Ed Ruscha

Here's another of Ed Ruscha, from around the same time as the one of Paul. It was part of series I did several years ago of artists, actors and friends. Each person sat for me for no more than 2 hours (by design), and everyone was "treated' similarly, small and "cropped" like this one. I always liked this one of Ed, but it's owned by artist Don Bachardy, so I only had a small image to post from a photo. BTW, Don Bachardy's one of the best portraitists alive today. He painted mine twice, one 20 years ago and once recently. 

1988, Oil on Paper, image size, 6" x 8" approx.  

Paul Ruscha

Oil on Paper, approx. 12 x 18  Collection Paul Ruscha

I've been revisiting things lately. This is a relatively recent book by Paul Ruscha, the brother of artist Ed Ruscha, and an old friend of mine. Paul's a terrific artist and photographer in his own right, and here in his own WRITE, is a great recollection of his collections. The cover is a painting I did many years ago of Paul. He sat for me several times and slept through this sitting. It was his favorite and he's long owned it, and I was a pleasantly surprised to discover it was used as the cover.

It's a witty, funny and wonderfully written book. I recommend it to anyone, even if I weren't also mentioned within it. The stories about other artists are far more compelling than the brief one about me.

The image of the book here isn't so great; I attached one from an old slide I found. 

If you click on Paul's name at the top, it'll link to an Amazon page on the book.

2 Lemons

Not quite the same style as I've been doing lately, but I may go more this way for a while. Shake things up. For me anyway.

Oil on Board, 8 x 10. Private Collection

Curbs

Here's a detail of the painting below:

Curbs

I've never known what to call this series of paintings that I've done off an on for many years now. Some say "curb thingies", or curbsides. I usually refer to them as Street Still Lifes. Here's one.

Ten Years Later, Oil on Wood, 30 x 48

Persimmons

I had to replace one of the persimmons since they had all started to rot, but was able to finish it with my broken thumb still making it tough to hold a brush for long. But now my thumb's almost healed while the persimmons are long gone. What a fascinating story, huh? Riveting.

Oil on Board, 12 x 18