The Architect, oil on board, 3x4'

Packing for the move-guess I'll be moving some wet paintings.

To keep up with Las Manos Gallery, check out the blog: http://lasmanosgallery.blogspot.com/

It doesn't mean anything, it just is.

Dog Balloon, oil on canvas, 6' x 7'

I feel stitched up from remnants

l

Las Manos Blog

http://artandthinking.blogspot.com/

The work in the studio is going very well right now- I must be in mild manic stage

Watercolor on paper, 2008, 9x13"

Big Pants, in the studio, 2009, oil on canvas, 3' x 4'

Perhaps it is the fact that I am a fool that propels my art in the face of current fashion.

The foolishness of war drives me to paint foolish paintings.

The viewing of a painting is like nothing else.  It  is a singular event, as it all happens at once and has no basis in linear experience, nothing happens in a timeline.  Art is an object that we view as an experience in itself, and it's meaning is a discovering of what is presented.  My paintings offer clues but the response is decided by what history the viewer brings to the piece, as the meaning may have as many interpretations as there are viewers.  My work only raises questions.

Oil on Canvas, 2009, 4' x 6'

Art making for me is a very solitary endeavor- It is a lot of time spent with personal demons.  These are exorcised in the making of the piece-and reflect my personal state of mind over the length of time it takes to create the piece.  I have battled bi-polar disorder for most of my life, and this work is the result.

Without painting my life would be ridiculous.

This a tryptic in 3 panels- it is 3' x 12', oil on canvas. 2009, still wet

When I'm asked what it takes to become an artist, my first response is tenacity.  The ability to continue making art no matter the rejection, of which there is plenty.  Just keep working and working a lot.  To paraphrase Vonnegut, if you do anything long enough, you get better at it.

Do your homework, woodshed, and get it out there.  I paint 6 to twelve hours everyday, even though I have a full-time day job. Work work and work!