Reposting: Rising Sun on Woods and Snow (Oil Bar Painting)

This is the second of two of my oil bar paintings displayed in December at TAG art gallery in SOWA, Boston.  This was a view of a wooded area in Beverly, MA.

Reposing "Sunset Celebration" (Oil Bar Painting)

This is one of my two oil bar paintings displayed in December at TAG art gallery in SOWA. I based this painting on a photo that I took (from the passenger seat) as we were returning from a wedding in Maine.

Sisters and Brothers (Portrait) as of Nov. 29, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on November 29th.  Because this is a commissioned portrait of children, I am more selective than usual in recording my progress here, only posting images that have received parental approval.  Since the last image posted, I worked on issues with the foreground: I made the long wall behind the children completely horizontal, eliminating angles that were complicating the perspective.  And although I kept the grid pattern of the pavement that the kids are standing on, I softened the lines of the grid behind them. I continued to work on the castle, still ongoing at this point.  I was already happy with the likenesses of the kids, so I just added light to their faces and figures, being careful not to make big changes, and added more details to the vacation gear.  To be continued. . . 

Sisters and Brothers (Portrait) as of Nov. 21, 2025

I have been working on this commissioned portrait of four children, and here is how it looked on November 21, 2025.  I am not posting progress on this project as frequently as I usually do for my other work.  Because this is a painting of children, I am only posting versions of my work that I have shown to the client, and that I have permission to post.  Anyway, at this point, I was happy with the likeness of the children, but there were things to fix and a lot of cleanup yet to do.  You can see that I was in the process of adding the Disney gear that the kids were wearing.  My first goal was to paint this moment of four happy children standing together, but I also wanted to capture enough specific details to create a visual memory of this moment.  I was continuing to work on the castle behind them, and as you can see, was having quite a struggle with the foreground. The geometric pattern of the pavement had been helpful earlier in the process as I figured out how and where each kid was standing, but at this point, it was creating some extra challenges that I was going to have to fix. To be continued. . . .

Reposting "Raillard and Zagon Jan 45" (with Prisma filter)

Edited in Prisma app with Aqua

Several years ago for Veteran's Day 2020, I posted this old snapshot taken during WWII, a picture of my Dad and his army buddy Ray Raillard. Today I added the "Aqua" filter in my Prisma app. But what I wrote about it a few years ago still holds true:

On Veteran's Day, I often look through old photos for pictures of my dad during World War II. I usually look in my mother's old album. (My father was born in Brooklyn, but was stationed in Pueblo during WWII, and met and married my mother in the short time he was there, before heading overseas. While he was gone, my mother filled a photo album with photos from life at home in Pueblo as well as photos that he sent back from overseas). More recently, I have had an additional place to look: a collection of my father's old photos, sent to me a few years ago by my cousin Rori. That is where I found this photo today. This snapshot shows my dad with another soldier, standing in front of an apparently damaged building. On the back of the photo, my father wrote: "Raillard & Zagon Jan 45". From my Aunt Edy I have heard that Ray Raillard was a good friend of my father's when they were in the army. In the past I have not been able to to track down Ray Raillard or his family, but I will tag him here and see what happens. Looking though the other photos this morning, I saw another snapshot marked on the back with the logo of photo finishing company in Texas, which I believe is where Ray Raillard is from. That handwriting is different from my father's, very square and distinctive printing, and that handwriting also appears on a third photo that says "Leaving Cherbourg" date July 24, 1944. Is it possible that this photo was also taken in Cherbourg? I wish I knew more about my dad's time in the army. But what I do know, what brings me to tears right now, is that I am grateful my father had a good friend when he was in the army. My father was a gentle, peaceful man who went overseas to do his bit against the Nazis, and he left his brand new wife to do it. He didn't say much about his experience when I was a kid, but I know he was afraid during the war because years later, when he was facing cancer surgery, he told me so. And so now when I am feeling afraid in these uncertain times, I remember that my father did his part to stand up to tyranny even though he was afraid. And I will try to live up to his example.

Mom in Pueblo (Rescued Snapshot)

This is a snapshot of my mother standing in front of our house in Pueblo. I have posted a digitally colorized version of it some years ago, but I don't think I ever posted the original snapshot. 

Although I don't know the date the photo was taken,  the hairstyle and the clothing make me think this was taken around the mid-1940s, around the time she married my dad. I don't know who took this photo, but likely suspects include my Grandma Katz - I remember her taking pictures -  my Aunt Edy, or even my father (though that is less likely.) Back in 2009, I cleaned up the original snapshot, and then used Painter to add color.  But I always liked the texture and composition of this original snapshot, so I am posting that today in memory of my mom, who was born on November 2nd. 

Sisters and Brothers (Crop of Portrait) as of Oct. 30, 2025

Here is a crop of the painting I am working on, from a photo that I took  of my work on October 30, 2025.  This commissioned portrait is an ongoing project which I am hoping to wrap up in November. I am working from a photo taken during a trip to Disney last spring.  I have been working on it a little at a time.  On Oct. 30th, I cropped the photo of my work and sent it along as a "progress report"to the family, which was well received, I am happy to report.  At this point I was working on the background,  trying to suggest the castle that was in the family photo. And in the photo, the kids are wearing lots of Disney gear and I was trying to decide how much of it to include in the painting.  (You can see the little Minnie Mouse ears roughed in on the little girls)  The client seems happy with the painting so far, including the Disney gear, which makes sense because this a family memory of a specific time and a place that is special to them. For me, as with other portraits, this is a balancing act because I want my portraits to be "timeless".  Which details of the background should I include? What should I edit out of simplify? I have done several other portraits  in which the background or the pose, or the clothing details were very important to the client (ranging from sunglasses and motorcycle helmet to tuxedo and dance floor).  So I my plan is to include "just enough" Disney gear in this portrait to evoke memories of time and place, but also create an image of these sisters and brothers that will stand the text of time.

Sisters and Brothers (Portrait) as of October 4, 2025

Here is the portrait I am working on as it looked on October 4, 2025.  This is a long-running project, a commissioned portrait of four kids based on a photo that was taken during a family trip.   I have been working on it little-by-little, but at this point I felt I was getting there with a likeness of each of the children.  I decided it was time to rough in the background. I thought it was good enough to post here (with parental okay.)  To be continued. . .

Rage of Achilles (Painting)

Here is my finished painting on October 2, 2025. It was time to turn it in for the special "Homer" event at Porter Mill which featured paintings inspired by the Iliad and the Odyssey. I wanted to participate in this because the Iliad was one of the first books I read when I began graduate school in Comparative Literature and also because I think the Iliad still has important things to say to us even now..

Over the past year, I have produced several literary-themed paintings, and this painting will be part of that series. My little "literary series" came about by chance because of a number of art shows with literary themes that I participated in over the past year or so. 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. I hope to exhibit them together at some point. And I hope to paint more.

This painting is a representation of the shield of Achilles, but instead of being engraved with fantastical images (as in Homer's poem), it is inscribed 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."

So this how my painting looked on October 2nd, the day I finished it. In the intervening days, I had made changes, large, small, and invisible to the naked eye. I added a few layers of gold metallic paint to the border of the shield. I mixed the same paint with acrylic medium so I could add more layers of gold to the body of the shield without obscuring the lettering. And I added some white to the background, using soft circular strokes to suggest clouds in the sky.

 

Rage of Achilles (Painting as of Sept 27, 2025)

Here is my painting as it looked on Sept. 27, 2025.  At this point, the special "Homer" event at Porter Mill was fast approaching.  This event featured paintings inspired by  the Iliad and the Odyssey. I chose to participate because the Iliad was one of the first books I read when I began graduate school in Comparative Literature and also because I think the Iliad still has important things to say to us in 2025.

I have produced several  literary-themed paintings over the past year, and this painting will be part of that series. This series came about by chance because of a number of art shows with literary themes that I have 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. I hope to exhibit them as a set at some point. And maybe I will paint more.

 

This painting represents the shield of Achilles, but instead of being engraved with antastical images (as Homer describes it in his poem), it is inscribed 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."

Here is my painting as of September 27th.  I continued to work on getting the lines right, and fixing small mistakes in the lettering.  But the biggest change was an additional coat of blue to the background.  Almost there. . .

Reposting: Rosh Hashana Still Life drawing video

Back in 2022, I created this little drawing video on my iPad with the Procreate app.  I am bringing it back today to wish those celebrating the Jewish New Year " L'Shana Tova" and  to everyone, no matter what calendar you follow, I wish you bright days and a sweet year ahead.  So let's get started.  Just press play.

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.