Photos from my week at the dune shack.

Spring break.

No electricity, no running water. 
Just mute isolation in the dunes.

Finito.

more

Fugit hora.

Time is fleeting.

I've done a little more work on the painting, but time is short for me these days with all of the paper pushing and such at school. I need to finish.

A new development is that I'm considering reproduction of the Prayer in Latin, as opposed to English. I am concerned that it may read a little holy roller (not my point) so obscuring the language may steer me clear of that trap.

St. Francis Progress

After several days of inactivity (a combination of post-semester and holiday doldrums) I got back in the studio, thanks to the foot or so of snow dumped on us last night. Here's the progress thus far. Lightening up a bit, working things all over. I'm trying to be careful to avoid a coloring book approach, keeping things pretty dark until I can decide what to do with color in its final state.

Head above water.

Good question.

Apology.

The Martyrdom of Saint Stephen

St. Francis Progress

Beginning the Prayer of St. Francis

I'm very excited about this new painting. It's about 4 x 3 feet, based on a sketch done several months ago. Here, I've laid down an underpainting on black gesso as a means to block out the figure/ground relationships. 


Like the St. Theresa sketch shown in a post from a couple of days ago, I'm pursuing some ideas about self-reflection (literally) in dialogue by mystics like Francis and St. Theresa, whose relationships with God were, to my mind, really very full relationships with the self.

The RI6

Finally getting around to posting some sketches and the finished logo for the Rhode Island Six Hour Ultramarathon and Relay, which was held in mid-November.


I did a ton of sketches, and I'm including a small sampling below. The final design (featured last in this post) was an amalgam of a couple of designs preferred by the client. I usually think throwing in too many independent ideas is a little risky, but in the end I think it worked out ok. My favorites were the digital clock ideas—pretty simple and not your typical race logo stuff.

The Ecstasy of St. Theresa

I've become interested in the notion of dialogue of the self especially in instances of meditation and (literally) reflection. I see this in the Prayer of St. Francis and, now, in the words of St. Teresa of Avila.

Ecstasy

"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying."

iceberg mantra

Another from the series I began in fall 2009. I keep working on them.
It's been an interesting evolution, from figure with iceberg to figure as iceberg.

iceberg mantra

iceberg mantra

iceberg mantra

reiteration

I turned to my sketchbook in earnest when painting became too precious.

iceberg, floating

From the sketchbook.

Iceberg drawings, old and new.

Sketch to Finish

An article about municipality consolidation in Rhode Island. The city of Central Falls is less attractive than others when considering consolidation of municipal resources.

Optimism.

Sounding Board.

A poster for my class.

Come on people. Sign up.

Pithy, but true.

Syllabus.

The product of lobbies and meetings.