Sitting next to a reflective pond listening to the birds chirping and the wind rustling the leaves in the trees is all that you need for a ‘SERENE’ life.

Don’t call me a wedding crasher! Or maybe you should - but I had to photograph this beautiful floral display of tulips which was the centerpiece at a wedding at my club in Florida. Even though everybody was all dressed up and I was in my golf shorts I crashed the event long enough to get a reference photo for a painting.

Shandelee is a summer music festival, in the Catskills of NY, that encourages the careers of young classical and jazz musicians. I was very fortunate to attend a jazz session - before the performance, of Two Guitars and a Cello, where I was allowed to take multiple photos of the group while they were rehearsing. This abstract painting is of this group.

Chickens are not only the most populous bird on the planet, they are also among the most abused. This painting is of a deserted chicken coop that was used for Chicken Farming. I refer you to an article in the New York Times titled: Factory Farm Chickens, for more information on this subject. The colors in the painting and the abstraction of the subject matter does not glorify this abuse but was just the subject of an interesting dilapidated building that was prime for an artist rendering .

Rummaging through a batch of old slides I came across this picture of clothes drying in the backyard of homes in Delray Beach, Fla. Let me explain a little bit about the photo. Many years ago, the BOCA MUSEUM ART, sponsored a group called the Boca Museum Artist Guild of which I was a member from inception, and had a gallery on E Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. One afternoon when I hosting for the gallery, I went out the back door to stretch my legs. I discovered apartments that lined an alley which extended from the back of gallery to the next street. In this area were parked cars, delivery trucks, garbage stored in cans ready for collection and clothes lines hanging from one side to the other. I took some photos and decided that eventually this view was going to be a painting. I took a few liberties with the photo with cropping & the painting, with color and composition for balance.

It’s December 25, 2024 and it’s the first day of Hanukkah and Christmas. I could title this painting, Hanukkah, as I have on two previous holidays, like Thanksgiving and Halloween, when on those days I put on the last layer of varnish for the finishing touch. But instead, I will title it ‘Red Apple & Vase’. Wishing Everybody a Happy Holiday and a Healthy New Year & Happy Painting!

The Catskills, Sullivan County NY, has an abundance of back roads and farms. Landscapes for painting galore all that you need is sketchbook, camera & paint box. This road was discovered on the way to Youngsville going past the Neversink Reservoir which I painted several years ago and I’m thinking that this beautiful landmark should be painted again.

  I rearranged the floral in Enlightenment#1 and painted  Enlightenment #2 Sunflowers

I planned a car ride this past summer - destination Callicoon, New York. There is a great little restaurant in this town that specializes in lunches. But I took a roundabout excursion and ended up passing a beautiful field of sunflowers, basking in bright sunlight, adjacent to a Buddhist temple in Pine Bush, New York. I turned in towards the temple and asked a monk who was at the entrance if there was any significance of why they built the temple next to the field of sunflowers. He said that these flowers are considered sacred and represent spiritual enlightenment. They’re ability to always turn towards the sun is seen as the human quest for self-realization. I was very impressed. So, I picked some of the flowers that were close to the highway and brought them home for an arrangement in one of our vases.

Black Bearded Iris. This is the second painting for the Halloween series in the year 2024. For this painting I placed two BlACK IRISES in a different colored vessel from Spooky #1 for variety.

We are now immersed in the fall color metamorphoses and it is gorgeous in the Catskill mountains. It’s October 2024 and Halloween just passed. This holiday has always been a filled with mystery, magic and superstition. Our local florist has decorated the front of his shop with Black Cats, Ghosts and Black Gloomy Floral arrangements. These inky floral blooms come with a lot of symbolism. They usually signify power, mystery and farewells. Traditionally black flowers and romance don’t mix (they’re more of a breakup bloom!) but a single black flower or bouquet can be a powerful gesture, meaning just the opposite - rebirth and rejuvenation. It’s hard for an artist not to pick up his paintbrush and bring this eery & spooky time of the year to canvas.

Black is a rare color to see in flowers. Black is strong, mysterious, powerful and unique in meaning. Black has always negative meaning and ominous connotations but despite the belief, it is the symbol of rebirth and rejuvenation. While red roses are symbols of passionate love, black roses symbolism relates to the big changes that sometimes accompany romance. Breakups, divorce, and a fading relationship. I wouldn’t suggest that you give black roses to your Plus 1, or you may have a Minus 1.

After a successful food shopping trip to ShopRite in Monticello, New York, I decided to take a stroll through Marshall’s which is in the same shopping center. Inside the department store I noticed multicolored ladies handbags hanging in rows on a rack and on sale. Inspiration: what a wonderful subject to paint. As usual I took several photographs and brought them back to my studio where I cropped  them to a completed resource for the final painting.

These two flowering buds are unlike but when organized in a thoughtful way present a beautiful recipe for elegance and anesthetics, a ‘symphony of color’. I composed this flower design to increase its beauty and loveliness. I also abstracted it not to tell story but to encourage involvement and imagination.

In the flower shop I selected these 2 blossoms because of their similar color and shape. They are unlike in form but when arranged they become even more appealing. I called the painting Rust Red because small amounts of the pigment red oxide, which appears as the hue of rust, was mixed into every color of the painting. This sets the stage for balance and unity.

Hanging plants beautify homes. This plant was outside of the Trading Post, our local shopping store that doubles as a hardware store and KeyFood market. It was one of 15 beauties that were ready for sale and ‘READY FOR HANGING’. I had a hard choice to pick one that I was going to paint but this one caught my eye. The name of the flower eludes me but its beauty flowers.

Beach is a beach, right? Not in Florida. The sunshine State has beach variety a-plenty. Some Florida beaches have palm trees and vacationing there it could pass for being in the Caribbean. So pack up the car and head down for white sands and warm Atlantic breezes. But it does get hot and sunny in South Florida and palm trees offer delightful shade and if you add a beach umbrella, protection from the sun. My painting, Red Umbrella, was just such a palm offering both shade and protection.

My inspiration: when I was walking along a path, on a beautiful sunny day in the Catskills, I passed by two discarded daisies both missing some of their petals. It reminded me of the French game when you’re holding the daisy and you alternately speak the phrase “He ( she ) loves me”, He ( she ) loves me not” while plucking a petal determines weather the person that you are interested in has similar feeling for you. This game did not apply to me because I’m married (65 yrs) and I love my wife and I know, being positive, that she has similar feelings for me – I hope? It was fun doing this painting. ‘I LOVE YOU, NOT’

The weather was tailor-made in Florida to spend the day at a beautiful outdoor art & craft fair in Del Ray. Strolling along Atlantic Avenue there were many artisans displaying their paintings and pottery. I came to one booth where a ceramic artistwas throwing clay on her potting wheel, as a demonstration, for her next sculpture. In the back of her tent, resting on a shelf, was a molded large Ugly green pitcher. I found this art piece attractive, for some odd reason, and asked the artist if I could take a photo of it. Her answer was affirmative and that was the start of my new painting, Ugly Green Pitcher.

On one of my excursions in the Hudson Valley, NY, I was very fortunate to come upon these double water falls. And what was so unusual is that they were not from the same water source even though they were in the same location. I walked around the area, put my toes in the icy water and took some pictures from various angles. I don’t remember their exact location but when I viewed the photos I relived their Grandness and my walking through the frigid rushing water.

My summer home has several potted plants securely tied to the railing so the wind won’t blow them off in a storm. We also keep 3 ‘WATERING CANS’ on the deck to catch rain water then if any plants begin to droop they can be quickly hydrated.

Please place these ‘BEGONIAS’ on a window sill but not in direct sunlight as the sun will spoil the leaves & color.  

Living in the Catskills 6 months out of the year, which is a portion of the lower Adirondack landscape, we have farms, rivers and natural beauty to paint. This particular farm caught my attention because  the planted furrows of corn weren’t planted instraight lines, like most farms, but curved leading toward the farm house. The farm house was nestled well back towards the tree line. It  was an interesting subject to photograph and paint.

This past spring I was with Ellie, my wife and muse, in Delray Market Place shopping when we stopped at this lovely outdoor floral display. I had a talk with the curator and asked him how is he going to keep the flowers fresh for the weekend. He told me they should be  ‘SHIELDED’ from direct sunlight, using umbrellas, and kept away from heat and drafts because they too will help to quicken their demise. After our talk with him we continued to shop and left with a HAPPY!!! Colorful Bouquet.

What can I say about this “Old Tree”. It’s impressive in size, stately looking, majestic and regal, and it surrounds itself with great nobility with Its branches always reaching for the sky. I discovered this tree playing golf this summer at Tarry Brae golf course in South Fallsburg New York and photographed it several times, on different occasions, to make a composite picture for painting.