Category Archives: Uncategorized

Let’s Live

30 X 30 Acrylic Paint, Enamel Spray Paint, 8/4/24

In Progress/Resting. Humid/Languid/Maryland/August/Rainy Day Outside before thunderstorms return.

Love Rollercoaster Child

Reworking . . . Love Rollercoaster Child 40 X 30″ Acrylic on Canvas, Mixed Media. Shady Side, Maryland.

“Hot, Hot, Hotter than Hell” these July days. But that’s another tune entirely.

Bossa Nova Baby

More work on this today, 7/7, 2024.

Heat index

Working Title “Heat Index” 40 x 30″ acrylic paint and paper.

June 22/23, ’24 Hottest days of ’24 thus far. Reminiscent of a Las Cruces “Florida” painting.

Slight Return

Re-working title “Slight Return.” I “finished ” this painting over ten years ago and showed it at Rio Bravo Gallery in Truth of Consequences, New Mexico. Family drove it as far as Tennessee about eight years ago and we finished the trip to Maryland. It never really held together for me, so here it is reworked, addition/subtraction over the last couple of weekends. It actually looks “fresher” to me. Very unusual that I never signed and dated the back with place of origin. Tells me something. One thing of note is the richness of collage elements. I just don’t have the source of papers that I once had. Still miss New York Central for hand-made papers of the world. Loved that catalog . . . If you know of an extraordinary resource for papers, please share.

Crocus Time

Working title “Crocus Time” 60 x 30″ Acrylic on Canvas. Inspired in part by two paintings that I like very much: Arthur Dove’s “Thunderstorm, 1921” and DeKooning’s “Judgment Day.” Those inspirations filtered through late February painting outside in the yard. A fellow artist suggests trying darker tones on the right side. I can see that. Valid to contemplate.

February makes me shiver . . .

Work in progress. 60 x 30″ Warm to Cool. Acrylic on unprimed canvas with spray enamel.

1/21/24

January 15, 2024 state above. . It went dark from here. Although, todays iteration uses lots of metallic bronze that brightens in the right light. Last few days we’ve been snowed in. Working close in and indoors changes up approach and the results. A roll of unprimed canvas arrives this week. I hope to work outdoors and off of a stretcher to start. Stay tuned . . .

In December/January, I returned to a painting I posted here in September. Now it looks like this:

In September it looked like this:

On Saturday started a new one:

This one has lots of metallics that are lost in the photo. Metallics are notoriously difficult to capture in a photograph. Below is a detail taken at an angle:

Richer, no? Both paintings 40 X 30″ acrylic paint and spray enamel paint, with Sharpy markers, on canvas.

Postscript, I’m on Instagram now as well under cranepaint, no “s”

Here is a painting that I posted here in a previous iteration back in August. I picked it up again this week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve:

I tend to finish a painting in a few long sessions, or set it aside, sometimes for months. In the temperate months, I paint outdoors as much as possible, where I work very loosely and freely, usually flat on a table or on the lawn. I will “point up” on the easel indoors in my provisional studios.

This painting’s “sibling” (below) was completed fairly quickly last summer. It is going to be hanging in the Circle Gallery, Annapolis in January. Here it is again for comparison:

These were both inspired by a trip to Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vinyard, in May of ’23. The work in progress (but close I think) has gone the direction of time and seasons.

Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, Creative 2024 to you!

Worked on this “in progress” one day before and on Thanksgiving. Another one that took off on its own.

September 16

Work in progress, September 16. 30 X 40″ Acrylic on Gesso/Canvas. Thinking I’ll add nominal collage.