Posts
Morning Motivation
6x6, oil on panel.
A little caffeine. Bright lights. Loud colors. Cream optional.
Posts
Woman in an Orange Hat
8x10, oil on panel.
A wild departure from most of my work. And tremedous fun.
Posts
Crossroads
9x12, oil on canvas panel.
A scene from farm country near Geneva, IL.
I had a little fun with a palette knife to create the heavy grass texture in the foreground. I enjoyed painting the silhouette of the street signs, and the juxtaposition of this man-made traffic control object in the middle of a nature scene.
Posts
Delivery at The Burwood Tap
8x10, oil on panel.
The corner bar near my old condo in Lincoln Park (Chicago) was a visual favorite of mine from the moment we moved in. It fit the neighborhood perfectly, and it always made me wish that I liked to spend more time inside bars.
Posts
Blocks
8x10, oil on panel.
When in doubt, paint blocks.
They are always available, they don’t fidget, compositional variety is nearly infinite, they can be as colorful or as subdued as the palette will allow.
Their shapes are simplistic. Shadows are predictable if you know just a few basic things about light. Yet, there is plenty of challenge.
This painting was nothing more than an excuse to try out the new brushes I got for Christmas.
Posts
Coda
6x6, oil on panel.
Coda is my sister-in-law’s boyfriend’s yellow lab. He’s generally a good boy, but the day I met him, he ate an asthma inhaler – quite the scare! Fortunately, he survived this encounter with human pharmaceuticals and continues to be a good boy.
This was a lot of fun, because I painted it quickly (under an hour) using no drawing or under-painting. I just painted the shapes I saw, and tried to connect them in a way that made sense.
Posts
Tennessee Barn
6x10, oil and cold wax medium on panel.
Playing around with some cold wax medium given to me by a friend and fellow painter. It forced me to explore texture, which I really appreciated; helped me remember why I wanted to get into oil painting in the first place.
Posts
Amelia's
8x10, oil on panel.
A quick sketch of a mobile flower shop we ran across while visiting Nashville, Tennessee. I love old Volkswagens, so no surprise this found its way into my reference photos.
Posts
Blocky Blocks
8x10, oil on panel.
A bit too simplistic. Especially after my last painting. But at least I got into the studio.
Posts
Wake Up, Sunshine
8x10, oil on panel.
I took a photo of this guy last summer with the intention of painting him. I’m not sure why I waited so long to get around to it. He sure was fun to paint.