New Painting: Respite from the Feria

Respite from the Feria, completed today.

Submitted for The UAG Green Show

The following pieces were submitted for consideration by the Upstate Artists Guild.

The first, Vision on Absinthe, is a tribute to The Moon and Sixpence.

The one below is Urban Gethsemane, somewhere between the last supper and the time of betrayal. If I were Christ, I would have gone and had a drink...knowing what he knew would happen to him. I would have had ten.



Vision on Absinthe




Urban Gethsemane

Poetry Night Poem - Just Paint

Just Paint

my thoughts are consumed by painting
visions on beer and absinthe
horrors i've suffered ever since
this depression has been draining.

images of volcanos and palm trees
naked redheads and kink
ferociously trying to link
my art with my desire to be free.

but why not just escape, just go away
to chicago or tahiti or katmandhu?
take up the idea suggested by you
to go somewhere else, come visit, then stay?

because i have family, my love for which i won't taint
a daughter whom i would not abandon
so for now i'l just try my hand in
this art; suffer the images and just paint.

(c) fprm, 2007

The Character Series....Almost Complete

One more to complete. These are posted in order of completion. Photo to the right was the basis for all these paintings.



Darth




Pornographer




Painter





Psychiatric

A Day for Painting...and Respite

Clean Shaven...at least for the next day.


Saturdays come and go too quickly, and sometimes I feel that I throw mine away, do nothing valuable or significant, or get caught up doing minor logistical nonsense that catches up with me and the day is gone.

Or sometimes, I might hang out at the local pub and drink it away.

Not today. It is 5:30 a.m., after a little more sleep (crashed last night at 9:30), laundry, painting, music, perhaps some writing while I paint.

Last night, I shaved off the goatee, but will regrow the beard in full, mainly to see the difference in gray hairs from last Christmas, when I had a full beard, then go back to the goatee before I go to San Francisco. Unless of course, I like the beard...it all depends on how well I am able to maintain its shape.

It's good to have a totally beard-free face, even for a day or two. It feels clean.

Anyway, it is Saturday, and I hope to make progress on a couple of paintings today.

And instead of bourbon or beer or wine, which I usually enjoy while painting, perhaps an egg cream or a grapefruit juice, or a tonic water. Time to clean out the system a bit.

Before I celebrate 40.

Poetry Night Poem - Corner of Union & Columbus

The poet for tonight is Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner and publisher of City Lights Books.

Corner of Union and Columbus

Corner of Union and Columbus
with cigar and Steam at hand
on the edge of Washington Square
seeking my ideal...

Corner of Union and Columbus
not far from City Lights
not far from Vesuvius
thinking of my ideal...

Corner of Union and Columbus
across a whole continent
left my fellow traveler behind
which is not ideal...

How can I enjoy
this gorgeous city?
How can I relish
my cigar and Steam?
How can I savor
the sweet perfumes
the sunlight on red hair
with you not around
to help pick them up,
to comment and compare?

This won't be the last
time I travel without you
but it is the first since...

I love
San Francisco
but you
Dear Wing Gal,
will be missed.

(c) fprm 2008

Poem to Be Published in Book on Bourbon

As a character in The Simpsons said when his highwater pants served him well: "Everything's coming up Milhouse."

I just got an e-mail from a lady helping someone write a book on bourbon, and they want to use this poem in the book:

Song of Bourbon

my eyes gaze longingly...the hand gently extended
my eyes gaze longingly...lips lightly kiss the rim of the glass
my eyes gaze longingly...the sip slow and satiating

bourbon sweet brown nectar
bourbon our mutual friend
bourbon one motif in a trinity

my look, chin down, eyes straight ahead
my hand, once holding brush, proffers the glass
my smile, standing and watching as you sit in my chair

when did this become such a sacred rite
this ritual of sharing the drink
as sacred as the eucharist in the church of us

poetry as liturgy
painting as prayer
the communal creative process transcends

this song of bourbon never ends.
(c) fprm, 2007

Not bad.

Scenes from Chicago

Just to clarify, we did not spend all of our time in bars. We actually got to the Art Institute, walked 7 miles one day, enjoyed New Year's Day on the cold streets of Chicago and went into a kitschy store called GayMart (run by a fellow New Yorker...from Valley Stream). It just so happened that all the photos were taken in bars.



At the Galway Arms, on Clark Street, near Fullerton...great Irish food, great beer, beautiful raven haired waitress with whom I flirted insanely.



At the Hungry Brain! Great jazz, cheap drinks (a Guiness, a Sierra Nevada and a bourbon all for $12!).



At the famous Billy Goat Tavern, both a tourist trap and a journalists' bar; inspired the classic 1970's Saturday night live skit, with Dan Ackroyd yelling "Cheesborger, Cheeseborger, Cheeseborger." Or was it John Belushi.




My Traveling Buddy on New Year's Eve.

Photos of Art

Some photos for your amusement:




Yours Truly, "in character"





One of the character portraits, "Pornographer"




Just completed, another of the character portraits, "Painter"




The Muse's Chair



Vision on Absinthe





At the UAG this past Friday

Progress on Painting

Well, the First Friday debut of "The Philogynist" went well. I had a nice spot in the gallery, near a doorway into the side room with the Sharpie art. You can't miss it if you wanted to.

My "Urban Gethsemane" is going fine. I need to paint Jesus' head, a reflection of Peter, John and James sleeping, perhaps a reflection of Judas moving in for the kiss.

Also, the self-portrait called "Painter," is done.

As is the "Armchair" painting and the "Still Life with Liverwurst Sandwich, Pickle and Beer."