Lost Painting




resides Hotel Star, Nice, France

This is the painting that was Lost in Nice, France, September 2010. 

I began work on this painting in May 2009.  I was challenged by the original composition that I lost direction with this painting and was not able to complete the work.   More than a year later in September 2010,  I revisited this painting, and was able to comfortably experiment with some new ideas.   This painting reflects the complications and challenges that began to develop in my life by trying to maintain a gallery and dream in France along side my life in the United States.  But most importantly for me, it also reflects a new freedom in my spirit as a painter that was beginning to unfold.  

Feeling confident that this painting belonged in the gallery for everything that it represented,  I sent it to the gallery 6 Place Vieille.  I was happy to have another painting completed in Oils to represent me in the gallery.

I planned a visit to Nice around the arrival time of the painting.  It never arrived.  I waited for the phone call from Fed Ex to confirm delivery, or neighbors who had offered to sign if it arrived in my absence.....   It didn't arrive.   It was gone.  I was nervous and disappointed the entire trip.   I called and talked to Fed Ex, but the details of its location were not specified.  Other details for its possible "Location" were speculated. (That is all I will say for my speculations)

This is a photograph of the painting after it was found and delivered to the gallery.    The one on the left shows the original packaging that had been left untouched, the one on the right... Voila!  the unveiling.   

I returned to Nice early January 2011 after spending the Christmas Holiday in San Remo, Italy (also located along the coast of the blue Sea).     While I was there, questions about the painting returned again, the stress for the lost painting, the unknown, and actually having the hope of finding its location.  Drama.  I called Fed Ex again, and received the name and address of the person who signed for it.    It was at the University's School of Medicine, "28 Vallombrose".    I went to the school and began my search for the "name".   Because of the New Year's holiday, the Doctor who had the painting was still on vacation.  I was able to obtain his cell phone number. 

After I left Nice, the painting was picked up by my friend.  It was still in it's original packaging.  Its voyage is still a mystery; the details unknown for the path of that voyage I have laid to rest.

This is the first painting that I sent to Nice for my first Vernissage to celebrate the opening of gallery 6 Place Vieille.   This painting was painted in my studio in Indiana, and directly inspired by my second vacation trip to Nice,  August 2009.  The inspiration and energy that came with me when I returned was intense.  I was able to start and finish the painting within two weeks after my return.  I was proud to send it because it show cased my skill in oil painting that was unfamiliar to my friends in Nice.  This was a painting that represented me in my new gallery.



This is me at the door of the gallery for the Vernissage, March, 2010.  I didn't have a large body of artwork to display for the show (wall of paintings on the left) but the evening was a success.  Lots of wine, live guitar music, and pizza, and many new guests and friends arrived to see the opening.    

First Painting

This is the first painting completed in Nice France.   December 2009,  I went to Nice during the Christmas holiday and spent time with my friend and also artist,  Paul.   He had just obtained a gallery,  6 Place Vieille, in Vieux Nice, and this location was the beginning of my two years as an artist in the south of France.  

Paul and I shared the gallery and expenses for the gallery until life inevitably took us into two different directions.   

The gallery was raw and unfinished.   An architect's paradise for me.   But later it was finished into something that I was able to exhibit regularily and display my work for a few "Vernissage" 's.   This is a picture of me and my blank canvas, with my make shift easel, and a wood plank for a palette.   I had to use acrylic paints.  
They were readily available and less expensive for me to set up my color palette- the Blues.    I wasn't pleased with my skill in acrylic, but I gave the medium a try. I have been a painter working in Oils for more than 25 years.   The texture, the flow of paint, and blending was very very  different with acrylic than with the oil paints that have been customary for me. 

This is the sketch I created for my first painting.   One night uninterested in a movie that we were watching,  I got out my charcoals and used some paper that I had found in a rented apartment.   I did a series of sketches, liberating my creative energy, and created an interesting body of work that evening.    Many of my paintings begin with a sketch.  I use charcoal as a medium that is quick to free ideas on paper before applying to a larger canvas.  

The gallery began as a place of good energy, for neighbors to visit, to sit outside, offer wine to guests.   It has a lot of good memories for dreams that were hopeful for success.... and for me, most importantly, a place of my own where I could just be a painter.   A place where I could focus on being an artist for 10-14 days, and liberate myself from the every day routine of work in Indiana.