Tag Archives: #koi paintings

Marching to Hawaii

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3 Koi
24×24 inches
oil on canvas
2022


It’s happening.

Another return to Hawaii – my third – where I first saw the

koi swimming among lagoons in the lobby of a hotel in Maui in 1986.

I knew then that’s what I wanted to paint when I returned to the studio

after 10 years in business.

And I did exactly that.

Began painting koi in 1988.

Hard to believe that I’m still intrigued by them so many years later.

This trip we’ll venture to Lanai, a quieter island

for some much needed R&R in warmer weather.

Two glorious weeks April 5 to the 19th 🙂


Trio of Koi arriving together

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Red and White Koi 2
12×36 inches
oil on panel
Red and White Koi 3
12×36 inches
oil on panel
Circus 3
12×36 inches
oil on board

These 3 paintings just sold to a lovely new client in Newton, Massachusetts through the Beth Urdang Gallery in Wellesley. I have to pinch myself often to remember that my first show of koi paintings was in 1995 at the Beth Urdang on Newbury Street. She continued to show my work there until moving to SOWA in the up-and-coming area in Boston a few years ago. Since then, she now has two galleries in Wellesley.

I loved working on this series, and the elongated profile, another favorite of mine. Since then I’ve scaled back a bit from the 30×80 inch and longer ones. As usual, photographs never fully capture the lusciousness of oil paint – especially the dark green lagoons in the top two images.

As soon as the client sends along an installation shot, I’ll include that image in this post. It’s always fun to see where and how my work lands. 🙂

Last koi of the year

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5 Koi 21 30×30 inches oil on canvas

Last week I began work on a koi commission for a lovely new client in

Maryland.

She has an enormous koi pond – about an acre! – with 6 large koi in it.

And snapping turtles, bass and ……perhaps other unknown critters.

Anyway, the painting I started (above) was not the one she had envisioned.

So, I’ll begin another in January. I told her this is what I would do,

and happily so, because I need to make the painting she wants.

There’s plenty of creative flexibilty for me to exercise in the new version

because she’s a huge fan of my work. (Art major in college turned lawyer.)

That is so gratifying to know.

Most of the time I’m working in my own little isolated world of my studio

unaware of anyone who might be looking at my website

to see what I’m doing. 🙂


The koi that got away….

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Reversible Koi

Oil on canvas

Both views from poor quality photo
(the only documentation)


    It’s unusual for me to let a painting go without having good documentation

    of it first – a slide, 4×5 transparency, or more recently a good photo.

    Unfortunately in this case, none of that happened.

    It was sold. To Mass General in Boston.

    And apparently resides at one of the nurses’ stations in OB-GYN.

    I had hoped to track it down – there are many locations where it

    could be – but that was before all the Covid restrictions.

    Oh well. Someday.

    The title is “Reversible Koi” because it is just that, meant to be

    hung either way. Hence, I signed it along the left edge.

    I don’t remember the dimensions.