Friday, December 12, 2008

December Glow

December Glow
acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas
8"x10"
$65 + shipping (contact)



I'm working on a couple of more time-consuming paintings and decided to do a colorful wintry scene to break things up a bit.

Apparently there's an arctic front moving in this weekend with highs of 0 degrees...it looks like we can hopefully expect a white (but freezing) Christmas!

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Monday, December 8, 2008

Snowy Shadows - SOLD



Snowy Shadows
acrylic on canvas
20"x16"
SOLD

It's really starting to feel like December here. I love the snow when I'm sitting inside with a cup of hot chocolate, but I'm not so fond of it when I have to defrost my freezing car and drive in it. This is such a beautiful time of year, though.

The paint on this piece is very thick, so I've provided an angled closeup to help illustrate that a bit.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Road Less Traveled - SOLD

Road Less Traveled
acrylic on canvas
16"x20"
SOLD



Here's a sort of fanciful mountain/prairie scene. I love sequestered country roads. Since they're often forgotten or traveled upon infrequently, they seem almost like red carpets rolled out in front of you that appear just to take you to some peaceful, secluded place in life.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Aqua Studio Salon show



My paintings are are going to be featured at the Aqua Studio Salon in Billings starting December 1st and going through the end of January '09. Seven pieces are currently available for sale at the salon, and I will be rotating paintings in and out each month. Aqua is a beautiful new salon in town, and I'm really excited to have my work hanging there.


Aqua Studio Salon
3429 Central Ave., Suite D
Billings, MT 59102
(406) 655-0720


Saturday, November 29, 2008

Winter's Calico Sky

Winter's Calico Sky
acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas
24"x30"
available at Proctor Art Gallery, Tacoma, WA
(contact for more information)



I saw this stunning sunset the other day and decided it would fit well with a wintry atmosphere.


Westward II - SOLD

Westward II
acrylic on canvas
18"x24"
$265 + shipping (contact)


This is an impasto version of an earlier painting.





Friday, November 21, 2008

Clouds

Clouds
acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas
11"x14"
$75 + shipping (contact)



Just a small impasto today.

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

Harvest Moon Over Rimrocks - SOLD

Harvest Moon Over Rimrocks
acrylic on canvas
16"x20"
SOLD





I remember being stunned the first time I saw a harvest moon rising over a bend in the road. It's amazing how bright and colorful the moon is during that period.



Monday, November 17, 2008

Montana Dusk II

Montana Dusk II
acrylic on canvas
12"x16"
available at Proctor Art Gallery, Tacoma, WA
(contact for more information)

Here's another dusk painting. I love it when the sky takes on a reddish glow just before the sunlight is completely gone.

On an unrelated note, my favorite radio station (which I mentioned earlier) is now streaming oldies online: FM 99 The Mountain, Red Lodge, MT.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Montana Dusk - SOLD


Montana Dusk
acrylic on canvas
20"x24"
SOLD

I used a spatula for much of this impasto painting. There's really something indescribably beautiful about sunsets in Montana, and I can't quite get enough of it.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Cambria

Cambria
acrylic on canvas
16"x20"
$150 + shipping (contact)

The beach at Cambria, CA is probably one of the most beautiful places in the world. I remember feeling like I was in a Mediterranean hillside when I was driving there.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Big Sky Storm - SOLD




Big Sky Storm
acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas
24" x 30"
SOLD


I love the scenery on the outskirts of Billings. I've found that I sometimes feel almost claustrophobic in Washington (despite the state's incredible beauty), since I'm so used to the plains of eastern Montana. I can really breathe out here. I also love these Montana storms: they roll in with big beautiful clouds and thunder and lightening, and the rain smells so refreshing. I really miss my Montana storms when I'm in western Washington where the rain is more like a fine mist.


I mostly used palette knives on this painting. The sides are all painted as well (illustrated in the second photo above), so the painting comes ready to hang unframed. You can click on the first photo to see a larger version of the photo that better reveals the textures and the colors.






Let It Be - NFS

Let It Be
acrylic on canvas
30" x 20"
not for sale


After taking a break from this painting one day, I discovered that I liked the unfinished look of it so much that I decided to leave it alone and consider it done. It's based on Richard Avedon's famous photos of The Beatles.

More art will be forthcoming. I'm sorry for my neglect of this blog, but the past several months have been intensely challenging to say the least. Updates will probably continue to be sporadic for awhile, so please bear with me. I have a number of semi-finished pieces that I hope to upload soon.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Portrait of a Lady - NFS

Portrait of a Lady
acrylic on canvas board
9" x 12"
not for sale

This is based on a photo of my mother as a baby, playing in the fields at her grandparents' farm in Wisconsin.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Oldies but Goldies

Oldies but Goldies
oil pastel on medium weight textured paper
9" x 12"
$30 + shipping (contact)



After a bit of an unplanned hiatus, I'm back, with more art forthcoming.

I bought a set of oil pastels and decided to experiment with them. I've also been listening a lot lately to an oldies radio station - a true oldies station, none of the generic ClearChannel, new-format stuff. Listening to oldies and painting this floral, vintage-esque porcelain bird was really a lot of fun.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Spring - SOLD


Spring
acrylic on canvas board
9"x12"
SOLD


Just another quick experiment with palette knives and thick paint, this time of a field out in the Snoqualmie Valley.



Friday, March 14, 2008

Homeland - SOLD

Homeland
acrylic on canvas board
9"x12"
SOLD

I decided to experiment by using only palette knives for this one and forbidding myself to touch a paintbrush. I have a lot of fun smearing color on canvas with palette knives (like I did with the backgrounds for "Penelope" and "Shine"), but using them on such a smale scale as this canvas board was a bit difficult. I think I'll be doing more like this but on larger supports.


At any rate, this image is another that comes from my memories of the outskirts of Billings. For being the biggest city in Montana, it has a lot of rural life left in it. Being out in the mountains of Washington (despite their beauty) makes me miss these familiar plains.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

New Beginnings - SOLD

New Beginnings
acrylic on canvas board
9"x12"
SOLD



This painting is based on a photo I took of the lavender in my garden last summer, having just moved into a new house and inherited a lovely little herb garden. It seems that growing amidst all the dense lavender blooms are what I think may be some Korean Mint blossoms; I really love the image of them hidden among all the lavender.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

New photos

I think I'm starting to get the hang of photographing paintings, so I've redone a few photos that I had been particularly unhappy with: "Rimrocks" and "Missoula Skyline."

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Westward - SOLD at auction

Westward
acrylic on canvas board
9"x12"
SOLD at auction



This painting is based on a photo from a roadtrip my friend and I took from Eastern Montana to Western Washington several years ago. Montana is a huge state to drive across, but the scenery - and sunsets like this one - make it worth it.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Road - SOLD


The Road
acrylic on canvas
16"x20"
Private collection



This painting is actually an older one from about three years ago. It's based on a dirt road on David's idyllic organic farm in the Snoqualmie Valley of Washington. I plan on doing many more paintings of the farm and am excited to do some plein-air work there this summer.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

oh, let your little light shine


Shine
acrylic on hardboard
16"x20"
$140 + shipping (contact)


I'm posting two photos of this painting, since a little bit of glare helps to show the highly-textured background. I decided to push myself out of my comfort zone and experiment with painting the Nike statue sketched in a previous post. I envisioned a setting sun over the sea when I painted the background with a palette knife and decided to paint a transparent and abstracted image of the Nike statue over the background. I wanted to emphasize the color of the sea playing in the shadowy areas of her garments and wings, with the colors in the sky appearing in the highlights of her upper chest and shoulders. Scholars think the statue originally rested upon the prow of a ship that was placed a pool of water; the color and movement of the water reflecting from the bottom of the statue must have been beautiful.


Joni Mitchell's new album inspired the name of the painting.


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Rimrocks


Rimrocks
acrylic on hardboard
14"x18"
$120 + shipping (contact)


This painting came out of my memories of driving around the outskirts of Billings, MT at night, when the sky is so brilliant and clear that it's hard to tell where the fields and the sky even meet. The Rims surround the valley and fit so well into that huge Montana sky.


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Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Nike tes Samothrakes

Winged Victory
4"x6"
graphite on paper



I decided to do some sketches of my favorite classical sculpture - the winged Victory of Samothrace, a Hellenistic depiction of Nike (now residing at the Louvre). The sculptor depicted her, garments billowing, just as she touched down on the prow of a ship, and she was placed overlooking the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace. I imagine her right arm was originally raised with a wreath for the victor, and her left hand probably held a feather.

I wish I could do her justice - she's so impressive in person. I want to play with the scale and composition a bit and try to translate that "impressiveness" onto canvas.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Sun-warmed kitty


Sun-Warmed
graphite/colored pencil on paper
4"x4"



Just a quick sketch today of Penelope. I'm planning to do something like this on canvas with a lot of fun colors and a bright background.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Missoula Skyline - SOLD


Missoula Skyline
acrylic on canvasboard
SOLD


This painting is based on a photo I took from my hotel window in Missoula, MT several years ago. As is typical in Montana, the city's skyline mostly consists of mountains and hills and an expansive sky.




Thursday, January 17, 2008

Penelope - NFS

Penelope
acrylic on canvas
18"x24"
Private collection


In an effort to motivate myself and define my own style, I've decided to paint and sketch on a daily basis. At the moment, I'm still trying to figure out how to successfully take digital photos of my paintings, so please bear with me. :)

I just finished "Penelope" today. It's a portrait of my cat, who I got as a kitten when I was in kindergarten and who just recently passed away at the age of 18. It's been intensely hard to let a lifelong friend like Penelope go, and I wanted to attempt to put her on canvas. She had beautiful green/gold eyes that I wanted to really bring out in the painting.