Lilly of the Bronx….

There are Casablanca Lilies, Stargazer Lilies, Lillies of the Nile, but non so Fine as Lilly of the Bronx. Lilly who said “yes you can” before it was part of the national conversation? Lilly who paved my yellow brick road with golden dreams of glory. This painting is dedicated to Lilly; my mother

A fishy story

Garibaldi swimming off the coast of Catalina Island. The Paradise movie house in the Bronx
had a fountain in the lobby with fish in it, but not Garibaldi, gold fish of some kind. A salute to all the gold fish everywhere in service of movie theaters.

Art vs Food

Pam brought home peppers from Costco. Hmm I said a great still life. No she said salad for dinner. STILL LIFE!!! I shouted, DINNER she shot back. We compromised. I could have the peppers for a limited time, then I had to return them to the salad bowl. So here are my peppers captured for posterity. The salad alas is but a dim memory. I ask, what museum has a salad on display? Take that Emeril.

Gaudi's Garden

I was walking in Gaudi's garden in Barcelona and I found this flower I just had to paint. This painting is a gift to Dr. Downs my cancer ninja.

Painting 06.24.09

Peonies Pam brought home from Trader Joe. Painting white flowers, without white paint, Georgia where are you!!!

My Art Mother

Ethel Katz art instructor at the Art Students League. My father called her my second mother. What I learned about loving art I learned from this lady. This picture was taken about 1940, painting plein aire on the rocks of New England somewhwere. I also included two of her paintings

Tomatoes you won't find in the garden

Being an artist means you can break the rules, so I did. If you find this too edgy, thats good, if you like it, then that is good too. So edgy my wife won't even let me hang this in the bathroom. Upset tummy, thats art.

This painting is dedicated to Ben a man who never took art lessons, but had great artistic taste.

An essential truth

Why You Should Think About Encouraging Others to Be Brilliant
Post written by Leo Babauta.

It is a beautiful thing to create, to produce, to go out there in the world and make a contribution.
But it is just as important, if not more so, that we help others to do the same — that we teach others to create and produce, that we encourage them, that we support them and help them to succeed.
Why? Why not just worry about our own creations and productions? What’s so important about helping others to succeed?
If you think of your work as a contribution to the world — great or small — then you can say you’ve made X amount of difference in making this world a better place.
But if you help 5 or 10 people make their contributions, you can say you’ve made perhaps 5X or 10X amount of difference in making this world a better place. You multiply your contribution.
And if, in doing so, you teach others to help still other people create and produce and make contributions, you’ve just added an exponent to your contribution … X squared, X to the power of 3 or 10 or whatever the number might be. OK, I’m not great at math, but you can see the point: the amount of difference made in this world not only multiplies, but keeps on multiplying beyond you.
Unfortunately, many people seem to have a problem with this concept. They tear people down, block them, hoard the goods for themselves, and are jealous of the success of others. We need to break free of this jealousy and meanness. We need to learn to be happy for others, and what’s more, to count their success as our success and feel proud of the contribution we’ve made in helping others make a difference.
So go out in this world and create — make something brilliant, whether it be a piece of art or a book or music or a wonderful new invention or a world-changing business or whatever it is you do in the world.
But go beyond that. Teach others to be brilliant and make a difference. Encourage them to create, support them, give them a boost, help them succeed. And teach them to do the same with still other people.
The world will thank you for it. And even if you never receive thanks, know in your heart that you’ve done some good, that you’ve lit your light in this world that will last beyond your mortal years, that will continue to grow and burn brightly long after your dust has returned to dust and blown away in the wind.

A Limited Portfolio

Some of my work

Muse

3.1.09

The Muses (Ancient Greek αἱ μοῦσαι, hai moũsai [1]: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- "think"[2]) in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths.
Originally said to be three in number, by the Classical times of the 400s BC, their number had grown and become set at nine goddesses who embody the arts and inspire the creation process with their graces through remembered and improvised song and stage, writing, traditional music, and dance

My muse is my beautiful wife Pamela.

Beginning

Date 2.28.09

This is a working value sketch for a small painting I am working on. I am dedicating this to my father "Ben", a man of vision who gave me my vision.

A later post will tell the story of how my father found the magical world of art for me.