Sunday, December 18, 2016

Sólfar

Sólfar
8X10, Oil on Panel
Available


The Sólfar sculpture in Reykjavík.  I started this one many months ago and it languished on the floor of my studio.  I really thought it was a bust but one day as I looked at it, I saw some promise I had not seen in a while.  Then a few days ago I saw where some color changes would fit well and possibly make it come alive.  There is a lot more detail work here than I am used to using!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

The Lonely Mountain

The Lonely Mountain
6X8, Oil on Panel
Available

Another plein air, this time with no studio edits, from the richest vein of local plein air subject matter I have yet found.  Hopefully I'll get back out there before the end of the year.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Further Still

Further Still
6X8, Oil on Panel
Available

An artist I know from Finland kindly provided me with this view of the area around her family's home taken a couple of weeks ago.  In turn, I provided her with a contemporary photo of a small lake near the Arkansas River (having much less snow and more leaves on trees!) for her to paint from.

This might be the only snow I get to paint this year given the crazy warm temperatures we keep having!

Monday, November 28, 2016

Gilded Fields

Gilded Fields
8X10, Oil on Panel
Available

More studio finished plein air work from Camp Robinson WMA in Faulkner County Arkansas.  I'm really getting a lot of mileage there.  This one was cut short by rain but the foundation was solid.


Friday, November 25, 2016

Turning Corners

Turning Corners
6X8, Oil on Panel
Available

Because I'm trying to turn corners in more than one way...

Plein air from Camp Robinson WMA in Faulkner County.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Grey Gives Way to Blue

Grey Gives Way to Blue
8X10, Oil and Golden Open Acrylic on Matboard
Available

This is a plein air I started at the Camp Robinson Wildlife Management Area near Mayflower way back in the March timeframe I think.  I finished it in studio with oils and have finally decided to post it!

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Always Coming Home

"Always Coming Home"
30X40, oil on canvas
SOLD

In memory of those I've loved and lost
and who have already gone home.

Monday, August 15, 2016

I'll Whisper My Secrets to the Stones

I'll Whisper My Secrets to the Stones
18X24, Oil on Panel

This was the first real bushwhack waterfall that we ever went and found.  It is called School House Falls and it's in Van Buren County.  It began to rain on us as we were heading back to the car and we took shelter for a while in an old abandoned barn.  

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Where the Birds Always Sing

Where the Birds Always Sing
11X14, Oil on Panel

I took a photo of this place near Snowball, Arkansas about a month and a half ago or so.  We were going to visit my wife's grave and I made a stop along the way to take a look the old Snowball General Store which was for sale at the time.  On the way, I got a text from my cousin-in-law telling me that my uncle was not doing very well.  We went to visit him one last time.  He passed later that evening.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Crack the Sky

Crack the Sky
8X10, Oil on Panel
SOLD

Yet another one started on site and finished in the studio.  That seems to be a very common theme.  Maybe one day I will start to be contented with my plein air work in a single session.

This is the underneath of a natural bridge at Alum Cove in Newton County, Arkansas.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Long Time Family Favorite

Long Time Family Favorite
8X10, Oil on Panel
SOLD


This was a commission of little Bar B Cue joint called Craig's in De Valls Bluff that I have painted before.  This one is now at home near Shreveport, LA.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Linger Long

Linger Long
8X10, Oil on Panel
SOLD

This was my first foray back into plein air painting after breaking my wrist at the beginning of January.  This is Falling Water Falls again.  I think this is the 3rd or 4th painting of it I have done.  It was a very cold day and I remember being worried I might fall and re-injure my wrist as I made my way back and forth from the van with my supplies down steep slope to where I was setting up.  Many photographers came and went, snapping hundreds of pictures, as I stood there in the cold making one single one.


Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Grand Canyon and Stuff


I just got home from a trip to the Grand Canyon as well as Palo Duro Canyon in Texas.  I had hoped to get some constructive painting accomplished but the above is all I managed to do.  Two are from Palo Duro, one is from the Grand Canyon, and one is a twice wiped failure also from the Grand Canyon.  

I am terribly out of practice when it comes to plein air.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Fall...and Fade

Fall...and Fade
9X12, Oil on Panel
SOLD


I started this one on site in the Richland Creek Wilderness on a cold and windy evening months ago.  I actually finished it quite a while ago too but as usual, I am slow in posting work.

Monday, June 6, 2016

The Light Cannot Atone

The Light Cannot Atone
10X20, Oil on Panel
SOLD

I am really liking this format.  I need to make more panels like this one.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

I Thought I Heard Them Whisper

I Thought I Heard Them Whisper
8X10, Oil on Panel
SOLD

Here's another one from the winter.  This was started en plein air  at Burns Park in North Little Rock and retouched in the studio.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Days Unremembered

Days Unremembered
9X12, Oil on Panel
Available

This is a remake of a painting I did several years ago of Gunnar Pool in Cleburne County Arkansas.

Monday, May 16, 2016

Befrosted Paths

Befrosted Paths
8X10, Oil on Panel
SOLD

We don't get a lot of snow in Arkansas that lasts long enough for a guy with a full time job outside of art to get out and paint it often.  So I jump at the chances when it does happen, even if it's just standing on my back patio and riffing greatly upon the view behind the house.

And obviously, this painting's been done for quite a while because even though it feels pretty chilly out there this week, summer is already trying to take hold here.

Monday, May 9, 2016

This Too Shall Pass

This Too Shall Pass
8X10, Oil and Golden Opens on Panel
SOLD

I remember well hauling square bales as a kid.  It was hot, hard work and at the time I hated it. Now it's nostalgic, especially since almost no one uses square bales anymore.

This one was started on location as a plein air using Golden Open Acrylics and finished in the studio with oils.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

March 7


I'm calling this one done.  It will be destined to be an entry in a very specific show which I have wanted to enter for several years but have never had a piece that fit the very specific requirements.  I have until the middle of the summer to come up with two more that meet the requirements and I can finally enter!

I spent my studio time last night by prepping and entering two other shows.  One of these is a fairly prestigious show that I have also wanted to enter for several years but I have never overcome the fear of rejection before.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

March 2



Here is another one that started life as a plein air.  I think it was early December when I went out and started this one.  It was a cold and windy day and I was using the Golden Open Acrylic.  I was really extremely please with my start on this but became quickly disappointed as I tried to work it to completion.  I am using oils in the studio to finish it out.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

March 1


This one was started on site at Falling Water Falls the week after I broke my wrist.  This was the third time I've painted here.  This one will still need a bit more work but it's starting to take shape.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Leap Day Progress



I worked on a piece I started in plein air a few weeks ago in the Richland Creek Wilderness.  It was really cold and windy up on the top of the hill and I only had time and endurance to capture the basic color notes of the sky.  

Monday, February 29, 2016

Fear is the Little Death (or "Goals are for Losers")

This is going to get a little personal.  I have tried to avoid a post like this but at the same I have long desired to do it.  Some of these things I have actually posted before but quickly deleted that post.  I think this time I will try to stick with putting this information out to the world.  Maybe it will finally become helpful to me.

If you have followed my work for some time, maybe you noticed a sharp change in my tone.  The last year and a half have been incredibly difficult and there have been many moments when I have questioned everything.  A year and a half ago, my wife of 20 years passed away for a totally senseless reason.  I have been left to care for a young son and put the finishing touches on the upbringing of an older son.  I am left with her dog and a cat she adopted that was supposed to be for me.  I have lost that person who told me when a painting was done.  When she said, "Wow!"  I knew I had accomplished what I wanted.  But now, my studio is haunted by absence.  It offers me no solace or peace.  I cannot see the path to completion and the stack of unfinished work demonstrates that.  Yes, I have made some work in this past year and a half that makes me very proud but there are more over which I anguish and leave me very disappointed.

Over the years, I have become a very methodical painter.  Sessions tend to consist of a good deal of sitting, looking, and thinking.  But now it is becoming extreme.  I sit and stare, practically paralyzed by fear, get up and take a few swipes and then sit back down for 10 or 15 minutes.  It is like this for every aspect of life.  I do not like to see most of our former mutual friends.  Activities I once enjoyed (and still do to some extent) are more like exercises of endurance, chores, than joyful.  It is far easier to sit on the couch and drink than face what lies outside the door.

To add to this, I broke my wrist 7 weeks ago while hiking to a waterfall to paint.  Of course, it was my right wrist and a I am right handed.  I have been painting left handed with some mixed results but that has definitely added to my fear.  I have not exercised much and I now find myself terribly out of shape, both mentally and physically.

I have to find a way to break down these walls.  Maybe my work will change, maybe it has to change.  There are definitely some things I would like to see in it that I have not really ever been able to realize.  One thing I have been able to accomplish in the past year or so that has eluded me before me now is learning a second language.  I have been learning Swedish (though I have no idea why I've chosen to stick with it!!  Will I ever even really use it??) and I know enough to probably get by fairly readily if I ever found myself in Sweden and people spoke slowly to me.  I was recently reading something about what makes someone successful at learning another language and Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, was quoted as saying, "Goals are for losers."  The idea here is that goal driven people are never happy with their work because they go from goal to goal and never feel accomplished.  Given my track record on setting goals for my painting, I can safely say that setting goals has never done anything for me.  As soon as I voice them, I ignore them.  The better approach is to create habits, be it the habit of painting or studying a language.  So, for the month of March, I plan to exorcise the ghosts of indecision which haunt my studio. I will endeavor to work every day, even if it's only cleaning or painting for 10 or 15 minutes, or just sitting there.  If I do anything constructive, I'll take a picture and post it.  This isn't a goal.  If I don't do every day, who cares. The only idea is make sure I go into the studio as often as I possibly can.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Richeson Small Works Show

I am very pleased to announce that these two paintings were selected as Meritorious Entries in the Richeson Small Works Show.  This is an annual international show which gets tons of entries.  While these pieces may not get to be displayed in the show, they will be shown in book which accompanies the show and I am very happy to have made this cut!

 Escape the Weight of Darkness - Plein air study
6X8, oil on panel

To Be Relentless Like the Sea
9X12, oil on panel