Tulum, Mexico

Tulum Ruins Before the Storm


My third trip to Tulum, Mexico.
I could spend a month just painting at the Mayan ruins.
The light is so beautiful, the sea so blue,
all I wanted to do was just sit and observe, taking it all in.
I had to read again, Hawthorne on Painting, in order to attempt a study of this place.

La Vita e Bella- Boca Paila, Tulum, Mexico

From Diamante K

From Diamante K II

Diamante K Sea

Potassium Iodide

Potassium Iodide
Following the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster in April, 1986, a saturated solution of potassium iodide was administered to 10.5 million children and 7 million adults in Poland as a prophylactic measure against accumulation of radioactive iodine-131 in the thyroid gland. People in the areas immediately surrounding Chernobyl itself, however, were not given the supplement.

It was reported on March 16, 2011, that potassium iodide tablets were given  to U.S. Naval air crew members flying within 70 nautical miles of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant damaged in the massive Japanese earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11, 2011.

This bottle has been in his refrigerator in New York since days following 9/11.  

Leaves of Hypnos

These dark days of gloom, that breeds despair.
I bought nine antique, handmade, scissors from a man in India.
Forged violence.
To paint.
A quiet manufacturer of things cut in half.



"Hypnos seized the winter and dressed it
In granite. The winter turned into sleep
And Hypnos became fire. What followed
Belongs to men."

Rene Char

Another Stolen Day

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Persimmons in a Black Bowl, 3 x 5 , oil on primed watercolor paper

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Pomegranate, 3 x 5, oil on primed watercolor paper

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Rose hips,  2 1/2 x 6, oil on primed watercolor paper

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Persimmons In Bowl. 2x3, oil on primed paper

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Portraits

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I hand picked these tri-colored carrots yesterday for a soup recipe I was developing. Their delicate root tendrils took more care in peeling than the average carrot, leaving more time to ponder their individual particularities. I began to think of them more as having personalities, deciding then to paint them as little portraits.

Wye Oak and Being Humbled

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The Wye Oak was the honorary state tree of Maryland, and the largest white oak tree in the United States. The Wye Oak was believed to be over 460 years old at the time of its destruction during a severe thunderstorm on June 6, 2002.
It is believed that the acorn that became the oak germinated around the year 1540.
My friend and fellow painter,Charles Sheely, gave me a branch, clipped from a 10 year old sapling of this great old tree. This is the first year his tree has produced acorns.
I quickly jumped into painting the branch, sitting for hours trying to mix the right green, trying to create depth in the leaves. My first attempt failed miserably. Nature once again has kicked me in the ass, and made me question the mystery of observational painting.

Granate

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(sold)

It was in the Fall, two years ago, that I bought pomegranate branches. I carried, what was left of that flower district purchase, back with me to New York a few evenings ago.
Fall is here again.
The pomegranates have long ago dried.
My life is still here in this little studio.

oil on primed watercolor paper, 5" x 7"
oil on primed watercolor paper, 5" x 7"
oil on panel, 8" x 8"