Welcome

I've been drawing and painting as long as I can remember, copying comic book panels as a kid, a career as a designer and animator, and the last twelve years as a painter. Hope you enjoy the work.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Summer's Work

Telluride Valley Floor 11x14 Oil

This was done last July while participating in the Telluride Plein Air Event. The best compliment I received during the show was from a 10 year old boy who recognized these rocks and pointed out to his parents where they were and that he likes to jump off off the one in the middle. That's one problem with a painting that doesn't have a human figure in it for scale, the large rocks are 4 feet high, and I'm not sure people got that, except for that boy. Telluride is an amazing place and I hope to paint there again.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Catching Up

Cottage Steps 11x14 Oil

In no particular order I thought I'd start posting some paintings from the Summer's travels. This painting is also from the Michigan Artist in Residency, these are the steps to the Farrell Cottage on Grand Island which is where I stayed for 2 weeks. An odd painting but a favorite from the trip. Those damp mossy steps seem to evoke memories of a family vacation/camping experience, at least here in the Midwest. I was really happy with the ferns.

Just another note on the title change for the blog, "brush mileage" refers to the amount of years/paintings/experiences we accumulate pursuing this insane lifestyle, as well as reflecting the increasing amount of travel tied to my painting. I'll be back in Hawaii next month and I have a trip to the Yucatan planned for next February, so I'll get no sympathy when I complain about the cold weather in January.

To paraphrase Thomas Hart Benton, "Being a painter is the greatest job in the world, it's just the first 20 years that are rough"

Saturday, October 10, 2009

New Blog Title ... or I'm Back

Titanic 11x14 Oil

Well what can I say, it's been awhile. I changed the title of the blog since it hasn't been a painting a day site for months, it hasn't been much of a blog at all. Since my last entry I've been to Telluride Colorado and Door County Wisconsin for plein air events and spent 2 weeks on Grand Island doing an Artist's in Residence through the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I'll blog more on those experiences, the image above was painted in Michigan, while painting this old iron fishing boat I was approached by a local, and as often happens I was provided with the back story to my subject. The boat is referred to as Titanic and surprisingly is still in use, recently to haul rocks used to reinforce a shoreline along Lake Superior and prevent a lighthouse's foundation from being eroded away.

More soon, I promise