Study and Painting

So this is how I work. Sometimes. One is the study from life. The other is the painting from my drawing. Sometimes I don't like using a study, because that gets in the way of how I picture it in my mind. This day I drove out quite a ways only to get a flat tire. Drove back on the spare to have my childhood friend fix the tire and make fun of me only in a way your lifelong friends can. So I missed the morning light and got stuck in the mid day heat on a flat dry boring day, hence it took me a long time to find something I wanted to paint. Very very frustrating at the time, but now just seems part of the process. It is all those struggles that show up in the long run. I truly believe all that ends up somehow in your work, because when I started painting I was definitely emotional and laser focused. Taking the easy most efficient path to me usually is boring and not very rewarding.

Tory Folliard Gallery

I don't do a very good job of presenting myself, except in paint I guess. Which is probably debatable. Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee represents me and this painting is currently there. I really like the painting and wanted to tell people it was available. However, it has sold already. They are top notch! You can still see it it is part of their summer show, which Katie and I are honored to participate in.

Trains

Trains from the salt plant in Miwaukee...

PBS

A few paintings from a recent trip home. A bar in Bayview, an engine in Waukesha and KK in Bayview. I am good enough to paint whatever I want, the hard part is making it my own and me. I think I am going to do a series on just bars. I like the dirty artist element and the historical nature of some of these places. I like to go to a bar and get myself out of the painting world, talk to different people and learn something. I think one reason Katie and I are successful is that we don't have an ego that prohibits us from going into small town places and talking with people. Or big city places. People are people, even in my hometown. In a rare announcement from me: PBS has filmed Katie and I in our studios and it is set to air late this month. I just wanted to let you know that I was informed today that the segment Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10 (Milwaukee PBS) put together about the two of us, will air for the first time on Friday May 19 at 7:30 pm on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10. It will be featured in a wonderful magazine program that is called “10thirtysix”. It will air again on Channel 10 on Sunday May 21 at 10:30 am, and on Monday May 22 11:30 pm. It will be made available at MilwaukeePBS.org a few days after the airing.

Life goes on

It is February,even my 92 year old grandma is getting restless. I am still painting away. Hopefully my role as an artist in this crazy world is to bring somebody joy.

Happy Holidays

Despite family tragedies, and a swirling politicized world this year was still pretty damn good for us. I want to thank everyone that has helped me achieve the success I have recieved. I would also like to thank those that have helped my wife get through a difficult year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all.

Especially Bleak Painting

This painting is titled The Cubs Win The World Series and Trump Gets Elected. I debate whether to express my opinions on politics, I am sure that most people don't want to hear them. But then again there are certain points in history when if you are not outspoken then you are part of the problem. This is one of those points. I wish it wasn't and it shouldn't be really. Compared to where our country was 8 years ago this is like heaven. I don't know how to communicate with a group of people that don't appreciate quality and wouldn't buy one of my paintings if it cost $20. Too many people in this country eat bad food, listen to bad music, dress bad, talk poorly, can't listen and support things that in the long run hurt us all. I am a smart talented person and I have to listen to these dopes virtually every day of my life. And I try to listen, and I will continue to try. But damnit is isn't right when one half of our country feels scared and oppressed by the actions of the other half. It is wrong to have one side of our country feel scared and oppressed. It is more wrong for one side of our country make the other side feel that way. To me that is un-American and represents the worst parts of our country that had slaves and destroyed Native American cultures. Life goes on and all I can do is hope and pray our "leaders" have common sense and try to think for all of us.