Welcome.
Don't walk away Renee. I mean didn't we all have some thrills from her performances? When The Bridget Jones movies were around I had a very macho male friend who insisted I would enjoy them after he had seen them. Well, frankly I am A Hugh Grant fan.
I like comedies and happy endings. I gave 'em a go and thought they were great fun. I can watch one of these films when I am feeling edgy and get back to a state of ease and wellness.
This was one of my line portrait series with expressive yet controlled movement, gesture and accuracy. The medium is charcoal, pastel on brown craft paper 24" by 36" $1,500.00 US plus shipping and handling. There is a certain freshness to this one don't you think?
More to come...
All art copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
This is a 16 x 16 inch oil on canvas. Even though it is all soft forms I like the geometry of it.
Our view here is looking south from my boat to the shore one frosty December morning in Guana River State Park in Florida, USA.
The other aspect that I enjoyed was playing cool and warm grays off one another. I generally paint more detailed, sunlit forms with plenty of volume and definition so it was fun also to flatten the shapes some and create distance with layers of tone. This art was also painted with broad gestural strokes giving it more of a bold feel. I love the swirl of the exposed bare branches on the tree on the right that lead in arc back to the lone egret wading at the shoreline.
It is sold.
More to come
All art copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
Do we adore Kabuki makeup? Do we cherish moments with taste makers that have the stones to experiment, take risk, and be as creative as their imaginations will allow? You bet.
The Empress of Fashion Diana Vreeland was a tour de force. She was an instrument in creating Richard Avedon one of my all time favorite photographers. Did I mention Irving Penn?
Classics, brilliant, elegant, ballsy, smart,smart, smart and willing to help the talent stretch.
Although I am not involved in fashion on a day to day basis I have great appreciation for the artists that live there whether they are designers, art directors, editors, photographers, models, stylists, seamstress (think original Dior) or business partners it is all fascinating, entertaining and a joy for me to experience in whatever form it takes in my world.
Every month I take a joyride in the pages of Vogue romping through the pages of magnificent art.
Here is another of my line portrait series of the great editor. It is charcoal, pastel
on craft paper and is 24 inches wide by 30 inches long. (shown cropped on the sides here.)
$1,500.00 US plus shipping and handling
More to come....
all art copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
Most of the time I am making art for you. I would say 99% of what I do is in mind to share and for it to be purchased and live in some one's home, office, lobby or as a piece in a publication to tell,sell a story. All of them are done with a mind to excellence, subject matter that I adore or am curious about and all of them get my full attention and my focus.
However from time to time there are a few I would keep. This was one. It's a 20x30 inch watercolor which was sold a few years back. I do make my living as an artist after all. I heard it mentioned recently in a conversation and it made me smile that it is still in place giving the viewer, it's audience, a feeling of comfort and grace.
This scene was in October in Westport, Connecticut in the USA. It's a beautiful part of the coastline that runs on one side of Long Island Sound. The Westport harbor is small yet functional and is on most days the picture of serenity. Here it was the last rays of the day illuminating the hull of this sloop.
More to come......
All art copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
This was a very happy day for me. I was on Tony Forstmann's back lawn in the Hamptons watching world class tennis players warm up and then play pro - am doubles in the late eighties. The tournament put together with brother Ted and Nick. The most amazing thing about it to me even though I had not yet learned enough about the Forstmann brothers to be intimidated which I probably would have and at the same time it is they who were charming and gracious would have behaved no different. I was a guest and I was welcomed sincerely.
It was such a lush environment. On the other side of this court behind me was the water. Every one seemed to be high on the event, truly a good vibe. I saw what I think was a Vanity Fair piece sort of saying farewell to Teddy a couple of years ago as I recall passed in 2011 made think to publish this piece one day in remembrance of something and a person who were very special. The whole family is generous and the charity I believe raised some $30,000,000.00 to help fund charities serving mostly children in need. That's what I call making a difference.
The painting is 30x40 inches oil on canvas and was selected as a juried piece into the Society of Illustrators annual competition in NYC and included in the annual publication that year. I was very proud of that. Would have made a great exhibition poster don't you think?
More to come.....
All art copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
I'm no school boy but I know what I like. Rolling Stones. Keith Richards is so much fun to watch and listen too. I mean Mick's vocals are a classic but there is something a little otherworldly about Keith, don't you think. Who else was going to play Jack Sparrow's dad? I mean really?
If you know me well you know I am a jazz fan through and through. I like many different kinds of music from classical to calypso. When it's time to rock though I won't stand still if there is a jammin Stones tune pumpin! Oscar Wilde woulda loved 'em. Poets and renegades to the core.
Onward with the series here of line based portraits combined on craft paper with oils, pastels and charcoal. Paper is 24" wide and this one is 36" long. $1,500.00 US plus shipping and handling.
More to come.....
All art copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
I had the good fortune to work for The Easton Press for whom I did a long list of classic frontispieces for limited edition leather bound gold leaf collector books of the greatest writers of our time. I believe I may have done art for at least 4 of Ernest Hemingway. One of them is a book of collected essays and reporting which the vertical portrait art here was included. The title is "By Line" Some stories are from Esquire, The Toronto Star and other "dispatches"
It was sold. $2,500.00 15x20 oil on canvas.
My favorites are stories of the 'Blue River' you know, the gulf stream. Those tales of being on the Pilar and chasing giant Marlin, Tuna and other dominant predators of the sea just get me enthusiastic about the ocean, boats, birds, fishing and all that lives there. As if I actually needed any more than what I wake up with on any given day. LOL!
Through my reading I got to experience the fluid narrative style of this man who lived life large. I have been and I still am inspired not only by his adventures but how he could write about it and take me, us, on the journey with him.
The top one is a sketch page from my studies. Watercolor and pencil on paper.The idea was some upland bird hunting, maybe Idaho. A coincidence that his son was Jack and my friend who was the model for the younger man is named Jack also. It was going to be a father and son piece. It might be a painting you will see here in the future.
More to come.....
All art copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
There are a few music makers that I connect with immediately. Marshall Mathers was one. I was drviing around with my then 16 year old daughter with the tunes on and I went woah, who is that? She says, it's Eminem dad. I started listening closely after that. My daughter's name is Haley, though spelled different, ironic.
What I really admired is the contruction. I am a wordsmith at heart. Hearing a very good
beat and lyrics that had an intelligent narrative about the greater world we live in with all kinds of smooth transistions in phrasing and the selection of verse along with an eloquent vocabulary and of course when I was 16-20 we would have shared a similar anger. (I stopped being angry once I produced a truly beautiful painting and watching people respond..it's a very different kind of power to transform and connect with an audience)
Gil Scott Heron was a breath of fresh air while I watched the revolution not be televised.....at that age.
After his initial success I wondered where there was to go....what would be fodder for his flame.
Still plenty of issues to address with rap and a style that is knowledge based, lyrical, powerful, intelligent and spot on. This was done some time ago as part of a series but to mention again I really like the line work in this series of mostly charcoal line, pastel and oil on brown craft paper. There's a kind of immediacy, don't you think? $1,500.00 US plus shipping and handling
More to come.....
All art copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
Fresh fruit is a wonderfully simple pleasure. That's why this watercolor on board follows suit.
Some peaches, some mangoes on the counter spilled from the brown paper bags where they lived for a time to ripen gives me a morning smile. The art is 15"x20". $1,500.00 US plus shipping and handling.
More to come.....
All art copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
Can you remember where you were when you first heard Carlos Santana's guitar? It sang, it wept, it cried, it laughed and spoke of mysteries beyond the pale. It did for me. Play "Oye Coma Va." right this minute and I'll dance.
I can remember walking through The Boston Common in the early evening in the summertime and hearing those Latin and African rythms riding out on a ripple of joyful sound from a conga drum circle. You could go and sit in, you could go and dance, but mostly you could feel it in your body and those kids, high on the music and the joy of that connection had Santana to thank for introducing them to it. I thank him too.
This is charcoal, pastel, oil paint on brown craft paper. All these line pieces are are 24" inches wide and various lengths depending on the body length I have included. The longest I believe 50" inches as the paper comes on a roll. $1,500.00 US plus shipping and handling
More to come.......
All art and images copyright Alan Phillips 2014
Welcome.
Here is another Greeenwich Polo work of art. This time it was White Birch in green but it escapes me as to the blue jerseyed team. I loved the dynamic in this one. I was deliberate about the subtle motion conveyed by the moving legs of the ponies. It was also a specific idea to play the detail and crispness of the foreground to a softer background.
The title "On Line" refers to the players being on the line of the ball. Course it's fun that you are also viewing it online.
It is a 30x40 inch oil on canvas unframed and available at $5,000.00 US plus shipping and handling. You can contact me best at alanlovesart@gmail.com email for inquiries.
More to come.....
All art and images copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
Music is such a constant part of my life. It is inseperable from my artwork which is intentionally lyrical. I listen mostly to jazz while working. I found Laurindo Almeida through listening to Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt (could those guys jam or what?) Imagine you are at The Hot Club in Paris it's 2 in the morning and these guys are cooking. Then there's Laurindo sitting in the audiance at 19 taking it all in.
I love the guitar sound. It can be rock,pop,classical, jazz or a fusion. Spanish guitar and particularly the tempo and lushness of the sounds from Brasil are my favorite. Listen to "Concerto de Copacabana" played by Laurindo...it's a classic.
This is oil on board used in a wash style loose like watercolor the size is 15x20. available
$1,500.00 US plus shipping and handling.
More to come.....
All art copyright Alan Phillips 2015
Welcome.
I trust your new year celebration was a good one and that here now in 2015 you will find your way and the way will find you to great and amazing adventures, health , prosperity and wellness.
First of all this is a charcoal drawing, pastel, oil painting mixed media on brown wrapping paper. Mostly it was inspired by Toulouse Lautrec and having a small collection of reproductions of art that he made on cardboard. They are fresh, dynamic, expressive and lush. He and Degas had some of the most fluid drawing and line work that I know of and I appreciate it for it's own sake.
This is from a series I did a few years ago exploring some famous faces with this style and technique which I will feature here for a while until my new coastal art is ready for viewing.
Some people just intrigue me. Mostly it's people who seem to offer a universal truth. Tupac Shakur was one. I love that line he said, "Long live the rose that grew from concrete." Yeah man, I hear ya. Me too.
I leave with you with this thought, his thought that resonates with me to start the year.
"I want to grow. I want to be better. You grow. We all grow. You either evolve or you disappear."
Tupac Shakur. 36x24 inches charcoal and pastel on brown craft paper $1,500.00
More to come....
All art copyright Alan Phillips 2014
