Blaffer Art Museum : 2026-03

     DIANA WERTS, Distant Hills: Summer 1, 2, 4, 5

2023, oil on panel

I had an unexpected layover in Houston and had some time. The closest art museum was the Blaffer Art Museum which seemed to be in the buildings of University of Houston School of Art. It's always open and free to the public. In this case, I was pretty happy it was free since the lower floor was closed for an installation. Here are some things that caught my attention...

Above are closeups from the arrangement of four at the top of the page. These are Distant Hills: Summer 1 and Distant Hills: Summer 4. I liked the undefined strokes and how they add a sense of motion to the fields and trees.

JAMES DEAN PRUNER, Moonlight Night Over Cleveland Ohio, oil on canvas. If you click the link of his name, it's interesting how it ends. He disappeared in December 1987 and his body was found in April 1988 - dying at 36 or 37 years old.

MATTHEW REGIER, Compline VIII, 2024 and Compline IX, 2024

Monotype

I thought the colors and contrast were great. The impact of the overall simplicity was very nice. Below are two more of REGIER's pieces. On the left is Look Down, 2022 and Field Study 6, 2022. I can appreciate these - if for nothing else - for the amount of work involved.

Two more pieces from DIANA WERTS.

(L) Rattlesnake Master, 2016 and (R) Indian Pink, 2016, both acrylic on linen.

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Princess : 2026-03

Princess

08 March 2026

Acrylic on poly-cotton canvas

24 x 12 in (60.9 x 30.5 cm)

FOR SALE

This was a repurposed piece of wall art that I wanted to submit for a call for art. I originally did some abstract images playing around with an airbrush. I was going to stick with them but they didn't seem to to convey the theme. The theme of this call is Entropy. Originally, I thought the spheres morphing would show movement disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. However, it struck me that a dandelion moving from a grown plant, to randomly shedding its seeds and returning to the ground could capture entropy. We'll see what the jurors think. I plan to enter Princess with Fault and Derelict. Princess comes from the wall art I painted over..."A true princess...".

A gif showing some steps along the way. Pretty quick turn on this one.

On the right is against the wall. It's a museum wrap where I continued with the green.

Here are two more shots of the corners in the museum wrap.

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Slab : 2026-03

Slab

08 March 2026

Acrylic on canvas

20 x 16 in (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

FOR SALE

I wanted to make another skyscape with a grand set of clouds. However, the terrain was getting frustrating. I like how cumulonimbus clouds can be seen past lower clouds and/or overcasts with holes. Therefore, I painted a partial overcast. I didn't particularly like that either. As I stood looking at the debacle, I thought I'd try making the overcast more geometric than a natural cloud shapes. I liked it and went with it. I also forced myself to work on a heavy shadow because the longer I live, the more I realize people like contrast and/or contrast makes a better image.

Here's a gif showing some progress. It sat for about two months...because it was 'finished'. But I knew the entire time I didn't like it nor that it was finished. I do wonder if the lighter underbelly of the geometric clouds were better than the final version. It does make a better contrast.

The frame currently holding Slab.

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Things Seen : 2026-02

15 February 2026 : Amazing shots of a rocket launch the day after Valentine's Day.

Pictures simply do not do it justice...it just made me happy to see it.

(L) 02 March 2026, the incredible sky after a day of tailwheel training and attempted cross county.

(R) 03 March 2026, the next day with the plane used for tailwheel instruction.

06 March 2026, the Liberty Memorial Tower outside the National WWI Museum and Memorial.

It was my kind of weather and really added to the solemness of the scene.

I happened to see it for the first time in its 100th year (1923-26).

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Moonrock : 2026-03

Moonrock

04 March 2026

Acrylic on hardboard

20 x 16 in (50.8 x 40.6 cm

FOR SALE

This was for fun and you can see in the earlier versions (in the gif below) that I was playing with roses and purples to get a dynamic sky. I liked it but then the focus shifted to the terrain. I liked the contrast of the lit rocks so I thought I'd make the sky darker - just to emphasize the moonlight and rocks.

A gif showing progress - about three and a half weeks  - interrupted with other paintings.

I'll likely do more night scenes and use more of the rose color as in earlier stages and Auntiluna. 

The frame currently holding Moonrock.

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Suture : 2026-03

Suture

03 March 2026

Acrylic on wood

14 x 16 in (35.6 40.6 cm)

FOR SALE

After finishing Flip Top, I was all about 'using what I have' so cut up a 2x4 (two of them actually) and spliced them together - hence Suture. I also wanted to use more of the green (deputing in Vibrato) because I have it. I thought it drug the grain out wonderfully. I liked the green and the grain so I wanted to stay minimalist on this - so as to accentuate the grain or at least let it be as visible as it was. I also resisted the desire to overpaint and I think it was a good decision.

The 'canvas' is a 2x4 sliced up, glued together and sanded. Sanded only so much. I liked how the grain popped. It's funny how gray the first pic turned out. The only other shot I would have liked to have was the terrain only. It was the first thing I painted and almost stopped there.

This is the frame currently holding Suture.

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Flip Top : 2026-02

I finally bought a miter saw which has proven to be very handy. For Christmas, my brother gave me a SKIL router and router table. So in under two months, I had two new tools. It's great to have them but also a space issue. I thought I'd take a hack at making a flip top table. Here it is. Above, it's in the 'buttoned up' mode. The covers were already made (see Sewing Bug) and in this shot, the router happens to be on top. Very please over all. We'll see how it works over time.

These shots show the router table and miter saw uncovered and ready to use. Notice the covers stay in place even when upside down. The router cover is held on by metal clips, the miter cover by magnets. Magnets are great. It would have been nice to have this in a more enclosed case, but part of my objective was to use things I already have and purchase (new purchase) as least as possible. Other than the miter saw, I purchased the latches to lock the table in place and cool raising caster wheels.

The pivot pipe was from an old flag pole, I made the washers for both sides of the pipe, I used all but about a square foot of a sheet of oriented strand board (OSB) that had been unused for about two years. I used three of four 2x4s that I had since the summer of 2023. They were so wonky, I'm fortunate the project came out 'true' enough. I found two pipe clamps to keep the pipe from moving in or out, and all the screws were already sunken costs or reclaimed from another project. By the way, the clearance of the router table just happened to work out perfectly. Maybe 3/4 of an inch from hitting.

The spring loaded door gate latch (above left). Used four...each corner is locked in place.

The SPACEKEEPER raising casters. Four of those, pretty cool. They raise the table about 3/4 an inch.

Above right is my "plan".  Most of it was in my head.

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APR : 2026-02

APR

17 February 2026

Acrylic on hardboard

16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

FOR SALE

I save some hotel keys and used them to create this image of cascading and increasing collection of cards. I also made it with the intent of entering it into call-for-art (see Greenleaf for me info) along with Odeum. I struggled with how much color, and which color to give each card. I think the final arrangement of colors works. However, as you can see in the gif below, some of the cards might have looked better with a less-than-finished surface. I'm curious what the gallery will think when I submit it for the call for art.

A gif showing a couple shots along the way and the frame holding APR.

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Vibrato : 2026-02

Vibrato

16 February 2026

Acrylic on hardboard

11 x 14 inches (27.9 x 35.6 cm)

FOR SALE

I like when abstracts move me like I want them to. This one did that. I could have taken dozens of stage shots but only took one and it wasn't worth posting as it was close to the final image. I was experimenting with a new green I have. I thought it worked well and mixes great with the rusty orange. The shape simply came from the motion I was feeling at the time. The shape itself went through many changes (for which the stage pictures would have been interesting) and color was probably a bigger focus than physical shape.

This is the frame holding Vibrato. It was holding Pulse.

That sold and, no surprise, they didn't like the frame.

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