Table of Contents:

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"Sextet"  40x30

 (oil, acrylic, plaster compounds, fire) 10/16/2026

"Mint Chutney"  40x30

 (acrylic, plaster compounds, fire) 10/4/2026

"Acid, Incense, and Balloons" (PaintChip #7) 8x8 

(for Golden Gate Park, SF)

 (acrylic paintchips, plaster compounds, gesso) 8/2/26 

"Blues for Bethlehem" (paintchip collage #6) 8x8 

 (acrylic paintchips, plaster compounds, gesso) 7/26/26 

"The Crystal Ship" (paintchip collage #5) 8x8 

 (acrylic paintchips, plaster compounds, gesso) 7/18/26 

"Venice Yellow" (paintchip collage #4) 8x8 

 (acrylic paintchips, plaster compounds, gesso) 7/12/26 

"PaintChip Collage #3"

 (acrylic paintchips, plaster compounds, gesso) 7/1/26 

"PaintChip Collage #2"

 (acrylic paintchips, plaster compounds, gesso) 6/26/26 

"PaintChip Collage #1"

 (acrylic paintchips, plaster compounds, gesso) 6/23/26 

"Another Grateful Palette"

 30x24 (acrylic, plaster compounds, fire) 6/16/26 

"Patina"

24x18 (acrylic, various aggregate plaster compounds, fire) 6/10/26 

"Flourish"

24 x 18  acrylic, gesso, fire)  6/2/26 

"desire makes all things flourish, possession withers them" -Marcel Proust 

"Eretz"

47 x 26 (acrylic, gesso/plaster, fire) February-April, 2026

-in the biblical and modern Hebrew, meaning either “land” or “earth”, whether referring to the land of Israel or the broader earth, Eretz reminds us of the beauty and responsibility of caring for the land we inhabit, a sacred gift entrusted to us by God

"Green in Blue"

24 x 18 (acrylic, gesso, fire) March, 2026

-inspired by my longtime interest in exploring a painting primarily using blue and green (both as primary and secondary colors) and manifesting them in both distinctive and amorphic techniques

"Autumn"

24 x 18 (acrylic, plaster compound, fire) February, 2026 

-inspired by a recent road trip to Taos where the mountains and hills surrounding were abound with fall foliage

"Northern Lights"

48 x 30 (acrylic, plaster compound,  fire) January, 2026)

-motivated by spending many enjoyable hours poring over Scandinavian websites and photos in preparation for a recent trip to Norway and Sweden (yet finally visiting these countries was much more visually impressive)

"Judith Lana" 

16" x 40" (acrylic, drywall compound, fire) 12/2026

-this painting is dedicated to my dear loving sister Judy who passed on during the fall of 2025

"Sonata" 

36" x 36" (oil, acrylic, plaster compound, fire) 1/16/2026

-homage to Ludwig van Beethoven whose symphonies have accompanied me during many recent weeks of painting these abstracts and whose life inspired the poem "The First Jazz Musician" (located in "Contents, 1970s")

"Cravo e Canela" (Cloves and Cinnamon)    

16" x 40" (acrylic, plaster compound, fire) 

-dedicated to the unequaled Brazilian artist, “the voice”, Milton Nascimento, and his 1972 landmark samba-influenced tune "Cravo e Canela" (Cloves and Cinnamon) 

"Blue Throat Chakra" 

16" x 40" (oil, acrylic, plaster compound, fire) 12/17/25 

-motivated by the Sanskrit word Vishuddha, symbolizing purification, truth, and communication, often associated with the color blue, and serving as the center for self-expression, creativity, and inner wisdom

"Elephants" 

53x47 (acrylic, drywall compound, holes, fire; December, 2025)

-inspired during a three-week trip to India, touring as far north as Jaipur and Agra and as far south as Cochin and Goa; along the way, we visited a few tiger reserves where elephants were plentiful, some working with indigenous laborers and others freely roaming about; this piece was first published in an art/literary magazine in India and briefly hung at a gallery in Florida, but earlier this year, I decided to transform it to depict (by burning holes in the canvas and more) as a “protest” against the abuse and suffering of these remarkable pachyderms caused by human greed and worse... 

"Phantasmagoria in Blue" 

36" x 36" (oil, acrylic, plaster compound, fire) 12/17/25 

-inspired by my lifelong love for the Indian Classical raga (the melodic framework of a musical piece designed to "color the mind”; it is said a raga gives an artist a palette to build the melody from its sounds; this raga (painting) first began as an exploration into the warmth of earth tones followed by a delightful apparition of a blue image surfacing to bask in the serenity of it all

"Courvoisier" 

16x40; acrylic, drywall compound, fire (December, 2025) 

-inspired by the rich smooth blend and hues of this world-renowned cognac that was later officially designated "Supplier to the Imperial Court" by Napoleon III in 1869

"Carnaval" 

12x48 (acrylic, drywall compound, fire; November, 2025) 

-whether on the streets of New Orleans or the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, I wanted to celebrate “carnivals” everywhere in the world with a painting loaded with color and movement 

"YardBird Sweet" 

30x48 (acrylic, drywall compound, fire); October, 2025

-my riff off Charlie Parker’s late 1940s “Yardbird Suite", the graceful, hip melody that eventually became something of an anthem for beboppers; Parker’s nickname “Bird” came from the legendary story of a touring incident where a chicken was killed by a car, which Parker then insisted on cooking and eating

"FiftySecond St Bop" 

12x48 (acrylic, oil, plaster compound, gesso, & fire; November, 2025) 

- dedicated to Dizzy Gillespie’s mid-1940s high-energy performances and his years of  collaborations with Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk; this tune is considered a cornerstone bebop anthem that served as an opening/closing number for bebop clubs on Manhattan’s 52nd Street that captured the intense, fast-paced atmosphere of 1940s New York jazz; I first wrote this poem early 80s in NYC and later revised it to emphasize its prosody and jazz cadence

"Ruby My Dear" 

18x24 (acrylic, oil, drywall compound & fire; October, 2025) 

-dedicated to the incomparable pianist Thelonious Monk, who named this jazz classic after his first love, Rubie Richardson, first recorded in 1947, and ten years later memorably rerecorded with John Coltrane

"Milestones"

(18 x 24) Acrylic, Drywall Compound & Fire; September, 2025 

-inspired by the seminal 1958 composition by Miles Davis, one of his first recorded explorations of modal jazz, featuring an all-star sextet: Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (alto sax), Red Garland/inf> (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums)

"Warm Fire"

(16x 40) Acrylic, Drywall Compound & Fire) September, 2025 

-one of a series of fire paintings composed over several weeks during early summer of 2025, this one primarily featuring “warm” golds and yellows

"Epistrophe"

(18 x 24) Acrylic, Drywall Compound & Fire) September, 2025 

-inspired by one of the best-known compositions of the bebop era, composed in 1941 by Thelonious Monk and Kenny Clarke, which later defined the "new musical language" of the early bebop scene in New York

"Green Fire"

(16x 40) Acrylic, Plaster & Fire) September, 2025 

-one of a series of fire paintings composed over several weeks during early summer of 2025, this one primarily featuring various shades of green

"Now's The Time"

(40 x 37 Acrylic, Plaster & Fire) August, 2025 

-dedicated to the great Charlie Parker who composed this foundational bebop masterpiece piece in 1945 and the recorded the session that became known as "The Greatest Recording Made in Modern Jazz History", with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Curley Russell, and Max Roach; the track is a defining statement of the bebop aesthetic, often cited for its revolutionary, high-energy improvisational style

"Bahia" 

(50 x 45  (acrylic, oil, plaster & fire) February, 2026

-inspired by so much of the music I love and enjoy listening to while painting, Brazilians refer to the State of Bahia affectionately as the "soul of Brazil" with its Afro-Brazilian culture, the birthplace of samba and capoeira

"Integration" 

(24 x 30, Acrylic & Fire) May, 2025 

"Tropicalismo"

(40 x 30 Acrylic & Fire) May, 2025 

- inspired by this significant anti-authoritarian/creative movement that originated in the late 1960s in Brazil encompassing music, art and writing, celebrating Brazil’s multiculture as well as a deeplly profound protest movement against the lack of freedom experienced under the oppressive regime of the military government

"Southern Lights"

(48 x 30 acrylic, plaster compound, & fire) December, 2024)

"The Audacity of Color"

(40 x 30 Acrylic & Fire) Spring, 2024 

-as a lifelong artisan and artist, I have always explored the challenge and beauty of merging and blending diverse materials and colors, perhaps the process of harmonizing and discovering what bonds seemingly disparate variables such as metals or colors, as this painting attempts to herald these ideals

"MayDay Fire Painting"

(36 x 36 Acrylic, Plaster, & Fire) Spring, 2024

-one of a series of fire paintings composed during several weeks early to late spring of 2023

"Einstein in Dichodomy"

(44 x 35 Acrylic, Mixed Media, & Fire) Fall, 2015

"Blues on Blonds"

(36 x 36 Acrylic, Fire) Spring, 2024

"Kid in a ToyStore"

(51 x 46 Acrylic & Fire) Fall, 2018

-sometimes when I stumble into that special place while painting where moments and stretches of time feel like playing, I recall this common idiom I often heard when growing up; admittedly, I think this Delray Beach, Florida, painting from 2015 reflects that mood of pure joy and the eagerness to explore everything available

"Mandala"

(40 x  38 Oil, Acrylic, Plaster, & Fire) Fall, 2014

-conceived and painted in Tucson late 1980’s, I have always cherished this piece depicting the Buddhist concept of an outer circle of fire symbolizing wisdom, its exhortation to be always mindful of death, and the impermanence of life in this world with colors representing the transient nature of life

"Elephants"

(53 x 47 Acrylic, Plaster, & Fire) Fall, 2010

-dedicated and inspired from a three-week trip I took in India, touring as far north as Jaipur and Agra and as far south as Cochin; along the way, we visited a few tiger reserves where elephants were plentiful, some used by indigenous laborers and others freely roaming about; this “protest” painting was first published in an art/literary magazine in India, but some years later, I decided to transform it to depict (by burning holes in the canvas) the abuse and suffering of these remarkable pachyderms caused by human greed and worse

"Spring Fire Painting #1"

(24 x 18 Acrylic, Plaster, & Fire) Spring, 2023

-one of a series of fire paintings composed during several weeks early to late spring of 2023

"Abracadabra"

Fall, 2013

"Well You Needn't" 

(72 x 48 Acrylic & Fire) Fall, 1989

-an early fire painting from my years living in Tucson’s Menlo Park, this piece ranks as one of the larger canvases I’ve ever worked; the wash and blend of distinct colors and subtle textures, specific firings were used to embellish the painting; "Well You Needn't” (recorded in 1947), is the title of one of my favorite Thelonious Monk piano masterpieces loaded with his signature chromatic, descending, and ascending, two-chord structures and hallmark insane discording

  "Ocean of Winter" 

(96 x 46 Oil, Plaster & Fire) Fall, 1988

 "Easy Being Green"

(72 x 48 Acrylic & Fire) Spring, 1992

"Burnt Hair"

(24 x 20 Acrylic & Fire) Fall, 1991

 "Bisbee Fire Painting #1" 

(21 x 9 Oil & Fire) Fall, 1975

(framed under glass)

- when I first began experimenting making “fire paintings” while living and working in Bisbee during the 1970s as a stonecutter and silversmith, these were part of the first series of pieces produced; I wanted to work in oils at that time and knew practically nothing about the medium (painter friends called me a “naive painter”, which I have always understood was something they believed was to my advantage); yet eventually, after playing with smaller bits of canvas, I decided to lug this huge piece of plywood that sat abandoned in my neighbor's backyard into my studio, stretched/stapled canvas onto it, and painted away, choosing "sunset" reds/oranges and whatever other related colors I had; then I began pouring/splattering turpentine onto areas of this long (12 foot) canvas and lighting it with my soldering torch: Rivers of Fire!!!; sometimes I'd "direct" the flow, times I would allow it to meander, while applying thick clomps of pigment and plaster onto areas of the canvas (then later other pieces) and then apply more flames; and this was intriguing as well: rendering these paintings by breaking down the oil paint while figuring out what effects worked and compensating for what didn't, all the while learning about process: 

this is how my fire paintings were born and evolved over the years.

"Matador" 

(matted and framed)

(24 x 20 Acrylic & Fire) Fall, 1991

"Mangroves"

(48 x 32 Acrylic & Fire) Summer, 2018