Beginning in the spring of 2016 I started painting on canvas again. For the past several years I have been painting on wood in order to create figures in relief…I needed a rigid surface upon which to work. Over the years my work has been more and more concerned with surface texture, and the figures were not only textural, but intentionally in the third dimension. I suppose I had forgotten how great it is to work with the tooth of canvas. My way of applying paint was always fairly smooth and done with soft brushes. Over time, however, I’ve been building up the surface just with paint…without any prior treatment of the work in relief.
I live in Mussy-sur-Seine, a village with roots back to the Gallo-Roman period, but with remnants of Medieval and Renaissance architecture. Some buildings, alas, are in a state of neglect and are no longer occupied. At first glance, I suppose most people would find them uninviting, even threatening, because of their condition. After years of living here I have become more familiar with the building materials traditionally used in Mussy and elsewhere in the region. I started to appreciate not only the thought given to constructing door and window openings with heavy tailored limestone, but the way walls were built using roughhewn limestone quarried in the forests close by. The exterior walls were finished smooth with a kind of mortar made with ground limestone, sand, and local mud. This material is durable, up to a point. If it is properly applied and sealed with paint, it can repel the weather. However, if it is subjected to leaks from a roof, a window, or a doorway, it crumbles away. It is very common to see exterior walls, even in occupied and otherwise comfortable houses, with exposed stones…the old mortar having collapsed. Sometimes people never address the problem, sometimes they repair it with odd materials. The result is often curiously intriguing.
I am painting façades of buildings, usually only the door and an occasional window. I hope to evoke something that might be called le charme de délabrement. These buildings all have histories. They hold a thousand stories. Here are a few of them.

2016 Oil and sand on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2016 Oil and sand on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2016 Oil on canvas
30 x 10 cm.

2016 Oil and sand on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2016 Oil and sand on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2016 Oil, sand, and wood on canvas
50 x 70 x 1 cm.

2017 Oil on canvas
40 x 20 cm.

2017 Oil, sand, and wheat filaments on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2017 Oil and sand on canvas
40 x 20 cm.

2017 Oil, sand, and acrylic on canvas
70 x 50 x 1 cm.

2017 Oil on canvas
40 x 20 cm.

2017 Oil on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2017 Oil on canvas
30 x 40 cm.

2017 Oil, sand, and acrylic on canvas
40 x 30 cm.

2017 Oil, sand, acrylic, and paper on canvas
70 x 50 x 2 cm.

2017 Oil on canvas
18 x 13 cm.

2017 Oil, sand, gravel, and paper on canvas
70 x 50 x 1 cm.

2017 Oil, acrylic, and sand on canvas
70 x 50 x 1 cm.

2018 Oil, acrylic, and sand on canvas
60 x 60 x 1 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, and acrylic on canvas
40 x 20 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, and acrylic on canvas
100 x 50 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, acrylic, and steel on canvas
40 x 20 x 1 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, and acrylic on canvas
70 x 50 x 2 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, and acrylic on canvas
70 x 50 x 1 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, acrylic, paper, and wood on canvas
70 x 50 x 2 cm.

2018 Oil, wire, and paper on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2018 Oil and acrylic on canvas
40 x 20 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, acrylic, wood, wire and paper on canvas
70 x 50 x 1 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, gravel, copper and steel wire on canvas
40 x 20 x 1 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, acrylic and wire on canvas
70 x 50 x 1 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, acrylic, copper and aluminum on canvas
100 x 50 x 10 cm.

2018 Oil, sand and acrylic on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2018 Oil, sand and acrylic on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2018 Oil, sand, acrylic, foam core board, wood, aluminum and cardboard on canvas
70 x 50 x 6 cm

2017 Oil, sand, acrylic, wood and paper on canvas
70 x 50 x 6 cm.

Prison Ferme II
2019 Oil, sand, acrylic, gravel, and wood on canvas
40 x 20 x 1 cm.

2019 Oil on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, acrylic, wood, foam core board, cardboard, and paper on canvas
70 x 50 x 8 cm.

2019 Oil and acrylic on canvas
70 x 50 x 2 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, acrylic, foam core board, and wire on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2019 Oil and sand on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, acrylic, wood and gravel on canvas
70 x 50 x 6 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, foamcore and wood on canvas
70 x 50 x 2 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, foam core, wood, paper, and wire on canvas
70 x 50 x3 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, acrylic, and foam core on canvas
70 x 50 x 3 cm.

2019 Oil on canvas
40 x 20 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, and acrylic on canvas
40 x 20 x 6 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, and acrylic on canvas
70 x 50 x 2 cm.

2019 Oil on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, foam core board, wood, wire, and gravel on canvas
70 x 50 x 8 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, gravel, acrylic cloth, silicone, foam core board, silicone, and copper on canvas
70 x 50 x 4 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, acrylic, and wood on canvas
70 x 50 x 4 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, wood, cardboard, gravel, and copper wire on canvas
70 x 50 x 4 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, acrylic, wood, and cardboard on canvas
70 x 50 x 4 cm.

2019 Oil, sand, acrylic, cardboard and polyethylene on canvas
70 x 50 x 4 cm.

2019 Oil, sand and acrylic on canvas
70 x 50 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, acrylic, paper, wood, silicone and gravel on canvas
70 x 50 x 4 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, acrylic, cardboard and paper on canvas
70 x 50 x 6 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, acrylic and wood on canvas
70 x 50 x 10 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, wood and acrylic on canvas
70 x 50 x 4 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, acrylic and wood on canvas
100 x 50 x 5 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, acrylic, gravel, copper wire and cardboard on canvas
100 x 50 x 4cm.

2020 Oil, sand, acrylic, cardboard, wood and wire on canvas
100 x 50 x 6 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, acrylic, cardboard, wood, copper wire, gravel and polystyrene on canvas
50 x 70 x 4 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, pumice, acrylic, wood and gravel on canvas
70 x 50 x 4cm.

2020 Oil and pumice on canvas
40 x 20 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, gravel, cardboard, wood, copper wire and brass on canvas
100 x 50 x 8 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, acrylic, cardboard, wood and copper on canvas
70 x 50 x 1 cm.

2020 Oil, sand, acrylic, copper wire and wood on canvas
75 x 50 x 2 cm.