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Portraits

In addition to the flowers and the more strictly still life paintings, I am making portraits. I am not sure what I will do with these paintings as far as public display. In a certain sense, such subject are far from in vogue. And specific to my work, it has been devoid of people—which I’ve been told is preferred. Having said that, I am fully engaged in these works.

My interest in the portraiture is mostly in completing the “traditional” subjects of the academy and before. I am going to try and avoid history/allegory painting. Heroic subjects, to me, have the same problems as heroically scaled paintings for which the U.S. is know. They are symbols of excess in all senses. Sticking to a economy of scale, subject and means has been the driving concerns of my painting since 1995. And while I am making some “easel” size paintings, they are still on the smaller size (22 X 39 inches).