The Naked Silo

40" x 60", oil on wood panel, 2018, private collection This fall I'll mark thirty years since I started painting in 1988. Unlike my 25th anniversary , I'm not making such a big deal about this one...for some reason...but I did want to commemorate the occasion with a painting. For my silver anniversary I used actual silver leaf in the painting ( Silver Jubilee , which also features Ashley). That painting also literally references 1988, 2013, and 25, and the alchemical symbol for silver; I don't regret any of those choices, but I wanted to do something more subtle this time. In brainstorming ideas for this painting, I went back into my picture archive and found a variant on the photo I used as reference for my 20th anniversary watercolour back in 2008. It's nearly the same pose, but different enough to still be interesting, for example, I like that she's tucking her hair back like that, which gave me the opportunity to get in there and really descr

12" x 12" x 6", styrofoam, spackle, synthetic sponge, plastic, wax, caulking, acrylic and lacquer paint, wood, wood stain, spray varnish, 2018 In 2014 I embarked on a huge adventure to do 100 paintings on the theme of World War One called To the Sound of Trumpets , commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of that war. For roughly nine months I was steeped in research and sketching and painting and by the end of it I was emotionally exhausted and artistically drained, but I was largely satisfied with my efforts, knowing I did my best. You can view a  short video of those paintings (the accompanying music suits the mood very well). I knew I needed more than 100 ideas to make sure the 100 I did paint were the best ones, so I brainstormed a great deal and filled my notebook with more than enough ideas. I ended up with a few extra ones that were pretty good, ones I would have liked to have painted, but there just wasn't enough time (the show open