Colored pencil drawing of Cole playing soccer on his school team. Reference photo from his senior year season.

Had fun painting the reflections from the Christmas lights on this one. This painting is all about light and texture. Composition is very complex. There’s lots of fur, clear glass, and reflective surfaces. And, the lights create all kinds of reflections. So, “white” hair in the painting was painted using yellow, red, purple, and a host of other colors. The complexity of this one made it fun to create.

Another toy car painting. In this one, wanted to use different size cars. Wanted the larger cars to form the main structure of the composition. Then, I used smaller cars to fill in the gaps.

Painted this “fantasy” landscape from a series of photos taken while on Summer vacation to Ireland in 2017. Painting was cobbled together – the tree was at one part of the Ring of Kerry. The cows and ocean view were at another. Got a “liar, that’s not what it looked like! That tree wasn’t there!” Creating your own reality is what makes being an artist fun – only limited by your own mind. Gave me an opportunity to teach a lesson to the kids on “artistic license”.

Painted this from a reference photo taken on a Summer family vacation to Ireland in 2017. Beautiful landscaping in the park around Blarney castle and mansion. That’s Stacey in the foreground and the kids are suggestions in the background.

On Summer vacation in Ireland in 2017, took a reference photo used for this painting. Was touring the retro village around Bunratty castle. Brushing up on my watercolor skills – it’s actually painted with gouache, an opaque watercolor. This guy was a cast character in a village office – was playing a doctor. Interesting guy.

Drew this picture of Stacey and me from a reference photo taken the year before at our annual Christmas train ride. I always get some great shots during that ride. Now have a half dozen art pieces created from train ride photography. Created this to celebrate Stacey and my 25th wedding anniversary (11/28/2017). Where does the time go? My lovely bride gets more beautiful every year. I am a lucky guy – friends/family never hesitate to tell me I married up. Hard to argue – I agree. I’m not much of a facial hair guy, but decided to grow a beard that Winter. Yeah, it’s pretty white. Too many similarities to Santa Claus for me to keep it.

Painted this one from a reference photo I took on my phone at Longwood Gardens. Tried to loosen up on this one. Completed this in under three hours. Like all the contrasting greens in the background. Lots of cool blue highlights. Turned out better than it felt as I was painting it. Fun to do some of these “quickie” paintings, but, in my heart and soul, the more detailed paintings/work are more my speed.

Went to Rome, Italy on a family vacation in 2014. Loved the fruit stands. Had lemons the size of footballs. And, the fruit was displayed so radomly and beautifully around the stand. I’m always attracted to scenes at dusk with lots of lights. This one didn’t disappoint. Enjoyed painting the cool background against the stark warm light of the stand. Also enjoyed the contrasts of warm and cools in the shadows. That’s my wife, Stacey, in the foreground, looking as beautiful as ever. And, if you look closely, you can see the Colosseum at the end of the street.

Decided to do a family portrait. Didn’t want the normal pose. Wanted something that felt more like my jumbled still life paintings. During Emily’s high school graduation photo shoot, I coaxed my family into laying on the ground for a photo. Was rough going. I think the photographer had all of a second or two to take the shots before the kids started complaining. “This is stupid, Dad!” Fortunately, I was able to combine two of the shots to create a reference for this painting. Turned out better than I had originally hoped. Was fun working the faces – could get lost in all the subtle color changes. Really enjoyed painting this one. And, glad I was able to capture and paint another portrait of my family at this stage of our lives.