We finally picked up the Jeff Bertoncino prints I purchased last year...

I was at my Sister's gallery opening (without Jess) and made a
spontaneous purchase. (very unlike myself) Jess is a very good man
and forgave me. I think I could love him forever for that quality alone.
I still get a pit in my stomach thinking about having to tell the kid what
I had done.

A few months ago we were down in the Valley, and stopped in
the gallery to pick up the prints. I will admit I had forgotten
what they looked like... (I was in a buyer's haze when it all went down.)

So here these beauties are. I was going to put them up in our room,
but changed my mind and set them on the mantle. (The previous
tenants weren't working out so well.) They still need to be framed
and hung, but this will do for now.

(I think Jess is hoping I could sell them back some how. Part
of me feels that way too, but they are pretty and serene to me.)

Isn't 'art' so interesting?? Or I should say the monetary
value people place on art?? I think so.

From the artist:

"I have a desire to bring to myself, and to others a sense of subtle elements regarding the human figure, and its environmental rule. All of this is important to preserve in my own mind, and my own heart.

The Female figure is a story that will never die. There is a certain elegance, a subtle mystery, a thing that can never be resolved. My compositions are not premeditated and the figure begins to emerge almost of its own volition. It is a pulling of shapes out of a cloud. I use somber browns, greys, off-whites and grounded greens to create an atmosphere that is neither focused nor easily definable. I like to put the figure in this environment that is all kind of muted.

The result is a sumptuous, deep surface that appears almost leatherly, sometimes sanded smooth, sometimes left rough, but always deep. And the figures appear, breaking up the spaces vertically or horizontally, emerging from the depths."

Jeff Bertoncino