Pitcher and batter

2007, oil on canvas, 14x16in.

Zipper

2004, charcoal, 11x15in.

Random

Santana's first Spring Training game today. I know it doesn't count. I know he'll only throw two innings. I try to never get too excited about the Grapefruit League. Still, this is cool. I am giddy. I did not think he would be playing in Queens this year.

***

A week ago, had the day off for snow. Took my son sledding in a gorgeous, dizzy snowstorm. I'd almost given up on this winter. And when the snow finally came, I almost fused some vertebrae on a corkscrew slide in the snow-covered playground. Didn't matter. We had a blast. Like McSweeney's, I highly recommend sledding with a 4-6 year-old if you get the chance.

***

A week before that, we took him to the Met, to see the knights and the Egyptians. I finally saw the newest Greek and Roman gallery, the final phase of a three-part renovation that began more than twelve years ago, when I was still wearing a guard's uniform there [and back then the guards wore quasi-military grey duds; they have much better dark suits now]. I have to go back to the Greek and Roman galleries with a sketchbook because my son was running out of patience by then, although he loved hearing the story of Hercules and the Nemean Lion. Lots of great pieces I'd never seen before that I have to go back and draw. Hellenistic sculpture is so much fun to draw, so curled and knotted and gnurled and gnarly, with such deep cuts and lively surfaces. Can't wait to get back and spend a few hours there.

***

I mentioned The Incredibles a while back as a movie my son loves that I don't mind watching over and over. Right now he's into The Lion King, which is great in a lot of ways, but I am going to try to steer him to something else next time he asks. On a related note, was glad to see Ratatouille win the Oscar. And Aardman's Flushed Away is a very underrated animated movie, which I've always figured didn't get its due because of the potty mouth title.

***

Recent memorable fortune cookie fortune:
When the moment comes, take the top one.

Beach

2004, charcoal, 11x15in.

Vanity

I was so modest then that I was vain.

--Willem de Kooning

Coffee

2007, oil on canvas, 16x18in.

Corner church

2003, oil on canvas, 64x64in.

How to paint

When you are afraid of producing too much painting, you will make a good painting.

Kung Hsien, 1619-1689

Prom

2003, oil on canvas, 54x60in.

Phone call

2004, pastel on paper, @5x6in.

Black dress pastel

2004, pastel on paper, @15x6in.

Black dress

2006, oil on canvas, 42x32in.

Guitarist

2005, monotype, 8x6in.

3 landscapes

Snowscape, 2004, pastel on paper, 22x30in.

Highway with blue car, 2004, watercolor, @3x5in.

Roadside, 2000, oil on canvas, 36x26in.

Throw

2004, pastel on paper, @ 12x10in.

2004, pastel on paper, @5x3in.

Spring training

2007, oil on canvas, 14x16in.

Mets pitchers and catchers report today. Johan arrived in Port St. Lucie yesterday.

Couple

2003, oil on canvas, 14x16in.

Divers

2006, acryilics on paper, 36x42in.

Shoppers

2004, charcoal on paper, 25x19in.

Scooter

2001, oil on paper, @22x16in.

Ghost Rider

When I was talking superhero movies yesterday, I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed Ghost Rider when I came across it on tv the other week. I was expecting it to be pretty bad, but ended up really enjoying it, so it makes my list of fun, but not great, comic book superhero movies. Strange, bad, funny performances by Nicolas Cage as flaming skullhead stunt biker and Peter Fonda as Mephistopheles (!).

But what was really the big revelation was that Ghost Rider completes the Sam Elliott trilogy, begun with the cheesy Patrick Swayze fightin' bartender actioner Roadhouse, and continued with The Big Lebowski, which needs no further comment from me. The Great Sam Elliott Trilogy consists of three films where he plays very similar mysterious/supernatural/badass/wryfull stranger characters. Nobody does it better. Lebowski, of course, is the best movie of the three, and I might rank Ghost Rider just a shade better than Roadhouse, but I withhold final judgment on that until I can see Ghost Rider a few more times, since I've probably seen the other two in their entirety about a half dozen times and have seen them in part a whole lot more n that. "More n that." See, I'm starting to sound like Sam Elliott.

Man in green parka

2004, pastel on paper, @12x6in.

It is very cold in Brooklyn today.

Directions

2000, oil on canvas, 26x36in.

I saw The Incredibles again a couple times this weekend with my 3 1/2 year-old son. Thankfully, most of the stuff that he likes to watch is fun for me to watch over and over. Especially The Incredibles, which I think is the best superhero movie out there, better than all of the best live-action ones, although I love the first two Spider-Mans, and some of the X-Men movies probably aren't too far behind. Maybe Hellboy, too. Tim Burton's Batmans I liked, but I'm not sure they've aged all that well [Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman notwithstanding]. After that, they were pretty much unwatchable until Batman Begins. And the first two Christopher Reeve Supermans are good movies, and really sweet, which seems like an odd thing to say about a superhero movie. But I'll take The Incredibles over all them, for the action, the comedy, the characters, the design, the affection of its satire, and really just the whole world it creates. Good stuff. Come to think of it, it's probably the best James Bond movie out there, too. And that's it for my monologuing.

Ohio turnpike

2001, oil on paper, 11x15in.

2002, oil on canvas, 40x48in.

Couch

2005, oil on canvas, 22x28in.

Zipper

2005, oil on canvas, 11x14in.

White truck

2003, oil on canvas, 30x36in.

Highway with yellow car

2004, watercolor, @3x5in.

Super Bowl ads

Actually, talking babies creep me out way more than clowns do.

A few words

I'm a painter, and I've been living and working in Brooklyn since 1991. I will be posting some images of my work on this blog, and writing about my work and other things (e.g. art, movies, the Mets, life in the big city) from time to time. There are a couple links to the right where you can see more of my work-- at my website you'll find about 45 different images, and at my page on Picasa you can browse through almost 350 images, mostly from the last five or six years.

More dancers

2006, acrylics on paper, 26x42in.

2006, acrylics on paper, 30x42in.

2005, oil on paper, 15x22in.

Coffee

2005, oil transfer on paper with charcoal and pastel, 16x18in.

3 cameras

2003, monotype with pastel, 6x8in.

Homecoming

2000, oil on canvas, 72x42in.

Snowscape

2004, pastel on paper, @11x15in.

Sunglasses

2005, monotype, 8x6in.