The Peacock and the Peahen Have a Big Night

Earlier this year, I saw a peacock unexpectedly. Yes, it was in a game preserve, but I also happened across the game preserve unexpectedly — that’s life in Pittsburgh for ya. I did a bunch of sketches on the spot, followed up with more when I got home, then did a wonderful animal life drawing session focusing on “fancy fowl.”

All of which I did with no idea of why I got so interested, or what I’d do with these studies.

I ended up with this pair of paintings, both 11x14 inches, acrylic on canvas. Also the very first paintings I’ve completed in my new studio!

The peahen is stepping out for the evening, and the peacock is doing his walk of shame the next day. For the sake of their privacy, what happened in between is an ellipsis.

Carnegie Arts Walk 2023

Carnegie is often described as a ‘vibrant arts community,” and this, plus the library, plus the dog park, is why we chose it! When I went to drop off my work for this show, I was blown away by the tiny glimpse I got of some other work that was selected for the show. I can’t wait to see it next weekend!

Here are the five pieces that I’ll have in this show:

Spotted: Dazzling Margins Notecards at McNally Jackson

As if having my art displayed at NYPL wasn’t enough….greeting cards with my art on it are at my absolute favorite NYC indie bookstore, McNally Jackson on Prince Street! I went to check these out just after we installed the show, and although I was hot and sweaty and tired, the sight of these instantly revived me. Go see if they have the same effect on you?

Sea/Sun/Set to be Auctioned at Nest+M's Annual Gala

I donated one of my favorite canvases to be auctioned for the benefit of a very cool school here in New York City. The kid of a friend of mine attends. And actually, we know each other because our dogs hang out in the same clique at the dog park. So this just goes to show —what happens in the dog park doesn’t always stay in the dog park. :)

I know it’s a nightmare for parents to navigate the city’s school system, which has grown exponentially more complicated since I was a student, but wow — I wish these things were available when I was in the system. (I also wish these cool options were available to more students across the socioeconomic spectrum, but that’s a different story.)

In any event, I hope this canvas goes for tons of money and the school does good things with it!

And I will definitely consider art donation requests for good causes, so if you’re doing a fundraiser, feel free to hit me up.

The Dazzling Margins - Exhibit Postcard!

Preparations continue apace for my solo show upcoming at the NYPL Mulberry this summer! Here’s a sneak peek at the exhibit postcard:

Save the Date for my Solo Show! "The Dazzling Margins" at the NYPL.

I’m so excited to say I’m having a solo art show at the New York Public Library’s Mulberry Street branch this summer! The show will open on June 4th, 2022 and go through August 28th

It’s called “The Dazzling Margins: Vibrant Glimpses of NYC Liife” and is based on my observations of this neighborhood during the pandemic. Especially in the early going, pretty much my only excursion was to the Mulberry Library to pick up and drop off books — and try to get the damned forehead thermometer to register that I was standing in front of it. (Move closer, move further back…usually the security guard would take pity on me and beam-test my wrist.) The “neighborhood” is the sort of ill-defined area — technically Greenwich Village, but just north of Soho, some people call it Noho… in any event, my stomping grounds.

More info to come!

Fashion and the Fall

It’s the time of year when my neighborhood is filled with shiny new NYU students, all decked out in their Fall fashions…even when it’s dripping hot outside!

I’m having fun making some pictures of fashion and places, focusing on body diversity. It’s been interesting for me to notice the vintage feel of these images…I do love vintage, and it really does show.

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Replication and Reflections

A new painting I’ve just completed — 12 x 12 inches.

On my mind was this city I theoretically have been living in, continuously, but that I have barely seen during the pandemic.

I’m pretty certain I’ve never logged so many consecutive days and nights in these boroughs, in what rounds to a lifetime of New Yorkerness. And I know for sure that the only times I have felt more detached from this place are the intermittent times in my life that I haven’t lived here at all.

But I do live here, have lived here, skulking around the neighborhood in my mask, making surgical strikes for necessities. Now, despite the rising R nought, I’m venturing out more because I’m vaxxed and masked and honestly I can’t stand my world being the size of my apartment anymore. As lucky as I am in all respects, which I am.

So all this on my mind this piece emerges. The figure is a stencil I made, based on a drawing I made, based on a selfie I took in the mirror. I think it’s so weird that we never see ourselves accurately in our lifetimes, or the way that others do. That we only have these reflections that are flipped and distorted in weird ways, depending on glass and angles and lenses.

The Omen - Tiger Series

We string paper lanterns to glow in the night, romantically, recklessly.

As if above there wasn't a wild sky with its gray clouds racing below the plum, at the very least.

The steady observer, almost concealed by darkness, looking in and looking over.

I am watching you. I have come to focus on you ferociously.

(A series of four monotypes, with additional acrylic paint and colored pencil, each 8 inches by 10 inches, on paper.)

New Work, Summer 2021

It becomes more and more of an effort to post on Instagram, to even open the app. I’ve set time limit on my phone to interrupt any glazed-eye scrolling, just 15 minutes per day. At first I was constantly hitting it, but there are now some days when I don’t even reach that.

At the same time, I want people to see what I’ve done — especially you, if you’re reading these words.

Some new work, then, which I’m posting here first instead of on Instagram, at least initially. (There is more on the home page.)

Of course, edited into the square format because you and I both know it’s going to end up there eventually. If not immediately.