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In October of 2006 I pulled an all-night-marathon in order to meet a drop off deadline for The Poydras Home Art Show and Sale. The three 20” x 20”’s were a little different from the previous large dot paintings. Adding dots to them took a while. After the show I received some enthusiastic feedback from people that had seen the show.




acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

So, in making this piece I decided to combine colors and patterns from the three paintings. Since I was working smaller, I found the process a little more difficult. Also, I applied the dots on the same day lightning hit the Westwego Art Center. This piece turned out well too. It did not take long for this one to sell.

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In the summer of 2006, Tulane Summer Lyric Theater included the musical “Pippin.” The first song included people dressed in black wearing white gloves under a black light. They moved the gloves around as they sang. Thus was the inspiration for this piece.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Dark backgrounds are hard to paint on - as I reminded myself in creating this painting. Hand shapes are difficult as well. Anyway, it took some patience on my part to make them the way I wanted them. I was over at the Westwego Art Center painting this one when lightning hit the building. The radio went off and lights were at half illumination. That’s the tale of the purple gloves.

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What better theme for me to begin with than “Carnival.” New Orleans is one of several cities, from around the globe, which has this particular celebration. From October 14, 2006 - January 6, 2007, the New Orleans Museum of Art featured an exhibit called, what else but, “¡Carnival!” The exhibit included carnival costumes, photos and explanations from various cultures both past and present.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

For my painting, I picked some colors from costumes in the show and decided to create a circle of cone hats with white masks. The masks proved a bit tricky on the edges of the composition. I chose not make the color alternation consistent. Then, I finished the piece with dots a bit darker than the background colors. This first piece got me excited about what I was doing.

Change

This is a recent piece I painted for a small group show at the Louisiana State Archives. The show's title was "Products of Higher Education." Tomorrow I have to go to Baton Rouge to pick up the art.

For this show I aimed at a masculine look for my pieces. In doing so I worked with some colors I don't use as often - which creating these works a challenge.


watercolor on paper, 11.75" x 14.625"

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Riccobono's Peppermill Restaurant is a local restaurant
that I frequented before Hurricane Katrina. Upon my
return to the New Orleans area, I drove around with my list places. I marked off what was open. When I rode by the Peppermill, I noticed kitchen equipment outside in front. After some time the restaurant re-opened. The inside had been redone. Besides some dark greens and reds and browns, there were some murals on the walls across from the front entrance. They depicted columns and archways with Italian cypress along a hillside.




acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

The murals and décor inspired this painting. The background is made up of colors from the curtains, chairs and walls. I then painted Italian cypress with a light blue background I saw in the mural. Originally I had an archway framing everything. However, it became problematic. So, I eliminated it. This is the last piece in this batch.

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Back in April I wrote about a friend who visited me and brought me a metal lizard with brightly colored dots on it. Well, the day she came, she wore a blouse that was a pastel derivation of red-orange – I guess that’s how I’d best describe the color. In the course of correspondence she had talked about a blanket she made her grandson. It had bubbles and rubber ducks on it.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

Thus you have the visual ingredients for this painting: the background color, bubbles and ducks. I figured combining these elements would be a fun way to remember her visit. Working on the composition took some thought. This was a fun piece to paint.

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As I stated in my last post I explored Blogger’s Top Ten List when I first started using Blogger. I quickly found a blog called Google Video of the Day (later GoogleTube Video of the Day). Each day at least one new video was posted. Readers were also encouraged to submit videos they found and site creator Michael Martine would credit videos suggested. Then in March of 2006 I was asked to participate as a team blogger on the site. This lasted until May when Michael decided to return to a solo act.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

This painting concerns the feel of the site during that period. I used the colors and a few of the Internet smiley graphics that appeared at the time. The site has been re-designed since that time. Unlike my other dot paintings this one is a lot more specific in appearance. But then again, someone out there might make an individual interpretation I don’t expect. It’s happened before.