Alice - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      Here's something of a fashion portrait/figure of a fashion blogger. She has a lot of great photos that might make some nice paintings.

Wallflowers - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      A little summer as winter hits. I think I was drawn to the shadow of the potted plant in the reference photo. But the red of the flowers is the real focal point of this piece.

Spare - watercolor

watercolor, 2019,

available, 11"x15"

      Once upon a time, your spare tire was part of the elegance of your car. Painted fairly loosely to begin with, I made this one intentionally looser with a judicious addition of gesso even in unusual areas. I like the result enough that you'll probably see it again. A little white watercolor pencil helped with the spoke reflections.

Communicator - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      Here's what I consider an everyday figure. I think it would be interesting to do some portraits/figures of people (mostly women) going through normal daily activities in keeping with the "art of the ordinary" theme I've tried to keep going since I started painting.

Izzy - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

NFS, 8"x10"

      This is a fairly quick little portrait of my daughter's cat. I've never done a pet portrait, but the reference photo jumped out at me when my daughter posted it somewhere on social media. The lighting, colors and personality of the cat all came together. Maybe I'll try some more. It turned into a nice gift for my daughter's birthday yesterday.

Chief - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      An older Jeep Cherokee Chief. Successfully kept it a little loose. But, I think the photo is a bit dark.

Walking On Sunshine - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      A still life of another pair of my wife's shoes. She buys shoes about as often as I buy brushes or paint and many of them are pretty sexy, visually appealing and worthy of paintings. The problem is I rarely take the time to shoot reference photos of them. And, before you know it she's worn them out or gotten tired of them and tossed them without me getting a chance to shoot them. So, last December when I was given a mandatory vacation from my job of 22 years I took the opportunity to shoot a bunch of her shoes for future paintings. I think this is the first pair I've painted, but there are more to come.

Delicious - pencil

pencil, 2019

available, 8"x10"

      Happy Halloween! This is a sketch for a painting I haven't had time to get to before the unholy horrorday.

Larissa - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      This figure is one of my favorite paintings of the year. Everything about her turned out exactly as or better than planned. The nearly monochrome color palette draws attention to the highlights and pulls you to the focal point, her face. The obvious raw drawing at the bottom and the seamless bleeding of her skirt into the background create an abstraction that highlights the realism of the rendering of the rest of her form. This one is a culmination of almost everything I've been working on. I really couldn't be happier with this one.

Skully - pencil

pencil, 2019

available, 8"x10"

     I caught Skully in just the right light for a sketch.

Decoy #4 - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 8"x10"

      It's been a while since my last decoy painting. I experimented with leaving this one a bit looser and more impressionistic. A bit of Holbein's Grey of Grey straight from the tube - a very opaque watercolor - blended along the beak helped to bring out the contour and emphasize some dimensionality. 

      The occasional use of opaque pigments in otherwise "transparent" watercolor allows me to add a little sparkle on top of dry passages without resorting to gouache or gesso. Not that I'm above using gouache or gesso or anything else that works for a particular painting. But some people and many organizations still are quite picky about what you can and cannot use in a transparent watercolor. Some would even disallow the use of any opaque pigment if it's visible on top of a darker hue like this one. I don't want to get into a long, drawn out thing here. I don't like anyone trying to apply "rules" to art (though there's nothing wrong with placing limits on yourself as a self-challenge). But, I do try to start off with every intention of keeping a painting purely transparent even to the point that almost all of the colors on my regular palette are transparent or semi-transparent. Of course, things happen; every piece takes it's own twists and turns. In the end I always do whatever the piece warrants, not what some organization or academic demands.

Bobbie - watercolor, charcoal

mixed, 2019

available, 8"x10"

      This is a quick portrait painted in watercolor on a gouache-tinted sheet. I restated the drawing with charcoal pencil after the paint was dry to emphasize it. Leaving part of the portrait unpainted draws the viewers attention both to the painted focal point and to the abstract nature of a two-dimensional rendering.

Leave The Bottle - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      I went considerably into the impressionist camp with this one. Loose, wet, visible brush strokes -- it's all here. And, there's an open-ended story - the best kind.

Em - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      I guess I'll call this a street portrait or street figure. I brought a lot together in this one. Lightest light against the darkest dark. Dark background against the lit side of the subject and no background against the shadow side. New color mixes for skintone. This one worked out in so many ways I think it's become a new standard for which to aim.

50 Super 88 - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      In spite of the attempt at looseness, this classic car still looks pretty detailed. It also seems more darkly-toned than most of my car paintings. That wasn't really intentional. But the shadows in the reference photo were a little unusual. Maybe I captured a little atmosphere without knowing it.

Chatterly - graphite wash

wet graphite, 2019

available, 8"x10"

      A portrait of dear Chatterly in graphite wash. Just keeping the macabre alive (undead?) throughout the year.

Eugenia - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 8"x10"

      Here's a little portrait of a model easily found all over the internet.

Beltany - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 8"x10"

      Just a quick little landscape of an Irish standing stone.

Wasteland Buick - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      Just an old Buick left to its own devices on the prairie. I used a little thinned gesso to knock back some of the color intensity in the bottom corners. I like the look of the gesso rather than just lifting with a wet brush. There's also a considerable amount of dry-brush to get the lightest grasses.

Hell Riders In Heels - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      I love the old exploitation movies of the 60's and 70's - and the pulp novels and magazines that preceded them. I might even love the poster art for those movies (and covers for the books and magazines) even more. So, this sort of moves in that direction. Imagine beautiful-but-evil women terrorizing a city from the backs of motorcycles.

Belfast 55 - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      This is from a photograph shot in Belfast back in 1955, hence the title. I loved the graphic nature of the monochrome shapes and thought a watercolor version might be fun.

Terry - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      Still swinging away at figures and abstracting backgrounds.

Pumped - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 8"x10"

      Not much to say about this one. Red heels on nice legs.

Harrison - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

nfs, 8"x10"

      A portrait of my great-nephew. I painted his older sister a couple years ago so I had to get him on paper. I painted her from a reference photo taken at the beach. So, it's only fitting that I get him in a winter sweater in spite of the current season.

J20 - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      I'm very happy with this Jeep J20. I was able to get it loose-but-detailed and the colors complement nicely. It's probably one of my better car paintings of the last few months.

Kinbane - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

available, 11"x15"

      On the Irish coast. There's a lot of dry brush on this one for everything from highlights to rock and sand shapes.

Pearl Earrings #9 - watercolor

watercolor, 2019

nfs, 11"x15"

      Another portrait of my beautiful bride, toying with abstracting the unimportant parts of the subject. Only the focal point really needs detail and realism. Everything else can be loose and suggestive.

Desert Blue - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      Nice value contrast. Nice foreshortening. I like how the color contrast worked out between the manganese and phthalo blues and the burnt sienna/umber reds. My favoritest part is that highlight just behind the headlight. I don't know if I could do that again on purpose if I had to.

Lily B - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 8"x10"

      A little portrait/figure with a fade/paper-doll effect. I also played with some softer edges to a nice effect.

Packard - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      A rusty old Packard. Not much more to say about this one.

Pearl Earrings #8 - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

nfs, 8"x10"

      This is another portrait using a reference photo I shot of my wife years ago. In spite of my constant nagging, this is one of only a very few times she posed for me and I've painted every photo in this series several times.

Window Seat - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      When I saw this reference photo I knew it would make a great painting. But I didn't know if I could pull it off. A lot of patience and paying attention to everything gave me one of the best paintings of last year.

Between Derry and Bushmills - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      A simple little landscape.

Cherokee - watercolor

watercolor,2018

available, 11"x15"

      So far, my favorite vehicle that I've ever owned. I'm still holding out for a Wrangler, though.

Cosbin - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 8"x10"

      Just a quick, layered portrait of a Reddit user. I'm pretty happy with how most of this worked. The eye might have gone a little too soft, though. And, of course, the photograph isn't exactly what I want.

Venus - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 8"x10"

      Another little portrait with just the right amount of looseness, though I think I might have softened a few too many edges.

Peterson's Farmall - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 15"x22"

      I took a slightly different approach with this one and made the simplification of details easier on myself. Doesn't hurt that I'm finally trying a half-sheet again. Since I've started photographing my paintings, I can go bigger again for better effect. I haven't done anything larger than 11"x15" in several years.

      This one turned out just about as perfect as I can probably hope to get. There's only one thing I would change. That's pretty good for me.

Birte - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      A loose portrait that goes directly to the style I've been chasing for a long time.

Chrysler Farm - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      Milton's rusty old Chrysler hasn't run in 50 years.

      There's a fair amount of dry-brush on this one. I also used some thin acrylic gesso to wash out corners.

Peterson - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 8"x10"

      I've never seen Peterson without a pipe in his mouth. Sometimes in the summer he would wear his overalls to church because he'd already put in a few hours of work and had to get right back at it after lunch.

      The reference photo for this is actually from a photograph taken as part of the Federal Art Project, which was sponsored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s and 40s. I believe the photo is of a New England farmer taken in the early 1940s.

Peterson's - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      Peterson has a big spread just outside of Edgefield.

Castle Roche - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      Castle Roche is a 13th century castle in County Louth, Ireland. 

      Painting so many landscapes - especially of Ireland - has forced me to come to terms with my issues with green. I think I'm getting somewhere; at least, I'm seeing more natural greens. I'm especially happy with how the modeling worked out here showing the undulations of the ground. 

      The tree and some of the rocks are done with a technique often called dry-brush using paint almost directly from the tube with little or no water on the brush. This allows the normally transparent paint to be opaque so I can paint light over dark and build texture.

Bessie - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      Bessie is the car used primarily by the third incarnation of the BBC's Doctor Who played by Jon Pertwee in the early 1970s. The original car used in filming was a kit car built on a British Ford chassis and is in an automotive museum in England. The car in the reference photo I used for this painting is either another kit car or an original Ford modified to honor the original Bessie. While filming the license plate read WHO 1 or some variation depending on which Doctor was using it. But the car couldn't be registered under that number officially because it already was in use by a private citizen. I left it as it appears in the photo because I just didn't feel like struggling with the problems of perspective and lettering. 

      I initially set up this post in late December since you can schedule blog posts and I like to know I'm covered for a while and all the information above already was set two months ago. And I included that information about the original car because I was afraid (and rightly so) that someone would have an issue with this painting and it's subject matter. Sure enough, some idiot on a gallery site this week spent several hours (by his own admission) researching information about the original car used in filming to try to one-up me on calling this "Bessie" while it was "so obvious" that it wasn't the original on-screen car. Sometimes - even in art - you just want to slap some people.

Tybee #2 - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      Another painting from reference photos I took last summer on Tybee Island, Georgia. The three stair-stepped trees aren't inventions of mine. They're actually there. I just eliminated some of the background clutter behind the lighthouse.

Marathon - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      A Marathon cab in a dark garage. Yellows are always a struggle for me. There were times when I didn't think this one was going to make it. Then I had to deal with that black background with the backlighting. The license plate isn't misspelled; it includes my kids' initials as most of my paintings do.

Piper - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      I've been toying with portraits for a long time, trying to get to a looser, more open style. I'm very happy with this one of a minor internet celeb.

70 GTO - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      Convertible red muscle cars are always popular. I've started experimenting with shooting my paintings with my dslr instead of scanning them. The gradients and color are better. But, I'm still struggling with even lighting and getting the paper as white as it should be.

Canned - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      Just a little still life. I really like how the can surface and reflections turned out.

48 Survivor - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

prints and gifts available

      An old Jeep in a barn. What could be better?

Late Night, Early Morning - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

      Just a little figure with a bit of a backstory. That's a little dry watercolor crayon adding texture to the wall.