Maine Men
watercolor, 22 x 22 inches, 2024
Seed Catalogs
watercolor, 30 x 17, 1999
Christmas, 2a.m. with Kate
watercolor, 21 x 29 inches, 1995
Northwoods Canoe
watercolor, 1997, 11 x 17
The Quarry
drybrush/watercolor, 1996
painting interesting things
Painting interesting things has an inherent problem. Those interesting things are already, well, interesting. A tattooed woman is fascinating by herself and maybe a photo of her would be interesting as a beautiful record. But I feel a painting needs to be more.
Picasso, again and again
Picasso is worth looking at, again and again, though the world seems divided on that thought. Oh, his brush work is simplistic compared to Rembrandt. His use of color can’t compare with the mastery of a Cezanne still life, a Klimt or Matisse. Though precocious early with art skills he can’t compare with Bouguereau for beautiful rendering. And as for gritty anguish, Scheille or Van Gogh give him a serious run for his money.
Labels are clever but, at least in the arts, they do us a disservice. All too often we stop really looking once we have labelled, catalogued and shelved an artist. Picasso is a cubist. Done, boxed and packed neatly away.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_single_image image=”21249″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”right” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”link_image”][vc_column_text]charcoal on paper, 22 x 30, 2020 by Chris Cart [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text] “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] “I didn’t change the Constitution; the equality principle was there from the start. I just was an advocate […]
Art, a 5 step program
Art needs a strange alchemy of several factors. Imagination, skill, content, vision and perhaps, as some today are saying, empathy. None of these elements by itself is enough to become Art in CAPS. Imagination won’t suffice alone. Without skill riding shotgun, even the most imaginative idea runs the risk of poor execution, and perhaps wasting […]
Signature Style
Some artists perfect a signature style. Their work fits into one general theme or look, and as their work matures that style is honed into perfection. I have tried to do this but I can’t pin my head down. It wants to try different things. It doesn’t mean I don’t create true feelings, but for […]
Mermaid redo
I needed to repaint the mermaid in the Hallowell Mural. So here is a video of the redo. The mermaid is in the mural to reference our very own Slate’s restaurant which burned a number of years ago. And the Slates mermaid rose from the ashes like the proverbial phoenix.
Don’t call me a Fascist.
Dear Mr. President,
Don’t call me a fascist on this 4th of July. I am an American.
People are crying, “Something is wrong. All is not right.” I have listened. You have not.
If my black friends and brothers are saying equality is not here, I will listen. If my gay brother is in pain, I will listen. If my Latino brother says all is not well, I will listen. If my wife and my daughter and my sister say equality is not here, I will listen. I love them; I trust them, so I will listen — as they would listen to me, if I said all is not right, because they love and trust me in return. You have not listened.
Hallowell Mural Website
There is a new website for the Hallowell Mural Project, the 700 square foot mural for downtown Hallowell, Maine. You can see it here: https://hallowellmural.org/ A few small details of the work in progress.
Summer Comes Slow This Year
Summer Comes Slow This Year For Bev Bevilacqua Thick coastal grove of pine,limbs twisted, entwined.close kin branches, needles warp and weft,failing, sieve like, to hold their resin scent. Endless sea breath, with her perfume tells,rent from futile needled clutches,salt and bay and juniper, as well. Yes, I see them cling theretheir roots up on that […]
Carnival mural, final
Jack and I finished the Carnival Mural, 14 x 28 ft. Here is the final full mural and some details. Enjoy.
Carny Mural – another update
Yesterday, we scarfed on a second piece of canvas to lay in the top 4 feet of the sky…a 14 x 28 foot arched mural. And I scrubbed in the first of the hot air balloon stuff going partly on the lower canvas part above. Painted basket on lower canvas, charcoal scribble on the bottom […]
Carny Mural-update
Jack and I have been on a serious push the last couple of weeks to get the Carnival Mural for Washington D.C. finished–due to hang on March 2. Here are some updates of progress.
Hallowell Mural Project
[thermometer] A 750 square foot mural for downtown Hallowell. Fundraising is going well for the project…about halfway to our goal to get this mural done. Here is a link to our Indiegogo Mural Campaign–just one source of funding: Hallowell Mural Project–You can contribute here.
James Matthews, enslaved man finds refuge in Hallowell.
—a color study for one figure in the Hallowell Mural. acrylic on panel, 24 x 18— In the ongoing Hallowell Mural research, Sam Webber, our grand historian, introduced me to the story of James Matthews—a man from South Carolina, born into slavery in 1808, who eventually escaped, making his way north to finally find refuge […]
Celebrity Mural
Work continues on, what, for now, we are calling the Celebrity Mural, because if includes the likes of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Ellen Degeneris, Marilyn Monroe..a cast of over 30 people of note. This is acrylic on canvas, about 8 x 34 feet. Oh did I mention, Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Samuel L Jackson, Princess […]