William Tell's Dart Board

A fun painting to do, the title says it all. Not the best photo, but you get the idea.

Spanierman Gallery, Summer Show

I am pleased to say that my work is now being represented by Spanierman Gallery of New York, NY. They have been dealing in the finest American Art for over a half century. To now be included is quite a thrill. This painting titled 'Monopoly' is being included in the show 'Summer Selections'. The show will include work from 1870 to the present, and will be showing art by Childe Hassam, Eastman Johnson and William Trost Richards to name a few.

Pearfect

It was brought to my attention that I don't spell very well (you know who you are Jenn), so I decided to  post this painting. In case anyone was wondering what someone had noticed, it was that I had  spelled contemporary wrong in the title of this blog. How embarrassing in the age of spell check!

A George In The Box

I really enjoy doing these small pieces. A simple composition and a clever title is all that's needed to do these. The photo is not cropped the best but you get the idea. It is framed in a float style frame, black and simple. I have a few more of these started and hope to finish the up soon.

Another Fool And His Money

I enjoy changing the shapes of some paintings. This piece hangs on the wall with no frame and is done on a 1/2" board, these two factors help maintain the illusion of a real dart board. With some trompe o'leil paintings a frame can actually hurt the artist attempt to fool the eye, but it's a fine line, most people like their art framed

Harnett?

I haven't posted anything in awhile, but I have been working on some new paintings. Hopefully they will be finished soon. One of the problems with trompe l'oiel is they take so long to do. In this piece the image torn from a magazine is of the Harnett painting 'The Faithful Colt'. I signed the painting as if  Harnett had painted a trompe l'oiel of his own painting, and dated it the year that the original was done, it makes for a nice twist to the piece. This is one of my favorite Harnett painting and I am fortunate that it is located in my state of Connecticut at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.

Hidden Assets

This is one of my larger pieces. It's of some importance items hidden away on the back of a painting. The stock certificate of The New York Central Railroad Company was once a prized asset in the 19th century, but now is a worthless piece of paper.The title of the company is hidden by the money to spell The New Company an ironic twist to what has happened over the years.
The choice of the back side of a fifty dollar bill was chosen because I wanted a play on the word "capital". Another ironic twist, the stock is now worthless and there's Washington at the center of it. Trompe o'leil is filled with hidden mesages and ironies, they can make some pieces more successful than others.Sometimes the concept can be just as important as the execution.
The signature on this piece is on the stock itself among all the other signatures. I rarely sign my work in the typical right hand corner.