A Winter Heart

I'm just showing this one because Kathy liked it enough to frame it. It was done in 2003. I'm appallingly ignorant about Oriental culture and history. Kathy, however, lived in Japan for some time and fell in love with the country, so I did this picture for her. In my complete ignorance, this is merely how I imagined a woman from some vague past might have looked.

Merry Christmas!

From Potter's Sketchbook to you, here's hoping you have a most Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Herodias

Here is an image created in 2005. There's a small and uninteresting story about the origin of this piece and it's odd that I should remember it so vividly. I was in the attic one afternoon when the receding sunlight, playing upon a wall, made a transitory and haunting image of a woman's face in profile. I tried copying that face before it disappeared and later used that copy as a guide for the face of Herodias. The painting may not be much to look at, especially in reproduction since I'm so terrible at photographing my works, and even though I can't take credit for it since all I did was copy old Sol's artistic effort, I have to confess that even after all these years I still like the effect of that profile.

A Good Egg, All in All

Here's a piece done in 2006. Sarah would have been too old for fairy tales then, so I don't know what led me to paint what is supposed to be Humpty Dumpty. I doubt even all the king's horses and all the king's men would know either.

When He Returns

This painting was done in 2007 and is based on a photograph by my sister-in-law, Barb Stork. It shows a young Sarah with a dog named Patches. The photograph, like all of Barb's images, is striking, which is one reason Kathy wanted me to make a painting of it. As for the painting itself, for some reason I can't comprehend, there's something about it (maybe the light?) that reminds me of John Singer Sargent, even though this piece is woefully beneath his awe-inspiring abilities. As I told Kathy when we stumbled upon this long-forgotten work in the attic, it looks like something Sargent might have painted if Sargent didn't know how to paint. Still, as previously mentioned, the Barb Stork photograph it's based on is impressive. You can see some of Barb's work by visiting her website at www.barbstork.com. You'll be glad you did!

Four Days After

I haven't painted in what feels like ages, so I disinterred an old piece of canvas and started daubing oil paints on it with no idea or plan in mind. Unlike doodling with a pencil, one cannot take oil paints for a casual ramble and let them completely lead the way and go where they will, otherwise I'd blame the paints for the colors being too sweet. Since I'm not a very good photographer, the colors in this post are more candy-colored than the original, but even the original's colors are a bit over the top. Still, it was wonderful just holding a paintbrush again and I hope to do another painting before this century ends.

Spring Heeled Jack 2

Well, the fine folks at Sparkle Comics have just released the second issue of "Spring Heeled Jack." I did both the art and writing for this comic book and it was originally self-published back in 2006. Enough time has passed that I'm almost able to read the book disinterestedly... almost. The artwork is worse than I remember but the storytelling, although heavy-handed and self-conscious, among other faults, isn't as bad as I feared. This is certainly not something that will survive the ages, but it does provide a quick and inoffensive diversion. Jason Gilmore did the stunning color for the cover. I cannot praise him enough. Juliet Fromholt did the print formatting. I remember only printing a few copies of this issue in 2006 since I had a terrible time getting the pages aligned for printing. Her accomplishment amazes me. And Matthew Brassfield, Sparkle Comics' editor-in-chief, is the one responsible for this reissue. He's planning on releasing other pre-Sparkle works by the other Sparkle Comics staff. They're sure to be a delight! You can see all the Sparkle Comics' released titles by going to www.sparklecomics.com.