Nature constantly inspires! I’ve seen many lathe-turned wooden vessels whose shapes are similar to the body of this elegant shell.

Silverpoint is a drawing that is rendered with a wire of silver. This was used extensively during the Renaissance era, before the graphite pencil simplified things. The drawing surface must be “prepared” with a slightly textured formula that lightly abrades the silver. The metallic silver lines that are left will gradually tarnish (oxidize) to a sepia tone.

I prepare fine papers and panels with various tints of color: ocher, blue-gray, salmon-pink, green-gray and lavender. Visit my website to see a broader range of work in silverpoint and my other mediums.

This is drawn with a rod of silver on specially prepared fine art paper. Silverpoint pre-dates the graphite pencil as a drawing medium and was used extensively in the Renaissance era. With time the silver lines tarnish to their characteristic sepia tone.

Visit My Website for more on this and for a look at my home-made silverpoint drawing tools and box.

This is one of the newest paintings in my Meditations series of work with natural objects and glass spheres. I’ve never quite found the words to describe what this is about - and I’ve been creating these works since the mid-’90s…

Scattered throughout my studio are collections of beach stones, unusual seedpods, seashells and many other natural elements. I have a love of glass spheres, clear ones especially, and beautiful tools. They are elegant sculptures to me. These things aren’t just sitting there unseen. I’m aware of their presence and I pick them up, look at them and sometimes move them to a new place to later see them anew. So, naturally, I’m draw to them when the light shines into a glass sphere, or a feather or beach stone can stop me in my tracks as I’m walking through my studio. Simply profound.

So there you have another attempt to describe my ever-evolving Meditations series.

Please email me if you are interested in this painting.

As stated many times previously on this blog, silverpoint is a drawing medium that was used extensively during the Renaissance era; pre-graphite pencil. The drawing surface must be specially prepared to allow for the slight abrasion of the silver. The metallic lines that are left will gradually tarnish (oxidize) to a sepia tone.

I prepare my panels and fine papers with various tints of color: ocher, blue-gray, salmon-pink, green-gray and lavender. Please see other silverpoint drawings that have been posted here. Or, visit my website to see a broader range of work in silverpoint and my other mediums.

A good way to end the day is to draw in silverpoint. It has a calming effect. Seashells are a favorite subject of mine - and the more missing parts - the better.

I prepared fine art paper with a blue-gray tone and highlighted the drawing with white charcoal. A silverpoint is a drawing rendered with a silver stylus, i.e., a silver wire inserted into a holder. The drawing surface must be “prepared” with a coating that allows for a slight abrasion of the metal. With time, those metal lines will oxidize (tarnish) to their characteristic metallic sepia tone.

Please visit my website for a broader look at this Renaissance-era drawing medium.

I must have Summer on my mind. In this landscape I tried to capture those dreamlike feelings we get, brought on by something as easy as a walk in nature…spots of sunlight, fluttering leaves, a river flowing…

Please email me if you are interested in this painting.

These are some shapes I’ve been working on for some of the next mirror frames (see previous posts on these). It’s a tedious process involving lots and lots of sanding. I use the band saw to work out some free-form shapes, then hand-craft with an assortment of home-made sanding tools. Each piece has got to be beautiful on its own. Eventually I’ll work the rest of the mosaic around a few of these; not a pre-determined design. That would take the fun out of it for me.

You never know what will inspire you - in this case it was my lava lamp!

By now you’ve noticed that I have extensive bodies of work in three mediums: paint, silverpoint, and wood. “Fiesta” is the second in my developing series of fine art mirror frames. All of these are wood mosaics. I painted/dyed poplar wood panels before cutting the disks on a band saw. I then hand-beveled the edges using various grits of sandpaper, course to fine. I wanted to cut through the color, to encircle each disk with a ring of light wood.

The first mirror frame “Currents” was posted here on December 8, 2009. Other references to these are in the October 8 and September 22, 2009 posts.

Please email me if you are interested in buying this hand-crafted mirror frame.

This is an earlier silverpoint drawing from my collection, based on the painting “Head of a Boy” by Signorelli. I’m always trying new ways to use line.

Not For Sale yet.

When I began to work in silverpoint, way back in the ’80s, I selected familiar portraits from the Renaissance period and practiced my technique by copying them. (Silverpoint is a Renaissance-era drawing medium that predates the pencil. A silver wire is inserted in a wooden or metal holder and used as a drawing instrument. The silver lines will gradually tarnish to a warm sepia tone.) I still enjoy the practice of copying from the masters and drawing from my large collection of shells, skulls and many natural objects.

While drawing from DaVinci’s painting of Mona Lisa I saw that there are many “lifts” in the face: along the eyes, forehead, corners of the mouth, cheeks. The more you look, the more you see. Each time I draw this face, the seeing goes a little deeper.

I prepared the paper with a pale gray-green tone and used white charcoal for highlights. To learn more about silverpoint please visit My Website.

Please email me if you are interested in this drawing.