Ghosts

Poodle. Oil on canvas, 12x12.

Call me at 860-442-0246 or email me

if you are interested in buying this painting

I don't know if all this is coming from painting in fog all week, but I'm finding myself increasingly interested in the less-is-more concept, at least as it pertains to paint on the canvas.

I began this poodle fully intending to fill the canvas with white and blue and pink and green, and all the colors that one can bring to bear on the coat of a white poodle - but I got this far and fell in love. I think this painting is finished, though there's still the ghost of a chance that I could be persuaded otherwise.

In some ways, this unfinished quality that so tantalizes me has been a quiet undertone of my work since my painting trip to Wisdom, Montana. On that trip, I began leaving the lower edge of some of my paintings unfinished.

Initially, I did that because I just wasn't that interested in what was at the very front of the scene, and thought I would just add some interesting stuff there later. When "later" came, I realized that I like that unfinished edge. It speaks to me of possibility, of the fact of paint on canvas, and raises the question of what is possible - and what someone else might do with that empty space.

Then, on my trip to Arizona, on a day when I'd painted three or four paintings, I started one more, and honestly, left it unfinished because I was just plain exhausted. I took a million pictures of the scene, and vowed to finish the piece when I got home.

Well, I looked at it last week, and honestly, I think it's finished. I might add a little more paint in a few places, but the partial quality of it really intrigues me.

Ditto this poodle.

I'd love to hear what any of you think.

Thanks for reading!