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.
6x8 Oil
I do love to paint snow on rocks, it helps balance out the "I live in a climate with 5 1/2 months of winter" thing. It was 0 degrees when we went out to paint this morning but it was sunny and there was no wind, I never felt cold. Wind trumps temperature every time.
6x8 Oil
This is a small study of a shallow creek at a park where I teach. This is one of those paintings that I might not have done before this blog, just a quick study without any delusions of grandeur, executed only to understand what's going on with the value and color of the light on the bed of that creek. Glad I did it, cutting loose on complex effects helps to keep me sharp.
9x12 Oil
That's me, sort of.
6x8 Oil
Another quick study from a photograph I took during the Pictured Rocks Boat Cruise last August, I just love these rock formations. I'm trying to work out which reference photo to use as a basis for a larger painting.
6x8 Oil
I wanted to do a still life last night and I just threw a couple of things together. Not the sort of thing I normally paint but I enjoyed doing it quite a bit.
6x8 Oil
Back in the Midwest. Well there is beauty everywhere, and I do love to paint snow although getting away from it for a week in
February was very nice.
Jet lag and a hectic day leaves me at a loss for words, until next time, aloha.
9x12 Oil
The last painting of the trip. The trade winds were so strong that I thought painting would be impossible, but heading up the west slope of Mauna Kea we found a pocket of calm. That's Muana Loa in the background, at 13,677 it's the second highest point on the island, it still erupts every one hundred years. Its been an amazing trip, I love Hawaii. I did 11 paintings and still managed a bit of beach time, I'll post some of the others soon.
9x12 Oil
Sometimes you pick the composition, sometimes it's forced upon you. I set up at one of the many public access sites along the
Puako coast. Twenty minutes into the effort I noticed the ocean was encroaching on my position. What does a guy from the
Midwest know about tides? So I moved my easel to higher ground and started over.
11x14 Oil
Another beautiful day in parardise. Not much to say, I'm off for an afternoon paint, ahola.
9x12 Oil
This is a view that I've wanted to paint for awhile, the sunlight slicing through the clouds creating this massisve glare on the ocean. The nice part about painting right into twilight is you know you're moments away from a Mai Tai.
12x16 Oil
This is a great little public beach very close to where we're staying. I'm happy with the results, but chasing that surf will drive you crazy, not that I'm complaining. It was a nice way to spend the morning.
11x14 Oil
I'm in Hawaii, I arrived yesterday and was very excited to get out and paint today. Mary and I drove to the top of hwy 250 which is the road between Waimea and Hawi. After a few stops deciding what to paint, (everything is beautiful) we pulled over at this view, 3000 feet up, looking south with a view of the entire Kohala Coast. Why not?
9x12 Oil
Easily the best bok choy I've ever painted. I did this as a demo, concentrating on the blocking in of the shapes, thinking in mass not line. As a result it turned out a little chunky looking, but I'm pleased with certain passages, the tin pan, the bok choy leaves... the lemon, um not so much.
11x14 Oil
I went painting with my buddy Scott today, the frozen Minnehaha Falls is one of Scott's favorite subjects so I tagged along and gave it a shot. It was a bright sunny day and there was so much light bouncing around off the snow and ice that I had a hard time getting the shadows luminous enough without making them too bright. The color variety in the ice was amazing, challenging but fun to paint.
6x8 Oil
I did this small sketch from a photograph that a took last August while back in the Upper Peninsula, it was during a Pictured Rocks boat cruise. I might do a larger studio version of this, I think all the reflected light and cast shadows on the rock formation would be fun to paint scaled up to a 24x30 canvas.
6x8 Oil
I've painted this tree at least a dozen times over the last few years, it's a huge cottonwood near my studio. This was late in the day with about twenty minutes of sunlight left and everything
had a reddish glow.
8x12 Oil
Another beautiful winter day for painting outdoors in the Midwest, we've had five now. My favorite part of this piece is the late day rosy color of the bare trees far side of the lake.
6x8 Oil
