BORIS & TITO IN SIBERIA

As with the prior painting, I again used AI and my text input to create a concept. Thought process was … a bottle of Tito’s Vodka, Vodka = Russia, Russia = Siberia, etc. To date, I believe this is my best result. And, I love the fact that it’s an original just using AI as a helper.

MISTLETOE MADNESS

With the latest trend being Artificial Intelligence (AI), I decided to utilize it to create a concept using my text input. I typed in a number of Christmas words and selected an art style and it came up with the master of what I used to create this. I introduced my own modifications while painting it and selected my own colors. This result may be my most ‘artistic’ piece I’ve created to date.

BABY TRACTOR NAPTIME

A pseudo-abstract version from a photo I took somewhere in the rural area of northern Virginia. The challenge here was painting it on a rough surface. It can’t be seen in the photo here but, in reality, it provides an interesting effect and depth to the painting.

PICKED A BAD WEEK TO STOP BREATHING

My dear brother (Dave) passed away in 2024, unexpectedly. He was the true trained artist. I was reminded that his favorite movie was ‘Airplane’ and came up with this idea. I gave it to my sister-in-law and niece. You have to know the movie, but “Don’t call me Shirley’ was one of the many notable lines. Also, throughout the movie, one character repeatedly says “I picked a bad week to quit (enter any vice or habit here)”. Yes, my title is a bit “sick” but my brother would’ve absolutely loved it! Also, I included the colorful palm trees to honor his art company “Tropical Art Plus”.

RANDOM PUZZLED BLOND

I enjoyed the puzzle painting so much, I decided to do one on my own. I took a picture of my wife, removed about half the detail. I lightly traced the outlines of the different area and wrote letters on them so I’d know what part of the painting they’d be. I then picked each piece randomly and painted it. I did just a bit of touch-up after re-assembling it. Personally, I think it’s “different” and like it as just a fun painting exercise.

COOPERATIVE PUZZLE

I have seen similar things like this that children do. But, I figured, we can still act like children once i awhile. So, I got a blank puzzle and had my wife pick out the colors. We randomly painted the pieces with whatever we wanted. I wasn’t totally impressed when we first assembled it but it’s really grown on me. Sure, it’s really abstract but the more you look at it, the more interesting it becomes, in my opinion. I’d like to do another just like this but with fewer colors someday.

ALIEN JUNKYARD

I’ve kind of gotten hooked on doing “space paintings”. I wanted to do something different though. No idea where, but the idea came to me of a bunch of old cars on a planet. I had one issue along the way. I put a matte varnish on and for some reason it didn’t dry completely clear which degraded the painting some. Also, for this one, I couldn’t get a photo to put here that captures it properly – I think it looks better in person.

DENTAL ASSISTANT GIFT

Chatting as we usually do with my long time dental assistant, somehow the subject of my painting came up. I showed her a few samples and she asked if I could paint from a picture she had of her daughter walking on the beach. It took a while but I finally finished it. I’m not very pleased with it and think I took on more than I’m capable of doing at the current time. But, you only get better if you keep painting – which I will!