Rare Bird Alert !!!!

Oil on canvas 9x12

In 2005 the word travelled fast.  There was a Boreal Owl in Central Park!  I went out to find it knowing that these birds stay back in the shadows of fir trees, and it might be difficult to locate it.  I had seen one in Alaska where they were supposed to be (as well as the rest of the Great Piney Woods that circles the globe up North) .  How this bird got this lost I have no idea, but it can't be good.  Anyway, there was no need to worry about finding him.  All I had to do was look for was a huge crowd of bird watchers, and there he was.  Not as exciting as finding one yourself in their home territory.

High Fashion

9x12 oil on  board

New York, even on the subway, is the proverbial fashion capital.  Notice the big bag with a colorful pattern, the layers, the key chain, and, of course, the not blue too tight jeans.

Rhino

9x12 oil on board

Most people in museums seem to spend more time reading the text than looking at the images.  It's said that the average person looks at a painting for about 8 seconds.  The same seems to be the case in the Museum of Natural History, New York.  I used to think this was appalling but I now believe that the visual system is just that much faster than the left brain textural imput.

Gorilla

8x10 oil on board

This woman at the Museum of Natural History, New York seemed to be gesturing back at the gorilla.  I guess she wasn't scared of him

la dolce vita

12x12 oil on panel

This guy probably sunbathes every day, but not on the beach.  He uses his chair on the sidewalk and "tar beach", the roof.   Hence the shoes and socks.   But he sure seems to be enjoying life.

Salome

8x10 oil on board

Two women, my wife and a  friend, looking at Henri Regnault's great "Salome" which was purchased and given to the Metropolitan Museum even 'though the French were raising money to keep it in their country.  It was a sensation at the 1870 Salon and even more desirable to keep in France because Regnault died in combat during the Franco-Prussian War (which France lost, by the way) soon after painting it.  He was still in his twenties.   He originally painted the top half from an Italian model and then added more canvas to the bottom half and the Salome theme.  She is holding a plate and a knife (to use on John the Baptist) and has a happy, sexy, somewhat out of it facial expression as if she hasn't thought much about what she is about to do.  It's kind of spooky.  Regnault tried these brilliant colors in a few other paintings, but they work best here.

funny animation on U-Tube

Youtube 6:01 min.

Getting Out

9x12 oil on panel

It's hard to  get out of the surf.  You have to come in on one wave and fight the backwash to beat the next wave which is going to crash on your back if you're not careful.  These two girls didn't make it but were unharmed.

Getting In

8x10 oil on board

Have you ever noticed the different strategies people use for getting in the cold ocean?  Some males just run in as fast and they can and dive through the first wave.  These young women chose the slow way, standing on tip-toe and keeping their arms out of the water as long as they can. 

 One of the things I find interesting about painting the ocean is the many different bands of greens and blues there are which you don't notice at first.

Pigmy Falcon, Kenya

8x10 oil on board

A saw this beautiful little sparrow-sized bird in Kenya while on a bird watching trip with my son, Jeffrey.  I like the way the light plays across him.

Con Ed: "On it"

8x10 oil on board

A ConEd worker repairing something just off Park Avenue.  The colorful things behind him hold free newspapers like the Village Voice.

traffic ballet

This woman, directing traffic at Eleventh Avenue and 42nd St. in Manhattan, was using her whole body to signal the drivers.  She was big, graceful and full of energy.  It looked like a ballet.  Behind her was this green wall of a construction site.

9x12 oil on board

traffic frustration

Here's the same woman frustrated with the drivers, gesturing in anger.  The green wall in the previous post is on the left of this picture.

9x12 oil on masonite