Early Hours

12x9 oil on panel

Available at Castle Gallery

I did this sketch as an idea for a commissioned painting and decided to go ahead and send it to the gallery for their holiday opening. It looks rather festive! The setting is an Indiana restaurant "Joseph Decuis".

Oyster Bar

 12x9 oil on panel each

I think I had names in mind for these but have forgotten them. Hopefully I will come up with something clever. For now, they are two more views of the Oyster Bar. I've sent these images to Castle Gallery and all three paintings are spoken for. That is a wonderful feeling. I guess I got it right!

Oyster Bar

16x20 oil on panel
sold

Last fall, I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful couple in their favorite restaurant - The Oyster Bar - in Forth Wayne, IN. It was a dim, narrow and historical old building with a lot of charm and character and they wanted me to paint some scenes from it. They get first pick of the scenes I've worked on. 
I'm sending this and two others to Castle Gallery soon for their annual Valentine's Show. Opening night is February 9th.

Making Merry

12x18 oil on linen

This is a commissioned piece for a collector who gets first dibs at a new gallery I'm sending work to next week. A similar scene sparked their interest but was no longer available. This is the King Cole bar in the St. Regis hotel in NYC - and the huge mural behind it is by Maxfield Parrish. Its really quite an awesome setting. Very dim and cozy with the mural dominating the room. I wish I had found this link to the bar earlier! What a great image of the mural. My pictures are not so clear, having been taken at night while trying to be subtle in the busy bar. We should've had a drink and stayed awhile. Next time.

I am happy to share the news that Charleston House in Montgomery is going to be representing my work. This painting and a few others are going to be available in their gallery next week.

Club Room

16x16 oil on linen

This is a scene from the Salmagundi Club in NYC. The day I painted it was rainy and cool. It was just so in New York the day I was visiting there and I enjoyed recalling the comfortable warmth of the basement bar room and its one patron awaiting his drink.

Merry Souls

12x18 oil on linen

Ask Tidewater Gallery about this painting.

I'm pleased to announce that I have new representation with Tidewater Gallery in historic Swansboro, NC. I am shipping several paintings there this week and had to share this newest piece before its even dry!

This is a scene from the amazing St. Regis hotel bar, featuring Maxfield Parrish's wonderful mural of King Cole which dominates the room. In painting it, I mostly copied the other artist's work, which actually got a little boring for me. I like to include other art in my paintings, obviously, but when its almost exclusively the subject, its not quite as exciting for me. But its beautiful to look at and I like the silhouettes playing against the mural.

There are some funny spots on the image here because this is on loose linen and it wasn't laying flat for the photo. I will let it dry and then, using bookbinders glue, I will mount it to gatorboard.

Late Dining

11x14 oil on panel - sold

Today I have foot surgery so this is probably it for the week. I also have a cold starting, so have not made any use of the time I did have while waiting for this surgery - starving and dying of thirst - until late afternoon.
If I don't get back to this later in the week, I wish you a blessed Thanksgiving.

Tending the Bar

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $12 s/h - sold

A lot of my New York trip seems to center around food. Hmmm... so does my life really. Its one of my pleasures. I am not that great a cook, however. I'm good at down home, comfort foods, but have a gourmet taste too that can only be satisfied by chef-prepared meals. This is a little neighborhood bar we stopped in for dessert and an apertif. It was late and the restaurant was nearly empty. The bartender spent most of his time chatting with a customer at the end of the bar unknowingly giving me lots of inspiration.

BarKeep

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

I rather embarrassed myself taking this photo. I asked the bartender if he'd mind my photographing there, but I think he thought I was flirting with him. ;-)

The photos came out lousy... but I had enough to go on. Barely.

I was working on a larger version of this, but abandoned it. I think I've worked out some things on this smaller version so will continue the larger one I think. Tomorrow. Time is up for today.

Noon on Tuesday

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

Love this little bar scene from the Driskill Hotel. There is the bar itself and then all around are lounge areas with couches, tables, fireplace, art and sculptures. Its somewhat of a pass through too between the main lobby and the 7th street entrance.
The title is from Sheryl Crowe's song - "all I wanna do is have some fun..."

I have been working - just slowly and on larger things and have been too lazy to post.