Action figure

oil on canvas, 2006, 12x10in, approximate. private collection, toledo, ohio.

This painting's based on a photo of a cheap knockoff batman i found at a dollar store.

a little fun with design

Amused myself a little bit this week, designing a poster for my day job. And I did it the kind of old fashioned way, with MS word and sticky labels and scissors. Thinking about Saul Bass, I guess. See the link to the right for more about my day job. If you really must know more about my day job.

typical

Typical down and up and down night for the home opener/inaugural regular season game. Stupid balks.

Opening night

New Mets ballpark is official tonight, Mets hosting San Diego, Pelfrey throwing. He'll probably be a little overpumped and may have to settle in a little bit. Metsies are 3-3 coming off this road trip. Most encouraging signs so far: good pitching from Maine and Hernandez. I am enjoying sitting back for the long haul of the season and I am not particularly worried about any facet of the game. Not even Oliver Perez, who will probably not be a much different pitcher than the Jekyll/Hyde Ollie we've known since late '06. Not about RISP numbers; that will come around. And I'm certainly not worried about David Wright, and am sick of these manufactured issues about his hitting.

We'll see our first game in Queens in late May against the hated Marlins.

So let's go Mets!

big weekend

My son had a great birthday party on Saturday, at the Cosmic Cove on Atlantic near Smith. Carmelo the Science Fellow is terrific, and so are his assistants. He brought out a blue-tongued skink, a snake, some gerbils, and a bearded dragon lizard, and more importantly, he kept more than twenty four and five year-olds rapt...and in stitches. Perfect combination of silly and science.

We were given tickets to go to the Mets' workout at Citifield on Sunday, and although we ran a little late, we caught some batting practice and walked around enough to get a good feel for the new park. The concourse is as great as advertised, open to the field, lined with concessions and big bathrooms, and the center field area is great too, with all of Danny Meyer's properties, and the new Fan Fest area, picnic tables, and the bridge. We didn't have time to go up higher and check out the seats that we'll be able to afford, but we go to our first game on May 30th, and we'll be sitting in the Promenade. The Jackie Robinson Rotunda is a powerful tribute to that brave man and his legacy. The whole place just feels grand and intimate all at once, and although I have great affection for Shea, I am happy to see this park in Queens, and can't wait till it's rocking with Frankie on the mound in the ninth.

Which brings us to Opening Day today in Cincinnati, where the forecast is for snow, and Johan is on the hill. Let's go Mets!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

My son turns five today! Five years old. Holy crap!!! How does this happen so fast? He starts freakin' kindergarten in the fall, for crap's sake!

What a ride it's been! We are so incredibly fortunate to have such a great, healthy kid. Happy birthday, buddy.

more dancers

All images 2009, oil on panel, either 9x12 or 12x12 in.

Joy buzzer

2008, oil on canvas, 15x10in.

One of those weird little paintings I did last year that came from old comic book ads. Seems fitting for April first.

Dancers

2008-9 (work in progress), oil on canvas, 36x60in.

Evening dress

2009, oil on canvas on wood panel, @24x10in.

Houses

House with sidewalk, oil on panel, 12x9in.

House, oil on panel, 12x12in.

These little panels reach back to some work I was doing in the early nineties, very painterly work based on images of the neighborhoods where I grew up: small frame houses packed closely together, with little yards and driveways. When I found some images in a film of a woman walking along little streets like that, I felt like it would be a nice echo, to go back into some of that imagery through the b movie series.

Some new stuff and works in progress

Man with mirror, oil on panel, 20x24in.

Woman, man, woman, oil on panel, 20x24in.

Burlesque, oil on panel, 20x24in.

Sidewalk, oil on canvas, 22x28in.

Frightened woman, oil on panel, 20x24in.

Magic act, oil on canvas, 36x60in.

Woman talking to a man in a car, oil on panel, 24x20in.

Sad woman, oil on canvas, 18x18in.

Walking woman, oil on panel, 20x24in.

It was a good week in the studio. This is a sample of the works I started, most of which I will continue to work on in the coming months. And I'll post some other, smaller, recent work soon, too. Otherwise, you can see more here.

In the studio

One of the reasons I've worked the same day job for so long, is that I get a nice amount of time off. I work in an academic library, and you can get an idea of what I do there here, where I amuse myself by writing about movies and other things in our collection. I'm not a librarian, because I've never had the urge to get that particular degree, but an example of why I stick around is coming up: Spring Break is next week, and I plan to spend most of that time in the studio. I have eight panels ready to go, a smallish canvas, and a bigger canvas, and about fifteen other paintings in process, so I am hoping for a pretty productive week. Actually, I've got things in pretty good shape as you can tell from those numbers, so even if I don't do much more than belch in the studio, it will automatically qualify as a productive week.

by the way

I have posted some better images of the holiday cards here: http://patrickjewell.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html

Scroll down for them; they fill up the whole month of December, naturally.

this year's bday invite: five years old!

The five year-old edition: Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Candy.