About a Painting..."Grooming" from the Transition Series

There is a song in Richard Rodgers' musical "South Pacific"...

You've got to be taught to hate and fear

You've got to be taught from year to year

It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made

And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade

You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught before it's too late

Before you are six or seven or eight

To hate all the people your relatives hate

You've got to be carefully taught.

Grooming

Casein on Birch Panel 
12 x 12"
Photo by Jay York

About..."Shirtwaist (Second Wave)" from the Transition Series

This piece came to me as I was thinking about my mother's contemporaries, women who began to take a more active role in the trajectory of their lives, sparking the Second Wave of Feminism in the United States. 

Moreover, there is something very disturbing about a society which to this day does not consider better than half of its citizen's entitled to their full share of the American Dream. 

The Equal Rights Amendment still languishes in Limbo.

Shirtwaist 
48 x 24" Acrylic Medium and Casein on Luan

About..."Deterrence" from the Transition Series

"An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."
                                                                                                                   Mohandas Ghandi

Deterrence
9 x 22"
Casein of Wood Panel

About... "Unsettled" from The Transition Series

Every now and then, I receive a comment on my work which so clearly describes my intention in creating the piece that I am left equally gratified and astonished. I posted this painting online and a Facebook friend, Anthony Taylor noted the following...

The suburban daydream being undermined by climate change and the population boom? Solipsism being undermined by unintended consequences? I see parody and social satire in your work that reminds me of Grant Wood!

I had to look up solipsism which Webster's describes thus: a theory in philosophy that your own existence is the only thing that is real or that can be known.

Well, that entirely works for me. Thanks Anthony.

Unsettled
Acrylic on Wood Panel
24 x 16"

About a Painting ...Five Element Charm

I am vaguely to moderately superstitious. However I do believe that lucky is generally what lucky does. There's a popular saying... "The harder I work, the luckier I get."

I decided to split the difference and create a charm for myself, inspired by the elements used in Feng Shui, while referencing the work of a dear and departed friend.

Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire ...each element brings forth the next.

Five Element Charm
8 x 10"
Acrylic on Canvas Panel 

About... "The Year of the Rooster" from the Transition Series

The winds of change are blowing with might and main. I seem to function best when I channel my angst into work, and there is a meditative quality in painting with casein.

My observer is oddly composed in the face of the oncoming cyclone. I am not nearly as dispassionate, but I've always admired those with cooler heads.

The Year of the Rooster
12 x 12"
Casein on Birch Panel

About a Painting...Cautionary Tale (Bitterness)

I am, at any given time, free to choose the focus of my thinking, and with this freedom comes the responsibility for my attitude, in an any given situation. 

Here the cake symbolizes the sweetness of life, corrupted by the invasion of  bitter wormwood; I am reminded to pay attention to the quality of my thoughts. 

This painting was done in casein, a tempera pigment mixed with casein as a binder. The support is a cradled birch panel.

Cautionary Tale (Bitterness)

Casein on Birch Panel  8 x 8"