ODell Lake Rd's photostream

Two series of artworks remain a focus of my creative efforts; the Catskill series & the Paleolithic series. Of course I do random non-related subjects as well [e.g. railway, maritime and nautical, southwest US, Native American, fantasy, et cet.] in oil, watercolor, pastel, ink, charcoal & graphite, but the emotional power of these first two subjects compell me to add to their collection each year.

Catskill Series of oil on canvas landscapes portray the rural elegance of the northern tier of the Catskill Mountains as seen from the 1900’s to the 1970’s. But more than that, each one speaks retrospectively of how this area resisted time despite its circular journey from a former Mohawk wilderness to a tourist haven during the gilded age; through its dairy farming zenith that endured the heartbreak of the great depression and accommodated the upheaval of the second world war; and finally how it is devolving back to its natural state as the family farms diminish. Not these events, but rather their residual effects whisper to the viewer of what once was, and is soon to disappear.

Four generations of the artist’s family lived here, struggling against eighty years of the vicissitudes of the Catskill’s relentless forces, while drinking in her unquestioned majesty. The civilizing influence of the inhabitants wanes as the feral biology advances and these artworks capture the era when the two sides appear in equilibrium.

Paleolithic Series; innovative images I create are founded in the unalloyed feelings discernable in the portable and wall art of the European Ice Age. Using traditional media: Acrylic, Oil, Watercolor, Pastel and Ink, I translate the original graphics faithfully while manipulating the colors and backgrounds to set the viewing environment to flavor the impact on the viewer. The 30 or so pieces in this series all have the same four goals, albeit by different routes:

1) That my creative powers dissolve away the intervening millennia for the audience;

2) That the spiritual power of the graphic and sculpted art from its origins are recreated in & with modern materials to amplify the original artists' intent, beauty of expression and power that it so clearly exerted over their contemporaries;

3) And to dispel that great historical lie that [early = primitive] art is crude and lacks the sophistication of modern artwork.

4) My own personal goal in this series is to have created and assembled my homage to these Paleolithic art teachers whose talent, ingenuity and commitment are so awe-inspiring.