Contemporary Realism

The Call - 30 x 40 - oil on canvas
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The Call –
I hear the call, but what awaits? Are the lands afar so different? My solitude here feeds melancholy, but will the faces of strangers be friendly?
            The fields look beautiful to traverse, the mountains exciting to climb. The small villages and farmsteads welcome me with their innocence, but are these perceptions more dream than truth? Are they apparitions nestled among the fields?
            The boulder by which I stand bids me to stay with its permanence and its warmth, but the grand scene that I behold calls with promise.
            Permanence is safe, but change is life.

Sunday Morning - 30 x 40 oil on canvas
It is Sunday morning, my time of rest. I hurry down to the pond with my puppy and wash in its cool water. I slowly sponge it onto my feet and legs, delighting in how it softens my skin and cools my muscles. Later, when the sun becomes warm, I will move to the shade of a tree and quietly sing songs and listen to the birds while Rusty chases tadpoles and frogs.
M-m-m-m, the breeze. I feel wonderful.

The Ball of Gold - 24 x 36 oil on canvas
Heavy, smooth, lustrous! Oh, how valuable you are my ball of gold, my god. I want to taste you, hug you, kiss you. Press your weight against my hand and roll over my body until I am taken by your every attribute of wonder. If I sell you, I will be a rich respected lady, but I cannot! You are mine, but I am yours.

I squeeze your roundness, but you will not yield, and I cry with an anguish that makes me wish I have never possessed you. I smash you to the table, which shocks me as it shatters. Now infuriated, I throw you to the floor that becomes marred. Screaming, I pick up your insolent shape and blindly hurl you away, only to watch in horror as you crash through the window into the hands of another. Away she runs, laughing at her fortune, laughing at me for my loss, my foolishness, my grief. Come back, you demon!

Lonely Lady - 24 x 30 oil on canvas
The lonely young lady in this painting has spied a Lady Slipper flower precariously growing in the pathway on top of a windswept hill in England.

Magnolia Spring – 24 x 36 oil on canvas
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Magnolia Spring –
What says ‘spring’ more than a beautiful woman holding her cat and standing under a blossoming magnolia tree? One can almost feel the fresh aromatic breeze wafting through the boughs.

My soft cat purr for me and let me know that you’re content.
I’ll hold you close and keep you warm so quiet your lament.
The magnolia bears sweet smells to free our minds of colder days.
So, stay with me and purr for me. Let us share our graceful ways.

Elena at Tea - 30 x 40 oil on canvas

Daniel at the Park - 20 x 24 oil on canvas

Painting Oneself - Self Portrait –22 x 28 oil on canvas

Vasilisa in a Straw Hat – 20 x 20 oil on cnavas
This is a portrait of Vasilisa Ilyinishna Grechaninova, Elena’s granddaughter, and my step granddaughter.

Russian Picnic – 24 x 36 oil on canvas

Dessert Rock - 18 x 24 oil on canvas
I am a rock of the dessert: dark, gray, and smooth. I have sat here for eons, where my tan bretheren of a different make have all long ago crumbled to sand with one fracture at a time. The cracking reports of their trauma at first were shocking and deafening, but as each piece became smaller their cries quieted until I could hear no more of their anguish. I get repreive from the sun’s merciless heat with the arrival of the night’s chilling touch. It is wonderful, but eventually the change when I once again roast in the sun, will split me in two as it did the others. My demise is slower, but persistent and inevitable.

King Cock - 24x36 oil on canvas

Time to Breathe - 24 x 48 oil on canvas

Psyche in Cupid's Garden - 30 x 40 oil on canvas
Psyche was a mortal with beauty that challenged Aphrodite's (Venus’s). Aphrodite became jealous and asked her son, Cupid, to shoot Psyche with an arrow so she would fall in love with a hideous monster. While attempting to perform his task, Cupid accidentally scratched himself with the arrow and fell in love with Psyche in place of the intended monster.

The Peaceful - 24 x 36 - oil on canvas

Hanna's Storm - 30 x 40 - oil on canvas

Watching the Fire - 20 x 24 oil on canvas.
Several people stand and watch their city as a raging fire consumes it beyond their control. All they can do is watch, because such aspects of nature dwarf us in size and energy. The oxygen that makes up a good proportion of our atmosphere is a highly reactive substance that combines with most things if the right conditions occur. Even metal oxidizes. If oxygen weren’t so reactive, most forms of life would not be able to function. It takes this reactive element to fuel our hungry metabolism.

Pink Rose - 22 x 28 oil on canvas

American Ethos - 24 x 36 oil on canvas
This painting was inspired by a similar photo of my grandfather chopping wood, circa 1945. On the photo was written "Three pipe pile."

Althea consoles Maria – 22 x 28 oil on canvas

Marsh Rock Ritual – 24 x 12 oil on canvas

Orange Marmalade – 24 x 18 oil on canvas
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The Sands of Time – 48 x 24 oil on canvas
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Evening Candle –18 x 24 oil on canvas
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The Stone Pullers – 24 x 18 oil on canvas

The Mockingbird – 24 x 18 oil on canvas
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Old Heart - 18 x 24 oil on canvas
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Helga and the White Dove – 36 x 48 oil on canvas

Besame Mucho– 30 x 40 oil on canvas
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If Any – 18 x 24 acrylic on canvas
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Nightmare Approaches - 22 x 28 - oil on canvas
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The Shy Ingenue - 24 x 36 oil on canvas
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White Feather – 16 x 20 oil on canvas
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Pinkie – 24 x 48 oil on canvas
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Quiet Hours - oil on canvas
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This painting is entitled: 'The mass of men...', which might seem strange considering there is only one man in it. The title is the beginning of a comment by Henry David Thoreau: "The mass of men lead[s] lives of quiet desperation."
The mass of men… 24 x 36 oil on canvas

The Goldfinch - oil on canvas
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Elena and the Hummingbird – 40 x 30 oil on canvas

Brandi – 24 x 30 oil on canvas

Red Tree – 20 x 16 oil on canvas

Sycamore Sunset – 11 x 14 oil on canvas
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Sycamore Sky – 11 x 14 oil on canvas
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Fiery Feather – 24 x 48 oil on canvas
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The Yellow Rose – 22 x 28 oil on canvas
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Dark Harbinger – 16 x 20 oil on canvas
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Spearhead – 40 x 30 acrylic on board (mixed media)
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Through the Fence – 16 x 20 oil on canvas
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What’d You Say? – 16x20 oil on canvas

Sky Song – 24 x 12 oil on canvas

Floating Cow Conch - 12 x 16 oil on canvas

Floating Cow Conch
I have often noted that common pebbles and sea shells have as much esthetic value as exotic gem stones. I have viewed the Hope Diamond and other such stones in museums. They are fascinating, but their beauty doesn’t compare to nature’s other works of art.