Koemann

This painting is by an artist I haven't been able to identify. The seller says it's Dutch and the signature reads "Koemann", but the signature is not definitive in person. Still, a very lovely little painting with great light. This one is quite small - without frame it measures 5 1/2 x 8 inches and is painted on an oak board. (click for larger image.)

Jan Valach

My very first oil painting! Don't know anything about the artist except that he might be Czech. This is pretty large at 20 x 28 without the frame. (click for larger image.)

Asajj Ventress by Mahmud Asrar

This is a great piece by a relatively unknown artist Mahmud Asrar. I think he's super-talented and reminds me a lot of the great Adam Hughes who he cites as an influence (click for larger image).

UPDATE: SOLD THIS PIECE IN JUNE OF 2008!!

Art Adams Wolfman

I can't get enough of these incredibly rendered Art Adams pinups. While I generally prefer the sexy female characters he does, this one was too nice to pass up. (click for larger scan.)

Public School 49, Queens NY

This is where I went to school from kindergarten through the sixth grade. My mother also attended the school when she was a young girl. Our house was half a mile from the school and I walked it everyday right through Juniper Vally park. Many years after I attended, the school was renamed Dorothy K. Bonawit Kole school. I searched the web but all I could find out was that she was a teacher and principal in the New York area sometime around the 1940's - 1960's (I think). The photo above was probably taken just after the completion of construction in 1932. You can see the old Elmhurst gas tanks (constructed in 1910) in the background. The empty lot in the foreground was completely covered in housing while I attended (as was all of Queens). I took a trip to NY in October of 2006 and took the picture of the school seen below (click for larger images).