Suspending IQ

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I came across this great sign photograph I took several years ago. I don't know why I never painted it before now. I cropped it down for the painting and gave it the title I did because it is supported my many guy wires and the IQ is in the word liquors. I don't know about anyone else, but a bit too much certainly "suspends" my IQ!

Moment of Reflection XVI

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Can't resist reflections.

Sunflower Hat Trick

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Monet, Van Gogh and me. It was great experience to try to interpret their oil paintings (as reproduced in books) in watercolor. The photo here loses the subtleties of the whites in the book pages and also washes out the lower petals of the sunflower, but it was the best I could do. I may try with a different scanner to see if I can get better results.

Bee Cause II

Another industrious honey bee.

Tug & the Little Red Lighthouse

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I was commissioned to create a holiday greeting card for TugboatBay.com. This is the piece created for them this year.  I painted a wreath separately which I PhotoShopped onto the lighthouse and also onto the front of the tug for the card. If you are a "tugophile" you can find several holiday cards I have created for this company at: http://www.compasslocker.com/shopping/index.php/page/products_display/cat_id/28

They come in packs of 20 cards.

Granny Smith & Apple Bonkers

Well, I had my beautiful, bright green Granny Smith....  

If you're a Yellow Submarine fan like me,  you know what this is all about. The Apple Bonker minions of the Blue Meanies bonk all the luscious color out of the populace of Pepperland.

Glimmering Gecko

I love this beaded being. He usually hangs out all summer on the crossbar support of our porch awning swinging from the loop on the end of his curly tail. He's there to warn people to duck under the bar. You'd be amazed at how many people bump their heads on it! Hmmmm, kind of reminds me of a joke..."A priest and a pastor walk into a bar......"

I just saw after posting this that all of my Followers have disappeared! Don't worry everyone, I have not deleted you. Believe me, I appreciate your support and your commentary is important to me. I Googled the problem and have found that this is happening to a lot of people. I hope the issue can be resolved soon.

City Island Monopoly VIII

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A favorite theme returned to. This time I included the transparent red dice which were fun to paint. I can't believe I made that board back in 1982. Wrapping my head around the fact that that is almost 30 years ago is a killer!

The Herculean Laborer

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This little boy is the grandson of a neighbor of mine. He was tirelessly working at scooping the water away with a sieve-like beach toy. I don't think this was one of Hercules' 7 "impossible" tasks, but it could have been.

The Watermelon Eaters

Yep, pulling out those reference shots from last summer and longing for this one! Kids at our annual Fourth of July block party chow down at the watermelon eating contest. They are so into it and enthusiastic that I was inspired to create a setting that reflected that enthusiasm. Splashes of Opera on the tabletop and the same color reserved with masking fluid splatters in the background helps to convey the action.

Quirk

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I don't quite know what it is about clothespins, but I had some out to work on the previous painting setup and I kind of liked them. So I threw a handful into this ceramic planter, and here we are. Quirky.

Remains of the Feast

Yes, it's odd. One day this summer, I came out into my backyard and found these most incredibly beautiful wings on the glass-topped table there. Some bird must have had himself a feast and left the wings behind. I'm not sure what kind of insect they come from, but I felt compelled to paint them, even if a bit macabre.

Moment of Reflection XV

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This painting is worked from the same reference as one I posted much earlier. I found the reflections on both sides of this boat interesting and worthy of developing into separate paintings. Again, a very abstract presentation.

Mr. Green in the Study with the Pipe

Here's another of the "Clue" paintings. Oh how I loved to zip back and forth through the secret passages!

Frozen Rhodie

With the snow and ice storms we've had this winter, there have been amazingly beautiful scenes and formations everywhere. This ice encased rhododendron branch is right outside my front door. While so many are running about grumbling over all the snow and inconvenience, I'm running around with my camera and filling my eyes with what looks like an enchanted land coated in clear sugar candy.

Sir Gawain & Kahn

This is a little corner on my front porch where I love to sit and paint or read in fair weather. There's a wonderful, worn cement bench support that we found underwater, covered in barnacles off of Hart Island, and a metal casting that I found in a shop in Hudson, NY. 

One day I was relaxing on the porch rereading several of my favorite art books, and I placed one about my former teacher, Wolf Kahn, to the side against the bench end. Voila! An unconventional and unplanned still life set-up. the colors of Kahn's painting on the bookcover seemed to work so well with the varicolored bricks, and the repeated rectangular elements looked great too.

Colonel Mustard in the Ballroom with the Revolver

Mademoiselle Scarlett: "Colonel Mustard, je vous accuse!!" 

This breaks the rules with the only spot of red almost dead center, but still, the eye travels around the piece. I think it is because the revolver is rendered so realistically, that your eye gets pulled to it and then from there to the strong graphic of the card.

I like to break rules.

Professor Plum in the Billiard Room with the Wrench

Love all the little weapons, except the pipe because it is too simplistic. But all the rest were pretty cool in their detail for game pieces.

Moment of Reflection XIII

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So many catboats wind up in my "Reflection" painting series. There is just something about their lines that I like. That being said, it's not like I allow you see much of the boats themselves in most of the series anyway.

This one is so abstract and for me, has a joyful, playful quality to it.

Miss Scarlett in the Hall with the Candlestick

Crazy busy day here yesterday and I never got around to posting. The NY weather terrorists underestimated the snowfall when forecasting (Now how's that for unusual! I call the weather people on TV weather terrorists because they usually like to get people all worked up over the weather and over-forecast. "Oh my God, people! There's going to be 3" of rain tomorrow, start building your arks now and make sure you run to the nearest grocery store and buy up  all the milk, eggs and bread you can get your hands on!" Then, as if 3" of rain were something to freak out over anyway, we only get 1/2".) and we really got dumped on, on top of deep snow that never melted from the last storm. Going into the second day of no landline phone service.

Anyway... here's my next painting. I, probably like most girls, always wanted to play the Miss Scarlett game piece. Mrs. Peacock looked like too much of a fuddy-duddy and Mrs. White was a little scary. I always imagined that she looked like she wanted to clock you with her rolling pin.