Pink Elephant (third version)

The first version of this painting was done in the early 80's, and sold for a pittance. The desire to reclaim the image led me to repaint it a decade later, and that led to me getting back into painting on an active basis. The second pink elephant, a small work about 12 x 16, was given away, tho I get to see it occasionally. This third version is a big one, about 24 x 30, and will probably be the last.

The original sign hung over a bar on 1st St. in Long Beach, CA. It has long since been removed, and lives in seclusion in a private collection.

2011 Calendar

My 2011 calendar is now available. You'll find a link for ordering this on my website. You can also get calendars through Red Bubble. If you're relative, friend or client, you should already have one. Enjoy.

Another Bozeman House

This is the third Bozeman house in my House series. This gem is on the Southwest side of town. I borrowed the plastic chair from another house, and repositioned the windows to be symmetrical. Under the Big Sky on a warm late September day, it is a symphony in blue. It inhabits a world where storm windows exist side by side with air conditioners, and a rare day like this must be taken advantage of, for in a few weeks the sprinkling of white flowers will be replaced by the sprinkling of white snow.

In Escrow (Second Version)

This is a repaint of an image I sold, done in a new size for my Houses series. The title was chosen by my wife, who has a keen sense about these things. House stood on the westside of Long Beach, and has no doubt long since been redeveloped into faceless condos, or worse. But once it was a cheerful bit of art deco basking in the California sun, with a hopeful magnolia tree out front.

Another Michigan barn

More "tourist ware", but this time a little artier. This barn is out on route 72 west of Traverse City, Michigan, on the way to Cedar. I spent a bit more time on this one; initially by altering the compostion (cutting down the trees on either side, changing the shadows) and then in the painting of all the lovely rust and faded paint. In the original photo there's a great big bush in the center of the shot that hides a big chunk of the barn. I debated whether to leave it in or take it out; in the end I just pruned it.

Update 2011: This painting sold, dammit. I may have to paint it again.

Tourist art

I wanted to see if I could paint something that would sell easily in the souvenir market, i.e. "tourist art". The barns of northern Michigan fall into this category, so I took some snapshots, and created this composition from several images to come up with a very "calendar art" scene. Painting this went very quickly, about 8 hours total. So I could, in theory, crank these out in quantity. How sick I would get of doing so, and whether the tourists would bite, remains to be seen.