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I have been kind of all over the place the past couple of months trying figure out what direction I would like my work to evolve into so there has been quite a bit of experimentation going on, some good, some not so good but all worth at least trying out.

After the completion of one of my projects, I had a surplus of paper that was ~10×22 inches and decided to use that size for experimentation purposes.

I started with Untitled 022226 (see progress pics below) but got stuck towards the end of completing the picture as I couldn’t decide on how I should do it, so it is currently taped to my studio wall. I am happy to say that I believe that I have figured out a solution and will be taking it off the wall soon to see if it works 🙂

Next, I worked on Exquisite Corpse Totem 041026 (left) and Asymmetrical Totem 080526 (right) mostly trying to shake things up a bit and try to move away from the predominately symmetrical work that I have been doing. I am still a bit stuck on Exquisite Corpse Totem 041026 (using Surrealist rules of the game), but believe that Asymmetrical Totem 080526 could be the next picture to come off of the wall 🙂

If you are not familiar with the Surrealist drawing game The Exquisite Corpse, please check out: Exquisite corpse – Wikipedia for explanations/examples. I find it to be a wonderful way to shake up my work and have used the idea on several experimental pictures.

On a side note, I recently viewed the Legacies of Surrealism: Works from the Museo de Arte de Ponce at D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts Springfield, MA and they had a station set up for visitors to play the game.

Final note about the Exquisite Corpse game: Helen A Harrison wrote a wonderfully fun art mystery series starting with An Exquisite Corpse (Book #1 in the Art of Murder Mystery Series) set in 1940s NYC that uses some real artists as characters. Check her out:

I believe that part of the issue I have with actually “finishing” pictures is: I actually really enjoy the way the pictures look in their “outline” state and when I add color or other markings, I am simply not as in love with the idea any longer. I haven’t gone any further with Untitled 081925 simply because I love the way it looks now:

I do believe that I am getting closer to what I am looking for with Counterpart Asymmetrical 20×16.25 090726 and even though I feel that there are some sections of this picture that do not work as well, I will “finish” it as I believe that that this work is a bridge to what I am trying to get to:

All of this experimentation brings me to Asymmetrical 45 degrees 091226. I am really enjoying working on this picture but have found myself stumped at how I would like to finish it. I LOVE how the top portion of the picture came out and feel that there is something lacking overall, so this is now taped to my studio wall so I can try to puzzle out a solution:

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

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Copyright @2026 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reser

I made my first visit to the New Britain Museum of American Art in CT this weekend and I honestly cannot wait to return! The museum is absolutely amazing and the staff are incredible! Special shout out to the extremely patient lady who checked me in and took the time to review the spreadsheet I brought with me listing the exhibits I wanted to see (yes, I really did bring a spreadsheet) and marked where all of the rooms were so I wouldn’t miss anything 🙂

My interest in the NBMAA began with the notice of the Architects of Being: Louise Nevelson and Esphyr Slobodkina | NBMAA exhibit. I have been a long-time fan of Nevelson’s but was not as familiar with Esphyr Slobodkina. After viewing the exhibit, I am now a fan of hers as well!

Selection of Louise Nevelson’s work below, including one of her amazing Dream Houses (top right in black):

Louise Nevelson’s jewelry and clothing:

Selection of Esphyr Slobodkina’s work:

There is still time if you are in the area, the exhibit will be on view until November 01, 2026.

I also checked out the Faith Ringgold exhibit, some pics below:

The NBMAA also had some favorites: Helen Frankenthaler, Kay Sage, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Betye Saar and always fun to see: the Guerrilla Girls!:

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

1. If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
2. You can also follow White Rooster Studio on Facebook by using the direct links from the blog’s headers.
3. Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2026 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reser

Our annual week-long vacation at the lake is now over.

We absolutely love the choice we made a couple of years ago to simply have quiet weeks away reading books, making art and poking around in used book stores or check out a couple of local sites instead of spending it running around only to arrive home again even more tired than when we left.

During our time away, I read Stan and Gus: Art, Ardor, and the Friendship that Built the Gilded Age by Henry Wieneck, which got me thinking: I have been to Trinity Church in Boston multiple times but I cannot remember actually going inside and both Standford White and Augustus Saint-Gaudens worked on it. Basil and I now have a mini Boston trip planned sometime in the fall to visit inside Trinity Church as well as stopping in to view the John Singer Sargent murals and the Boston Public Library across the street.

I also read We Need Your Art: Stop Messing Around and Make Something by Amie McNee. For any artist looking for some inspiration to get out of a creative rut or work on their artist block, this is an amazing book.

I have issues with both from time to time and McNee’s ideas, prompts and projects are extremely helpful identifying issues and getting back on track. The chapters on procrastination, perfectionism and burnout especially hit home for me and the suggestion of starting a two-week challenge to jump-start your work habits is one of the big things I will be trying to incorporate into my weekly art life.

If you have a chance, please check it out:

We spent time every day doing at least a little bit of art. Some things worked, some didn’t, and that’s OK. The point is: art was being done:

We spent an afternoon looking at local covered bridges, unfortunately there were not a lot of places for Basil to pose on this trip, but we will work on some ideas for the next one:

On our way back to the cottage, we stopped in at Yankee Farmer’s Market in Warner, NH for some bison steaks. We had tried bison when we visited Wyoming years ago and this was an opportunity to try it again. We had a great experience, unfortunately we didn’t see any bison, but were greeted on our way out by a couple of friendly goats:

Our vacation property this year had a great little beach, which Basil enjoyed:

We are already thinking about where to visit next year and dreaming about another quiet week!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

1. If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
2. You can also follow White Rooster Studio on Facebook by using the direct links from the blog’s headers.
3. Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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Copyright @2026 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved

Basil and I have had a very busy month. We recently went on an art trip to New Jersey to visit three art museums and a sculpture park. During out three-day trip we:

• Discovered a new favorite art museum: Princeton Museum of Art.
• Enjoyed our new favorite sculpture park: Grounds for Sculpture.
• And finally had an opportunity to see some work by favorite artists in person.

On Thursday, June 11th, on our way south, we made our first stop at SUNY/Purchase College’s Neuberger Museum to view the Guerrilla Girls: Food for Thought (exhibit will be up until August 2, 2026, if you are interested). We have long been fans of the Guerrilla Girls and were incredibly excited to see that a minor change of course south would allow us to visit the museum.

The exhibit featured some of their iconic works, please see below:

If you are interested in learning more about the Guerrilla Girls, their activism, projects and exhibits, please check out their site: Guerrilla Girls

We arrived later on Thursday afternoon at our home base to relax, grab some dinner and review plans for Friday.

As an aside: we picked up dinner at a nearby plaza which also happened to have an active brick and mortar Jerry’s Artorama! We had an opportunity to happily wander the aisles for a bit while waiting for dinner and picked up a new set of drawing pens to test out. Over the past couple of years we have watched as one physical art supply store after another closed. RIP: AC Moore, Artists and Craftsman in MA (still in Portland, ME) and Utrecht (although still alive online).

Grounds for Sculpture requires a timed admission ticket to get in, so we ordered ours Thursday afternoon for when they open at 10:00 AM. Earlier in the week we were worried that Friday would be rainy, but the day turned out to be wonderfully sunny… but also incredibly hot, so we were very happy that we chose to visit the park first, as it was already 80 degrees when we got into line to enter Grounds for Sculpture. Thankfully, the park is well thought out and has lots of shady areas and benches to rest on.

Grounds for Sculpture has 42 acres of gardens, paths and sculpture. We did not expect to cover it all in one day, but I feel that we did manage to see the majority of it, please see some pics below:

One unique feature of Grounds for Sculpture is that they have peacocks that are free to wander the park and they are glorious 🙂

After cooling down a bit in the main building, we headed off to the Princeton Art Museum for part 2 of the day’s adventure. One thing to note about visiting the museum is: there is NO on campus parking. In order to visit, you must leave your car in one of the nearby parking garages. As we already had a bit of a strenuous morning there was some concern that we may be overdoing things, but thankfully, the distance from the Spring Street parking garage to the Princeton Art Museum was not as far as we feared – and, as a bonus, the campus is well-planned out and nicely shaded 🙂

The Princeton Art Museum is three stories, the first has and admission desk (entrance if free), a wonderful large area with chairs and sofas (which we did take advantage of), and a special exhibition room. The second floor has the majority of the galleries, and the third floor has their restaurant.

Princeton is now our new favorite art museum and also has the most amazing entrance I have ever seen:

We had planned this trip to see Willem de Kooning: The Breakthrough Years (up until July 26th). We know that de Kooning is not for everyone, but I love seeing the artist’s creative process and had long heard of de Kooning’s habit of working on a painting all day only to scrape the paint off the canvas in the evening… repeatedly. It’s had to see this in pictures, so I was hoping that seeing them in person would help me understand de Kooning a little better and I believe it has, please see some highlights below:

It seems like every time we turned a corner there were more incredible works to view – as well as the discovery of a couple of new artists to look into.

I love when museums put husbands/wives near or next to each other and I notices that they did it twice: with David Smith and Dorothy Denher and with Kay Sage and Yves Tanguy:

As a bonus, my girl Gabrielle Munter was back where she belonged, so was thrilled to see her twice this year after her visit to the Guggenheim Museum earlier this year:

Basil and I had an early night on Friday after such a busy day, but we still had one more stop on our way home on Saturday: Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, NJ. We learned about the museum during the planning process and thought it would be a nice way to break up the ride home. The Museum is not large, but I enjoyed it, although a couple of galleries were temporarily closed, so we will have to visit again to see the rest on our next trip.

Montclair Museum had a room dedicated to George Inness and although we were aware of George, actually seeing his work in person made us re-think how we viewed his work, I found the paintings beautiful and somewhat haunting at times:

I am happy that Basil and planned this trip so that we returned home on Saturday afternoon and were able to rest on Sunday before returning to work. It was such a wonderful experience and we met the nicest people -we would do it all again in a heartbeat!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

1. If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
2. You can also follow White Rooster Studio on Facebook by using the direct links from the blog’s headers.
3. Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2026 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved