"what do you see"

 

About two years ago, I was strolling, camera in-hand on balboa peninsula in Newport beach CA..

I was on a hunt to find something I could commit to canvas.   I shot this and that, got a yummy balboa bar  and continued looking for that just right subject.  I was just about to take the faerie back to the mainland when I almost walked by "Psychic Readings" a place that has been there for 30 years that I know of.   I did my dance with my camera and after only a hand full of photos I knew I had what would be my next painting.... This is a 40x40 oil... 

"picking cotton"

Yes I kept the title simple, I did that for I found naming it most difficult after thinking about what this little flower is and its meaning.  I found this steam off the side of a large field with rows and rows of cotton.   I stopped to pick it up with the intent of painting it, in doing this I pricked my finger on the sharp underside of this very soft white fluff of a flower.  Back at my studio I placed the cotton this way and that to see how to light it for the composition I wanted.  I began to think that with this and millions more like it, the fabrics of every conceivable color is spun into amazing everyday things that we use and wear.... Just amazing...  All this said, I return to me pricking my finger and a thought I of "What it must have been like to pick this in the time of hands and all those brothers and sisters in the hot summer fields bending to the earth" ...  Without laboring on my thoughts, I just wanted to perhaps make others stop, if only for a moment to remember the past and all those hands.

This oil painting is on a 6"x6"x 1.5 "wood box,for price email me "AT"   

"goodbye darkness hello sunshine"

After hours of darkness and my mind drifting from one thing to another.   At times wondering if I was on the road or not with blocks of time missing "you all know what I am talking about".  It was just one of those moments when I snapped to only to realize, "Its morning!" How did that happen?

Looking into my review and seeing that sun blaring at my back, pushing me into a new day I shouted out... Goodbye darkness, Hello sunshine....   This oil painting is a 40x40 and will be in this summers Laguna Beach summers show.. The video can be seen on YouTube

"evening lights"

Another painting from my friends patio thanks to the photograph supplied to me by the lady of the house.  In setting here, enjoying good company, good wine and looking out at this ever changing view I was struck by the fact that if I wanted to just paint skies, the supply of beauty would be endless... Oh well... I'll stick with the few I get to paint... Yes! I'll have another glass please.     This painting in oils an another of my maquette's on 6x6" varnished wood box's.

 Also if one clicks here, my YouTube video of the painting of "evening lights" can be seen.

For my fellow artists

"VIEW FROM HIGH"

Thanks to a friends eye with her camera, she sent me several photos of this view.  So after a long hiatus, I chose this to paint, it was just what I needed to open the door to madness and love of painting. This breath taking view high-a-top in in the hills of Turtle Rock in Orange County is the view my friends have from there patio.   I have had the pleasure of setting with them sipping on a fine glass of wine looking out at this. This Marquette is a 6x6" oil. I am here to say I am back in the game. (Sold)

"WEEKEND NIGHTS"

           Driving around in San Fernando Vally a short time back, it had just stopped raining.

           The sky changing colors with both the clouds moving out and the coming of night, a 

           wonderful clean glow of colors came to life.  The wet streets, head and tall lights 

          repeating on the now shinny streets was a sure thing for this 30x36" painting.

"SUNSET & VINE"

One of the most iconic corners but on a rainy night, photographed in low light and low speed, it became just this wonderful abstraction of colored blurry lights moving through the night.  It was one shot as I had to start driving  thus ending the beeping from the person behind me...  When I got home and was able to see my handy work with camera, I new; it was time for a painting to begin.... This is a 40x34 oil on canvas and will be at the Laguna Arts Festival starting July 1 to Aug 30...   

"KEEP GOING"

After driving for about10 hours and knowing I was wanting to stop soon, get a bite to eat, stretch the legs and find a place to shower and get some sleep.  All those thoughts where running around in my head when I came upon this motel in the  middle of no-place.  I pulled in, got out of my drive, looked around and thought... Nah!.... Keep going....

This is painting was done from a photo taken by a wonderful photographer and friend 

"Marc Evens":   Check him out...

This painting is done on the front of a varnished wooden box, 6x6" by 1.5 in depth, for punches and price email me "AT" (SOLD)

"THE LOUNGE"

New painting for this summers show.  I must say this was a labor of love to get it to work like I wanted.   Lots of transformations and many hours of studying just where to place all that is going on.

I worked from lots of photographs to give me the composition  in telling this story.

The painting is 36x36 inches oil on canvas.   This most likely will be shown in the opening night of the show...  I will be posting more in a few days.  Hope you enjoy.  

"HOLLYWOOD MORNING"

6X6 oil on birch wood

Up early heading back into Orange County, I stopped an grab a coffee and doughnut, you know, one of those chocolate glazes, I love those, I don't often stop and.... Sorry for digressing away from my... Where was I!... Oh yeah... heading back to O.C....  I look up and the Hollywood sign is just waking up with the fog despairing  from it along with me.  I get back in my van and start winding my why up La Brea past Melrose tell I find a spot to pull over and take two photos.  Back in my studio I take a look at my handy-work  and here you have it, Hollywood in the morning.  

This is painted on a 6x6" 1.5" deep varnished box and is available.  "AT" (Sold)

"SPRINGTIME"

 

"6x6 oil on birch wood "

This painting is a culmination of different times during the day as the sun moved the shadow's over  the field of mustard flowers.  I just sat and stared it the beauty.  The shades of greens, the soft and evenness of the flowers, the silence, all made everything seem good even if only for a moment. 

I think that is why I painted this, I can return to that time and feel it all over again. (SOLD)

    

"WINTERS CHILL"

Some time back I painted this and lost the page it was on...  So I'm presenting it again.

It was taken while I was spending time with my son in Minnesota.  it was a cold day when we went for a walk, I wondered off with camera in hand and photographed this knowing it will be a painting.

This oil on birch wood is 6x8" and set on a 1.5" deep varnished box.  (SOLD)

  

"CALIFORNIA EVENING"

LA evening and another ride back home.  I'm driving all by myself lost in thoughts with my CD playing music that I DJ for drives like this.   My love for music is really an eclectic ranging from "Pink Martini" to "Steve Oliver"and "Neil Young"... The bottom line is, music is a big part of my life and is on all the time moving my mind around like clear liquid.  So... driving around listening to music gives me time to think and see colors and subjects I have yet to paint and talk about on canvas.  What can I say... It is the way of my life.  After all, somebody has to do it.  ;-}   

This 6x6" painting is on wood mounted to a varnished 1.5" deep box: "Available At"schwartzart@earthlink.net

  

"MY L.A."

There is just something that pulls me back to L.A. otherwise known as Los Angeles.  I grew up in LA with those towering palm trees, blue skies and all that it had to offer at that time in the late 40s, that's right I said late 40s, it even sounds strange to me, but that be the truth and now its 2013 so you do the math.  At that time the streets were field with so many electric and telephone poles with crisscrossing wires so as a kid looking up it seemed crowded.  Now as we travel around there is virtually none, especially with all our iPhone.  I don't even have a house phone, who needs one, we have cable and all those satellites that crowd the skies, we just cant see them now so its all good... Isn't it?   

This painting is an original oil, 6x6" on a wood 1.5" deep varnished box: "Available At"schwartzart@earthlink.net

  

"FOREVER"

I was walking along the soft marsh grounds taking pictures of the wet grasses, pools of water, shadows of sticks and their reflections, a butterfly taking its last drink before it gets to dark.   It was at that point that I looked up and turned just in time to see the sun making its way down to kiss the horizon.

I was so taken with natures beauty I forgot to take a picture but no-mater; I will remember this gift forever.  (SOLD)

"OUR-TOWN"

Downtown USA on any given day.  When I was doing some of my road shows, traveling through small towns, stopping here and there to ether sleep or eat, I was taken by a feeling that time stood still.  It was like simplicity was alive and well, maybe even innocence prevailed amongst the youth; one can only hope and dream.   I call this painting "OUR-TOWN" seems so appropriate on this day of history making.    40x34 oil on canvas for this summers show.

"DON'T FENCE ME IN"

Driving some of the back roads I would see farms, barns and dwellings of families all quietly set back far from neighbors and prying eyes.  I would wonder, who lives there and what are they like?   So many look welcoming enough, just void of life.  No Trespassing, Keep Out and Beware of Dog signs posted all weathered and faded indicating they have been up a long, long time.   Sadly I look and think, they're fenced in but can leave and I'm fenced out and can't get in.   After a time I put my car in gear and drive back home where all the homes are neatly lined up side by side, I open my electric garage door then close it behind me; after all, I have to making sure of my privacy. 

This is an original 6x6" oil on board mounted to a 1.5" deep box:  "Sold"

 

"LATE TUESDAY"

This was in Kansas City Missouri and a trip my sister and I took to see family.   We where just about to pass over train tracks when I stopped, got out of my van to stand near the tracks and take one single shot looking toward the city lights.  This painting is 34x34 by 2" deep canvas.  This painting is slated for next 2013 summer show.

"59 CADILLAC"

                                                      
                                                       " See on YouTube"

A quick trip up North, camera at the ready, clicking away at this and that I found myself in an open field, staring at the clouds, feeling the soft breeze, listening to the buzz of insects in the tall grasses. Back in my studio I let my mind drift in and out of ideas of what to paint and after a time I knew. (Sold)

"THE APPLE"

                                               Please click on "YouTube" and see the movie.

This painting was made into a YouTube movie.  I thought long and hard what would be the steps in the filming of the painting.   After a time, I knew I had to paint four apples, then start painting the bits blending each to make it look like I was painting just one apple.... A really fun project and must say.  Each apple painting is a 6x6" square and can be purchased separately for $150+s/h or $600 and that would include shipping.  

"STILL STANDING"

The Great American Plains with its farms, barns, windmills, broken fences and miles of wide open spaces has and is a real love for this visual feast for my soul.  This painting named itself.  I know this shed was built many years ago, like so many of us, it no longer is straight, a little shaky and weathered with time, but still standing.    If you click on "YOUTUBE" there is a movie of the painting's journey. (SOLD)

"SIMPLICITY"

It was late in the day when I pulled off the road and got out of my van.  Leaning up against it I stood looking at the house across from me.   I didn't see a telephone or electric pole anywhere.   I could just make out some chickens and goats and heard a dog barking.  I held my iPhone up to make

a call but no signal.  WOW, I thought, not to be able to go on line, what would I do with my 31 passwords that I need to stay in contact with all??....   I stared at the house across from me for sometime listening to the sounds of the earth and thought, "Such Simplicity".     

This 6x6" oil painting in on archival panel mounted to a varnished wooden box requiring no framing:  (SOLD)

"THE SENTINEL"

A study of rust at first glance but there is so much more.  That is what I wanted the feeling to be about in this painting.  I wanted not just to show the age of the subject but the strength of what was.
It is something that we so many times forget to do.  To understand and respect the old as they are the sentinel's of the past and future.  This is a 36x36" oil on canvas.   

"LAGUNA MOON"

I was chatting with my good friend Susan Davis on Facebook.  Susan is the director and organizer of the fantastic music we have at the Festival of Art in Laguna Beach each summer.  This is the show I am a part of.  Well, on her Facebook page I spot this photo she had taken and I asked if I might use it for a painting, she replied, its yours!   So this is the painting of the moon rising above the beach town in south Laguna at night.  Thanks Susan.   This painting is 6x6" on archival panel mounted to a varnished box:  "Sold"    

"FIRST CLOUD"

This painting is from a road trip traveling through Kansas.   The day started off with another cloudless sky adding to the fourth month of much needed rain.  The temperature again was way above normal with hot air blowing the lands dry, making for a perfect combination to form the familiar dust devils one sees when crossing the great American Plains.  I had already been driving on the road for about 7 hours when I stopped to take some photographs for some later paintings when I  turned and looked west, there in the blue, blue sky, the first cloud in months.   Shortly after I arrived at my hotel in the early evening, I was standing outside watching a cloud covered sky when the first light rain began to fall.  This painting is a 6x6 inch on panel mounted to a varnished 1.5" deep box:  

"MORNING COMMUTE"

In trying to think just how many trains I've painted over the years, I seem to have lost count.  I know it's  a lot and I know that every time I start a new painting I get flashbacks of when I was a little boy in Brooklyn playing with my train set.  Sitting on the floor I would watch my dad set it up, It was then I would disappear into my imagination and be one with the train.   I have since forgotten that distinct smell of the oil heating on the electric motor as it went round and round the track, but the memory of it is still there.  Maybe that's why I paint so many of them.  I get to return to that moment, and if only for a moment, be a  little boy once again.   (SOLD)

"BACK HOME"

Gosh! I'm trying to remember just when I took this little photo.  It was on one of the many trips back to California from AZ as I have family and friend's there.   I must have come across this amongst hundreds of photos about 5 dozen times over the years looking for something to paint, but this time I stopped to listen.  Funny how that happens, I wonder how many other photos have asked me to stop  that I ignored.   How many people I have done the same thing to, makes me stop and wonder.  We are so quick to choose to listen to the loudest when indeed there is much in a whisper.   

This is an original 6x6"oil painting.  For interest in giving this a home send me an "Email" (Sold)

"MELROSE DRIZZLE"

It was just one of those nights, you know, drizzly kinda evening.  Actually it was a perfect time to go for a walk, meet some friends, have some good food, yes its a stop at "Lala's Argentine Grill".  LA is so crazy, got to love thought.  It is truly a melting pot of tastes...   (Sold)

"MONDAY MORNING BLUES"

With the sun not even thinking of coming up yet, business still closed, few cars out,  I find myself driving down Melrose thinking "What! am I doing?".  With only three cups of coffee working on  clearing the cobwebs inside my head, the gurgling sounds of my stomach because of the lack of food, I realized most definitely, I was feeling those Monday morning blues. 

This 6x6 box painting.   (SOLD)

"DAYBREAK"

Gearing up for a full blown canvas always takes time.  Even with my mind whirling with ideas, it still takes time to walk up to a blank canvas and say "HELLO".  It is a commitment for weeks, telling a story, provoking memories, moods and all those human qualities that I want to happen when someone
 sees the finished peace.  That's why I could do lots of these little 6x6 inch paintings first.  So with
that said, here is "DAYBREAK" an original oil, 6x6" on panel mounted to a 1.5" deep box:  

"DOWNTOWN"

"Downtown" Just the mention of it denotes feelings in everyone. Everyone has a story, memory, recollection "Something" to contribute in the mere mention of "Downtown" Sunday walks, corner bakery, breakfast, lets meet for lunch, all of this and more.... Did you know they are on the endangered list.   Yes I know, every city has a downtown.. But real downtown is like the one in long

 beach, they have one, I used to live just blocks away on Broadway.. Lot's of the little stores are gone, you know, mom's and pop's, you knew there names and they yours... Changes they tell me... Glad I get to paint them and  hold on to my memory's... Oil on Birch panel, mounted on a 6x8 inch varnished box.

"SUGAR FROSTING"

Now that the festival and the summer show is over and I'm not tempted by the never ending fantastic cupcakes, lemon squares, bundt cakes and all the goodies baked by Marcia, a wonderful water-colorist at the show, maybe I can loose some weight.  She would sneak up with a tray of goodies and ask "would you like one,  like I would say "no".  What made it worse was her husband a relatively big guy (that you never say no to) would also find you and ask the same question... long and short, I gained 10 lbs...

The show has been over for a week.  I've been eating salads, light soups that I make, small pieces of chicken and a vegetable...  So what do I paint today....  Is there no escape!...  This is an original 6x6 oil painting:     

"RAINING AGAIN"

Traveling on the 91 one late rainy afternoon.  Traffic slowing to a crawl, the glare of headlights, taillights, on and off brake-lights mixed with the pitter-patter background noise of it raining again.  Something in the back of my mind starts it's way up to full consciousness and.... a new painting comes to be...

This oil painting is on board mounted to a 8x6" wooden box:

"MAGIC HOUR"

Driving at that magic hour one is guaranteed to be late for wherever you where planing on going. Every time I think I'll make it on time I end up wrong, but I have to stop and say if it was not for those stuck in traffic kinda evenings I wouldn't have a great portion of my work.  Coloring, shadows and glare of brake-lights is just what I need  and love.   So the next time you're stuck in traffic stop and say "Gerald would love this"  This is an oil painting on panel mounted to a 6x6" box with no framing needed.

"SURFS-UP"

With the sky darkening the big waves began to arriving.  Standing barefooted in the cool wet sand I could feel the power and energy rumble up though me with each wave that slammed the shoreline here in Laguna Beach.  Letting my mind drift with the never ending sound of the surf a painting emerged for another 6x6"oil.  This is on canvas and ready for a wall nearest you :-) (SOLD)

 

"LAGUNA WAVE"

After 6 weeks of hanging out at the festival of arts I thought it was time to paint a fraction of the shoreline with its amazing seascape views all around, hear in Laguna Beach.  This is just up from Hotel Laguna where there are lots of rocks under the surf creating some really fantastic waves for the surfers to catch.  Then there are guys like myself that cant swim but sure can catch those waves on canvas.   This little 6x6 inch wonder "if I do say so myself "is painted on canvas mounted to a wooden box: $150+8.5 s/h  (SOLD)

 

"NEW YORK #2" urban landscape by gerald schwartz

This year I painted a 60x36 called "NY new york," if you "click on this" you will see the original.   Well that painting gave me a thought, (why not paint a 6x6"). I'll make some changes and see if I can make it work.  The challenge was on, paintbox in hand I set up my plain-air easel out on the patio and began.   The hours past quickly as a new painting came to life.  I named it "New York #2" in honer of. This is in oils, on canvas, mounted  to one of my varnished box's.  It is priced at $150+8.50 for shipping here in the USA. (SOLD)

 

"PARADISE LOST"

 Finely I'm far from it all.   Sitting in a comfortable chair with my legs outstretched sipping on something cool, the feel of warm breezes, sounds of tropical birds hidden in the shadows of the trees, not a care in the world when it started.  It happened slowly at first, then within minuets the need got bad.... I tried to resist but it was to late, my cell phone found its way to my hand, then my ear, pressing it close and without warning I heard myself say those words...... "Can you hear me now?"       (SOLD)