ELDORADO CANYON TRUCK

From a photo I took in the ghost town outside of Vegas in Eldorado Canyon. This was my first lesson in how to paint shadows. After many, many attempts I started to learn how to do it. Lots of great critical help on this one from my brother and my wife.

THE STRETCH

From a picture I took at the Charles Town racetrack. Complete with vignette effect trial.

NECESSARY FLOWERS

I think every student of art is required to paint flowers at some point. These are mine … check … now on to more interesting subjects. Walmart acrylic on Amazon canvas.

SCORCHING

Satirical concept for the salon where Melissa works.

KOZKISS

Second attempt at painting the “world famous” photo of Melissa and I kissing at our wedding reception.

OATMAN MAN

Painting from sneaky photo I took in Oatman, Arizona (I haven’t gone to jail or got my butt kicked yet!). Reminds me of some old ranch hand that has stories that would take a year to tell.

PATRIOTIC DC GUY

From a picture of a guy I took in Washington DC. Don’t know if my painting was able to capture it, but I love this picture because of how many captions I can think of that could describe what he is thinking about.

CRAZY CLYDE

Portrait of one of our cats (Clyde, aka “Cloud”) that has nothing going on behind his eyes and looks the part!

BACKWARDS CONAN IN REVERSE

Per request. I was supposed to replace the heads AND bodies of the characters but only replaced the heads. Oops!

PINE APPLE

My niece requested a pineapple. I’m a wise ass. So is she. She got this!

RIDICULASAURUS

From a few year old photograph I took at the Frederick Fair of a ridiculous looking animal (Alpaca maybe?) with a goofy look on its face.

JACK ASS

Request from my God Mother. She said she likes animals, flowers, scenery and the color aqua. This is what I came up with. The name is because she calls me Jack and he’s obviously feasting on her flowers!

INCHWORM & WALNUTS

Inspired from a conversation with Melissa while working on another painting. She gave this one an A+ and hung it in the bathroom.

THESE BOOTS WERE MADE FOR SITTIN’, Y’ALL

From a pic of my new boots purchased in Nashville. One night project and quite possibly my personal favorite.

SWEET COUNTRY HOME

My first painting inspired by something in the creases of my brain. Experimental background using a mixture of oil, coffee grounds and acrylic paint with an antiqued partial music sheet soaked in a glue/water mixture. Used a reference photo of some old country musician but created the dude from my own head.

FREEDOM ON THE FARM

At the request of Melissa; her favorite picture painted my way. I learned corn fields are really hard to paint and the number of possible skin tones is infinite! After lots and lots of attempts on various parts it was ‘good enough’ for me and she loves it (most important).
Not one of my personal favorites (based on my execution).

MEEP MEEP

Pic of Melissa standing on a rock in the Nevada desert I wanted to paint. Thought it needed a bit more subject matter and the answer was obvious. This is the result. Not my favorite or best execution, but I love the concept!

BOW? … WHAT BOW?

Per request from my God-Daughter … a lion with something in his hair.

3 TICKETS TO RIDE (AND SHE DON’T CARE)

Started out as a vision I had of a farm house at dusk in October with pumpkins on the porch and an old Ford truck in the drive. Fail! Then decided to do a pour painting over it using a sink strainer … since there’s apparently a great shortage of sink strainers, I put a bunch of holes in a plastic cup and gave it a whirl. Fail! Then I stared at the mess I created, stared more and then a little more. Carousel jumped out at me. Walla! So here it is … October Farm Pour Carousel!

GHOST HORSE

Painting was the easy part. An experiment using tree branches sliced in half (begging for a trip to the ER!), glued together, added grout, built a wooden box around it and sanded. Stained with a proprietary mixture of acrylics. Horse painted using watered down acrylics. Finished with limited visibility after eye surgery!

IF THE KEY FITS

Interpret as you wish.

DAY’S END ON THE FARM

Another request fulfilled. This one from Melissa. Ingedients: acrylic paints, brushes, canvas, some water, incredibly talented hands, good music, a chair, led painting light … and … love.

NERD SHARK

This is what happens when you experiment with a new painting technique on a scrap piece of wood that doesn’t quite work. Did what any artist would do … painted a Nerd Shark!

GOTHIC SCARECROWS

Everyone has their own take on this classic painting. This is mine.

LSD DONKEY

From a sheet with multiple layered pour painting experiments. Sat for a long time until Melissa commented she could see a Lamb face in it. Whipped out my handy brush and the rest is history! One could argue that this belongs in the Fire Pit, but I like it and it’s my gallery!

THE LION KING OF OZ

Another creation for my God daughter. Not my favorite accomplishment, but by far the most time consuming and difficult painting to date. Learned I’ll never be a portrait painter; me and faces do not get along! I’m good at aliens, people who have had reconstructive surgery after a bad accident and things that look like clown-drawfs … but not normal human faces!

CHRISTMAS CAR

In a certain household, thoughts of Christmas begin sometime in July! So, technically, it’s very late to start painting Christmas themed pictures. But … if you cant beat ’em, join ’em! Alas, my first Christmas contribution BEFORE HALLOWEEN!!! From a Christmas card I found online.

SUNRISE, THE FIRE BREATHING KITTEN

Started as an attempt to make an abstract sunset to use as a background. Didn’t work. This was so the obvious thing to do. Meet my new kitten; I named her Sunrise cuz who in their right mind would name a cat Sunset!

CRYOLA’S

It’s symbolism. Figure it out … it ain’t that hard.

FLAGGED

Another pour painting experiment that ‘spoke’ to me and insisted on being a flag. Painting a white flag next in honor of the never ending sickness/accident streak I’m on!

HOW HAL HOWLS

First painting completed in 2020 … guest I’m no longer a ‘rookie’! One of my few total originals. It’s about 7 layers deep and changed more times than I can count!

STORMY DAY AT THE SHORE

Newest experiment where you mix sand with paint to create texture. So, what did I decide to paint? … sand! Now that’s artistic!
Anyway, this is from a pic I took at the Jersey shore plus a reference pic I found with Google. If you don’t call it the shore, you’re not from New Jersey.

MONA WENT TO PIECES

Pour painting using oil that creates shapes where the paint doesn’t stick. Melissa’s inspiration was to paint a face behind the color where the paint didn’t stick. So I picked the Mona Lisa. The Louvre here we come!!!

BLACK EYED SUSAN

Just a random pour painting. Credit to Melissa for the concept. This is personally one of my favorites. It’s the the official painting of Maryland!

SARGENT BUBBLE

Small artistic play on words … figure it out.

TIME TO LEAVE

Get it?

YOU NEED FREE STUFF!

Self explanatory.

PIPE DREAM

I have no idea what to say about this.

WISCONSIN’S GONNA BE YUGE!

Not my favorite work from the artistic perspective, but I like the concept … satire equality.

CORONA CORNEA’S

Everything is shut down … but not the painting!

PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY & TIME

Jeopardy 100 years from now.
Answer: He had poison ivy so used it as a model for his “Time” plant.
Question: Who was that amateur painter in 2020 nobody heard of?

BATS

In pencil. Certainly not for the artistry; this one’s all about the concept.

THE READING ROOM

For a totally unknown reason, this image popped into my brain during a boring Skype meeting with work. Not talented enough to really capture the image well but the general concept is there and I’ll be spending great amounts of time in a psychiatrist’s office to decipher the meaning of this.

SEDONA EVENING

Inspired from a pic we took from our rented house in Sedona on vacation a few years back. This must have come out decent … its now hung in our bedroom!

SEDONA SOUVENIR

Coming to a Sedona gift shop for the incredible low price of $49.99! One of a kind!

MILK CARTON MAN

It’s the “Old Man and the Sea” but the man is missing … get it? Actually one of my personal faves so far. Inspired by a photo I took in Costa Maya Mexico years ago.

MAN WITH A HAT

My latest failed experimental pour painting inspired into its final form. This is one of my favorites.

OBVIOUS DAIRY INSECT

Another bad Groffy Pun Painting.

GRAND MARNIER EN LOCKDOWN

An original. Sign of the times. Couldn’t have it catching a virus from some cheap liquor!

US

Self-portraits. One came out much better than the other (no surprise!).

CACTUS BUTTE

Painting from a picture I took while in Sedona, Az.

IT’S FALL AND I CAN’T GET UP

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you sprinkled some random fall stuff on the counter, took a picture and then painted it, here ya go! And, then, you get to come up with a nifty title for it!

FALL IN THE TROPICS

Created from a picture we took on a cruise. Used photo software to apply styling and alter colors. Then painted it.

RODEO BOYS

Painting from a picture I took while at a rodeo in Maryland.

MELISSA & THE GANG

Christmas gift to my wife pictured with her friends Jessie, Denim, Clyde, Muffin and Blitz.

ALYSSA RENEE

Christmas gift to my step-daughter from a picture taken at her first modelling runway appearance.

TRUCK IN THE WOODS

Santa brought me water color paints to try. Here’s my first attempt and first piece completed in 2021. From a picture we took just driving around locally looking for painting inspiration. Interesting that no matter how I took the picture the colors and saturation refused to look like the actual painting.

THERAPY

I was told that simply painting with no goal or concept, just freely doing whatever you feel can help when you are experiencing a panic attack. Well … I tried it during one of my infamous “wake you up in the middle of the night for no reason” panic attacks and here’s the finished product. btw … it DID help.

PEAQUINE

Can’t recall the thought process (may be a good thing!) that inspired me to create a combination of a peacock and a horse. Originally, the body was supposed to resemble the feathers of a peacock’s tail but I realized my ability wasn’t up to that so I just settled on peacock colors. Even included a fancy frame experiment on this one!

DROWNING IN ANXIETY

Attempt to convert a pour painting into something artistic. Personally, I’m on the fence with whether I think I captured the feeling I intended with this versus whether it belongs some place in the Fire Pit. idk.

FREDERICK FARM

Picture I took of a farm in Frederick that I attempted to paint with a style twist. Not very pleased with the result but just barely good enough to survive the Fire Pit.

CHIMNEY FIRE

From a pour painting that went south quickly. Each attempt to fix it just made a bigger mess. Finally quit while I wasn’t too far behind and stared at it. This is what I came up with.

BONNIE

Another creation from a pour painting experiment. It obviously goes together with our actual outside Persian cat, Clyde (who always appears to have lost whatever there is to his mind).

NEUTRAL FARM

My impression from a farm photograph I took using a limited number of neutral colors.

SAM & MELANIE

Birthday gift for my daughter with her constant companion pretty much forever. Sam’s been by her side for years through countless experiences and continues in his own neurotic way to this day.

BIGIMUS MOUTHAGUS

500 million years ago, give or take, the Bigimus Mouthagus roamed most of the world’s oceans. Possibly related to modern day whales, despite their huge size and mouths, they fed exclusively on large quantities of very small plant life. Also significant was their incredibly small brain in proportion to their body size (evident by the “glazed look” in it’s eyes in the painting).

THERE’S A DRAFT IN THIS BUILDING

My painting interpretation of a photo I took of an abandoned building in Frederick County. I’m actually quite proud of the results of this one and think I captured all I intended to.

A BUNCH OF BULL

Yet another pour painting background. The bull is from a picture I took when we visited a rodeo in Johnstown, Maryland.

B-HIVE

Instructions: Using chainsaw, cut down dead tree. Notice cool ring pattern. Use imagination and create a unique painting surface. Use miter saw to create a bunch of equal width slices, avoiding fingers. Cut each slice into an octagon. Assemble octagons and glue to a flat board. Fill in gaps with saw dust and wood glue. Sand mercilessly. Sand some more. And then a bit more. Cut piece into a rectangle. Think … ‘hey! that kinda looks like a beehive’! Paint a bee and some flowers using water colors. Coat with marine varnish. Make a frame out of scrap wood.

FALL

Greatest thank you to my spouse Melissa! She went through the trouble of falling and breaking her ankle in her favorite season just so I could have an inspiration for my next painting!

VINTAGE VERN & VALERIE

This is “Mr. Suave” Vern in October of 1948 eyeballing Valerie for the first time in a dive bar. The rest is history! I call this my “kitchen sink” background made from scraps of wood and sawdust from the garage floor mixed with spackling, glue and some old stain. One of the most challenging pieces painting on a very rough surface.

FOR A GOOD TIME CALL

If this needs to be explained, you won’t understand. Just having some fun!

RETIREMENT

I painted this as a gift for a good friend (Scott C.) that I worked together with for years who somehow managed to retire before me! We had talked a few times of how we both enjoyed cruises and tropical islands, hence the subject of this painting. Hoping this will be his view often for the years that lie ahead!

Sasha

At the request of my daughter (Melanie), I painting this as a Christmas gift for her boyfriend (Chris). He had the dog it’s entire life (16 years) and was also the majority of his life. Not unexpectedly, but sadly, the dog passed away a few days after Christmas. Hope this painting can provide some happy memories of the time spent together between a man and his best friend.

Therapy Dog

So, I’ve been in physical therapy for a few months and plenty of time to chat with my therapist while I’m stretching and straining. I told her that I was painting the dog picture for my daughter’s boyfriend for Christmas. She mentioned that her boyfriend had always wanted a painting of his dog. Me, being me, cheerfully volunteered to paint it for her to give to him on Valentine’s Day.

FLIGHT OF THE BATS

Another random pour painting that spoke to me. It said “I’m a bat”. So, I outlined him and added a few features and then added a tree, the moon and a graveyard.

SCRUFFY

Yet another dog! This time it was for the very nice people that delivered our hay for the horses. They mentioned how they missed their beloved Scruffy since he passed away and didn’t need to say more to get me started painting this for them. As hoped, they were delighted and emotional when we gave it to them and it now hangs in a prominent place in their home.

WHO!

Christmas present for my daughter Melanie. It’s a long story of how she used to have a fear of owls and, as the dad book says, I needed to take advantage of that. She commented that she liked a small random colorful piece I did so I combined the two. Personally, this didn’t come out as well as I envisioned or hoped but she liked it and that’s what matters. I’ll try this technique again someday and see if I can get the results I’d like.

GOT ICE CREAM?

From something my wife Melissa found on the Internet and requested I paint. For those paying attention, it would be “Got Milk” except it’s winter and snowing! Anyway, I’m really happy with how this one came out and wish it was a complete original. It now hangs in our home, by the choice of the decorating boss (that’s always a good sign!).

Autumn Mess

Started out as one of those paintings where you swing a bucket above a canvas and it creates a cool geometrical pattern. Haven’t got the hang of that yet. After a number of attempts just kept adding Autumn colors to the bucket and letting it swing around in the wind that day (doing this in an open garage) and this is the result. Personally, I like it and think it looks better than it does here in the picture.

Caribbean Horse Excursion

From a picture of Melissa and I on a horse riding excursion while on a cruise. I chose to do this using an semi-abstract filter on the photo and in watercolor. I’ve learned that watercolor and I don’t get along all that well; much more difficult for me to achieve what I have in mind as opposed to using acrylics. Regardless, I’m neutral with the result – there are parts I like, ones I don’t and everything in between.

Space

I’ve seen space paintings and watched how-to’s using spray paint. I tried it myself with okay results. But, I wondered whether you could do it using acrylics rather than spray paint. I was pleasantly surprised that it came out as it did and is actually one of my favorite creations. I also think it looks better in real life rather than the picture of it used here.

Extra-Terrestrial Halloween

Enjoyed doing the Space painting so much, decided to attempt another with a theme.

SOMETIME IN NOVEMBER

Not particularly good artistically, but like the concept. This one is barely saved from the Firepit.

SNOWMAN

Can’t take full credit for this as I used a very similar version from the web. But, it’s one of my favorites from the perspective of blending, particularly with the snow and snowman.

LOCO MOTIVE

(i.e Crazy Intentions). A pour background I created some time ago and didn’t know what to do with it. One of my current projects is displaying some of my artwork of my favorites and depictions of things I like in my bathroom. Well, therefore, there HAS to be a train (I’ve loved them forever). So, I found a picture I liked, modified it like crazy and painted it in a single tone.

POINT OF ROCKS TUNNEL

Continuing with my bathroom project and theme (see ‘Loco Motive’ painting), I applied all kinds of effects to a photo I took of the Northern end of the train tunnel at Point of Rocks, Maryland which we see whenever we walk on the C&O Canal Towpath. I used some old wood pieces I assembled together some time ago as the ‘canvas’.

DOWN THE STRETCH

Continuing with my bathroom artwork theme, I had nothing to represent horse racing which is one of my favorite past-times. Unfortunately, this is not a total original as I found a piece of artwork I liked on the web and just painted my own version of it.

THE SERIAL KILLER, THE DORK & THE PREACHER

Okay, the title is not actually accurate. This is another addition to my ‘bathroom painting’ collection and I had to include something representing classical music. I downloaded the background and pasted it onto a board and painted three composers. I choose Pachelbel as Pachelbel’s Canon is one of my favorite (and just about everybody’s) piece, Mozart for his genius, music and character and Tchaikovsky who is probably my favorite composer. The resemblances aren’t actually all that bad but, without knowing the theme, the title represents what my interpretation would be!

I PICKED THIS GUITAR

In the process of re-entering one of my other hobbies by building a mini music studio in the basement. Of course, part of the fun is being able to furnish and decorate it. This is the first piece of artwork I created. There will be many more and a great subject for when I feel like painting but have “artist’s block” and can’t think of a subject.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.