THE SURPRISE VISIT & SECOND FLOOR

This is my latest addition, and well as my introduction to my blog... which I hope comprises the  personnal thoughts that go into one's Diary...  First, I'de like to give a brief background of my life,  and career.  At present I have lived long enough to become a Senior Citizen who finallly has the opportunity, through it may be a hard one, at times, to paint full-time.  For about thirty years before my transfer to painting I was a Graphic Designer who worked primarily for book publishers and magazines...  And had, I must admit, a charmed career... with companies  like Random House, Harper's Bazaar and Ms. Magazine, McCraw-Hill, after graduating from Cooper Union's  evening school.

In 2002 I decided to leave McCraw-Hill and start painting.  "THE SURPRISE VISIT" was one of my first attempts at a craft I though I had lost.  I had always dreamed of painting Jesus coming out of a subway.  This piece was in a show at the Marble Collegiate Church in 2011 and is in a private collection.

Yes, that is me in the photo.

size: 4 x 5 feet

I began to work on the "SECOND FLOOR" very shortly after I finished "SURPRISE VISIT".

It was the deciding facter on why I began painting houses of worship of all dominations.

I wanted very much to express the calmness people could appreciated in these buildings, the morality they could experience from the writings and music they found in its halls, ethics and justice that come from the sermons and the spirit of words.

The "SECOND FLOOR" was inspired from a photo I took of the women's floor of OC...  an othodox shul a few blocks from where I live that is easy to get to when in a rush.  The shul, on most Saturdays is only a-third full, and the ladies daven and talk, daven and talk.  That's how they keep up with the week's news and share recipes.  It is always very quiet, but through my imagination, the few times I have sit there either alone or with the few women,  I see the ceiling opening for a large breath of air. coming from the very depths of outer space, and tprayer books races out to the universe for refreshing... because they are free to do it in my mind.

size: 26 x 40 inches