar Painting)

Here is a self-portrait in oil bar paints.  (The title refers to the fact that the photo that I was painting from also appears in the upper right corner of the painting.) It has been a while since I painted this, but on April 22, I turned this in to Porter Mill Studios as my entry in "Selfies," an exhibition of self-portraits by Porter Mill Artists, to be on display during Open Studios and for the next few months.

White Magnolia (with Prisma's Frangipani filter)

I took this photo this past weekend during an outing at Lynch Park here in Beverly, MA.  I cropped the original photo and added Prisma's Frangipani filter.  I decided to use this image to send everyone wishes for safe travels and happy, whether they were celebrating Easter, the last days of Passover, or just enjoying a long weekend.

Bonita Bacalhau (Cod project) as of Apr 20, 2025

Here is my entry for this year's Cod Auction (to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art), as it looked on April 20th, 2025.  This year I am decorating my codfish cutout with designs inspired by Portuguese tile, so I have named her Bonita Bacalhau.  Here you can see that I have done a rough outline of the pattern in dark blue. This is the first pass, done in a combination of colored pencil and Sharpie marker.  This is rough, but I want to make sure the design is going to work.  To be continued. . . .

Bonita Bacalhau (Cod project) as of Apr 19, 2025

Here is Bonita Bacalhau, my codfish-in-progress.  When this is finished, it will be my entry for the Marblehead Cod Auction 2025.  My design is inspired by Portuguese tile, hence the name.     Since finishing my blue and white sketch on paper, I applied gesso to the wooden cutout,, and when that was dry, added the background color.  This color was a bit darker and bluer than the color in my original sketch, but at this point, I didn't think that would matter. (Turns out I would change my mind about that.) Anyway, this photo shows that I had copied my design onto the wooden cutout, which is always a bit of a challenge.  My design is geometric and linear, but it needs to fit the rounded and irregular shape of a fish, so lines become curved and sizes shift in some places.  I used colored pencil (white and then blue) to lay out the design over the background color.  (I have learned from previous projects to avoid pencil over acrylic paint, especially not on wood. ) Anyway, I was happy to be underway.

Bonita Bacalhau (Cod project), sketch with marker, Apr 11, 2025

Here is my sketch for the wooden cod I am decorating for this year's auction by Marblehead Festival of Art. I had already traced the wooden cutout onto paper and sketched in my pattern with pencil.  This was the next step: go over the lines with marker. This is not only so I can see what I am doing (which is important), but to make sure that none of the components of the pattern will be too small to  draw and make recognizable with marker or brush. 

 I was pretty happy with the result, but they were a lot of stray pencil marks so I cleaned this up digitally for posting here.

Bonita Bacalhau (Cod project), pencil sketch as of Apr 11 ,2025

Here is my sketch for Bonita Bacalhau, my entry for the annual Marblehead Cod Auction, to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art.

Once I had decided on thepattern for the body of the fish, it was time to tackle the hardest part of the process, sketching the entire design on paper to make sure it will work.  It is pretty hard to correct mistakes on the actual wooden fish, so I try out my design on paper first.  I start by tracing the wooden cutout onto a big piece of paper, and then I begin laying out the design with a ruler and a T-square.  My goal is to try to make the pattern fit will, you can see where I was having to modify and change things to get this right.  To be continued. . .

Bonita Bacalhau, drawing video of revised pattern

https://www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/54476020111

Once again I am decorating a wooden codfish form to be sold in the Marblehead Cod Auction to benefit the arts. This year, my codfish will be decorated with a pattern inspired by Portuguese tile, hence the name Bonita Bacalhau. I had already used the Procreate app on my iPad to sketch the pattern I planned to use with results posted here, both the sketch and the video capture of the drawing process. But once I had decided to revise the pattern I planned to use, I open the prior sketch in Procreate, and began to change the colors.  While I worked, the Procreate app captured the process.

Bonita Bacalhau (Codfish Project), digital sketch, revised as of Apr 11

More preparation to decorate my codfish for the Marblehead Cod Auction.  (Some 50 area artists decorate wooden cod cutouts which are then auctioned to support Marblehead Festival of Art.) This year I am returning to the theme of Portuguese tile, and have named my fish Bonita Bacaulhau. I had already made a digital sketch of on my iPad using Procreate, but I decided to change the colors to make a sharper difference from Bonita's predecessor, Bela Bacalhau, created in blue and white.  So I decided to use a turquoise and a dark blue combination that is sometimes used on Portuguese tile (though it is less common than the blue and white.  I opened the file in Procreate, copied the file, and modified the colors.

Reposting: Grandma Aptaker's Chicken Soup with Matza Balls

This is an illustration that I created several years ago for our food blog Seasoning for Every Palate.  (I think this is pastel or conte with marker.)  Every time I make matza ball soup, I think of Grandma Aptaker.  Passover starts Saturday night, but lots of folks are already preparing. Sending this out today to wish a happy Passover to those who celebrate, and to everyone wishing you freedom and hope. And to those in the midst of a cooking frenzy for the holiday,  may your matza balls rise. If you need a good recipe for chicken soup with matza balls, Grandma Aptaker's recipe and the story that goes along with can be found at  seasoningforeverypalate.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/grandma-aptakers-chicken-soup-with-matza-balls/"

Bonita Bacalhau (Codfish project), drawing video of April 8 sketch

Every year I decorate a wooden codfish for the "Cod Auction" to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art.  This year I am returning to the theme of Portuguese tile as inspiration for my design, and have named my fish "Bonita Bacalhau." Yesterday I used the Procreate drawing program on my iPad to work on the pattern I plan to use on the body of my wooden fish.  The rough sketch that I came up with is posted here yesterday.  Procreate captures a video as you draw.  I am posting it here so you can see what I mean when I say that art is a series of mistakes. . . 

Bonita Bacalhau (Codfish project), Digital sketch as of Apr 8, 2025

It's time to start working on my codfish project.  Every year some 50 area artists are invited to decorate a wooden codfish form to be displayed and then auctioned off to support the Marblehead Festival of the Arts.  This year I am going to decorate my codfish with a pattern inspired by Portuguese tiles.  I am returning to a theme that I used a number of years ago when I painted "Bela Bacalhau"*.  But Bonita will look different from here older sister Bela, first of all because the shape of the codfish form has been revised since then, and second because I will use a new design and different colors.  I have been thinking about Bonita for a while, but yesterday I actually tried some ideas out on my iPad.  I came up with this (very rough) sketch, which I cleaned up a bit for posting in iPhoto. I used Procreate to make this sketch, and Procreate captures your work as you draw, so I plan to publish the resulting video tomorrow.  

*Posted here May 26, 2016

Piano Duet (Mom and Dad, rescued snapshot)

This image began with a snapshot that I found yesterday as  I was looking for a photo to post for their anniversary; they were married April 4, 1943. I usually post 1940s era photos of them taken during their courtship or early marriage.  But this is  a Polaroid snapshot that I took of them playing the piano in 1971, in the house where I grew up.  My husband Mel was away at basic training for the National Guard (he had lost the draft lottery), and I was staying with my parents with my baby girl. I was about 22 and my parents were in their 50s. The photo that I found was damaged, scratched, and deteriorating as Polaroid snapshots typically are. But I love the image of them playing the piano, something I often saw and heard during my childhood. So I scanned the photo into my computer and did some cropping and  retouching in iPhoto. Then I used Painter to simplify the background (with cut-and-paste and digital pastel) and used some overlays to add color. As I worked, I thought about how often my parents played piano together when I was growing up. My father was a very talented musician who played piano by ear, as if by magic as it seemed to me as a child. My mother also played the piano and had many books of sheet music which I still own, and the music was and is much too difficult for me to play, even after years of piano lessons. I thought about how they met. My father was from Brooklyn but was stationed in Pueblo, Colorado,  for training before he was sent overseas during WWIi. My mother was in the USO and she and my Aunt Edy often went to the USO dances at the Army Base, and they each met their husbands that way. My mother and my aunt would sometimes bring soldiers home for a family meal with my grandparents. I bet that for my dad, the piano in my mother‘s house was a big attraction. I can imagine that they played the piano together right from the beginning. Maybe those duets contributed to their romance. It’s great to remember that they continued to play piano duets throughout their marriage, so I think this is a good photo to post to celebrate their anniversary.