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.
Love vacationing in Sea Isle City, New Jersey. On the bay, there are a number of great seafood restaurants. Two of my favorites are Mike’s and Marie’s. Mike’s is a great hang out. We love to order big take-out pans of steamed clams in a butter/lemon/wine sauce. Or, we’ll bring some beers, order some broiled seafood, and hang out on their deck. Marie’s is much the same – love their fried scallops – best I’ve had anywhere – when we order a to-go bucket, it’s usually half gone by the time we get back to our place. My daughter and I took the reference photo for this painting from a side street pier across from the backs of the restaurants. Particularly like that we were able to capture the famous Sea Isle water tower (“Smile – You’re In Sea Isle City”) in the background.
Created this pencil drawing of my wife, Stacey, for her birthday. Took the reference photo for this drawing in our family room about a year before I created this piece. Have used our family room a bunch for reference photos for paintings – photos for “Apples” and “Sarah and Emily Still Life” were taken there. Most of the windows in this room face West, so, at the end of the day, I get this wonderful orange-tinted light. Creates some great highlights and deep shadows. Stacey was sitting in the room one late afternoon, and I was struck by the lighting on her. Grabbed my camera and got a few shots. Liked the highlights on her face and her natural pose/look. If you’ve ever met Stacey, you’ll know this pose – the way she’s crossing her legs, the way she’s holding her arms – is totally her. Also like the highlight created by the window on the floor. Never envisioned this photo as a painting – always envisioned it in black and white – wanted to create a painterly-looking drawing that had the feel of an old photograph.
Was in New York City with some friends. Had some time to kill and stumbled upon a parade – decided to hang out and watch it. Have always been an incessant people watcher – decided to take a bunch of shots of various characters in the parade that caught my eye – was inspired to create a series of “Parade” colored pencil drawings. Since the NYC trip, have happened upon a few other parades at the Jersey Shore – have taken shots of characters at these parades as well. This drawing is part of this parade series and features a bar-crawl parade during the July 4th Holiday.
Was in New York City with some friends. Had some time to kill and stumbled upon a parade – decided to hang out and watch it. Have always been an incessant people watcher – decided to take a bunch of shots of various characters in the parade that caught my eye – was inspired to create a series of “Parade” colored pencil drawings. Since the NYC trip, have happened upon a few other parades at the Jersey Shore – have taken shots of characters at these parades as well. This drawing is part of this parade series and features a bar-crawl parade during the July 4th Holiday.
Right around the New Year, my family took a trip to Sea Isle. On a rainy, cold afternoon, we decided to visit Cape May, New Jersey, to check out the Christmas lights. Liked the composition of the docked fishing boats next to a famous seafood restaurant, The Lobster House (one of my favorites), in Cape May. Have done a few early evening paintings at the shore (see Sea Isle Sunset, Sea Isle Promenade, and Beachcombers) – like the contrasts of the bright lights against the subtle value changes of the deep blues. Like using minimal detail – your mind fills in the details.
Over the Holidays, we spent a few days at the Jersey Shore. I love going to the shore in the Winter – no one’s on the beach, it’s peaceful, and all the natural noises seem enhanced because they’re not drowned out by the sounds of people milling about. One rainy afternoon, we decided to drive down the coast and do some shopping in Avalon and Stone Harbor. As the afternoon wore on, it started to rain. Nothing else to do, so we decided to drive to Cape May to see the Christmas lights on the houses. Great idea. Right before it got dark, the sky was bathed in a beautiful indigo blue. Since the streets were wet, the lights created warm reflections off the sidewalks and streets. Got weird looks from a number of people (4 of which were my family) as I stood in the rain, in the middle of the street, snapping pictures. Got soaked, but it was worth it. I probably took 50 reference shots in all, a number of which will make great paintings. This is the 3rd painting in this series.
Over the Holidays, we spent a few days at the Jersey Shore. I love going to the shore in the Winter – no one’s on the beach, it’s peaceful, and all the natural noises seem enhanced because they’re not drowned out by the sounds of people milling about. One rainy afternoon, we decided to drive down the coast and do some shopping in Avalon and Stone Harbor. As the afternoon wore on, it started to rain. Nothing else to do, so we decided to drive to Cape May to see the Christmas lights on the houses. Great idea. Right before it got dark, the sky was bathed in a beautiful indigo blue. Since the streets were wet, the lights created warm reflections off the sidewalks and streets. Got weird looks from a number of people (4 of which were my family) as I stood in the rain, in the middle of the street, snapping pictures. Got soaked, but it was worth it. I probably took 50 reference shots in all, a number of which will make great paintings. This is the 3rd painting in this series.
Over the Holidays, we spent a few days at the Jersey Shore. I love going to the shore in the Winter – no one’s on the beach, it’s peaceful, and all the natural noises seem enhanced because they’re not drowned out by the sounds of people milling about. One rainy afternoon, we decided to drive down the coast and do some shopping in Avalon and Stone Harbor. As the afternoon wore on, it started to rain. Nothing else to do, so we decided to drive to Cape May to see the Christmas lights on the houses. Great idea. Right before it got dark, the sky was bathed in a beautiful indigo blue. Since the streets were wet, the lights created warm reflections off the sidewalks and streets. Got weird looks from a number of people (4 of which were my family) as I stood in the rain, in the middle of the street, snapping pictures. Got soaked, but it was worth it. I probably took 50 reference shots in all, a number of which will make great paintings. This is the first of the bunch.
Was on a Jersey Shore boardwalk. Stopped at one of our favorite sea food places to grab dinner. Caught a reference shot of my daughter, Em, that I used to create this painting. Loved how she was daydreaming while she patiently waited for her dinner. The early evening sun, about an hour before sunset, casts a wonderful orange glow – tried to capture that glow in this painting.
