Congratulations! You have found my (not so) secret stash of original art! Below you will find the pieces I am offering for sale as of January 24 2020, direct from me to you! If you would like to make an offer or have any questions, please send me an email at goldeenogawa@gmail.com.
A note about the pricing…
I’ve chosen to price these in the Minimum Offer/Preferred Price style. If you’ve ever bought art at an Art Show, you might be reminded of the Min Bid/Quick Sale feature, but since this is a little different let me take a moment to explain it:
Minimum Offer is the absolute lowest I will go. It’s practically a loss for me but if it means the picture can go to a good home then that’s acceptable. Preferred Price is… well, what I would prefer to get. That number more accurately reflects the time and energy and materials that went into making that picture. I do not expect people to spring for it, but if they do they get that picture hands down and with my full blessing and all the good will in the world. Any offer closer to the Preferred Price than the Minimum Offer will likely be happily accepted as well.
So, what do you do? You take a good, long look at these pictures. Take a hard, unforgiving look at your finances, and make the call that’s best for you. Remember that buying art is a luxury, and while it is good to be good to yourself, sometimes being good isn’t the same as getting what you want right now.
If there is a piece you are absolutely in love with but cannot come close to the Preferred Price, talk to me. Tell me which piece you want and what you love about it, and we’ll see if we can’t work something out that is good for both of us.
Remember that all prices are in U.S. Dollars and do not include applicable sales taxes, shipping fees, and import duties. However, hand-delivery might be an option depending on who/where you are so… it never hurts to ask! I accept Credit Cards, PayPal, cash (in-person delivery only!) and personal checks from verified sources.
Still with me? Okay, let’s have some ART!
And remember: click the image for full view!
WITCHY KITTY – DIANA
2018 • colored pencil • 4″x3″ • framed
Finish: framed without mat, original ships with glass unless otherwise specified.
Diana is one of a pair of Witchy Kitties I drew in late 2018. She is inspired by the work of British-Welsh fantasy writer Diana Wynne Jones and has a little version of the Red Dragon of Wales riding with her.
MinImum Offer: $100 | Preferred price: $250 | available
WITCHY KITTY – URSULA
2018 • colored pencil • 4″x3″ • framed
Finish: framed without mat, original ships with glass unless otherwise specified.
Ursula is one of a pair of Witchy Kitties I drew in late 2018. She is inspired by the work of fantasy and science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin, and rides in a cauldron. The chicken is a nod to another fantasy writer named Ursula, author and artist Ursula Vernon.
MinImum Offer: $100 | Preferred price: $250 | available
TREESTONE
2018 • Watercolor • 8″x10″ framed without mat
Finish: Framed without mat (8″x10″). Original will ship WITHOUT glass.
Story:
MinImum Offer: $50 | Preferred price: $100 | available
WINTER WALK
2017 • Watercolor • 8″x10″ framed
Finish: Framed without mat (8″x10″). Original will ship WITHOUT glass.
Story:
MinImum Offer: $40 | Preferred price: $80 | available
ARHAZÉ – ALPINE KIMAERHA
2017 • Brush pen • 8″x20″ matted and framed to 12″x16″
Finish: Mounted to archival quality matboard, no frame.
Story: This is the last of my “RhInktoberfest” chimeras from 2017—environmental chimeras which watch over various ecosystems.
Arhazé (arr-ha-ZAY) is the precocious protector of high mountain meadows, peaks and valleys. They make up for their small size with boundless energy and spirit. Unusual for a chimera, they incorporate avian characteristics—namely that of the Steller’s Jay. They also have elements of hoary marmot and mountain goat.
MinImum Offer: $75 | Preferred price: $150 | available
PEARL & ROSY
2017 • Watercolor • 4″x3″ framed
Finish: Framed, originals will ship WITHOUT glass.
Story: This pair of saucy foxes were a lot of fun to do. Pearl is a red fox, while Rosy is a gray fox. I painted them specifically for the frames displayed below.
NOTE that “Pearl” (left) has sold, while “Rosy” (right) is still available!
MinImum Offer (ea.): $75 | Preferred price: $150 | Pearl: sold | Rosy: available
VENUS
2015 • Mixed Media • 9″x12″
Finish: Matted to 12″x16″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum gallery frame (gold). Comes with protective clear plastic “glass.”
Story: Venus is a member of my Planet Horse series, which began in 2013 with the Gas Giants. In late 2015 I returned and added the four terrestrial planets, with Venus being represented by a Connemara pony.
While Jupiter has been generally the most popular, Venus is probably my personal favorite. Something about the lush curves of the Connemara married to the harsh fire of Venus’s surface. Venus, of course, is named for the Roman Aphrodite, who traces her history to that of a water goddess—but this is a Venus of fire and molten metal. Her oceans have been replaced by seared deserts and her mountains capped by metallic frost. She is the burning, all-consuming goddess of love. To be blunt: this Venus is fricking metal and I love it.
MinImum Offer: $250 | Preferred price: $400 | available
MARS – sold!
2015 • Mixed Media • 9″x12″
Finish: Matted to 12″x16″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum gallery frame (gold). Comes with protective clear plastic “glass.”
Story: The only other remaining Terrestrial member of my Planet Horse series, Mars closes out the second series of Mercury, Venus, and Gaia.
Although Mars is named for Roman Ares, the god of war and altogether an impressive fellow, I felt the best horse to represent the planet—cold, small, fierce, beautiful Mars—was the indomitable Shetland Pony. His sister, Venus, has pretty much got the fire aspect covered, so this Mars is an icy warrior, fierce, freezing, and proud. It is also the only piece in the series with copper metallic marker, which makes it look a little extra special.
MINIMUM OFFER: $250 | PREFERRED PRICE: $400 | Sold!
NOTE: Venus and Mars, originally part of a set of four, are rather attached to one another. Someone wanting to buy both might be pleasantly surprised…
OURANOS – 2015 – sold!
2015 • Mixed Media • 9″x12″
Finish: Matted to 12″x16″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum gallery frame (black). Comes with protective clear plastic “glass.”
Story: When I originally created Planet Horses, I thought I’d be clever and make the Ouranos (Uranus) horse in portrait orientation, as a nod to the planet’s off-kilter axis. Of course what this meant was the set did not stack nicely and was visually a little jarring. So I returned—something I almost never do—and re-did Ouranos in landscape format, to match the others.
The original Ouranos from 2013 sold at its first show, but I feel I’ve improved on the subject with the 2015 version. The body is based on a Lipizzaner, but the pose is from an Arabian performing a heart-stoppingly perfect sidepass maneuver. So I got the nod to Uranus’s axis after all…
MINIMUM OFFER: $250 | PREFERRED PRICE: $400 | SOLD!
MOTHER CHAOS
2014 • Colored pencil • 12″x9″
Finish: Matted to 16″x20″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum frame (black)—plastic “glass” optional.
Story: You want to talk about a labor of love? Let’s talk about Mother Chaos. She is 100% colored pencils, which takes forever, and I somehow decided it would be a good idea to put the Horsehead Nebula in the background…
Which in retrospect was a fantastic idea but at the time it was a lot of work.
The “mother” here is Fairig, a demonic character who has been with me for many years. In this case she is depicted in her more benevolent, nurturing aspect: bringing change and life to a young, desolate planet. The nebula in the background further supports this interpretation, for nebulae are the birthplaces of the stars themselves.
MINIMUM OFFER: $300 | PREFERRED PRICE: $500 | AVAILABLE
SIRIUS
2013 • Oil and silver leaf on gessobord • 6″x6″
Finish: Matted to 10″x10″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum frame (silver)—no “glass” but the original has been varnished with bee’s wax.
Story: Around the same time I got the mad idea of painting the planets-as-horses, I began doodling up these beasts which represented different stars. The Astral Chimera, as I called them, were largely canine or feline, with horns or antlers, feathery wings, and multiple heads—according to how many members were in a star’s system. Sirius was my first subject, and he is a wolf, suitably enough, with the second head of a white raven, to represent Sirius B. Because of their size and medium, these pieces are more stylistic than realistic, but they have a clean energy to them that I really like. Also, thanks to the metal leaf, they do not replicate well but are stunning to behold in real life.
MINIMUM OFFER: $110 | PREFERRED PRICE: $300 | AVAILABLE
REGULUS – sold!
2013 • Oil and metallic leaf on gessobord • 6″x6″
Finish: Matted to 10″x10″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum frame (gold)—no “glass” but the original has been varnished with bees wax.
Story: Now Regulus is an interesting case. Alpha Leonis, whom the Persians knew as Venant, the Watcher of the North and King of Summer, is made up of Regulus A, a blue-white main sequence star with a spectral type of B7V, which is orbited by what astronomers presume is a faint white dwarf. This pair in turn is orbited by another pair of stars, Regulus B (K1-2V) and Regulus C (M5V) which in turn orbit each other. I chose to interpret this as a four-headed chimera comprised of a blue lynx-lion and white vulture pair (representing the blue-white Regulus A and its white dwarf companion) and a twin gold and red lynx pair (representing the fainter Regulus B and C).
Regulus was meant to be the first in a series-within-the-series of the Royal Stars, the others being Fomalhaut, Aldebaran and Antares, but Fomalhaut was the only other that I completed.
MINIMUM OFFER: $110 | PREFERRED PRICE: $300 | SOLD
FOMALHAUT
2013 • Oil and silver leaf on gessobord • 6″x6″
Finish: Matted to 10″x10″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum frame (silver)—no “glass” but the original has been varnished with bees wax.
Story: Alpha Piscis Austrini, whom the Persians knew as Hastorang, the Watcher of the South and the Monarch of Winter, better known to the western world as Fomalhaut, is possibly my favorite of the “small” Astral Chimera. In real life Fomalhaut is a single cool white main sequence star with a spectral type of A3V, and is here represented by a snowy leopard-like chimera with impressive branching antlers. The silver scaling in the background is an allusion to the star’s notable debris disc. It is the second of the Royal Stars, the others being Regulus (second in this batch), Aldebaran and Antares (who may yet be realized).
MINIMUM OFFER: $110 | PREFERRED PRICE: $300 | AVAILABLE
PROCYON
2013 • Oil and gold and silver leaf • 6″x6″
Finish: Matted to 10″x10″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum frame (gold)—no “glass” but the original has been varnished with bees wax.
Story: Procyon was one of those happy incidents where I wasn’t much impressed by the sketch, but once the thing was finished I realized just how nice it was. A classic example of trusting your artistic gut and not getting in your own way. Now it is my favorite of these four, with possible exception of Fomalhaut.
Alpha Canis Minoris, chief star of Canis Minor and the sister-star of Sirius, she is best known to us by her Greek name: Procyon (literally: before the dog). Despite being part of a lesser-known constellation, Procyon is actually rather larger than Sirius, being almost sub-giant in size. Like her brother, however, she is also a binary system with a white dwarf companion—here represented by a white owl. Along with Sirius, she is also one of the vertices of the Winter Triangle (the third being Betelgeuse, who you can find in this post).
MINIMUM OFFER: $110 | PREFERRED PRICE: $300 | AVAILABLE
NOTE: These four Astral Chimera, like Venus and Mars, are rather attached to each other. My desire to have them stay together is such that someone wishing to buy them as a set may find their path smoothed significantly.
POLARIS
2014 • Oil and gold leaf on gessobord • 14″x11″
Finish: Matted to 20″x16″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum frame (gold)—no “glass” but the original has been varnished with bees wax.
Story: Sirius, Regulus, Fomalhaut and Procyon are of course merely the opening act to Polaris, Alpha Ursae Minoris, the North Star, Pole Star, Lodestar, the first supergiant in the Astral Chimera series. I chose to paint her on 11″x14″ board to give a sense of scale when compared to the others. Though essentially lupine, her horns were based on those of longhorn cattle—some of the most truly impressive horns you’ll ever see.
Polaris is a warm white star with a spectral type of F7Ib, with two main sequence companions of F6V and F3V—seen here as the two heads nestled in her mane. She also has two more distant companions (not pictured).
Polaris was originally the companion piece to the even larger Betelgeuse, but he sold long ago. Luckily, I feel she stands on her own very well.
MINIMUM OFFER: $495 | PREFERRED PRICE: $700 | AVAILABLE
SEPHERUS AND THE RAVEN
2009 • Watercolor • 9″x12″
Finish: Mounted in 12″x16 archival quality mat, no frame.
Story: When you’re creating a fantasyland you must necessarily pay attention to their gods and deities. Sepherus in this case is the primary prince of the place most of us would recognize as Hell, but his story is rather different. I imagined him as a jumble of contradictions and a mix of many different animals. Like the Norse Hel he is beautiful, macabre, frightening, and surreal, and despite being reviled by mortals he is actually a pretty competent fellow and his section of the underworld is not a bad place to end up, all things considered.
He has a fondness for corvids—ravens in particular—and in exchange for news from the World Above he lets them fly in and out of Hell whenever they please. So in areas where Sepherus’s power is strong it is exceptionally difficult to kill a raven.
MINIMUM OFFER: $60 | PREFERRED PRICE: $95 | AVAILABLE
THE SANURUMPKUS
2013 • Watercolor and black board • 9″x12″
Finish: Mounted in 12″x16 archival quality mat, no frame.
Story: The Sanurumpkus is a resident of Valdelluna, a wet, misty, magical place which is the setting for a loose series of illustrations. The Sanurumpkus is possibly a kind of dragon, or something else entirely. They live in a cave and like collecting shiny pebbles and feed on moss and mushrooms. When excited, they rap excitedly with their trotters on the nearest hard object.
Anyway, they are a fun, colorful character, and I had fun experimenting with a sort of collage to make it look like they were peering around a column of stone.
MINIMUM OFFER: $50 | PREFERRED PRICE: $95 | AVAILABLE
THE FINE PRINT – PURCHASE AGREEMENT
If you’ve gotten this far and are seriously considering buying something, you might want to familiarize yourself with exactly what that entails. This isn’t to scare you or anything, just to make sure we are all on the same page and understand what is and is not for sale here.
Rights and resales
By purchasing an original from me you automatically receive the non-exclusive right to copy, display, and otherwise use the image in whatever way you wish so long as it is for your own personal use. You may also grant these same rights to other private individuals and galleries. At the same time, I retain all rights to copy, display, alter, distribute and otherwise profit from the image. In other words: you can show it off as much as you want, and I can make and sell prints and other merchandise. What you do not get is commercial reproduction rights: you cannot use the image on the cover of your book, sell it on mugs, t-shirts, etc. Commercial reproduction rights are a separate item and may be purchased as such. I also retain the exclusive right to sell the commercial reproduction rights to other parties.
You also have the right to sell or donate the physical original, for whatever reason, at any time, but I retain all the rights I had when you were the owner.
Basically: You get the picture. You do whatever you like with it except make copies and sell them. Unless you buy the rights to do so. From me. I still get to do whatever I want with the digital image I have on file.
Payment and shipping
As stated above, all prices are in U.S. Dollars and do not include applicable sales taxes, shipping, or other fees. These will be calculated on a case-by-case basis and may be comped at the discretion of the artist.
Acceptable forms of payment are: PayPal and Credit Card (via PayPal invoicing), cash (for in-person delivery) and personal check (from trusted parties).
For items over $200 you may pay in installments (no more than four), but the piece must be paid in full before it is shipped.
Shipping may be handled by USPS, UPS or FedEx, depending on your location and the item being shipped. All items will be shipped with tracking and delivery confirmation, with insurance provided by the artist (if it is lost or irreparably damaged in transport I will refund you your money). For certain special cases hand-delivery may be available.
If you have any specific questions or to place an offer please email me at goldeenogawa@gmail.com.
placing an offer
Simply send me an email at goldeenogawa@gmail.com. Put OFFER in the subject line followed by the title of the piece you’d like to buy, and in the body provide the following information:
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- Your offer (anywhere at or above the minimum offer listed)
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- Your preferred payment method, and whether you’d need to pay in installments
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- Your shipping address or possible meeting point (conventions, etc.)
- If you like, a brief note explaining what you like best about the piece and why you want to buy it. But this is optional and don’t feel obligated if you aren’t inspired to do so.
I don’t anticipate receiving competing offers, but if I do choice of who the sale goes to will be at my discretion.
Aaaand… yeah. I think that’s about it! Thanks so much for reading this far, and I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at my art. Once again I understand that purchasing art is a luxury so please don’t apologize if you don’t have the funds at the moment. And although I’m being a little circumspect about who I share this page with (it’s accessible only if you know the URL), if you know of anyone who you think might be interested, please share this with them.
All the best,
Goldeen
SOLD ART
The following pieces have already found homes, but I’m leaving their info here so people can see them and read their stories.
GOOD SARDINE – sold!
2017 • Brush pen • 6″x12″ mounted to 8″x14″
Finish: Mounted on archival matboard at 8″x14″, no frame.
Story: A brush pen piece from last fall, wherein I tried using brush pen for inking a pencil sketch. I quite like the result, and the sardine went on to become a holo sticker to great effect.
MinImum Offer: $50 | Preferred price: $100 | sold!
STRANGE SHORT-EARED OWL – Sold!
2017 • Watercolor • 8″x10″ matted and framed to 11″x14″
Finish: Matted to 11″x14″ in a natural wood frame. No glass
Story: The latest (and perhaps the last) in my Strange Owl series, this is a short-eared owl modeling Chronographia’s purple pixie witch hat. There have been ten other Strange Owls to date, and as of this typing, all but this one have sold.
MinImum Offer: $100 | Preferred price: $250 | sold
ELEPHANT GARLIC – Sold!
2017 • Watercolor • 3″x4″ mounted and framed
Finish: Mounted on hand-made lokta paper and framed at 8.75″ x 8.75″ Shipping may incur additional cost due to the glass inherent in the frame.
Story: One of my “visual pun” pieces. It’s an elephant with garlic. Elephant garlic! Geddit??
MinImum Offer (framed): $75 (Raw): $70 | Preferred price (framed): $150 (+shipping) (raw): $140 | sold!
TIGER LILIES – Sold!
2017 • Watercolor • 3″x4″ mounted and framed
Finish: Mounted on hand-made lokta paper and framed at 8.75″ x 8.75″ Shipping may incur additional cost due to the glass inherent in the frame.
Story: TIGERLILIES RIGHT? Sorry, I’ll stop now. Same deal here in regards to the frame as per Elephant Garlic…
SATURDAY – sold
2014 • Watercolor • 5″7″
Finish: Mounted in 8″x10 archival quality mat with hand-lettering, no frame.
Story: One of only two remaining originals from my Cats of the Week series, this is Saturday. The swirly text at the bottom reads: Saturday is wild and playful as a kitten. His mornings are good for sleeping late, or for going on adventures. I chose the elements of wind and ice, and gave him a ring decoration in the background, in reference to the planet of the same name.
MINIMUM OFFER: $40 | PREFERRED PRICE: $85 | sold!
TUESDAY – sold
2014 • Watercolor • 5″7″
Finish: Mounted in 8″x10 archival quality mat with hand-lettering, no frame.
Story: Second of the two remaining originals from my Cats of the Week series, this is Tuesday. His element was fire, and his description reads: Tuesday is fierce and full of fire. He will help you be productive, but be careful you are not burned. I’d been having a string of difficult Tuesdays, as I recall, and painted him in the hopes of breaking the bad spell. I am happy to say my Tuesdays have since improved dramatically.
MINIMUM OFFER: $40 | PREFERRED PRICE: $85 | sold
STRANGE TAWNY OWL – SOLD!
2016 • Watercolor • 5″x7″
Finish: Framed without glass.
Story: The last remaining un-sold original from my current set of Strange Owls, this handsome tawny owl is modeling the fine red fly agaric beret made by my friend, Chronographia. I felt the charm of the hat complimented this little owl’s big personality.
MINUMUM OFFER: $70 | PREFERRED PRICE: $140 | sold
NURIL AND ARMANDOROS – sold
2009 • Watercolor • 9″x12″
Finish: Matted to 12″x16″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum gallery frame (black). Comes with protective clear plastic “glass.”
Story: Okay, this is an oldie but a goodie—one reason I’ve hung onto it for so long. It’s a couple of characters who’ve been tramping around the edges of my imagination for a long time. They haven’t made their way into any of my published work, but I have a feeling they will eventually.
“They” are Armandoros, an old, crotchety, grumpy grumpy dragon who used to be someone important several thousand years ago but is now mostly a hermit and covered in vegetation. Nuril is a young girl who was turned out by her family for being too weird and psychic in a useless way. Turns out, however, that she is one of the few humans who can speak to—and understand—dragons. So now Armandoros has a translator, and Nuril has a warm place to sleep at night and all the roast meat she can eat. In this picture I believe they are setting out bravely to find Armandoros some coffee.
MINUMUM OFFER: $95 | PREFERRED PRICE: $200 | SOLD
THE TIGERHORSE – sold
2009 • Watercolor • 9″x12″
Finish: Matted to 12″x16″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum gallery frame (black). Comes with protective clear plastic “glass.”
Story: All right. This guy. Let me tell you about this guy. I painted her in about two hours. Just—boom—fell right out of my brush. In retrospect it was a turning point in my development as an artist: I sat down and painted a horse with a tiger’s skin… and suddenly all these wonderful possibilities opened up to me. Having gone on to paint horses that are elements, trees, planets, or nebulae, I now see that this was the beginning of that wild, wonderful ride. Which I am still on, apparently.
Artistic importance aside, this piece was very well received when I put it up on deviantART (2009, remember? We were all on dA back then). It got that cascade-of-favorites phenomenon, so in a short while it had eclipsed all my other original work, and went on to get more faves than even my fanart—which was something in those days let me tell you! People were inspired to make tattoos from the design, or do their own “tigerhorses.” Or use my artwork as a skin on this Polish pony role-playing site and I got many concerned notes in earnest, if broken, English asking if this was being used with my permission and should they ban this person? It was all very sweet if a little bemusing.
So yes, I’ve kept this piece. It’s been to one art show, but since then it’s been shuffled around my parents’ house, for lack of a better place. However, I think it’s time it went out into the world and brought a little cheer to someone else’s home. That said, this one means a lot to me, and I would prefer it go to a friend—or someone who I know will love it just as must as those Polish teenagers, bless them.
MINUMUM OFFER: $195 | PREFERRED PRICE: $400 | SOLD
THE GWYDDERNAN – sold
2009 • Watercolor • 9″x12″
Finish: Matted to 12″x16″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum gallery frame (black). Comes with protective clear plastic “glass.”
Story: So. The Gwyddernan. Basically I thought: in a fantasy world where gods actually exist, who’s to stop them quarreling with each other in person rather than working through their followers. The answer? The Gwyddernan. The Divine Arbiter. But rather than beating gods into submission, she either skewers them with her Sword of Truth, which forces them to see what a load of nonsense they are carrying, or confronts them with the Scroll of Guilt… which is basically self-explanatory. Mostly, however, she just looked really cool and I wanted to paint her.
The Gwyddernan makes a late but important appearance in my (completed) webcomic, Angeldevil, which you can find here.
MINUMUM OFFER: $150 | PREFERRED PRICE: $300 | SOLD
DEATH IN THE FOREST – sold
2015 • Watercolor • 11″x14″
Finish: Matted to 16″x20″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum frame (gold)—no covering.
Story: I’d been thinking about forests and plants and how, really, this idea that deer were the gentle protectors of the forest was a bit wrong-headed. Deer and other herbivores can do serious damage to the resident flora if left unchecked. Rather, I thought, if there was a spirit who protected the wood, might it not take the form of a wolf or other apex predator? The thing which controlled the animals who preyed on trees. And then I thought about how trees sort of eat dead animals, since our decomposing bodies enrich the soil in which they grow, and it sort of went on from there until I had a zombie elk finally being put to rest by the gentle spirit of Death In The Forest, who is at the same time the spirit of Life In The Wood and circles and cycles and so on and so on…
Also the flowers are pretty.
MINUMUM OFFER: $250 | PREFERRED PRICE: $500 | sold
RIDING AND THE WOLF – sold
2014 • Watercolor and ink • 11″x14″
Finish: Matted to 16″x20″ in Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum frame (black)—plastic “glass” optional.
Story: This is an interesting piece. I made it specifically to accompany a short story that I wrote, which I then turned into a multi-media piece for Halloween 2014. The story, and the accompanying illustrated audiobook, can be found here. I wanted to do a retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood paradigm, but with a twist—what if the actual wolf was not the most dangerous monster in the forest? What if the real danger came from the figurative wolves? Anyway, it was fun and if you’re in the mood for a spooky story, go over and have a listen (it only takes like ten minutes).
The painting itself was blocked out so that different parts of it represent different parts from the story, while at the same time making a pleasing whole. And, despite what many people have thought: it is all watercolor and ink! No photoshop pasting for the background—those are all hand-drawn/painted trees!
MINUMUM OFFER: $300 | PREFERRED PRICE: $500 | sold
STARRY TREE – sold
2015 • Oil on gessorbord • 12″x16″
Finish: In Nielsen Bainbridge aluminum frame (black), no mat or glass; varnished.
Story: Now this is something different. More of a nature piece than a fantasy one, but it was inspired by a magical experience I had caretaking my friend’s house in the mountains. Six miles out a windy mountain road with no streetlights to speak of, the stars there are astonishingly bright. I had taken the Dog out for her evening stroll and, finding the night sky so brilliant, had turned off my flashlight to stare at it. Eventually I became aware of the shape of a tree as a black silhouette agains the blue sky, and that by moving my head back and forth I caused the stars seen through its bare branches (it was January) to twinkle and shine, and in that moment they appeared not as stars, but as minuscule shining gems hung from the tree itself.
This painting was an ambitious attempt at capturing the magic of that moment. It is not the flashiest piece of art, but one that can support hours of examination once you do notice it.
