"Shaken Not Stirred"16 x 20 - Oil on cradled panel

This is another of the paintings that will be in the show at the Peter McPhee Fine Arts Gallery opening July 3rd from 7pm to 10pm in Stone Harbor. If you are in the area stop in for wine and hors d'oeuvres and some great artwork. The show runs from July 3rd to Aug. 4th. Hope to see you there!

"Tomatoes and Basil"

16 x 20 - Oil on Cradled Panel

This painting is being added to the paintings going into a group show that I am in at the Peter McPhee Fine Arts Gallery in Stone Harbor, NJ. Showing with me are award winning painters Miro Sinovcic, Michael Rocco and Ron Orlando. The show is scheduled to open on July 3rd from 7pm to 10 pm and will run through August 4th. I hope to see you there...Stone Harbor is a beautiful Jersey Shore town and is a nice little getaway destination.

"Scolapasta"

12" x 24"

Oil on cradled panel
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The Italian word for colander is scolapasta...hence the title of the painting. And to define the word a little further, scola means drain and pasta...well, means pasta. The hardest part about this painting was getting all the little holes to fall in the right position within each circle of holes and having them lie in the right perspective as they went around the colander.

"Venice Canal"

24" x 30"

oil on linen

Venice is a magical city with picture postcard scenes every time you turn a corner. This is one of those little slices of beauty that I came across while visiting a couple of years back. I have been meaning to do a painting of a Venice canal for a while but I never got around to it until now.

"The Harlem Meer"

12 x 24
oil on cradled panel

Last autumn I was at the up at the northern end of Central Park at the Harlem Meer (Meer is Dutch for lake) with my friend Patricia Peterson who is a wonderful artist. I had never been to that part of the Park before and was astonished at how beautiful it was. Besides the lake there are beautiful gardens and fountains and pathways to see. Patricia and I painted there for a few hours until it got too cold. I later finished this painting in the studio. I tried to not to be too tight in my brush strokes but don't know if I have achieved that. Landscape painting is not something that I do very often but I am hoping that the more I do it the looser I will become.

"Limoncello"16 x 20
oil on cradled panel
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I had fun painting this one but the lemons died several times before it got done. There was too much "life stuff" that got in the way before I was able to finish this one. A little background about the subject matter...the Deruta ceramic wine pitcher was given to my family by one of our cousins in Rome. We had gone to a beautiful restaurant in Castel Gandolfo where the Pope makes his summer residence and my mother expressed an admiration for the pitcher the house wine came in. Eugenio, our cousin, never letting an opportunity to please go by, went to the waiter and asked to buy the pitcher for my mother...a lovely present and wonderful remembrance. The whole set-up reminded me of the Italian liquor called Limoncello that my cousins make with the lemons from their lemon tree. The scarf is actually my daughter's that she bought while studying in Italy...I don't even think she knows I have it...

"Apple Basket"

16 x 18

Oil on cradled board

This is my latest painting. Again, I used one of my mother's treasures, a ceramic basket. Painting these things gives me some kind of connection to her and the past. I'm sure she would be happy knowing I used one of her favorite bowls.

"Chianti and Figs"

16 x 20

Oil on Cradled Board

I had started this one a while ago but just finished it the other day. I kept switching different things in and out of this set up until I settled what you see now. My intention was to work with the colors purple and green...so that limited me as to what I could put in the painting. I actually started out with the artichoke because it was so beautiful and then added the old fashioned Chianti bottle and on and on from there.