Ode to Artemisia Gentileschi, 1593 – c. 1656.
Category: Art
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Woman plays Lute
Woman Plays Lute, pastels -
Barcelona Jazz! Paintings
A celebration of two outstanding elements of Barcelona’s culture, jazz and Gaudi’s innovative designs at Casa Mila. The main, larger section represents the architecture, an inset the club scene, based on original on site pen and ink drawings at the Palau de la Musica. The brightness of the colors matches that of the music, the dance and movement the fullness of participation and unity.
Gaudi Jazz, acrylics, 40 x 30 xm, 11.5 x 16.5″ 
Gaudi Jazz, prints only -
Portrait of Young Man, pastels, after the Rubens sketch
Portrait of Young Man, pastels, after the Rubens sketch. Rubens and other artists of the time would use the same figure in multiple paintings.
Portrait of Young Man, pastels, after the Rubens sketch -
Madam X
This is my pastel of the famous John Singer Sargent painting title Madam X. It was quite controversial at the time since she was portrayed with bare shoulders. She begging him not to display it but he refused but it came to be known as Madam X. At his peak Sargent earned the equivalent of over $1M for a portrait. There is an excellent collection at the Metropolitan in NYC.
Madam X, pastels (pan and soft) -
Drawing the models
I work on drawing the human form most when I am in Valencia where I can arrange for models in my studio or join other groups. Here are two recent efforts. There are 20 minute efforts.
Seated model digital 
Seated model in conte crayon -
Fiddler On the Hoof
Rich, indeed! (I made a funny!) Digital painting of a horse, ridden by the fiddler.
Fiddle On the Hoof -
English Woman, charcoal portrait
At a bar in the Russafa neighborhood of Valencia I did this charcoal portrait of an English woman.
English Woman, charcoal 
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Trains!
We often travel by train. Our most exotic trip was the 54 hour journey on the rickety train between Tanzania and Zambia. Train museums always merit a visit.
Steam engine in a park in Graz, pen and ink 
Dog Waits for Train to Soller from Palma de Mallorca, pen and ink 
Train to Soller from Palma de Mallorca, pen and ink 
Train from Dar Es Salam to Zambia, watercolor Contact me for prices on originals and prints
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Us in a field in Pennsylvania
Us In a Field in Pennsylvania, digital painting
Us in a field in Pennsylvania -
Matteo
Matteo was my mother’s brother. He was born in Partanna, Sicily in 1893. His last name differed from his siblings. This anomaly has been prodding my curiosity for several years. Recently I wrote to Partanna to request his birth certificate. Unlike others I’d received, this one did not show his parents. Then I requested a copy of his Social Security application. There he named his father. Assuming he had the facts correct, now we know his father’s name. But what happened to his father? His mother, my grandmother, remarried when Matteo was around 5 years old.
Matteo (Matthew) Calzanera, 1893-1960. Digital portrait He immigrated in 1915. I remember him teaching me to use utensils the continental way, fork in left and knife in right, and now switching back and forth. He was a very quiet guy as I recall him. My brother me he was quite active in the garment workers union in NYC, as was his sister Anna (Annette). He married a woman named Nellie who died in the early 1940’s. I think they married in Newark, at least I found a record of a Matthew and Nellie in the marriage records and as this is a uncommon combination of names it’s likely to be them. He died when I about 10 years old.
