Fireflies & Moonlight

"Fireflies & Moonlight," oil on panel, 16x20"

Here's my final piece (a self portrait) for the painters show at Davis in September.  It took way longer than I thought it should, but I'm happy with the image. I like the implied narrative and the strong composition. Plus I really wanted to feature this cool old lantern I picked up during my summer travels.

Fireflies remind me of my childhood in Ohio.  It seemed like magic when fireflies came out in the summer evenings.  I also feel like catching fireflies is a good analogy for process of making art.

View from a Carriage Ride

"View from a Carriage Ride," oil on board, 36x24"

I've been doing a lot of portraits lately and haven't been so happy with the results.  I decided to do a landscape as a palate-cleanser. This is an image I've thought about doing for a few years, but never undertook. It's a landscape from the Midwest.

Artist at Work

"Artist at Work," oil on board, 36x48"

This is my second piece for the upcoming Painters Painting Painters show at Davis.  I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  Painting all of that graffiti was a lot of fun and I'm please with how strongly the figure stands out - looks very three dimensional.

Sun on East 39th Street

"Sun on East 39th Street," oil on board, 18x24"

I just finished this commission - reminded me of how much I love living in Austin. :)

Faire

"Faire," oil on board, 12x9"

I continue to work on portraits and I am pleased with how this one turned out.  I started by doing a monochromatic underpainting, which forced me to get the values right before adding color.  I'm not sure I want everything I do to be this tight, but it was an interesting experiment.

River Tide

"River Tide," oil on board, 24x30"

I'm often surprised by the Texas landscape.  I saw this view while out on a small island in the middle of Lake Travis (aka the Colorado River).  I love the way the plants are growing right out of the shallow water.

Psyche

"Psyche," oil on board w/gold leaf, 20x16"

I've been adding new elements to my figurative paintings, which is a lot of fun and I think the start of a new theme.  I put in the butterflies because the necklace she was wearing reminded of a butterfly's wing.  I like the slightly macabre implications.