Squiggle

In the fall of 1991, I was working on a group of paintings that just were not going very well. I was frustrated with the limits of acrylic paint. It wasn't until I painted over my original images that these paintings began to click. This is the first of the bunch.

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Greenscape

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Greensweep

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Greenslaw

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Greenstraw

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Greensoon

Twenty years ago I created a group of paintings using the colors Brilliant Green, Aqua and Titanium White. I wanted to reflect the concerns raised at that time about the environment. However, I wanted my paintings to imply natural imagery, yet remain
abstract only.

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Gaslight

A gaslight is a typical light fixture found in the French Quarter and other historical spots in the city of New Orleans. To add some mystery I glazed some fog-like layers over my image to create mystery.

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Crescent

New Orleans is also known as "The Crescent City." It has to do with the way the Mississippi River curves around the city. Therefore I decided to play with the shape of a crescent.

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

River

In this painting I referred to a map of New Orleans and adjacent areas to paint land and water. Again, I used white paint to destroy my shapes. Next I painted back into the shapes created by the destruction.

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Mask

My title tells you it's a mask. I simply painted the shapes and then destroyed them with white paint. It gives the image a smoky look.

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Hurricane

Following the trumpet, I painted my version of New Orleans drink served at Pat O'Brien's, The Hurricane. I figured this would be an appropriate painting to feature given that August is an active month for hurricanes.

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Trumpet

In several of the art studio courses I took at Mississippi State, I was encouraged to render an image, destroy it and then work back into it. That’s just what I did here. Only this time I decided to explore imagery that was typical of New Orleans culture, jazz. It so happened I was working on a flyer for jazz musician about this time. It included a trumpet.

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"