Art Work

The following links connect to some of the pictures I have done over the last few years. These are obviously the work of a beginner. However, I enjoy looking at pictures and for whatever reason, these particular ones still give me some pleasure. Perhaps others might find something amusing or interesting. There are a few others to be added but I am still trying to get decent digital pictures without a lot of reflection.

All pictures are done in acrylics. Comments are included with some of the pictures.

NOTE: Pictures are actually fairly large so they are set to rescale to your browser window. All pictures are rectangular. Pictures labeled [T] are taller than they are wide and will scale to full window height. Those labeled [W] are wider than tall and will scale to full window width. If the full picture does not show make your browser window wider for [T] and taller for [W]. Increasing your browser window size will increase picture size.

Spider Plant [W] was on the railing of our deck. I found the glow of the earthen pot combined with the heavy foilage interesting. This was based on a spider plant in very bright sunlight. Recently I did a different spider plant. [W]

I, like many others, find Van Goh [W] interesting. This painting is based on one I saw in a book. I was not interested in making a copy but rather in trying to use his design elements and colors. In 1999 I ran across the original in the art museum in Zurich. The colors are reasonably close, but my sky is much calmer. I also still have both my ears.

This picture is based on one by Cezzane [T] but the colors are brighter since he is sometimes a bit dull for my taste.

Long way from home [W] reflects my interest in scifi and astronomy. The deep purple blacks of the sky are proving very hard to photograph without reflection. This photoshop altered version [W] is still not quite right but better.

I find water fascinating. Blue lilies [W] was inspired by a Monet painting. He was using very different colors than I would have chosen but they worked (at least for Monet). This picture uses a similar palette but is more geometric and a little more abstract than Monet's.

Walking through a plaza in Madrid I came across an artist selling painting of his and another artists. He let me take a photograph of one of a Madrid Garden. [W] This picture is based on that photograph.

The SIAM meeting in Puerto Rico [W] was at a hotel with many water gardens. The basic layout and color scheme here is taken from a photograph. I have made the painting more open and changed the water in keeping with my current interest in painting with a few colors.

Seashell [W] was painted from a shell on the deck of my mother in laws one winter in Florida.

The picture Stairs [T] is based on a picture from southern France that Toni Cappel took. It reminded me of a number of similar stairs that I had seen, and climbed, in Spain and Italy.

Lake [W] is based on a fall photograph taken in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. All the colors have been pushed a bit except for the band of purple/magenta on the other side of the lake. Those are the actual colors. The foreground of the painting is a bit darker and more detailed but it got washed out by the camera.

Beach [W] was also painted in Florida. The digital picture was darker than the original so this has been photoshop enhanced. The original is sunnier with the sand and shell colors more bleached out.

Crete [W] is based, loosely, on a picture of a harbor on Crete. There's a great seafood restaraunt just to the upper right.

Oberwolfach [W] is based on a photograph taken near the Oberwolfach conference center which is near the black forest region of southwest Germany. This picture was painted during my ``Grandma Moses period" Which lasted exactly one picture.

Conneticut winter [W] is one of my wife's favorites. There is a lane in back of her sisters place that goes into the woods. I took a few classes from Toni Cappel and hope to take more. Toni says to never use tube blacks and make your own because they are more interesting. I usually agree but I deliberately wanted to use almost nothing but pure grays in this to see what would happen following a picture I saw in a local gallery that was monochrome and very effective.

While not based on an actual scene, Jungle Dawn [W] was painted shortly after a vist to Puerto Rico and hiking in the forest there.

Our living room has somewhat of an oriental theme with a large walk around stone fireplace. i painted Quiet Vase [T] to hang on the side of the fireplace. The stone is real and not part of the painting. The stone is the correct color but the actual painting is somewhat less yellow. The background is more of an antique gold with a touch of bronze in it.

A couple years ago while fishing in the Missouri Breaks region of Montana our tow vehicle broke down and my brother John and his son and I sat along a road for 6 hours watching the sun set [W]. Our only company was literally a heard of antelope. That lead to this picture. However, the energetic clouds required a strong ground so this is definitely not Northeastern Montana.

Fall cove [T] is a good example of how photographing with a digital camera can really change the effect. The actual picture has more yellows and oranges. In fact, the water is almost a yellow.

Textured surfaces are fascinating. The Wall [T] was painted after several days in Sardinia. Actually I started with painting the wall and then added the vines. The light wall and dark leaves made this one hard to photograph. The iimage here is photoshop enhanced which got the wall the right color but the leaves are darker than shown.

Doorway [T] was one of my first pictures in TC's class. It was done from a photo of Toni's. I found the wall texture interesting.

Stream [W] was intended to be not quite earthy and to almost have a magical element. The rocks are not this blue in the original but they are bluish. Also the water is more transparent in the original. I liked the organic effect.

I like greens and purples as is obvious in One of the neighbors [T] . A very different color scheme is in More Neighbors. [T]

My son wanted a large abstract for his place in Georgia. Since he likes Diederkorn I painted Landscape Number One [T] . This was a quite large painting for me. 36" by 48". Subsequently I painted painted Wednesday [T] which is the same size and similar colors. This photo was shot at an angle so the lighter top area is actually slightly larger.

This same year (2003) I went snorkeling off the Florida Keys which probably inspired Seascape Number 1 [W] . The yellow was delibrately chosen because it is not very mellow.

This same year (2003) I was in a class where I was experimenting with using acrylics like water colors. The result was Boat Number 1 [W] .

This started out motivated by an abstract landscape I saw in a gallery. I liked the way that one had to keep shifting perspective as the eye moved around the picture. However, as I painted the picture it went in a somewhat other direction. This picture of the neighborhood [W] is less vibrant than the original. Also the area to the left looks more like a curtain, which it is supposed to, in the orinial. This picture is probably better viewed in a somewhat reduced size. The actual picture is on a fairly large canvas.

One Christmas I got some irridescent paints. I learned two things. One, they are tricky to use and have things look right. Secondly, as Monday Morning [T] shows they don't photograph very well with a flash. The whitish areas are actually a silverish irridescent paint. This painting is just to show that a youth spent looking at Dali paintings, (and the earlier Picasso's) made some kind of impression.

In TC's class we had to stick some wet paper on the canvas and then paint something. Sea Tree [T] is what I got. TC's only comment was "ennergetic." Looking at it now, it appears a bit empty sometimes with just the tree. On the other hand, sometimes this picture strikes a cord. The water in the original is not such a bright blue and while there is more light to the right there is some flash reflection in this image.