The Junk Squad Painting

This is a painting I started several years ago. It is of myself and 3 of my best friends from college, David Stickney, Tom Mulrey and Josh Hayes. We were known in college collectively as "The Junk Squad", (which is a long story in itself).  The painting is based on a photo that was taken many years after college, when we all happened to be visiting another friend of ours for an annual brush-burning party. As the years passed and we had all gone our separate ways, the opportunities for these kind of group photos became less and less. I wanted to commemorate the gathering and the friendship with something with a bit more feeling than a snapshot, so I started this 16" x 20" acrylic on canvas painting.
But before I was able to finish it, I got sidetracked with one thing or another, and before I knew it several years had passed. Then our friend Dave, (on the far left), got sick and died last year.
On the anniversary of his passing this year, I was finally compelled to finish it off.
Time and friends, often slip away from us while we aren't paying attention.

I'm Sixty?

This is a cartoon sketch that I did several months ago. I turned 60 this year, but it has also been a very traumatic and difficult year for a lot of different reasons, including the death of my best friend, Covid-19, and separation from my wife Amy.

The irony of this cartoon, is that when I drew it, I had no idea that my wife was planning on leaving me, and was literally the only thing keeping me sane.

Ipswich Girl, 1898

 Pen and ink drawing of a young girl from Ipswich, MA. Based on a print made from a glass-plate negative taken by Edward Darling (1874 – 1962), one of the earliest Ipswich photographers.

Some Small Paintings

 Here are some small ( 3.5" x 5") paintings I did recently. One is of my wife Amy, and the other is of my friend Dave. They are acrylic on canvas.

Early Childhood Art

 I was cleaning out a box of old papers this week and came across several old drawings that my mother saved from my childhood, and mailed to me before she died. The first one is a scene of Roman soldiers marching through a mountainous terrain. Probably drew this when I was 7 or 8 years old. It may have been inspired by watching "Ben Hur" which was an annual movie favorite at Easter (and still is).

 

 The next one is of a super-hero trio of Superman, Batman and Captain America. These are the 1960's versions of the superheroes, when Superman was straightforward and totally lacking angst, Batman was the Adam West TV Batman, not the "Dark Knight" of later iterations, and when Captain America, was, (well still is), a patriotic boy scout.

 

The final one is from much later, probably from about 1975. At this point I was drawing in pen and ink, and mostly practicing drawing by copying photos of celebrities from "TV Guide" and "People" magazine. You might be able to discern people such as Peter Sellers, Lloyd Bridges, John Denver, Al Pacino, and Dennis Weaver.

 

 You can see a transition from drawing out of my head, to more representational portraiture from photos. Today my stuff is somewhere in between the two.