Bob Cairone Oil Paintings

Capturing The Pawn

I've always been very involved with the game of chess. I learned to play at the age of 5, and have played actively ever since. Though I never obtained the heights of expertise I'd dreamed of, I remain a decent, competative club player. I was middle class A at my best, now class B, where I am content to remain.

This work combines my passion for the game with my love of art, and echoes the structure of my musically themed paintings. The position is not from an actual game. It is based on the Ruy Lopez opening, but the White foreground Bishop was placed there for it's visual balancing effect. Hopefully it still captures the excitement and anticipation of the game play.

The original of this painting is available for $850. I do not at this point have prints of this work. Please contact me if you are interested.

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Cool Notes

The music from the clarinet reflects the cool tones of the painting. Blues and greens dominate, providing a cool bass rhythm to the red rosewood and silver fittings of the instrument. Although most clarinets are black, some are made of different woods.

The original of this painting is available for $1600. Giclee prints in a Limited Edition of 100 are $65. Please contact me if you are interested.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

Moondance with Canna

The waterlily in bloom is commonly known as "Moondance", and the red flower reflected in the water at the top of the picture is a "Canna", which is not a true lily though it is sometimes called one. I imagine on a windy evening the waves on the water and the reflection in the moonlight would make these flowers appear to actually dance with each other.

This is my largest painting yet, at three by four feet. It has something of the presence in person I was hoping it would have.

This painting has been sold.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

A Single Peony

This is one in a number of exercises I will be undertaking on small canvases. My guideline is that the painting should be finish in a few sittings, though a sitting can take a day if it has to. This is a painting os a single white peony, to try and capture the whiteness of the flower while also expressing it's form.

This painting is available only as the original for a price of $200. Please contact me if you are interested.

Evening Perch

Sentinals of the night, owls are a class of raptors superbly adapted to their nocturnal lifestyle. In this Great Horned Owl, what look like ears are just feather tufts. The actual ears are under feathers on the sides of the head. The large eyes capture every glimmer of the waning light, and any small prey fears this silent hunter.

This painting was done as an exercise in the sculpting of form and the implication of detail.

This painting is available only as the original. The price is $250. Please contact me if you are interested.

Orchid 4 - Miltoniopsis 2

The fourth in my orchid series. It is also an orchid in the Miltoniopsis genus, and shares many structures with the orchid shown just below.

This painting is available both as the original and in a Limited Edition Giclee print of 200. The orginal is $750 and a 11 x 11 " print is $50. Please contact me if you are interested.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

Stages

The theme of this painting is the progress of life, as seen in the stages of the Poppy Anemone Anemone Coronaria flower. It is shown from earliest bud to full flower to dropping its petals until finally only a seed pod remains. Yet these stages do not represent birth to death, as the terminal stage contains with it the life of the next generation.

The yellow flower is a Calendula flower, and is also shown in its early and late stages.

This painting is available both as the original and in a Limited Edition Giclee print of 200. The orginal is $1,600 and a 16 x 24 " print is $65. Please contact me if you are interested.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

Great White Trillium

This painting is based on a marvelous photo by a good friend of mine, Cara Litberg. It is a Great White Trillium, a native of North America. It favors wooded habitats like Illinois' Starved Rock State Park.

I enjoyed working with the sharp contrast between flower and background in this piece. I left the foliage slightly unfocused to keep attention on the flower - a softer approach than is usual for me.

This painting is available only as the original for $500. Please contact me if you are interested.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

Orchid 3 - Miltoniopsis

The third in my orchid series. It is an orchid in the Miltoniopsis genus.

This painting is available both as the original and in a Limited Edition Giclee print of 200. The orginal is $750 and a 9 x 12 " print is $50. Please contact me if you are interested.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

Orchid 2 - Cymbidium

The second in my orchid series. It is an orchid in the Cymbidiumdium genus. The flower does have green petals surrounding a whitish "boat". Indeed, Cymbidium means "boat" in Latin.

This painting is available both as the original and in a Limited Edition Giclee print of 200. The orginal is $750 and a 9 x 12 " print is $50. Please contact me if you are interested.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

Junglecat

This is a portait of our housecat, Lily. Not exactly wildlife, unless you ask our other cats. My wife grows a lot of houseplants, so much that I say I live in a jungle. Lily likes to hang out in this flowerpot and survey her domain, in this case a corner of the sunroom. Hence the Junglecat title. The plant in the pot is a Monstera deliciosa, and the foreground plants are mainly Caladium and Draceana. The large leaf in the upper right is from a Bird of Paradise, Strelitzia reginae. The autumn background is invention, as the photo was taken on an overcast summer's day.

This painting is available in a Limited Edition Giclee print of 200. The 16 x 24 " print is $65. Please contact me if you are interested.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

The Lily In Red

The first in a series of floral paintings from our gardens. Also my first gallery wrapped piece. This is a picture of a Lilium Montenegro, a stunning plant. I was experimenting with something different for the background, to shift attention onto the blossoms without simply making the background out of focus. This is a facet of painting I need to refine.

This painting is available as the original only, and is priced at $450. It is gallery wrapped and does not require framing. Please contact me if you are interested.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

Orchid 1 - Oncidium

The first in a series of orchid paintings. It is an orchid in the Oncidium genus, a very wide group. Orchids can be simply beautiful - intricate and lovely.

This painting is available both as the original and in a Limited Edition Giclee print of 200. The orginal is $750 and a 9 x 12 " print is $50. Please contact me if you are interested.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

Singing Rose

The saxophone is one of the most sensuous of instruments, and I tried to capture the movement and passion for music and life in this piece. The body arches back as the lower hand flares to send the music across the hall. Each note sings in a larger song. The rose could refer to the engraving on the horn of the sax, or it could be the woman's name. The song comes from the touch between hands and instruments. For a moment, the soul of the musician is to be found there, in the small space between the flesh of the fingers and the brass of the sax. That is the beating heart of music.

The Emergence Of Music

The image emerges from the shadows, as the music emerges from the guitar. The feeling of music comes from the hands that play the strings, and from the life that has aged the hands. Music and life itself are emergent properties of all our events and experiences. Each moment is a note in a melody that isn't written, it emerges as it plays.

Hands can be as expressive, and can reflect our personal histories, as much as faces. They can tell a complete story in themselves. If the viewer feels inclined to hear more of the story this painting suggests, that is what makes this a successful work of art.

This painting launched a series of hands playing musical instuments I'm working on. It was also my first experience using alkyd paints, and a good experience it was! Alkyds are oil paints that have been modified for faster drying and greater transparency - exactly the properties I was looking for as I delved deeper into glazing techniques. They can be intermixed with traditional oils. I recommend them to any practising artist.

This painting is available both as the original and in a Limited Edition Giclee print of 200. The orginal is $1,800 and a 10 x 20 " print is $75. Please contact me if you are interested.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends.

Portrait of Karen and Peppermint

My wife Karen shares a quiet moment with our cat, Peppermint. We were just sitting at the table when Peppermint joined us, and quickly found his way into Karen's arms. It is simply impossible to be in close proximity to Peppermint without petting him, and soon he was relaxed and purring away. The scene struck me as so tender and intimate that I knew it would make a good painting. Thanks to the ubiquitous presence of cell phones, a few pictures were taken before the pose shifted.

This is a fairly small piece, just twelve inches square. Large enough to include some interesting details, but small enough to retain that intimate feeling.

Collection of the artist.

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it with your friends. It's not for sale, but I am available for comissions.

Floating Swallowtail

The Yellow Swallowtail is one of the most common butterflies in the Eastern half of the US. The individual shown here is a female, as can be told by the blue coloration in the wings. The flash of yellow one sees as the butterfly flits among the flowers is one of the joys of growing a garden

This painting was done in glazes over a grazille underpainting.

This painting is only available as the original. The price is $250. Please contact me if you are interested.

American Kestrel

The kestrel is the smallest and most colorful of the raptors. It is acually the most common falcon in the Americas, but due to it's smaller size often goes unnoticed. Also called the sparrow hawk, it will feed on sparrows and other small birds, as well as small insects, lizards and mammals. It adaps well to a wide variety of habitats, including urban environments.

This painting is only available as the original. The price is $350. Please contact me if you are interested.

Canadian Stream

This landscape was painted entirely in glazes of transparent colors. This is another one where the scan doesn't do it justice. The picture has a nice depth of color, and the sky seems bright and crisp. This is a natural consequence of the glazing technique, since it depends on the way the light travels through the thin paint layer, reflects off the white ground and then passes through the layers of color a second time. It's just like how light passes through the body of a ruby and doesn't just bounce off the surface of the gem. Accordingly, I call this painting my little jewel.

Eagle at Altitude

I get a lot of requests for eagle pictures, though I prefer to do other kinds of birds myself. Images of bald eagles are just so common in America, and they evoke a very different emotional reaction than what I normally look for. However, they are marvelous animals, and I didn't want to avoid doing one. I chose about life size for this work. It hangs high up on the wall of my living room, about twelve feet above the floor. You have to crane your neck to look at it, which is as it should be.

Joey's Balloon Ride

This painting was done for my oldest son when he was four years old, in 1988. The nursery was decorated in a hot air balloon theme, based on a card he received from his grandmother when he was born. The view is of one balloon as seen from an observer in another balloon, so the viewer doesn't feel insubstantial or unsupported. The basket's rope cutting the diagonal across the picture plane is an important compositional element, and removes the feeling of loneliness that sometimes occurs in images of single, isolated balloons. In our basket can be seen the entire family; Joe grips the basket rail tightly, arms outstretched, holding back from the edge of the basket, excited but still apprehensive. His twin sister Heather is leaning over the edge trying to catch the birds (and she would too, no matter how many times told not to), my ex-wife and myself, with the long hair I wore at the time. I'm holding David in my arms, who was just one year old at the time. The landscape is pure fantasy. Although there is a hot air balloon launching site close to my current home, and balloons are a common site in the skies here, I've yet to see one with the rainbow arch design like I painted here.

Collection of the artist.

Admiral of the Emerald Isle

This painting tells a story. The verdant scene is of the corner of a potato farm on the coast of Ireland, where the soil is difficult and outcroppings of rocks are common. The area is poor; the family's small house is plastered stone with a sod roof. Still, the people take pride in their lives, and the house is decorated around the perimeter with planted flowers. The mother to the right of the house is carrying out laundry to be dried, followed by the family dog who bounds behind her. The father is off in the distance by the left edge of the picture, in a skiff on the bay, fishing and hunting for clams while being harried by gulls. The storage shed to the left of center is in poor repair, as is the rock wall, which has collapsed where it was undercut by a stream. Rock walls are everywhere, built more to just get the rocks away from the plow than to mark any borders. In the stream plays the family's only child. He is shirtless and barefoot, and his jeans are torn and tattered. He plays with a small boat he made from a block of wood and a rag sail, prodding it along in the windless afternoon with the stalk of a reed. He is bored and restless, and dreams of the adventurous life of a sailor. When he grows, he will leave the farm behind, and rise over the years in the Navy to the rank of Admiral. By then, long after his parents have died, having reached his goals, he will look back to those peaceful days of his youth, and know too late that those were the only times of his life when he was truly happy.

Private collection.

Volcanic Landscape

This is a fantasy landscape, unfinished. The scene is of the cinder cone of an extinct volcano, where lava extrusions have formed strange shapes, thrusting upwards at some times and flowing plastically at others. Different concentrations of minerals and gas pockets brought to the surface have left voids which then solidify into numerous caverns. Water erodes the fragile ground into streams and small lakes. Weather quickly changes the color and texture of the ground into a variety of fantastic niches. I especially like the distant hills in the center of the picture, and wondering what might have inhabited the various caverns.

There's a bit of a history hidden under this painting. Earlier I had tried a different painting on this canvas, and didn't like how it was going. So I primed over it and repainted it with this image. I was young and experimenting, and my practical knowledge of what the paint would actually do was terrible. In time, the paint began to crack, and in some areas chips actually fell off, showing the earlier work. In general, I consider this picture overall a failure, but a valuable experience none the less. We can learn more from our mistakes than out successes. With this one, I learned a lot.

Still, I do like those central golden mountains in the distance.

Collection of the artist.

The Broken Leaf

There's a story behind this painting. At college, we used to climb a small cliff on the Palisades to go from our dorm, which was a floating ship moored in the Hudson River, to the student center atop Castle Point, Hoboken. It was maybe 150 feet high, with a spectacular view overlooking the Hudson to Manhattan. As the narrow trail up the cliff twisted and turned, you could see downtown to the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center, and on a clear day uptown almost to the George Washington Bridge. I took that trail several times a day, and knew it well. One day about halfway up I tripped over this weed, and almost fell headlong off the edge. Picking myself up off the ground, I sat panting for a few minutes, since a fall could have been fatal (the worst injuries from the trail I ever heard about were one broken arm and a few twisted ankles). Regaining my composure, I considered this an important event in my life that should be remembered, so I took the remains of the plant with me and sketched it right away, later turning it into this painting.

Bill

This is a portrait of a friend, done when we were both juniors in high school, back in 1971. This is from the same portrait class as the paintings of Ben and Judy. Bill was a bit of an eccentric fellow, and often wore a rat's skull he found as a lapel pin. In order to express this individuality, I painted a somewhat surrealistic fantasy landscape for the background instead of the hanging drapery used in the studio.

Ben

This is a portrait of a studio model, done in three sessions of two hours each for a painting class I was taking. I was 17 at the time this was painting was done. Though structurally it's well formed, due to my inexperience the portrait came out looking rather harsh. However, it contained a sufficient likeness and was an excellent learning experience.

Judy

This was done in one session of the portrait workshop I attended when I was seventeen. Judy never came back for the other two scheduled sittings, so I couldn't continue with the portrait beyond this preliminary painting. Note that the blouse, hair, and hat are just barely sketched in. I also never got the chance to refine the features that needed more work, such as the right eye. However, I kind of like the spontaneous, sketchy look this picture ended up with, so I decided to sign it and consider it complete where it was.

Still Life with Grapes

One of my early paintings, a studio exercise done when I was about sixteen. This was a permanent setup in the art studio where I was taking lessons at the time. As such, the fruit was plastic, and the satin background drapery a tad faded. But the most amusing aspect about this painting was the wine. It would evaporate overnight, leaving a dark residue behind. Our instructor, Marge Colavito, would add to the glass each week, and the residue would build up more and more over time. By time this painting was done, the contents of the glass was a semisolid gel of a color that would turn away any wine connoisseur. It became a joke in it's own right, and stayed that way for other students. Overall, who knows if this still life brought more people to love art, or turned them away in revulsion?

Still Life with Brass Plate

Another student exercise, from when I was sixteen. This one was actually done shortly before the "Still Life With Grapes" above. This was another semi-permanent setup in a corner of Marge's studio. I like the other still life far better myself.

The Greek Church

One of my first paintings, done when I was thirteen or fourteen, and is the earliest work I have any record of. It's not a very good painting from an artistic perspective, and gives a somewhat surrealistic feeling which I can't recall if it was intentional or not. The structure of space is unclear, the dimensionality of the various planes and forms is confused, and the contrast is too exaggerated. The ground is overly simplified and featureless. After the painting was finished, I applied a layer of copal varnish that was much too thick, and this varnish dried somewhat unevenly, which is especially noticeable over the lighter areas of the building and sky. But this was an important painting in my development as an artist, and it's not without a certain rough charm, so I've included it here in any case.

Collection of the artist.