The Naked Silo

14" x 17", ink, 2004 This painting, Honey , Krista in Pearls , and Krista with Pearls and Curls are all from the same photo shoot. Pearls are a great accessory; I should use them more often...

  22" x 7 1/2", watercolour, 2001 Here's an even better example of the candid photography I was talking about in the post about paille . Jill and Magda & Kiro are pretty good examples, too –and are a couple of my favourite candids. Incidentally there is a (b)  to this series that makes this a triptych, but I'm not too satisfied with how Kathleen looks* in that one, regardless of how well the glasses and bottles turned out. *and by that I mean how I painted her .

22" x 15", watercolour, 2002 I like booze and I've featured that subject time and again over the decades (you can see no fewer than seven of my paintings involving sweet, sweet booze in this post about Artevino ), and I expect to return to it in the near future (possibly after my next big series which is currently in pre-production). The reference for this was shot around the time I was experimenting with candid photography, using a point-and-shoot film camera (which had no auto-focus feature that delays the actual snapshot and often makes you miss the moment you're trying to capture). I took this camera everywhere I went and mostly just aimed it in the general direction of my intended subjects, hoping the framing was good (or good enough to use as reference), but never knowing until the film was developed. I was out at a bar with some friends and I must have taken two rolls of film, but a lot of spontaneity was captured unbeknownst to my pals. The French wo...

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.

30" x 40", oil on canvas, 2001 Nope, this painting isn't part of my show still going on for the remainder of March at the Runnymede Library , but it deals with reading and has Ashley, so I it's at least thematically related to the last post. It also deals with booze, and for anyone going to see the art show, there are several nice pubs in the area --and an LCBO right across the street from the library itself. This painting is among my first four oil paintings done right before (and this one directly inspired) my Interiors series. Here, Ashley is reading the same Joseph Campbell book as Aisha and she's almost in exactly the same spot in my studio as the previous post, but from an earlier photo shoot (you can tell by her hair's length). Also, that's not wine in her glass. Also-also, pardon my French.