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.

Saw these tomatoes sitting on our kitchen counter and was inspired to paint them. No real thought went into this one. Just liked the colors, and painting the tomatoes gave me a chance to relax. When I was finished, got some grief from my wife, Stacey – said “nice composition. Where was your mind.” I really didn’t know what she was talking about – she said I had my mind in the gutter – the painting looked anatomical. Hence, the name, “Nice Tomatoes.” As I’m typing this, she’s looking over my shoulder and she’s still giving me grief, “like you really didn’t know…”

Left some onions on the counter a wee bit too long – started to sprout. Enjoyed painting the onion skin on this one. At a quick glance, onions appear to be pretty monochromatic. But, I had to pull a lot of different colors of paint out of the box – cad red, cad yellow medium, cad yellow light, burnt umber, titanium white, raw umber, and others – to create this.

Been a fan of the Philly boxing scene since moving back to the area in the mid-ninties. Great scene! Fun place to “people watch.” Tried to capture in this painting some of the characters who are regulars at the fights.

If you ask my father for the location of this, one of his favorite fly fishing holes, he’ll tell you a place that’s about an hour’s drive from the actual spot.

Was taking some reference photos of an amusement pier along the Jersey Shore. Liked the play of the lights and colors of the rides. Caught a moment where my son, Cole, laid his hand on my wife’s face. Was fascinated how he could be so focused on her with all the noises and blinking lights around him.

Les Deux Magots – great spot for some Foie Gras on toast and a bowl of Chocolate Mouse. Loved how all the warm and cool light sources – the Holiday lights in the tree, the neon of the restaurant signs – melded into the awning in this composition.

Every September we load the kids in the van and pick apples at this local orchard. And, every September I come home with armfuls of stuff. Apples (multiple kinds – Fuji, McIntosh, Staymon Winesap – and multiple forms – apple dumplings, apple butter, apple cider, dried apples), pumpkins (and pumpkin bread and pumpkin butter), honey (the kids especially like the live bees behind glass in the back of the store), Indian corn, various gourds, squash, turnips – you name it, I buy it, much to my wife’s dismay… Wouldn’t have it any other way.

When I composed this still life, the afternoon light was perfect, but something seemed missing. When I wasn’t looking, our middle child, Emily, slid in the photo of her and her sister, Sarah. Said she wanted to be in the painting. It was just the touch this composition needed.