"It's Our Pleasure to Serve You"

Like the Chinese takeout box, these little Greek-themed coffee cups are all over the city, sold from carts at countless corner trailers that also offer bagels and donuts each weekday morning. Of course, with the Starbucks invasion, and a host of copycats, these little blue and white fixtures have some competition in the curbside garbage competition. Fabriano paper, 140lb., 9" x 12", watercolor, pen & ink.

"American Standard"

After considerable effort with the scanner and photoshop, I got this to a somewhat acceptable point vis-a-vis how closely it matches the painting itself. Although it's not usually a problem when working with darker, more vivid images, the scanner doesn't like the rough texture of the paper when there's little pigment. I kept getting tiny shadows on the paper - like the shadows of minuscule moon craters.

I realize this may not be the most picturesque subject. Nevertheless, it falls nicely into my "ordinary objects" theme and reflects a fascination with industrial design, whether we're observing toasters or urinals. And admit it: It is a rather iconic fixture in the design landscape. Scan search results from google or flickr and you'll be amazed at the number of urinal photos - and the myriad designs pictured - from all over the world.

Here I really wanted to present the urinal in an appealing fashion - clean, polished, standing like a trophy or an idol on an altar. No doubt one could derive numerous conclusions from a painting of a urinal, from the Freudian to the political. The title alone - "American Standard" - says a great deal, I think, beyond standing as a specific brand moniker. In the end, enjoying art is about drawing one's own conclusions, fitting an image into a personal paradigm of experiences and opinions.

(The boys were intrigued by this one as I worked on it last week and over the weekend. They raised their eyebrows and even giggled. That's no surprise since "bathroom humor" is a focal point for schoolboy humor. My wife actually liked it from the start. I teased the boys that I was going to scan it and have it printed on t-shirts for each of them. At first they reacted with, "You're kidding," but eventually concluded that a t-shirt with a urinal on the front might be sufficiently weird to be cool. Hmmmmm, it may happen.) 5" x 7", watercolor, pen & ink, Fabriano 140 lb. paper.