Holiday Time!

I've been a busy bee getting work ready for the Holiday Show ( Size Matters) at the Miller Gallery in Cincinnati and for a small works show at the Swan Coach House in Atlanta. Here are some of the paintings:




O pear, 2009

8" x 6", oil on panel

available at Swan Coach House



Peach pi, 2009

12" x 12", oil on panel

available at Miller Gallery



apple jacks, 2009

6" x 6", oil on panel

available at Swan Coach House

I'm starting a new series of paintings for shows coming up next year. This means it's time to pull out my Christmas music to accompany me through my holiday work. I like to listen to Bing and Bob radio shows where the dates fall around the Christmas season. Typically, there will be a little banter, a song or two, and then a nice little Christmas message from Bing at the end. It's nice and it gets me in the mood.

Another good one I like to listen to is the Dragnet Christmas episode .22 rifle for Christmas. Does the title give you ANY indication as to what happens in this story? Okay, honestly, this one is pretty depressing, and they ran this show EVERY YEAR at Christmas time. This tells me that either they ( Jack Webb ) were too lazy to record another show for the holidays, or they ( Jack Webb ) really had an axe to grind against "Daddy" giving his little boy a rifle. At the time, Dragnet was pretty much the only game in town, so Jack could rip the beard right off of Santa ( not the "real" Santa, but the fat drunken slob in red sitting in a chair at the local shopping mall ) to drive his point home.

Of course today we all realize that giving a gun to a little kid isn't only a "good thing" to do, but it would also be the "American" thing to do. Please note that at no point did I ever say it would be the smart thing to do. Pin It Now!

Elvis and "cherry"

"cherry", 2009

20" x 20", oil on panel

I've been thinking about why I consume so much bad pop culture while I paint. The best I can come up with is that I need a little "comfort food" while I'm nurturing a painting. The meticulous nature of how I paint diminishes some of the immediate energy found in other styles of painting. I like painting Alla Prima , but for me I feel that its like a playful prelude to the real work. My thinking is that anything that I can pop-off in a couple of hours doesn't have any real intrinsic value other than the experience of doing it . I get more fulfillment out of the painting process by "building" in layers. Maybe there's some sort of psychological component that won't allow me to fully immerse myself in something as immediate as painting in one sitting.

Or... maybe it's more fun to paint with Elvis.

Anyway, I listened to a lot of Elvis music ( all pre-'62 and post '68) while I painted stitches, glazed layers of umbers and crimsons, and noodled around with roses. I also played Blue Hawaii a few times ( I didn't want to miss any of that clever Presley subtext the first time around). In Blue Hawaii, "E" returns from the Army to Hawaii ( yeah, he's Hawaiian ... you know its an authentic native Hawaiian when the main character says "Wa-heen-eh" with a southern accent) to assume the role of heir to his father's pineapple plant. Here we see another classic Elvis movie theme involving conflict with his "Daddy" ( I love it when I hear a grown man refer to his father as "Daddy").


We saw Elvis attempt to overcome the embarrassment of his loser father ( Dean Jagger from White Christmas ) in King Creole ( "you go to school Daddy!! I'm going out to make a buck!!"). In Clambake, we watched him "go underground" as a water skiing instructor in attempt to evade his responsibility of taking over his father's oil company. Oh, and Clambake also includes one of the greatest musical scenes EVER! This would be the scene where he restores a speedboat in 4 minutes with the aid of Will Hutchins, a bunch of hot girls, and Gary Merrill ( the cross-dressing / child beating drunk who married Betty Davis) with the aid of a chemical compound ( that Elvis invented) that improves the strength of speedboat hulls.



The "Dr." really knows how to make a pair of boots. You can walk in acid in these suckers.

Note: Always check on the bottom to see the words "Made in England" before you buy them. The ones made in Japan fall apart and are meant for fashion ( not action).




I'm sending this painting out with a batch of smaller ones that I'm getting ready for a show in November at the Miller Gallery in Cincinnati. I'm also working on some things for a group show ( also in November ) at the Swan Coach House in Atlanta. Pin It Now!

Otto and the paintmaker

I still can't get over the fact that some of the finest oil paint available is made a mile from my house at the Howard Daniel company. I got to see my pal Max Howard make a batch, and I have to say, It's WAY MORE WORK than I ever imagined. The Ralph Mayer handbook shows you how to mix up a batch of your own paint from scratch, but it's really an involved process if you want any level of consistency in your materials.



First, The finely ground pigment is mixed with a carefully measured and balanced amount of linseed and safflower oils. Next, a "test run" is made by sending a small amount through a special milling machine that mixes the compound into paint.



Once, the paint comes out with the perfect blend of sheen and body then you run the properly balanced mixture through the mill.





This is actually a blue, and is so rich in pigment that it actually looks black. The finished oil paint is then ready to be shipped by the gallon...



or "tubed".

I'm getting started on some new paintings this week. I've spent the last couple of weeks preparing surfaces and I'm ready to get working. Pin It Now!

Robot, Donuts and Other Madness show at The Miller Gallery

Pop Tart, 2009

45" x 45", oil on canvas

Here's a painting that I finished just in the nick of time for the Robots, Donuts, and other Madness show featuring Eric Joyner, Jessica Hess, and me at the Miller Gallery on June 26. When I got to the opening, a bowl of popcorn was there, but I wasn't sure if it was a sculpture or something to accompany the painting.
I have to say this turned out to be more of a vacation than an opening. First of all, I went with my pal Walter because my pretty little wife had to stay home with our epileptic dog. This turned out to be great in that we were able to spend many, many hours discussing important topics such as:

-Red West: Great American actor or Elvis Presley flunky loser?

-Would Dack Rambo have made a great villain on The Incredible Hulk television show?

-Arguing about driving directions for a path that was essentially staying on the same road (I75 north) in a straight line

-Should I use my Popeye voice or my James Mason voice for the duration of the weekend.

-Should I use the "hybrid" Popeye-Mason voice?

I'll let the pictures do the talking, but I have to say this was a great weekend:



The lovely Gallery Director Rosemary Seidner took this picture



Swingin' hepcat Hugh McMantis offering up a few Eric, Jessica, and Otto t-shirts posed in an incredibly natural way



Owner , Gary Gleason ( looking pretty cool slinking around the corner ) "pre-show"



My new pal, Eric Joyner, next to one of his paintings



Jessica Hess and Walter sharing a laugh undoubtedly brought on by my comedy stylings including an extensive Popeye-Mason routine



The front entrance to the Miller Gallery with Rosemary, Gary and some ladies with a little dog



That's actually William Shatner posing as Eric Joyner



Oil painting by Jessica Hess ( she doesn't really have an "X" on her face)



After show dinner with owners Gary and Laura Miller Gleason and all of the wonderful people I met this weekend. Note the bald guy with the big mouth. He might be saying something really clever and intelligent, or... he might be yelling something that only he thinks is funny. Oh, and what's up with that palsied-hand-gang-sign-thing?

I didn't end up with any pics during the actual opening. This is due to the fact that I was actually enjoying myself meeting all of the cool people that night. I cannot thank Gary, Laura, Rosemary enough for making the show a wonderful experience and for extending their hospitality to me. I also want to thank Rosemary's daughters for making the Margarita's WAAY too strong, for Hugh helping out with the cool t-shirts the gallery had made, and for Becca letting me sleep in her room. I swear I didn't steal anything ... that you'd miss.

I would also like to thank the city of Cincinnati for the $50.00 parking ticket that I received within the first 10 minutes of arriving in town. This penalty has taught me an incredibly valuable lesson about the extreme "dangers" of parallel parking a vehicle the wrong way on a quiet side-street. Pin It Now!

Cherry Lifesaver and The Indiana Review

Cherry Lifesaver, 2009

24" x 24", oil on canvas

Actually, "Cherry Lifesaver" is her name. Kinda like when you name some action beefcake guy "Chuck Steak". I've been a busy bee this week finishing up work for the upcoming show Robot, Donuts and other Madness at the Miller Gallery in Cincinnati on June 26.



Admittedly, the last eleven months has been a real emotional roller-coaster ride with all of the "fun" that canine epilepsy has brought into my world. Needless to say, it has been difficult to get as many paintings completed as I had been before all of the random incidents of uncontrollable shaking. At the moment, my little Peanut has been responding to the medicine a little better, and it has helped me pick up the pace a little ( Thank you, Dr. Dodd). Gee, I'm glad that I didn't take the advice of a certain local college veterinary hospital who repeatedly suggested euthanasia ( a.k.a killing her with poison) as a viable alternative ( F**k you, local university hospital lady).

Had I followed her course of "treatment", I wouldn't have gotten to play "destroy the rubber ducky" in my back yard:







Ah, I'm not bitter.

Another cool thing is my Love Gun painting on the cover of the summer 2009 issue of the Indiana Review.



Doesn't that pink look awesome?

I'm kind of hoping that the people from the Indiana Review don't actually read my blog and ultimately figure out that Otto may... Hmmm, shall we say, fall a little short in the "literary arts" department.

I think it was James Tiberius Kirk who once said "fortune favors the foolish" in the epic masterpiece Star Trek IV: The voyage home ( the one where they have to go back to the 20th century to get a humpback whale in order to save humanity). Pin It Now!

Freshblood show at Mason Murer

My Mom and I went to the Freshblood show at the Mason Murer gallery on Friday ( my wife had to stay at home with our favorite epileptic dog). Okay, you know when someone describes a particular thing to you and they say, "it's big!"? Well, this would be the first time that the description actually fits the thing the person is describing. This place was HUGE, and filled with great work.



FUN FACT: My Mom is actually 27 inches tall!



I gave this guy seven dollars to pose for this picture. His only instructions were to "look natural" and to "appear to have a deep interest in my work...in a natural sort of way". He totally nailed it!

Actually, his name is Jeff and I graduated from UGA with him, but I totally could have gotten that response from a complete stranger.

My Mom and I drove back to join my wife and epileptic dog to catch an episode of Mannix.



Judo, jumping out of a dune buggy and shooting at someone, burning your fingers on hot toast, driving ( while shaving), swimming in shark infested waters, and playing it cool with your wool blazer ( in California) over your shoulder. All in a day's work for Joe Mannix.

The episode we watched was called "Deathrun", and involved Joe meeting up with an old marine buddy ( Joe apparently was in every branch of the armed services at some point) who served with him in Korea. The comment was made, "we were just kids" comes up referring to their time in Korea. This would make Joe a 28 year old "kid" in 1953.

Either way, at the end of the episode his buddy dies ( falls off a mountain cliff-this happens often on Mannix) and Joe is standing there attempting to cry. My mom looks at me and says,"you know, he's kind of a shitty actor".

I consider it to be a perfect evening. Pin It Now!

more work for Mason Murer Gallery in Atlanta

Here are a couple more paintings for the Freshblood show at the Mason Murer gallery in Atlanta, GA on May 29.




blueberry rambler, 2009

8" x 6", oil on panel




black and blue, 2009

8" x 6" , oil on panel

Armenian superhero Mike Connors ( aka "Touch" Connors) has invaded my studio space with the second season of Mannix. Mannix is so cool that he introduces himself only as..."Mannix". I'd try to be convincing, but there's nothing I could ever write that would be as convincing as this picture:



The proportions of the above picture are accurate Pin It Now!

Freshblood at Mason Murer

strawberry teacup, 2009

12" x 12", oil on birch panel

Here's some new work for the upcoming show Freshblood at Mason Murer Gallery on May 29 in Atlanta, GA.

While I've been logging in a lot of hours painting for the shows in the coming months, I've been reunited with my old friend Mr. Bill Bixby (a.k.a Dr. David Bruce Banner). Hulu has the first three seasons of The Incredible Hulk available and its FANTASTIC!

I have to say that The Incredible Hulk television show is a gold-mine of comedic riches. It's like The Fugitive only where the protagonist actually looks for trouble. Bixby's problem on the show isn't the fact that he turns into a giant retarded green man, but it's his inability to avoid meddling in the affairs of strangers.

Here's my favorite episode from the series titled "The Slam". This one has everything! Robert Davi as an evil prison guard, and my favorite character actor Charles Napier ( as an inmate who has been in the county jail for FIVE YEARS) . Do they give prison sentences that long in county jail? We also have David ( Bixby) "hulking out", escaping, and then... getting re-captured.

Pin It Now!

Three Artists and a Two-Eyed Cat

Here's a nice review of the Fresh Faces 2009 show in Artslant New York called Three Artists and a Two-Eyed Cat by Robyn Farrell Roulo.




Rene Magritte

L'homme au chapeau melon , 1964

25.6" x 19.7", oil

Oh, and I keep wanting to mention this, but Paul McCartney and Wings song With a Little Luck from the 1978 album London Town has the better version ( 5:45 minutes in length). The single or DJ Edit ( 3:13) for the radio cuts out the cool little bass / keyboard solo ( it kind of builds up to sort of a musical arch which unifies the whole song and seems a little disjointed without it). Songs are usually "edited" ( aka butchered ) in order to keep them around three minutes long. Also, I've always thought Paul's bass playing was totally underrated ( for example, the intro on Silly Love Songs).






I just thought I'd mention that.


The long version is better. Pin It Now!

Holy smoke (stack), Batman!

The restaurant, Club Lago, where we finished up the night following the Fresh Faces show at Judy Salsow on March 13 had a tsunami of brick showered on it 5 days later. The odd thing is that I was talking to a collector friend of mine a couple of days before who told me that he had just eaten at Club Lago the night before. Another weird thing is that I saved a draft of a "thank you" email that I was going to send to the owner because he had made accommodations for 20 people ( I was going to edit some pictures of the evening's merriment with the email). And weirdest of all, The day I got news of "hey, you know that restaurant where we ate on Friday...", I was actually editing those pictures.

Pin It Now!

"Fresh Faces 2009" and Inspiration Cafe's "One Inspired Evening"

I have to start by saying that my participation in the "Fresh Faces 2009" show at the Judy Saslow Gallery and the Inspiration Cafe's "One Inspired Evening" event in Chicago on March 13th wouldn't have been possible without the help of a long list of people. First, I would like to say thank you to Jeff Goldstein, his wife Lisa and his daughter Jess' for opening up their home to me while I was in Chicago. Jeff shared his family and wonderful friends, and basically "handled" the entire weekend. The kindness he and his family has given me is not anything I've ever experienced, and I am deeply grateful. Jeff also introduced me to some of the nicest and most interesting people I've ever met ( we'll get to that in a minute).

I would like to thank Judy Saslow, Will, and Madison for having me in their wonderful gallery and allowing me to participate in their show. The gallery is absolutely gorgeous and in one of the best spots in Chicago. Everyone was super nice even though I know I was a pain in the ass about getting images to them in a timely manner, and getting my actual work up to them before the last possible second.



Here's "Mr. Comedy" with Judy and... Dr. Jean Beau ( blocking my stupid little Marcel Marceau routine ) who I also have to thank for both taking time out to come to my show, AND... spending hours on the phone with me helping me with my little epileptic dog Peanut. I've had a hard time finding a good doctor down here that deals with canine neurology ( imagine that...), and she totally helped me when I was in a seriously low place.



That guy is totally workin' that beret. Seriously, I'm slightly jealous about the fact that I could never pull that "look" off.




I think I overheard one of those guys say, "Did you see that idiot over there with the shaved head and the sweater vest re-enacting one of the paintings?". "Shhh , I think he might be special".



Okay, later on that night, this is at the One Inspired Evening benefit for the Inspiration Cafe. Here's a cool video that was shown during the Academy Awards that explains about the organization. I entered a piece in the 16th annual juried exhibition and won first place in the emerging artists category. This piece was then auctioned off that night with the proceeds going to the Inspiration Cafe.



This was held at the River East Arts Center which is an absolutely stunning place.



We finished up the night with a fantastic meal at Club Lago with a group of Jeff's friends who came out for the show. I met Victor ( in the back near the kids) who told me technically how to construct a tattooing machine if I ever got "sent up" ( a valued skill if you ever get thrown in the joint for an extended period). The guy talking next to me is Jeff's buddy Jim ( a Chicago firefighter, i.e a real superhero). The following day, Jim gave me the "B tour" through the city ( all the pretty stuff), and told me next time I'd get the "A tour" ( this would include the less "tourist friendly" areas). Not only do I want to thank Jim and his family for giving me the tour, but for getting me to the airport on time.

I would have to say the whole experience was, in a word, perfect. The show was great and it had a big turnout ( even in, and I hate to use this current phrase, "this economy"). Every single person that I met in Chicago was genuinely warm and friendly, and I feel lucky to have made some pretty nice friends.

Oh, and the food was killer! Pin It Now!

new website

I finally finished my new site. This took WAY longer than anticipated, and I owe a lot of thanks to my web designer pal Walter ( even though he could have been a little less... "Walter" about it). When you come over this week, I promise to feed you my favorite meal.

I also finished the book Facing Up: A Remarkable Journey to the Summit of Everest by Bear Grylls on the plane last Sunday. I spent 4 hours on the runway at O'Hare on the way back to Atlanta so... I had a little time. Apparently, the flight was delayed due to "inclement weather". I learned a couple of things this weekend:

-Bear Grylls is a total badass in like 50 different ways!

-climbing Mt. Everest is not for me.

- the definition of "inclement weather" is, in fact, a very light rain.

The trip to Chicago was fantastic, and I'll write about it later this week. Pin It Now!

this one's for fun ( love gun 2)

this one's for fun ( love gun 2),2009

15" x 30" , oil on canvas


This painting is available at the Judy Saslow gallery


This is the final stage with the Studio Products medium. The #3 glazing medium is super glossy ( and it will take a little longer to dry than the previous ones). One thing I like is that this doesn't contain any solvent so it won't screw up the layers beneath it when you apply it.

I realized when I finished this one that using the American flag changed my original idea. I forget that "Y'all wont to take mah guhn away" is a real thing for some people. I think the argument is that if "they" take our guns away, then only the criminals will have guns. I think a better way to look at it is that if "they" take our guns away, then "they" will take away all of those redneck hunting "accidents".

And now, a word on deer hunting:

The whole argument for the necessity for deer hunting as a remedy for overpopulation is total crap. The deer population is regulated by the deer, not Ted Nugent. The deer instinctively regulate their pregnancy rates relative to the forest food supply. Okay, that's not really the big thing for me. The part I don't like is that it's called a "sport". The word "sport" in this case is used a little loosely due to the fact that the hunters use high powered rifles, night vision, and special scents ( a.k.a. deer piss). When I think of hunting, I think of Ron Ely running around the jungle in a loin cloth with a spear he made with a sharp rock. I just think the playing field should be leveled a little. Oh, and seriously, should an intelligent civilized man really be participating in any "sport" that involves the handling of deer piss?




I also forgot that there's a little political tension right now between "Mr. Lefty" and "Mr. Righty". I would also like to add at this point that I would probably be considered the very Swiss "Mr. Ambidextry" ( because I am, and... I am).

Initially I was thinking more along the lines of Harold Gould saying:




"Shall we say pistols at dawn?"


with the Woody response of:




"Sure, we can say it, but..." Pin It Now!

portrait ( with dynamite)

portrait ( with dynamite), 2009

30" x 30", oil on canvas

This painting is available at the Judy Saslow gallery

This is my t-shirt from 2nd or 3rd grade, but I can't find my magazines ( I have most of "my stuff" from DNA to now). The cool thing about Dynamite magazine was the neat little cards and iron-on transfers that came inside. The first glimpse of Christopher Reeve in the Superman suit came to me by way of the good folks at Dynamite. The tagline for Superman-The Movie was "you will believe a man can fly", and I remember seeing those pictures and thinking you bet your ass I do.

I also remember thinking that The Hardy Boys was a "girl's show" until I saw this cover:



Hey, if Shaun Cassidy "hangs out" with Chewbacca, how bad could he be? Pin It Now!

Studio products medium demo 2

This is the second pass with the Studio Products Gel Maroger's Painting Medium ( No.2 in the 3 part kit ). For my Grisaille, I generally let a little more of the underpainting show through, but even with a heavier coat the initial tone will be evident. I'll work this up a little more ( add another two or three layers in some areas) to get all of the values and details correct, but this is pretty much the form that I'll work around when I start to glaze in color. This dried pretty quickly and has kind of a satin finish.

Don't get scared when you're making you're Grisaille and try to correct the colors. There's a temptation to do this due to the fact that you'll end up with "dead man's hand" where you've got a creepy corpse-like thing happening. This all changes in the glazing. All of the painting up to the color glazing is "foreplay" ( and in an odd parallel, the most fun and time consuming part of it... to me, anyway). When you lay in the the final glazes ( strange again, the shortest but also a very gratifying part...), you'll see why this technique gives you a result that you cannot get with other methods. The chemistry married with manipulating color theory is, to me, the very reason that painting with oil is truly wonderful. Over and above your image, manipulating the materials in a scientific way adds kind of a transcendent dimension of depth. You don't want to be the guy who buys a Ferrari, but never gets it over 35 mph. You can make "pictures" with oil paint, but the chemistry is the cool part.



Hey, what's with this? I took this picture of my backyard actually to prove that we had real snow.

The bad part about snow in Georgia is that every "Bo" and "Luke" thinks that this is his big chance to use his gigantic truck to "command the elements". Unfortunately, the converse is true, and you get to see the roads littered with abandoned vehicles ( and guys name "cooter" stumbling away from them with those little animated birds spinning around their heads). Georgia doesn't have much in the way of snow equipment, but it isn't really that big of a deal to hang out at home for one day. It's not like every car on the road is a mission to "get Mama's Insulin".

FUN FACT:

For the 12-20 hour period of "real" snow in the south, the grocery stores are descended upon like the crowds in Soylent Green fighting over bread and milk. Yeah, milk ! You know, the thing that spoils within a week.

Apparently, the fear of osteoporosis is a bigger problem than I could have ever imagined down here in "dixie". Pin It Now!

studio products medium demo

This is the first part of the demonstration using the Studio Products 3 part medium kit.



This is basically a very loose sketch where I just want to have a little infomation to "build" my painting on. I used the #1 underpainting medium with a mixture of earth tones for my underpainting. This dries very matte ( and REALLY quickly ) and will be receptive to my second / third / fourth... layers where I block in some shape and color. The underpainting should be "lean" (as in it should have as little oil as possible) in order to have it dry quickly and so that you have a strong paint layer to build upon. Each layer should have slightly more medium ( containing oil- the "fat" part ) than the last. The point of this being that you don't want to paint over layers of paint that dry slower than ones on top of them ( this will eventually lead to cracking).

Now a word on safety:

This medium does contain lead. Now, I know you're supposed to flail your arms and say "Danger, Will Robinson" whenever we hear the "L" word, but seriously there are some things to consider here. First, I have kids, a little dog ( who doesn't need ANY more problems), and a family around me a lot. Do you know how I keep them from getting any of the negative toxic effects of using some of these materials?

I DON'T PAINT AROUND THEM.

If you take some relatively minor precautions, you can work with all of these materials safely. Wash your hands. Don't eat or smoke around your painting, and work in a well ventilated area. Turpentine can be absorbed through clean skin, but its the only solvent that will dissolve Damar ( OMS won't and really shouldn't be included in your medium either ). So...

DON'T GET TURPENTINE ON YOUR SKIN.

Flake White causes testicular cancer ( they actually print these very words on the label), but is a totally invaluable white to have in your palette. So...

DON'T RUB FLAKE WHITE OIL PAINT ON YOUR ... Oh, wait... you can get the cancer through other methods of absorption. Just be careful with it.

Anyhow, that's my thinking on painting safely. I think the lengths that Robert Gamblin and M. Graham have gone to in order to make oil painting safer are wonderful ( alkyd mediums are still petroleum based, so... ). I think that their paints and mediums are fantastic regardless of the added safety, and I use them. I do also think that an oil painter should have as many products at his disposal as possible in order to make the best work , and the "old master" materials and methods are too important to discard in an effort to make things totally "safe" ( which is not the case with ANY oil painting supplies... AT ALL). If an individual is too stupid to follow some pretty simple precautions, I think they might feel more comfortable using the family of products from the Crayola family. Pin It Now!