Love The North End in Boston. Was on a family vacation – spent some time walking around, trying out the Italian restaurants and pastry shops, and visiting the historical sites. What stays with me about this area is the neon and the churches. Captured both in this painting.

Caught a reference shot for this painting just as the sun was setting at Sea Isle, New Jersey. Liked the subtle details in the shadows of the house and the bright pinks in the sky. Took the shot from the promenade. This view isn’t available anymore – construction behind this house hides the view.

The North End in Boston has some great Italian restaurants. Loved the washed out brightness of the street and the dark darks of the interior.

Love going to Sea Isle, New Jersey with the family. Took a reference shot for this painting just as the sun was setting. Created these nice, deep indigos and pinks. The promenade lights just came on when I snapped this shot.

Was walking back to the hotel from a night on the town in Manhattan. Have always been fascinated by the markets that seem to be on every street corner in New York. The produce quality and variety are unmatched. Loved the contrast of the bright fruit and market’s inner glow against the dark street, awning, and figures in the street. Originally planned this painting as a “quickie” – loose brushwork and light on detail. But, was having too much fun and got caught up creating the detail in this work.

Was walking back to the hotel from a night on the town in Manhattan. Have always been fascinated by the markets that seem to be on every street corner in New York. The produce quality and variety are unmatched. Loved the contrast of the bright fruit and market’s inner glow against the dark street, awning, and figures in the street. Originally planned this painting as a “quickie” – loose brushwork and light on detail. But, was having too much fun and got caught up creating the detail in this work.

This painting was named a finalist in The Artist’s Magazine’s prestigious 24th Annual Art Competition.  “Jam” was one of a number of finalists in the Still Life category from thousands of entries.  This painting got Steve recognition in the December 2007 issue of the magazine.

Consider this painting to be a portrait of my son – painted this for him.  One of our favorite games when he was young was playing with his Hot Wheel cars.  We set up the cars’ tracks across the length of our basement and took turns shooting cars back and forth to each other.  I noticed that when I shot the cars to him, he collected them in a neat, orderly pile, just like cars stuck on the highway caught in traffic.  Was captivated by the design – reminded me of some of the grids-of-color paintings I had seen at MoMA on a trip around that same time – neat and orderly, yet there’s a lot of movement (much like my son).  Thought I could compose his cars in similar pattern, using contrasting (red/green, purple/yellow, blue/orange) and complimentary colors (colors side by side on the color wheel) and high contrast of light and dark next to each other to move the viewers eye throughout the work.  Contrasting colors would stand out.  Complimentary colors would recede.  Mixed in a few of the cars that I had from when I was a kid into this composition.  Many of my buddies who’ve viewed this piece recognize a car or two that they’ve either purchased for their kids or had when they were a kid.  See if you recognize any of them.

The classic debate in Philly – where do you go for a cheesesteak? Two that are always neck-and-neck in the debate are Geno’s (the local favorite) or Pat’s (the originator) – the two restaurants being across the street from each other. I think it’s one of those debates not worth having – just go with somebody else, get 2 cheesesteaks, one from each place, and split them, and decide for yourself. You haven’t been to Philly if you haven’t experienced both Geno’s and Pat’s.

Just a simple still life of onions we had on our kitchen counter. It’s amazing how much color you can see in an onion when you really study it. The title comes from an expression my wife used to say “you wanna smell my onion?” – have to imagine her saying this while making a fist. Means something similar to “you wanna knuckle sandwich?”

Around Labor Day, there’s a hot pepper festival in a local town. Great event. Dozens of vendors serve various foods – jambalaya, habanero chocolate ice cream, steak on a stick – all of which have the heat jacked way up. A local farm has a great stand – they sell bushels of any kind of hot pepper you can imagine. We usually take a carriage ride to the farm – they have a “pick your own” area. A stand at the farm sells these wonderful heirloom tomatoes. Not too long after taking the reference shot for this painting, made a great tomato salad – extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, fresh garlic, fresh basil, Vidalia onion – writing this is making me look forward to next year.