2024 calendar poster for sale

My 2024 calendar poster is available for purchase. Order yours now to get it in time for the New Year. 18 x 24,” shipped flat & folded or rolled in a tube. Please indicate with your order; prices vary. Order at Etsy

2024 calendar poster: 18 x 24” offset printed on satin gloss paper. Price: $8.00 (shipping cost not included)

This is a fully functional calendar with highlighted holidays. Whimsical text in lower right says “It was not the best way to start the day but the twins felt that by afternoon, the little bird would have a mostly positive memory of flying and would soon forget her dusty crumpled feathers.” © Rob Dunlavey 2023

Crystal Cities (selections from 2022)

I’m assembling a small book of my Crystal Cities from 2022. There are approximately ninety five that I’ve tagged.

This exercise helps me see what trends might be emerging in this practice. Here is a small sampling of these elaborate doodles. Lately, I’ve done a lot of them —and it’s 2023. What this usually means is that I don’t know what to make pictures of so I default to Crystal Cities. Interesting!

Recent Crystal Cities paintings

I’ve said it before, “Crystal Cities are what I paint when I don’t know what to paint.” This is how I prefer to work: into the moment, reacting to my materials and methods, with the confidence that some useful meaning or justification will emerge. It’s a strategy and a form of self-interrogation that relies, somewhat comfortably on a limited set of artistic variables. They don’t teach this in art school! It is borne from necessity and makes its own mysterious path.

05-05-22a

05-05-22c

04-27-22b

04-27-22a

Is Anyone Home?

Think of the resources marshalled to connect this castle with the distant shore: architects, masons, stone cutters and marine engineers. They built caissons and cofferdams and stationed barges with primitive cranes to hoist and position the carefully carved blocks. Did they have any idea how sublime the rising sun would look on this day? Reflect on the mind of a seagull: the sublime is the humdrum to them.

Inclement Weather

We’re getting a ton of snow today. Here are some pictures of inclement weather for you. Stay warm and dry!

A drenching rain transforms the moment.

A long, wet commute if you live in a city.

Stillness and fog.

Snowbirds make the best of it.

Vacation property for sale!

The old ship plows through the waves and wind.

After the storm, everyone can come out to play.

Empty Cities

When the pandemic invaded our cities in the spring, the streets were empty and people were sheltering inside their homes and apartments. Who fed the pigeons? // It was quiet and lovely and spooky. Definitely not right. Cities have come back …and so has the virus. Maybe this time around the outcome will be a bit different.

04-13-20a: watercolor, chalk, ink

04-13-20a: watercolor, chalk, ink

09-17-18a: crayon, watercolor, ink

09-17-18a: crayon, watercolor, ink

09-20-18a: crayon, acrylic, watercolor, ink

09-20-18a: crayon, acrylic, watercolor, ink

09-12-19b: watercolor, ink

09-12-19b: watercolor, ink

08-15-14a: mixed media

08-15-14a: mixed media