Part of the “Parade” Series.  Captured the reference photo for this colored pencil drawing a few years ago at a parade in New York City.  Have had this one on the “to do” list for a while – finally got around to working on it.  Something compelling about a Native American carrying The Stars and Stripes – had to draw this one.  Great sunlight.  Great colors.  Great subject matter.  Have had a real positive reaction to this one – hope you enjoy.

Love Christmas.  Have fond memories of nutcrackers, cookies, Pez dispensers, any of the Rankin Bass specials, The Grinch, classic movies – love it all.  Wanted to play with reflecting light, so included some Christmas lights.  The two Christmas cards in the painting are photos of my children.  And, the Polaroid near the bottom of the painting is of me, my brother, and sister taken when we were little – I’m the one blowing up the balloon – I remember my parents taking that photo like it was yesterday.  Many of the items in this painting have strong personal meaning for me – painting this one sparked many fond memories.  My daughter came up with the name.

Love Christmas.  Have fond memories of nutcrackers, cookies, Pez dispensers, any of the Rankin Bass specials, The Grinch, classic movies – love it all.  Wanted to play with reflecting light, so included some Christmas lights.  The two Christmas cards in the painting are photos of my children.  And, the Polaroid near the bottom of the painting is of me, my brother, and sister taken when we were little – I’m the one blowing up the balloon – I remember my parents taking that photo like it was yesterday.  Many of the items in this painting have strong personal meaning for me – painting this one sparked many fond memories.  My daughter came up with the name.

This print is half the size of the original painting.

Completed this painting to complement “Jam” and “Crash.” When on a family vacation in California, went to this candy/50’s nostalgia store. Found a few toy cars with candy logos on them – liked the colors and decals – thought they would be fun to paint. Wanted to pull in a little closer on the cars. And, wanted an abstract composition. My favorite – love the icecream truck.

Painted this from a reference photo taken along one of the main roads in Lancaster County. Passed an Amish buggy or bicycles every few hundred yards. Find it interesting – the Amish shun most modern conveniences and lead vice-free lives, yet grow beautiful fields of tobacco.

Was at a local produce market. Had a bin of Fairy Tale Pumpkins (yep, that’s the name). Liked the washed out, almost salmon color and deep segmentation of these pumpkins. My pallet is usually pretty bright – liked the neutral, dulled pallet required for this painting. My daughter, Em, named this one.

Love New York City. Was driving through Chinatown when I captured a few reference shots used to paint this picture. I’m usually attracted to light. In this case, what struck me was the shadow. Liked the cool, subtle detail on the neon signs and the grid-like angularity of the scene. Liked how the woman in the foreground hides the little girl from the bright sunlight. Particularly enjoyed painting the helix-like pattern of the fire escape shadows in the extreme background – must have had work on my mind, because it reminded me of a DNA strand. My wife told me this work was “different for me.” Once it was finished, placed it on our fireplace mantel next to “Eiffel Tower Carousel.” Told Stacey it wasn’t much different after all – can see a similar theme and composition (strong off center foreground figure facing the viewer; washed out background detail) in both pieces.

Got the inspiration for this painting on our family’s annual apple-picking trip. Saw this pile of pumpkins, and was struck by colors in the shadows. One of the farmers managing the stand gave me a weird look while I snapped the reference photo for this painting. Didn’t matter – was captivated by the composition and colors. Even though the pumpkins are white and orange, I used every color on my palette to create this work.

Painted this from a reference photo taken along one of the main roads in Lancaster County. Passed an Amish buggy every few hundred yards. This painting is part of a series of Amish buggy scenes.

Love playing Hot Wheels with my son. Love painting them as well. This painting is a take off on “Jam” – an award-winning painting I completed in 2007. When painting Jam – was thinking about the way my son lines the cars up in neat rows – I liked the blocks of color. As I was working on Jam, the grid of cars reminded me of traffic jams (had a lot of time to think about traffic jams when I was commuting into Philadelphia). “Crash” is a natural extension of that same idea. Sometimes, my son just likes to dump the cars in a big pile. Was going for a more abstract composition, but couldn’t resist drawing the viewers eye to the monster truck. Hid a bunch of stuff, like names of my children and friends, in this painting. Also selected cars that had a bit of novelty to them. See if you can find the shark car, the WWII bomber car, or the gorilla car. And, over half the cars have flames on them – seemed appropriate given the painting is of a car crash.