PINK is the NAVY BLUE of India

Have you noticed the bright balls of tissue paper pink hanging on the trees yet?
GET READY, it's just about the right time to see them.

One of the most beautiful cherry blossom trees in Chelsea, NYC, is on 8th avenue between 24 and 25 street. It should be in full bloom this week. What an awesome sight! Also worth noting in Newark, NJ, a spectacular grouping of cherry blossom trees in Branch Brook Park, that I don't think have opened yet...
http://newark1.com/branchbrook/

Historically pink was actually a color used for infant boys. It referred back to the British minute men of the civil war and the tinge of red was borne from the brave red coats... Blue was the female infant's color since it referred to the pure Virgin Mary's mantle. Funny how times and attitudes change. But I am a big believer in PINK!

Yes the famous quote by Diana Vreeland heads this post. Remember Robert Redford wearing a pink shirt in one of his films - was it The Great Gatsby?

Years ago I bought a painting for $5.00 on the street in Greenwich Village. Every year this time I take it out to admire a very ambitious rendering of the cherry blossom trees that an unknown artist depicted.
It is one of my favorite paintings. Stay tuned here. I will post it next week when the blossoms really appear.

I say it's time for pink to have a come back! Where is the chivalry of our times?

At least we can act like it exists...

hmm do I feel an inkling for a pink painting....

until then here is a photo I shot of "my hood" in downtown brooklyn recently, on a lovely PINK morning:
PINK BROOKLYN

 

After Winter Tempest, Magical Spring

A calm Spring. It is all we can hope for isn't it? Winter has taken a toll on us in the USA, but also terrible things happened globally - the tragedy in Japan, the flood in Australia. 

As though that were not bad enough, the economy continues to tank and more and more people find it difficult to make a living. Every week I hear about someone being layed off.  The stress level is beyond imagining.

My God, the times we live in! How does one keep it together? 
Art. 
Beauty. 
We can experience these for no cost. Their generous spirit feeds hungry souls wore out by an overworked world and a furious Gaia. They embody what is eternal and reflect the master of the universe himself.

Early Spring brought a new energy to me. I produced a new painting,  Relique of a Sunken Day. It is a large canvas, 4.5 x 6 feet, historic pigments and oil. The pigments used in this painting are  realgar (Pompei red, a deep orange color used often Pompein wall paintings), indigo, stack white, cinnabar, carbon black, lead-tin yellow, azurite and lapis lazuli. The medium used was a heat bodied walnut oil made by Jame C. Groves. I also used my own production of HB walnut oil. 

The congealing effect of Grove's HB oil imparts unique qualities into the oil paint enabling unusual freedom in the handling of paint akin to using a resin, however no resin is present, furthermore, it's qualities surpass stand oil's limitations. After years of research, I have found Mr. Grove's formulas to be of the best quality and performance and more successful than any historical formula that I have tried. Oil paint becomes workable in such a way as to achieve paint strokes as Rembrandt and others achieved, that could not otherwise be done in oil. I made a similar formula years ago using copal. I strongly recommend his product. Here is a link to his historic mediums:
http://www.jamescgroves.com/mediums.htm

Relique set me on a new path.  I am continuing this theme with new work. 

As the vernal equinox approaches, be kind to yourself. Take notice of the new light. Let it energize you. You'll be surprised what you can do...