The Naked Silo

11" x 15", watercolour, 1998, private collection I wanted to take a little break from all the figurative paintings I'd been doing during Operation: Water Storm (briefly mentioned here ), but I also wanted to create a still life that was untraditional and kind of contemporary (no bowls-of-fruit or vases-of-flowers), while not obviously against the grain (whatever that might have been). I've always enjoyed the bold red design of Coke cans and I happened to have a bottle of V8 on hand, so red became the basis of my composition. Add a couple of mason jars of strawberry jam, a couple of apples (Red Delicious (of course) and a Granny Smith (for cheeky contrast)), a matrix background, and ta-da! I really like the deep, dark red of the jam, but the Coke cans, although interesting --and I'm quite happy with the result-- were very tedious and finicky.

22" x 15", watercolour, 2001, private collection This painting is an attempt to loosen up a bit and not be so blendy and smooth. It looks pretty good in her neck and right arm areas, but I may have used a bit too much indigo in the flesh tones, making things a bit muddy in her lower jaw and her hand that's holding the glass. What looks like a second signature in the bottom right is actually an abstraction of a book title on the shelf on which Ashley is leaning. On top of the shelf (with the burgundy and beige cover; barely visible) is an excellent film noir movie poster book called "Crime Scenes". In the top left is a painting from my Sunflowers series.

30" x 40", oil on canvas, 2001, private collection This painting is one of my First Four oil paintings (along with this one and this one and one more which isn't good enough to be shown and will be painted over once I get my hands on it again) done just before my Interiors series. There are bits and pieces here and there I think are successful (the intense highlights on the hair and glasses just below the light, and the sharply-focused glass against the blurry background) and there are others I'd like to paint over and fix with the benefit of now having eight years' experience. I did go back and touch up the light flare, making it less pink, and I fixed the hand a bit, but this here is an earlier photo of the painting before the changes. This painting is also not in the Runnymede Library show which ends this Saturday (28 March).

36" x 36", oil on canvas, 2001, private collection This painting isn't in the Runnymede Library show, either. This is actually my very first oil painting after having abandoned that medium after only a few attempts in high school. I initially bought two 36" x 36" canvases with the intent to use a special gesso that, supposedly, would enable me to paint in watercolours on them. I prepped the canvases (but probably incorrectly) and the watercolours just weren't working, so I decided to try an opaque medium and chose oils over acrylics. The other painting done in conjunction with this one isn't worth showing or seeing. I think her eyes and the right portion of the glass tunred out nicely, but I think the blue background could be less saturated. As the title suggests, that's not wine in her glass --it's Coca-Cola. I simply didn't have any wine on hand during the photo shoot and that was the only dark drink handy.