State Island

Sorry for delay, I got a last minute book cover deadline from the yellow pages. done soon

NYC

I have to go into NYC for business today, will try to put up some work before I leave and when I get back. I doodled this last night when I was on the phone and I kind of liked it so I posted it. Sometimes it works not to pay attention to what you are doing...

nice letter from a customer

I post these because they make me feel good not for any other reason...

Dear Alex and Jacqueline,

I came into the jewelry store this morning and saw my package from you on my desk, I did a happy dance... then I opened it and was completely struck by the beauty of the pieces. Ophelia was as beautiful as I had hoped and the other two pictures are amazing. The nude angel on the beach was more than I could of asked for, it was as if you knew me, I feel like that angel on the beach!! Thank you for your kindness and for giving people like me a chance to own something unique and original from such a cool talent and just nice guy. This will not be the last you hear from me, as soon as I can afford another one I will and I go to your site everyday to see what you are doing.

Your Only Missouri Fan (is that still true?),

Maria

Cartoons

My entire life, even as a child, my sketchbooks would have a few pages of "serious" works and life studies and then I would have a few pages of "cartoons." In the renaissance "cartoons" were the original drawings and studies that were made for works that would later be painted as more finished works. I never really personally resolved where "cartoons" fit into fine art...I don't really care for lichenstein and the whole comic book rip-off thing style of art. I usually separate my cartoons from my "fine art." This is a panel from a strip I made and almost sold to king features syndicate about 7 years ago. I am selling these original panels on ebay. Note: nobody uses those paste on background dots anymore--computers took that over)

These panels are very labor intensive...you can own the fruits of labor:


http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290133912546&lk=URL

ebay

I have 7 new pieces in my ebay store--(you can click on link to the right top of blog to go to the store.)


I will try to have 20 pieces up by day's end.

Moonlight Flight

Here is a large watercolor of a moonlight flight. Sometimes my cranium is thicker than cheese as I never really figured out that my moonlight paintings were basically my "Strange World" series except in nocturnal versions...Did anyone else know this. I pretty much never know what I am painting or why. I think if you know what you are doing you are doing it wrong. I remember the great painter Albert Ryder once said he felt like a caterpillar on the end of a branch, reaching out to nothing. I often feel like that in art. I often finish a painting and say "what the hell was that journey all about?" But for the good works you always find out later why you painted them.


link to buy:

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290133892828&lk=URL

Ouroboros

The Ouroboros, is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon swallowing its own tail and forming a circle. It has been used to represent many things over the ages, but it most generally symbolizes ideas of cyclicality, primordial unity, or the vicious circle. The ouroboros has been important in religious and mythological symbolism, but has also been frequently used in alchemical illustrations. More recently, it has been interpreted by psychologists, such as Carl Jung, as having an archetypal significance to the human psyche.

link to buy:
http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290133856055&lk=URL

Here is a watercolor I made on the beach of the sun breaking through the clouds. It was a quick study as I did not have a camera to take a photo. It is almost abstracted.


8 x 10




link to buy:



http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290133819543&lk=URL

June 28

Good morning...I normally spend thursdays in my brooklyn studio. Today I am not going to brooklyn and will be working on art and uploading work to site and ebay.

Here comes the flood

I estimate that I have drawn or painted over 500 pieces of art while playing this peter gabriel tune. You have to sit through the odd introduction. You tube doesn't let click on the link so I guess you have to copy and paste it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Z9mTlllPo&mode=related&search=

400th Post.

This is my 400th Post to this site. After a 15 hour day it means I can take a break. I guess I should say something worthwhile...


"walk not the well-wrought path of the cynical." gardega

Tuna Fishing

Sold $50.00


I painted this after painting an intensely focused/ realistic watercolor of a group of fishermen. I was planning on painting a second realistic watercolor but I was exhausted and didn't have it in me to concentrate for another hour--- so I just made something up out of my head.

alex

buy it below for $50.00 ---

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290133720717&lk=URL

Moonlight Sonata

Beethoven wrote a great masterpiece widely known as "moonlight sonata" The true name is sonata no.14 "Quasi una fantasia." italian translation ---"like a fantasy" This song is great to paint to and I recommend it for all humans and geniuses. Singing can be very distracting to paint to at times so voiceless music is best.

buy below:

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290133691993&lk=URL

Cynical

I get the occasional note that my outlook and site has become cynical. I chalk that up to too many long days in Post Offices. Now I can breathe again and promise to complain less. Alex cannot promise though that the noble color of self-aggrandizement will be wiped from his palette.

Archaic Genius

Genius is not enough. One's genius must be timeless and yet entirely of it's time. Ones work should bear the undeniable genius of the Limulus polyphemus (horseshoe crab.) It is the humble horseshoe crab whose noble blue blood holds the key to curing cancer just as my work is the cure for the psychic cancer of contemporary art.

Rarefied Air

"Greatness is a rarefied air one must be taught to breathe."--Lionel Luthor

Alex gets interviewed.

I just did an interview for a great art website called New York Artist Series.


http://www.newyorkartistseries.com/mambo/

thanks joe...



Ten dollar art keeps on chugging along and I thank everyone regardless if you spent 10 dollars or 10,000 dollars on my art!

Artist at Work

The surreal and classical mind of Alex is often best not enclosed in the confines of a square studio. Alex much prefers the nouveau inspired outdoors which are illuminated by God's lighting. I have no use for indoor illumination nor flash photography.


Photo by Jacqueline.

Strange World---the halo remains

I never realized that this piece was the logical progression from the Halo clouds piece. Here you can see the remains of the Halos as they drift away into the sky.

Strange World---halo clouds

Cant keep my eyes from the circling skies----david gilmour

This is a fine examples of my "Strange World" series. I painted these on the beach in Los Angeles on Thanksgiving but that is a thrice told tale. Art can be used to transport one into a different emotional state. That is when art works. For me this piece works and works well.

15 x 22 watercolor on paper.

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290133827026&lk=URL



$200.00 for sale.

two fisherman

I try to make a habit of doing one watercolor every sunset. Sometimes I am in the mood and sometimes I have to force myself to do it after a long day of work. If you do not fully commit yourself to a watercolor they will look half-ass. I am most influenced by japanese zen painting when it comes to my watercolors. I try to think about nothing when I paint them. This was painted yesterday on Makinaw beach.... It seems to be a pretty good fishing spot. The only fishing I do is deep into the well of alex searching for the genius to guide my hand through the dark cave of modern art. I try to paint from life and never bring my camera as painting from a photo is for the weak.

Happy Birthday Monika

Good Morning

Hey--big day with assistant today. We had a few contacts from some people who have not received their art yet. Rest assured that any late orders will be handled today...Someone mentioned that I have been posting less actual pieces so I thought I would reply---I am trying to focus now on more substantial works (oils and watercolors.) After packing and shipping over 600 drawings I have come to this conclusion honestly. I will try to get two to three decent pieces up a day and of course some genius dribble as well. I am still selling some ten dollar works if anyone wants to mail me a check or paypal. I have a new website coming on line by the end of the month, not up yet but it will be a chance to view my work in a less linear fashion...

Sheep Jumper

This was a magazine illustration (front cover) which I later colored in the computer. It was my idea to do a twist on the old counting sheep thing. I don't mind the occasional sense of humor in in art...especially when it spills from the pen of undiluted genius. Artists with a good sense of humor are rarer than a white rhino--- Charlie Addams was one of the great minds of the 20th century.

I'm back

Dropped off art for a client in NYC. Hot day in NYC--- much better than a cold day. Let me get myself together and I will post and paint some more.

alex

Fishing off Makinaw beach

SOLD 300.00

This is the best watercolor I have done to date. I made this at sunset tonight and feel it is the next step for me as far as watercolors. This was not done from a photo, it was done from real life. The addition of the rod to lower left was a risk that could have ruined the picture but it worked out.

Here comes the flood

SOLD 250.00

When the night shows
The signals grow on radios
All the strange things
They come and go, as early warnings
Stranded starfish have no place to hide
Still waiting for the swollen easter tide
Theres no point in direction we cannot even choose a side.

I took the old track
The hollow shoulder, across the waters
On the tall cliffs
They were getting older, sons and daughters
The jaded underworld was riding high
Waves of steel hurled metal at the sky
And as the nail sunk in the cloud, the rain was warm and soaked the crowd.

Lord, here comes the flood
Well say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
In any still alive
Itll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, youre running dry.

When the flood calls,
You have no home, you have no walls
In the thunder crash
Youre a thousand minds, within a flash
Dont be afraid to cry at what you see
The actors gone, theres only you and me
And if we break before the dawn, theyll use up what we used to be.

Lord, here comes the flood
Well say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again, the seas are silent
In any still alive
Itll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, youre running dry.


peter gabriel

Good Morning America

Big day of painting and posting. If you are missing or waiting for work, give it to the end of the week as a handful of few orders still need to be shipped. My assistant is here today so email any questions as they will be answered correctly instead of some jumbled reply by myself.

Saki Bottle watercolor

I painted this today. At first I thought it was an utter failure and then I decided there is something I like about the piece even though I can't say what. I guess its kind of happier than most things I paint or draw. It is a bit whimsical But I wasn't trying for any style. I guess if you are painting a picture of a saki bottle your instinct leads to you to a bit of a oriental stylization in the execution of the piece.

Crab Meadow beach (fall)

Here is a study of crab meadow beach I made last fall. I like the beach when the crowds have gone for the season and the weather starts to change. Sometimes I am just trying to capture a meadow and not very worried about detail. Most of my oil studies are basically personal notes to myself made in oil. I never really intended to show or sell these.

Oil Study---Northport (looking west)

Here is an oil study made on the beach in northport. I took my kayak here and did a watercolor study then made an oil back at my studio. I am in process of learning to photograph art better---It is much more vibrant than shown here.

click below to purchase:

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=87404769&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=290132497467&lk=URL

Color of the day---Veronese Green

Originally called Emerald Green it was extremely toxic in its original form which contained Arsenic. It was used in early Wallpaper production and this caused many deaths! Dali called it the Venus of all colors and said it "possessed the secrets of everything that comes from the sea." I love the meat-brained critics who knock Dali down to the level of "dorm-art" they are not fit to shine his shoes (which were probably made of bread and therefore hard to shine anyways.)Back to V. green----It was much favored by the impessionistos and it is brighter and bluer than cadmium green.

My Palette

I have always kept a chaotic pallete. Order and beauty come out of chaos. This one has seen its last days...If anyone wants it you can have it although I don't know why you would want it--- I would like to own an Dali original palette...I could sign it...The price is a large wooden palette to replace this one...

Gunthers Bar

Here is a photo I took yesterday of Gunthers bar in Northport. Again, this was Jack Kerouac's watering hole after he returned to live with his mom after being "on the road." I did not notice the floating "talking head" on the TV set until later. I like old places and old houses and old paintings. Things that feel "lived in." I had a professor once who decided he wanted to do a bunch of bar paintings and although he is a very accomplished painter he had never once stepped into a bar in his life. (much less a dive bar.) I am guessing the paintings were less than believable. As Hemingway said "write what you know." How are you going to catch the despair of an old feeble drunk if you are sipping on Shirley Temples---You are better off painting melons in your studio.

good morning

Yesterday was a lazy day for me...today we will be deep in the work.