Kayak

I am back from my kayak run. (Had to get out of my apt.) I tied up to a dock in Northport and Stopped into Gunthers---Gunthers is an old school bar in Northport LI where the beat poet Jack Kerouac used to drink (heavily). It is basically a blue collar/ clammer bar with zero pretension to be anything else. I sat next to an older well-dressed lady who had missed her flight connection to Scotland in Newark due to storms. She has a sister in Northport. She grew up on Loch Ness, and her mother saw the Loch Ness monster more than once as a child. She used to own a bed and breakfast there as well, I guess If I didn't write this down I would forget it all.

Flouride

Fluoride has repeatedly been shown to be a carcinogen in cell cultures, animals and humans. In 1956 Dr. John Chaffey, a professor of clinical pediatrics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, noted cortical defects in the bone x-rays of 13.5% of the children living in fluoridated Newburgh, compared to only 7.5% in the neighboring nonfluoridated Kingston. He also noted the lesions were strikingly similar to osteosarcoma. Studies have now confirmed a dramatic increase in osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in young males exposed to fluoride during growth of the bones and a 5% increase in all types of cancers in fluoridated communities.

this reminds me of the movie Dr. strangelove...maybe he was right...

Zen Drawing

Here is a shirt that needs to be pressed. I found this old drawing today..Most of my work has been lost or destroyed throughout the years due to my nomadic habits and girlfriends who never helped me archive my work. (blame is better to give than receive.) If anyone wants this study of a zen garden/ fish pool it needs to be pressed between heavy books for a month or so. It is hard to find zen in today's world but what good is a life rushed straight to the grave? It cant be all work, can it?

Good morning

Nice day today. Today is the last run of the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. It is the height of surrealism and much fun . I think I will work today instead. Maybe sneak out a kayak run at dusk.

Beer Label

Here is a beer label I made for a brewery. I really tried to put some heart into these labels. Commercial doesn't have to mean souless computer crap. These were so much work I can't even tell you about the stress they caused.

alex

The beer wasn't great but I came through on my end.

Redemption Song

All was not wasted today as I taught myself the beginning of Bob Marley's Redemption Song on guitar.

Drawing of a breast

I drew this from life, an ex-girlfriend.

hello

Spent much of the day cleaning and even slept so I will paint tonight...slacker

Good morning

Sunny day out---Great day to sit at the easel. May paint in my yard today.

Passion

I was sleeping tonight until my best friend called me around 1:00 to pick him up from the train station after returning from NYC. I drove him home then I stopped in a local bar because I usually cannot go back to sleep. The barmaid was sweet and very pretty and asked me what I did and I told her I was an artist. She told me she was going to a good/ expensive art school and loves art and is an artist. She said she was going to the beach tomorrow and luckily was not working. I asked her if she was bringing her sketchbook--(she laughed and said no.) With all due respect (she was sweet as pie and just as pretty) if you call yourself an artist and decide to play the game of art, there are no days off. You draw and draw and draw and draw until your knuckles bleed. Art is a the most brutal of fields and only 1% (if that) of fine artists make a living off of art. If you want it bad enough it should be before anything else including love. You should draw on napkins and draw on walls and draw on sand. If you do not have rich parents you pay the price of a vietnam veteran. (unless you become a commercial hack.) In the end it comes down to passion. If you do not have a passion for art you have nothing. If I had a choice to be a great artist or to be in love I would choose art in a heartbeat.

goodnight

exhausted.

oil study---after the storm

I went down to the beach about sunset just as a mild storm was ending. You can usually get some interesting clouds and light going on after a storm around sunset. I am working to set up a better system for photographing new paintings. (Too much reflected light on this piece.)

color of the day---Naples Yellow

Naples yellow is one of my favorite colors of all time and it is also one of the oldest synthetic pigment and is also just about as toxic Keith Richard's liver. This picture is a bit "too orange"-- Naples yellow is a must for any artist and it has great coverage ability (not transparent) It was used in the renaissance extensively and was very much favored by DALI and Gardega as well.

Greeting card

I used to paint my girlfriends original greeting cards for various holidays. This was valentines day (as nice as my cards were they never seemed to help prolong my relationships.)

Alex

I am so distraught. I cannot even tell you. I received your package at work yesterday and because I had to go to a few different places after work, I left it here in my office and it is now GONE. Gone. I had meetings outside the office this morning so I only discovered this now. I do not know whether it was taken by the people who take out the garbage and they thought it was an empty envelope so they threw it out, or whether someone stole it from me (I work at a law firm so I highly doubt anyone would steal it here). I am so disheartened and sad. I don't know what to do.

Moreover, I feel awful about making a promise to my brother that I cannot now keep.

But, most of all, I feel awful that your art has disappeared and does not belong to the person it was intended for.

I will pay you a few hundred dollars for another piece for my brother [perhaps a watercolor piece?].

I am sick with feeling awful.

remember---art is just stuff, I will replace it all! Just don't worry about stuff.

Hall Of Fame

Matt

Mary

Barry

Andrea and Tamara

Nick

Barbs

Clay

Kim

Linda

Bruce

Jeff



(I know there are many more I just threw these off my head and will make it complete later!)

Alex Returns

I am back from Brooklyn! Three hours working on equipment and three hours in traffic. Time to take a shower and wash off the aluminum oxide and glass-dust and start painting again! New oils up tonight! this is the largest font-- FYI

alex

LOLA

I took this snapshot a few years ago of my ex-girlfriends dog, Lola. She is the best dog in the world and I miss her. She is a boxer, of course. She is the only thing I really miss about that relationship. Off to brooklyn.

New Oils up tonight

I will post more oil studies tonight!

Brooklyn

It is thursday and that means It means I will be in Brooklyn Studio and back later. Happy Summer Solstice.

Oil study--- Crab Meadow beach.

SOLD $205.00

I painted this oil study at crab meadow beach on Long Island. I have a lot of these oil studies from different times of year.

8 x 10



http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290131414271&lk=URL

Ultramarine Blue

One of my favorite oil colors is Ultramarine blue, a much fairer cousin to cobalt blue (who is also a noble character.) It's name comes from the latin meaning-- Beyond Sea. I will make a new "Strange World" watercolor using this as my sky color and name it Beyond Sea, a title of Dalinian brilliance. This color was more expensive than gold during the Renaissance, it was often reserved for the cloaks of christ and the virgin in painting. It is the deep blue par excellent and much recommended by Gardega. Beyond the Sea there is only blue and me.

Drawing age six

I drew this as a child---I just found it and the odd thing is I still remember drawing it. I remember drawing the rock falling off the cliff. Perhaps this drawing foreshadowed the life of a genius trying to keep his car from rolling off the cliff.

Cartoon

I drew him many years ago and could never manage to get rid of him. He likes to come out and visit every couple years. He means well and is fairly wounded.

a look inside

exposing oneself in the name of fine art.

artist of the day---goya

What can I say about Goya? Even his court paintings of the aristocrats and kings were brutal and honest. He exposed the hemophiliac behind the withered courtly smile. He was very successful in his day and lives on as one of the great spanish painters of all time. To many he is the first modernist (I agree.) In his last days he lived alone and almost blind painted his "black paintings" on the plaster walls of his Spanish home. He spent much of his life exposing hypocrisy in all it's many forms. He also etched his Caprichio's which changed my life when exhibited at the Metropolitan Musuem of Art. (Please google him and look at his etchings as they are master works of the highest level.)

photograph

Occasionally I take a snapshot I feel is worth showing. This was a model posing in a window in NYC for a professional photo shoot. I snuck up behind them and snapped this photo. She is actually looking at me as I snapped this. (probably less than happy about it.)

Oil study

I made this last year deep in the heart of fall at crab meadow beach in Northport, LI. It is an oil study. An oil study is done on location in oil paints to get down as much information as you can so you can go home and make a larger painting in the studio. Almost like a digital camera except it smells different. I prefer moody, turbulent landscapes over sunny, mid-day "luncheons on the lake" pictures. If any one wants to buy this one it may be a bit more finished when you get it as I have been fussing with my old canvases. My oil studies generally fetch around $300.00.

8 x 10 on canvas.

NYC Cover

I posted this by request of a client. This is the cover I made for Ambassador Yellow Pages. They are by far the best yellow pages because they were smart enough to use painting on their covers and not lifeless computer art. I figured out this style solely for these covers because I am painting on a yellow background. A quick art lesson for anyone--if you put a grey square against a yellow sheet of paper it will appear purple. This is called the complementary color...it is the opposite color on the color wheel. Delacroix first discovered that shadows on a yellow taxi look purple before the impressionistos later beat the idea to death. This piece was written up in page six because people got upset that she looked very stern and angry..I replied "wouldn't you after 9-11" God Bless NYC. These are available as signed and numbered prints of which I only have a few left--great collector items, I may throw in the page six blurb if I can find it. I will post these on ebay for $25 each signed and numbered.

ebay link below!



http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290131163307&lk=URL

Earthbound Misfit, I

Into the distance, a ribbon of black
Stretched to the point of no turning back
A flight of fancy on a windswept field
Standing alone my senses reeled
A fatal attraction holding me fast, how
Can I escape this irresistible grasp?

Cant keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, i

Ice is forming on the tips of my wings
Unheeded warnings, I thought I thought of everything
No navigator to guide my way home
Unladened, empty and turned to stone

A soul in tension thats learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try
Cant keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, i

Above the planet on a wing and a prayer,
My grubby halo, a vapour trail in the empty air,
Across the clouds I see my shadow fly
Out of the corner of my watering eye
A dream unthreatened by the morning light
Could blow this soul right through the roof of the night

Theres no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, a state of bliss
Cant keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, i

Good Morning!

It is 7:00 AM and time to start the art ball rolling. I will be uploading some SMALL OILS today! If you want to buy them, keep your eye, out as some of them will be on ebay with "buy it now" prices. I like rainy days because I don't feel bad staying inside at the easel. I am really excited to start phase two of this project which is to be a bit less frantic as I will upload fewer pieces but they will be more advanced works including oil paintings.

alex

Honesty

I had two customers of mine out of many hundreds respond that they expected something a little different or they prefer a different style of art. I am okay with that and appreciate honesty and feedback! At least they voiced their opinions! I am more than happy to work with any customer who had a different vision or expected more. I want everyone to be happy. If you only sent me 10 to thirty dollars I am really not able to pick and choose too much due to time restraints. But communication is key.


your humble artist,

alex

Im back

I have returned from a nice day of equipment problems and return LIE traffic. Now it's time to start my work day! I did almost finish two glass portraits today before the gremlins crept into my sandblaster. My talent stops at art as I can barely use a screwdriver. (unless it is orange and has vodka in the bottom of it)

Brooklyn

I am off to make glass art in brooklyn today.

comments

Someone left me some less than kind comments last night I would like to address. Firstly, they let me know "Picasso sucks!" because "he drained the life out of all the women he was with." By this criteria you would also call Norman Mailer and Hunter S. Thompson bad writers. Perhaps one could pay attention to what matters--- his canvases (at least his early ones). Another thing about Picasso is he had Courage. Something you have proven you are devoid of, hence the anonymous after your comment. Second, I should quit complaining about my starving period because I live near the water and must be rich. No I am not rich, I work eighteen hour days and sleep 4 to 5 hours an night because I happen to believe my work is worth it. I also want to make sure when you awake each morning to see my "bad art" there will be plenty of new stuff for you not to like as you peruse my site!

Danke

Thanks Mary

Thanks for all the radio press, Mary! God Bless.

103.9 WFAS--- Westchester

good art

Good art..Is there such an animal or is it all in the eye of the beholder? Everyone's baby is beautiful isn't it?----- Ehhhh Non! Good art is a reflection of a travel, a journey, a token left behind by a soul well worn, a guidepost for those who follow behind... As far as those who paint on Sundays in the park for pleasure, that is good art simply because it is made by it's creator with love---Its purpose is not to show off or to obtain fame or impress neighbors; it comes from the pure place. But for those whose call themselves ARTISTS and at least appear to walk the jagged path of brutal, unyielding dedication to the arts, there are those still who unfortunately give birth to the lopsided drooling child known as "bad art." The main cause of bad art, methinks, is a life un- lived, a sheltered brain and a coward's heart. An artist should be seasoned by the rain and the streets and the rot and the rust and the ashes and the dust. An artist should have seen his share of dark corners and broken mornings and hopeless evenings. The trick then, my friend--- which is also the hardest part of the game we call art, Is to pick ones bruised and battered bones up from the curb and render forth with precision the vague memories of your own private time in the gutter.

alex

Pandoras Box

This is my first (and hopefully not last) masterpiece. I do not care what anybody on the side of god's earth tells me-- this is better than most Redon's, better than almost all Kubin's, and better than some Dali's. It is in a gallery in NYC and very expensive so dont ask about price unless you are a very serious collector. The date says 1994 but I believe I painted it in 1992. This piece was painted before I entered art school and got me in a good gallery as well.

Victory

Today we achieved a victory of Napoleonic proportions! My assistant and I finally mailed all the work requested by clients starting from may 17. We mailed over 600 pieces by our latest estimates and we know all the postal employees by name. There are the new requests to deal with but that is easily handled and now I can begin to paint and create again and do what I am useful for. We still have art for anyone who wants it, simply follow instructions atop blog. I can focus now on paintings and and other work I have been seriously neglecting. I will be posting new work each day but it will be less sketches and more finished work and paintings. We thank every single person who bought art and helped us create this reality. We will create an ongoing mailing list of customers so if you purchased art with a check please email us so we can put you in a data bank. If you are new to the site please give us your email via the guestbook and we will give you updates etc. We have an upcoming painting event in NYC this month we will release that info soon.

thanks,

alex

Beer Label

Ten years ago I was commisioned to make beer labels for a brewery. The labels wound up looking great but the beer was not so good (so no more brewery.) This was the interior painting for the label of a beer called Bayman's Bock. I still have the label designs and will post them for you to see later. I learned a lot about long island as each beer label was based on a specific part of long island culture. One part of long island culture I learned a lot about was "never hand in a new illustration until they pay the wampum owed for the last illustration"---Chief lesson learned.

Bar Napkin

I would never post something like a bar nap- drawing or a doodle if I didn't think there was something to the drawing. I drew this somewhere between Amsterdam and Tequila in NYC. I don't really know why but on the back I titled this piece "the sadness of summer." I am pretty sure I am the creator of this because I signed it as well as woke up with it in my pocket. Drink is not good for most artist as it dulls the senses and most artist have little sense to begin with. I have plenty of sense and the constitution of an american indian, therefore alex doesnt mind the occasional beer after twelve hours at the easel.

rare piece

Here is one of the few remaining dancers (after degas) from my youth. It was also the first piece I sold and the buyer never paid the ten dollars! If you want this piece it is up on ebay soon or you can email me. it does have a bit of an age spot upper left but it is a fine specimen of my teenage degas studies. If should sell for about $200.00.

alex

link below:

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290130489311&lk=URL

feedback

Hi Alex,

I got it on Saturday! They are BEAUTIFUL pieces and I love them! Exactly what I was hoping for. Thanks so much! They're going to look gorgeous when I frame them - not that they aren't gorgeous now!

Cheers,

-Kelli

Shower Door

I etched this shower door many moons ago for a gallery owner. It is the sphinx from greek mythology. (Sorry the photo is not a bit clearer.)

Happy Monday

We have some remaining shipping to go out today and then I can focus on making art again. I may be posting a bit less art but it will be more finished work. I have some Landscapes, seascapes, dancers lined up to paint and I am looking forward to hitting the easel. I have hired models as well including a professional ballerina. I figured out how to install a guest book on the site so people can sign in and a counter so I can see how many people a day view this self-important tripe. I am sure I will still come across some old sketches and drawings but I am excited to start posting new pieces. I have a second website going up this month that will give a broader view of my work as I find the blog format kind of linear.

Happy Father's Day

"At the age of six I wanted to be Napoleon- And I wasn't. At the age of fifteen I wanted to be Dali and I have been. At the age of tewnty-five I wanted to become the most sensational painter in the world and I achieved it. At thirty-five I wanted to affirm my life by success and I attained it. Now at forty-five I want to paint a masterpiece and to save Modern Art from chaos and laziness. I will succeed! This book is consecrated to this crusade and I dedicate it to all the young who have faith in true painting." Salvador Dali