The Naked Silo

40" x 30", oil on canvas, 2005 This is my grandmother on my father's side at her home in the small village of Nospal in Macedonia. She's stringing up peppers to be hung and dried (like the ones on the wall) for later use as seasoning in the amazing dishes she'll make. The photo my dad took that this painting is based upon was taken during his trip there about ten years ago. She was a very hard worker all her life even up until her death in 2004 and I'm happy to have been able to include her among my weirdly-diverse paintings in my show at  Dinkel's in Belleville. Dinkel's 44 Bridge Street, East, Belleville, Ontario

30" x 40", oil on canvas, 2001 This was one of 15 of my paintings on display at Dinkel's in Belleville as part of the Quinte Arts Council's Art in the Community project. The show was quite diverse as there were other paintings from my Interiors series, my Green Chair series, and a few one-shots in the restaurant. The show ran until 29 October. This painting is a "tilt down" of this painting . The light source at the top here is a floor lamp I specifically positioned to light the far room --something I didn't do in the picture I linked to, therefore my needing to come up with a solution, so I put Ashley in the background. Sometimes I don't see things until the picture is developed. But I can almost always "fix it in post." The light source at the bottom of the stairs is a bunch of tea lights --the same ones (and the only things) I used to light the scene in this painting . The objects above the candles are some shoes of the ladie...

11" x 17", watercolour, 1997 Red looks really weird in jpegs and on the Internet in general, so this painting (as most do) looks much better in person. I wanted to play up the vengeful expression on her face by making the black and red areas flat, but the red ended up looking kinda like velvet, which is a pretty cool conceptual contrast if you think about it. The gun is actually a water pistol I've owned for many years and it showed up later in this painting  (and maybe a few others --I don't even remember anymore).

22" x 15", watercolour, 2001, private collection I made this double portrait of Alfred Hitchcock by combining two B&W photos (from magazines) of the master director. I flipped the one showing his very famous profile (it actually had a bird atop his head!) so that the main portrait (which I colourized) could "peek" out from inside it. I wanted the background to be grey and moody, sort of evoking his films, and the foreground bright and celebratory (and, I suppose, idolizing him, what with the golden halo), paying tribute to this master of cinema. My favourite Hitchcock film: Vertigo .

This year, Picton, Ontario was one of the dozens of cities and towns around the world playing host to the 23rd annual International Festival of the Stick , and Small Pond Arts was where it was based. We set up a Museum of the Stick in our barn and my contributions this year were three drawings of musician Tony Levin playing the Chapman Stick . To further the pun, I used lipstick, which I found to be similar to oil pastels, but much creamier. I used nearly an entire stick for just three drawings. Lipstick Levin (1, 2, 3) 17" x 14", NYC Retro Red Lipstick on Bristol board, 2010 The Museum of the Stick at Small Pond will be up for a few more months for those not fortunate enough to be able to make it out to Stickfest on 12 September.

When I was invited to participate in the Sommerfest group show at the Blizzmax gallery by Peter and Alice Mennacher about a month ago, I was happy to take part in yet another art show in Prince Edward County a mere five months after moving here. They're a great couple and really appreciate art in a way I hadn't seen in Toronto's galleries. Their gallery and studio space is quite nice, as you can barely see in these extremely blurry photos I took at the opening last Sunday evening: My paintings are the two seen in the bottom right photo --and are also posted below: The Sacred and the Propane , 40" x 30", oil on canvas, 2008 That's my dad barbecuing some kebapi while a ghost cow (?) looks on (supervises?). Butcher , 24" x 40", oil on canvas, 2008, private collection The second painting was supposed to be accompanied by the one below, but it sold from my own gallery before it was time to deliver the pictures to Blizzmax. ...

From CountyLive : "Close to 20 artists...set up their easels to “Paint The County” Saturday, July 31st in an inaugural event initiated by Arts on Main and sponsored by Black Prince Winery and the Prince Edward County Arts Council. All artists will be easily recognized as they paint in various locations wearing Paint the County T-shirt. All the artwork...will be at Black Prince Winery for a silent auction which ends on Aug. 1st at 4 pm.  All proceeds from the artwork, as well as $2 from all wine sold during the two days will go to the PEC Alternatives for Women." A couple of weeks ago, the participating artists got together at the Black Prince to have our locations randomly selected. I got the Edward building and had a great time painting there from 10-4. My setup in front of The Edward. We didn't necessarily have to paint what we were assigned to; we could paint anything we wanted to and bring prepped pieces. I had started a new series of five birdies (the s...