Zen in red and gold

This is one I've been working on and finished this morning. I added a dusting of powdered metallic pigment for the glow it needed. Its 1 ft by 2 ft on birch wood.



This is still drying and the blog will be updated for sale availability. Contact me.

Rainforest 1 ft x 2 ft on birch wood panel

I've been working on this one for a few weeks to add the definition it needed. This was a painting that needed some definition. Some high lights and low lights and some place to rest your eyes between all that green.

Its a bit easier to see how it came together in the close ups.





Painting is still drying and will be available. Contact me if you are interested.

Candy Explosion!

This is a follow up image - an attempt to better show the layers of clear color and iridescent and translucent colors in this painting.

It's better but still much prettier in person. Very girly, I'd call it. It's 1 foot by 1 foot on a birch wood panel. With Gobs of textured acrylic medium to get the layers... and lots of candy colors.

Its really a happy happy thing! In fact its so happy I painted the sides and back pink as well.

Zen gold on red

This is a wip because I'm missing the gold I need to make the gold really gold. I think this need a real metallic (another one that needs a metallic .... I see a pattern here).

Other than that I think I'm going to leave it be...

This is about a foot by two feet on a birch wood panel. The background had layers of reds, browns, oranges and yellows to achieve the layered deep reds.

putty on red and blue

This was done on a panel that I prepainted with rusts and a bit of blue. In some places you can still see the colors come through - It looked like an old weathered plank before I started painting.

It has a very red white and blue feel but folksier... More rustic.

The full painting is on a one foot by two foot birch wood panel.

Zen squares WIP

This painting was done on a 1 foot by 1 foot, half inch thick piece of birch wood. Besides the acrylic paint I used a mica medium and it added a nice texture - as well subtle changes in the paint color. It drabbed down the brights while not making them muddy.

The black shot of squiggle down the middle is black enamel interior house paint.

Rainforest 1 ft by 2 ft on birch panel

I went out and bought some wood today. I've been wanting to paint on raw canvas and ordered some but it's not here yet and I was itchy to paint something. I made a swing by Home Depot and Voila... I can paint again.

I wanted to take a break from what I've been doing and try something else. This painting was done entirely with a pallet knife. I've never done that before and I'm happy with the result.
The colors are a bit gold-green in the first picture. They are more like the original in the close ups.

This painting is an acrylic painting done on a birch wood panel. It is still a work in progress - In fact I just stepped away from it. It's sopping wet.

I love the colors and the glow....

Fireworks in red white and blue

This is done on a 16 x 20 gallery wrapped canvas. I used both acrylic artist paint and latex house paint for its pouring and dripping ability. You can see the detail in the close ups.





Contact me for buying information $225 shipped to USA

Under the seas abstract paintings

I did a little mock up of 'under the seas' hanging since i dont have anyplace to hang it myself. I really like the way these came out but I have a small place and have no place to hang it.

This is one work on two canvasses. Each gallery wrap canvas is a 16 x 20 canvas . Contact me for information about purchasing this work.


right side canvas



left side canvas



The painting has great texture and it comes through in the close ups

Nightscape of my childhood 6 x 6 acylic

For sale on etsy.com www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21172405

This is a 6 inch x 6 inch acrylic painting on masonite board. I haven't listed on etsy.com in about a year maybe? But the cost of listing on ebay is getting... well... insane is what it is... so I thought I would give etsy a shot again.

I did the painting last year and it has a childlike quality I've always loved...I sold many other paintings since than but have kept this one... It's time to let go. I need room and it needs a home.

I've always imagined this matted and framed in a childs room. The colors are so bright and primary... The moon is full and friendly and there are stars in a clear sky. It's a happy night painting and something some kids might respons to being that so many are afraid of the night.

The painting is not framed and has a nice glossy acrylic sealer to keep it beautiful and bright!

5 x 7 on masonite

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=150328029966

Black white and gray on black white and gray

This is a close-up image of a 2 feet by 2 feet work -- acrylic tube paint and acrylic wall paint on birch wood. signed on the back $450
This painting is available at the Arts Unbound Studio, Orange, NJ

seascape 5 x 7 on masonite

his is a 5 inch x 7 inch acrylic painting on masonite board.



The painting is not framed.

I gave it a nice glossy acrylic sealer to keep it beautiful and bright!

Date of creation - January 2009
Method - Main painting was done with a pallet knife with finishing darker touches done by dragging a brush over certain areas.

Please keep in mind its hard to recreate colors exactly -- the actual picture may appear somewhat different than it does here.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22115385

Your still voice -- Acrylic painting

This is something I've been working on... (You should be able to click for a larger size)There is an earlier version a little way back on the photostream. The work in progress version is very much like this one expect ... how do I explain without just saying 'darker'? I liked the first version and I've been sitting with it a few weeks but it was missing something -- like a song that was missing it's high notes. Or a stereo system set incorrectly, booming bass. At first you kind of like it...than it occurs to you somethings missing...and my the time you realize what's wrong you have a splitting headache from the perscussion of it all...




Well, the work in progress version of the painting (paintings, I guess - it's two 16 x 20 inch paintings done as one work) was a lot like that for me. So I added the... high notes. The bright spots. The part that gives your eyes a rest from the darkness...

The original idea was to do one idea on two canvases (each 16 x 20) based on a quote I recently heard by Sogyal Rinpoche. He said:

Two people have been living in you all your life. One is the ego, garrulous, demanding, hysterical, calculating; the other is the hidden spiritual being, whose still voice of wisdom you have only rarely heard or attended to.

It got me thinking in a non-linear way.... about how sad and true his words were... about how inside of all of us there is this light that rarely shines... about how many of us don't even know it's there anymore... about the people I find frustrating and how if I'd look deeper I might see that the problem is with me....about how we all have this bipolar nature.

This one isn't done and the picture isn't very good. Still, There is still more variation in the color - depth - and it's a bit off.

For today I will try to attend to my still voice.


I've decided to sell some of my artwork. This is one piece done one 2 canvases. Each canvas is 16 x 20 so the entire piece hung together would measure approx. 32 inches by 20 inches long. It is done in acrylic with a matte seal finish and it is signed on the front of one side and the bottom of both sides. The piece was done with brush and knife. Some areas have raised textured paint -- some have the paint scraped off to expose what it underneath. The colors of this image are close although computer screens always distort to some extent. The sides are painted black and it has a gallery edge, It can be framed or hung on the wall with just a nail. I may list this on ebay in a week or so -- if it doesn't sell here or on eBay I will forward it to the gallery for sale there.

$520 US Dollars contact me at me dot parler at gmail dot com
Tracy

An avocado in Mrs. Brady's Kitchen

This is a work in progress. Found myself doing another retro style painting. An avocado in avocado and orange - How poetic!

It's on 5 x 7 masonite.

I'm digging it

available at the arts unbound gallery in new jersey

THREE ORIGINAL PAINTING ACEOS ON CANVAS

There Aceos are available for sale on eBay. They are all done with acrylic paint on aceo sized gallery wrapped canvases.





Zen Landscape Aceo








Retro Pear Aceo








Still life lemons

For anyone who doesn't know how small ACEO cards are here is one scanned next to a splenda packet!

Abstracty pear work in progress...

So. More pears. I like them. They are pretty, have a cool organic shape going on...lots of great colors and seem

to lend themselves to tons of styles of art.

So this is the first shot of the pear as a work in progress on 5 x 7 inch masonite.

Here is shot 2 of pear work in progress... Getting there!

available at the arts unbound gallery in NJ

MAKE LEMONADE PAINTING -ACEO

AVAILABLE

And now for something completely different.... In the past I've only listed ACEO cards based on my art and photography. I used mat board, collaged with art papers...print my photographs on regular, photo, and some pretty darn unusual things ...than put it all together and make a complex card attached to an emotion, feeling or experience.

The simple things in life are beautiful as well... Things with visual simplicity. One thing...Two maybe...just a few colors... No art papers... Something you can put a story to, instead of me.... I paint. I rarely list anything on ebay that isn't an ACEO card done in the manner I described above because...well, frankly they don't seem to sell very often. (Just keeping it real!) There are wonderful artists on ebay and perhaps my selling just the cards...or just paintings...without an attached emotion isn't the same. Maybe people would rather I stick to what I was doing but I had to try... I have this thing in my head... My artist-self - how I see myself as an artist - is wrapped up in my abilty to paint...or not.... and well, if I can, I am, if I can't I'm not...and...oh man, I didnt mean to make this listing a therapy session!

Enough of that! This card is done on a teeny sized gallery wrappy canvas. How do they make them??? Its 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches and I even took a picture of it with a spenda package so you can see what your getting if your not familar with how small aceo's are. The other picture shows it from the side and you can see there are sides :) I have since painted the sides a bright blue like I paint my larger canvas paintings. I have signed it on the front with 3 bars... and on the bottom with my last name. Its sealed with a matte acrylic sealer. As much as I try to get colors correct, its hard in photography... and all monitors are different as well. It may be different when you get it but no matter how it looks on your monitor...I promise the lemons are shades of yellow and the background is shades of blue.

If it doesnt sell... well, thank you for looking!! I have other aceo's listed... My usual kinds as well as a few more like this!

The Peter Principle, Problems and Green Eyes ACEO's

Eyes are the seat of the soul

BUY

They say your eyes are the seat of your soul - If your one who does the soul thing. If the idea of a soul isn't appealing your eyes would probably be the seat of all that is you...

But in a practical sense your eyes hold many things. Your intentions, beliefs... your past... the baggage you carry shows up in a suspicious tilt when someone looks like someone who wronged you. The little sorrows that show just for a millisecond for all to see - Not that anyone is ever looking that close. And what about the quick smile that's only a lift of the corners....and you have to hide it quick because your in a serious place.. or laughing at something politically incorrect. And lying.... The reality is lying isn't all that tough to see... All those things are in your eyes but people rarely look.

Maybe your eyes being the window to your soul is too esoteric. Maybe its more like a visual represention of how your doing. Maybe it's why when someone asks how are you doing....and you say 'fine'.... they know your NOT fine. Maybe your not being fine is in your eyes. Maybe it's meant to be when you don't have the words to share just how unfine you are. Maybe it's a gift.

This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image.

Problems Aceo

BUY

Problems.....What is it about problems that makes solving them so hard? I've listened to people talk about their unsolvable problems and it's occured to me...that's the problem. They are talking about problems, pleural. Problems, lumped together are unsolvable.


This picture is the ground at the base of a tree and it reminded me of the way people deal with problems. It's a jumble of stones, twigs, leaves and I don't know what else... When there are so many things to look at you can't see each individual thing anymore. It's like you can see one stone... you can see two... maybe seven.... but at some point the individual stones dissolve into 'many'...
Problems can not be solved once they have dissolved into 'many'. They are overwhelming; they are unsolvable.


I listen to people talk about 'their problems' and I try to tell them that if I am thinking of of my problems that way it's hopeless. Its like 'my problems' are a big ( 6 foot around) ball of string where each problem has no end, no beginning and they are all interconnected. To solve anything I must separate it out... I have to deal with one thing at a time...


The rocks in this picture reminded me of the problems all lumped together with twigs, with leaves... And how to deal with one - to really see it - you have to pick it up, move it away from the rest. Move it from the 'many'....


This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image. There are lots of papers on this...it sits pretty high :) And the photo sits on top.

The Peter Principle Aceo










BUY





Okay, so the theory is you rise to the level of your incompetence. I mean that's it in a nutshell... there's more and it really deals with the workplace but I've seen it applied to life in general and that's what I'm considering now.


On that Hierarchy the peter principle loves so much... where am I? On that bottom step... even on a step? What happens when you can't work? Not won't work.... Can't. Does that mean I've reached the level of my own incompetance by default?


And the whole premise feels bad to me... It's like we are framed by our failures. I hate that negativity. It's like bad karma in practice... Knowing you can't in therory assures you won't in practice.


This card was done in standard ACEO format of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inchs on heavy mat board. It started with a background collage with multiple art papers to enhance the main image.

Moved on from fruit to people and water...

In an effort to move on to things I have difficulty with I decided to tackle two at one time.

Water and people...

I ended up with a swimmer. I like it but it's still a work in progress. The water isn't watery enough and the swimmer isn't people-y enough... Well she looks like a people but her shadows are all off....or something.

5 x 7 inch acrylic on masonite

May 22, 2008 Update

I reworked my swimmer to take out some of the greens and some of the business in the water.