Working on Wall St.

Wall Street

This painting has been about 80% done for far too long. As if that wasn't enough, it's a commission. Time to get down to business!

Frier Stua

Frier Stua

40x30 oil 2014

This rural spot is actually on the grounds of Rafnes gaard, a well-groomed manor house and estate. Though modern cottages often have a rustic look, this one is authentically old, perhaps centuries. I painted it from the Seagull Skerry during two evenings. The fjord-facing side of the skerry is popular with local fishermen. In a sense I fish there too, catching light.

From the Risør Fleck

Fra Risør Flekken

oil 30x40 2014

Centuries ago Dutch seamen needed a landmark along the South Coast of Norway. At that time the town of Risør was an important timber port, so a cliff above it was turned into a landmark with the help of lime white-wash. This is called the Risør Fleck, maintained up until today. The viewpoint from this high ground affords great views of the coast and the town, most of whose houses are white by tradition. The sun was bright and the wind strong, my easel needing ballast to keep it from blowing away.

Skap

Skap

oil 50x50 2014

This is wide open, full of associations and ambiguity, so I thought I would title it Skap, which is more grammatically ambiguous than the English Closet.

Fridges, safes, compartments, ovens, interiors, MRI and CT scanners, revelations, encapsulations… You can go a lot of places here, so I decided to keep it simple regarding color choice.

Totem in Porcelain

Totem Pole

porcelain 33cm high

Roman Scott 2014

I finally fired this successfully. These guys have been through a variety of glazes and kilns at various firing temperatures, the last at stoneware setting.

It's one solid piece. Ernest Borgnine, Big Brother, Lee Van Cleef, Tor Johnson

Ship by Seagull Skerry, Rafnes

Skip ved måkeskjær

30x40 oil 2014

Toward evening the long rays of the Scandinavian summer sun turn vistas into haunting perspectives. This is related to the beguiling mirages and tricks the desert can play on the eye--but a corollary or reversal. While the high desert turns distant knobs into lunar landmarks one foolishly thinks are near, in the fjords and woods of Norway landmarks can seem overly large, heaping a greater distance to a view that really is not so far away. The stillness and lapping waves add to the uncanniness.

When one paints for a few hours on site, with great concentration, not all is quiet. Fairly spirited dialogues ensue for me--acquaintances who comment and kibitz over the canvas. One who came along during this painting was the rotund Giorgio De Chirico, one of my favourite painters, most seminal a century ago. Perhaps the ship peaking over the low-lying skerry recalls a melancholic locomotive puffing away, strangely placed over a piazza. Too, I let myself go with viridian in the distant hills. (He was so partial to that color.)