Farewell, Pygmalion. Farewell.

Here's a shot--from my easel--of the nearly finished first painting in my new series on Victorian actresses.

The art shows Mary Anderson in the title role of Galatea from the W.S. Gilbert play, "Pygmalion and Galatea." The play tells the story of a sculptor who, in wishing his work to become more lifelike, accidentally causes his latest sculptural effort to actually come to life. The play proceeds down this path with the sculptor eventually having to choose between his wife and his new creation. It's a sort of tragic comedy.

The painting illustrates the play's final scene as Galatea, rejected by Pygmalion, prepares to ascend back upon her sculptural base and again become a marble statue. The painting is based on the original script, period photos of Mary Anderson, and descriptions from original theater reviews, and the background mimics the style of Roman walls found in the dwellings in and around Pompeii.

The painting will be called, "Farewell, Pygmalion. Farewell," and limited edition prints should be available in late 2007.

Oh Comrades, Come Rally!

Here's my latest piece. The art has been finished for six months or so, but in the next couple of weeks I'm going to release a 500 print edition of collectors prints (just in time for Christmas). The painting depicts a scene from the Soviet defense of Moscow in October of 1941. The battle took place on the old Napoleonic battlefield of Borodino just outside the city. The Sergeant in front (identified by the three triangles on his collar) is leading his younger protege through the Russian trenches, while being "urged on" by a wounded political officer in the background. The Soviet uniforms in the painting are based on examples from German newsreels. Notice there are no helmets, and very few accoutrements. All the Soviet soldiers in my reference example however were wearing the large Russian overcoat and raincape (the plasch palatka), which gave them all a dashing "superman" look. The art is online at www.godsavethesouth/Borodino.htm

Into the Ether

If you bop over to my web site at www.godsavethesouth.com you'll see that my interests lie primarily in military and historical art.

So I'm thinking that through these pages I'll eventually post previews of some of my upcoming projects, maybe some works-in-progress, occasional research information, maybe some photos of my historical models, my upcoming classes and whatever else that I think might possibly be interesting.

My thanks to Mike Hernandez at Dreamworks for turning me on to the medium.