When My Muse Jumps Me

Creative Parking Spot- 8x8

$49

contact me to purchase

Headed into wilmington with my backpack studio. inside it is everything i need to paint. so i walk around and wait for my muse to mug me. when i see something i HAVE to paint, i walk around and around it to find which angle i like. it might be the original vantage point or i might discover one i like better by backing up and standing to the left or right.

on this one i was walking across a crosswalk near a parking deck and look down and BAM there it was!

Bigger Piece from this Mornings Study

City Lights- 16x12

coming to a gallery near you!

Suprised i could concentrate on this painting this afternoon. the Weather Channel said there was a tornado setting down in my neighborhood. i kept a nervous ear out for the "train" they say you hear before youre ripped from the ground and sent into the next county!

Big City at Twilite

Big City Lights- 8x6

SOLD

Playing around with two of my favorite things today. rainy reflections and big cities. i'm crazy about the looseness and the way the warm light reflections play off the misty purple and light blues. this one also has the mood i was trying to achieve. everybody gets lucky once in a while.

From City by the Sea to Hiway 258

Farm Building on Hiway 258- 6x8

SOLD

I set my cell phone alarm on this one and i raced to get the painting done before it went off, so i wouldnt fuss with it. how did i do?

One from Swansboro

Swansboro Midday- 6x8

SOLD

We've got 25-35 mph winds today and for the next couple of days. my umbrella tried to launch all day while i was painting in Swansboro today. its weird but winds that high blowing my easel and my body are very disconcerting. makes me have to concentrate even harder than usual

this one may make it to a larger size. i like the glints on the water and the edited, simplified shapes and economy of stroke. maybe i can get those attributes in the bigger one.

Rain Rain Rain

Time to Himself- 8x6

SOLD

It was raining all day so i was fooling around with a panel that was painted black first. its the first one i've done on black. i love the look! love the small little dark darks and the little light lights.
one of my favorite figurative paintings that i've done in a while. painting almost everyday is starting to payoff.

Slice of Small Town Life

Here's a painting of a little corner drugstore in a small eastern nc town. what i like about it is the appearance of lots of detail with just loose carefree strokes in just the right places to suggest tons of detail. i liked the piece of a car in the left bottom corner. thought that was cool and helped the composition alot.

Corner Drugstore- 8x6

SOLD

Raleigh Near NC State, on Oberlin Road

Community Grocery- 6x8

SOLD

this is one of those little groceries from the old days that has survived the test of time. even in these days of stock market dives, Mega Walmarts, Fast Food mega-chains etc. this ones still making the city's best sandwiches for lunch when thousands of other businesses have failed and closed.
the sun played peek-a-boo a couple times during this one but i stayed with the hazy lighting effect as evidenced by the subtle shadow on the light blue bldg and the shadow from the sign on the green roof.

if you like this one i can paint one for YOU any size you like from 6x8 up to 24x30, if you'll email me!

From Rural to Urban

Hot Dog Vendor

SOLD

thanks k. in raleigh

Today i was in raleigh and the sun kept playing peek-a-boo so i stuck with one lighting effect instead of trying to paint it sunny one minute and when the sun goes behind the cloud keep painting. i stuck with the overcast lighting effect. my parking meter was going to run out in two hours, so i had to walk a few blocks into downtown and find the scene, paint it, and pack up, and walk back to the truck. all before the meter runs out and i get a ticket that will cost more than i charge for this painting. talk about having an incentive to keep it loose, and quick. no wonder my stuff looks so spontaneous LOL

Landscape Painting

Fading Summer- 6x8

SOLD

thanks R.V., emerald isle, n.c.

summers waning fast and they say the first cooler temps of fall will be here tomorrow. after studying trees all summer i've noticed that their color is dulling which means it wont be long before they turn red, golden orange and yellow, then fall off.

am looking forward to some cooler days. it was really rough painting outside all day on those days where it was 90 and 90% humidity.

Art Source Fall Exhibition

its hard on the picture to see but it advertises the four man show i'm in starting this thursday at Art Source in Raleigh. mines the second from the left. Please come check it out if youre in Raleigh near the North Hills mall area. The reception is thursday from 7-9 pm and i think all four of us will be there. not sure about the glass artist but i'm the hometown boy (of the painters) so come out and see some new stuff, and hang out a little.
also the workshop is friday and saturday and theres still room so contact either art source or me and we'll get you signed up.

ive also decided to open the bidding back up to NC residents on my small EBay auctions. man, us tarheels can raise some cane when we want something!! i'm so honored to know that people would get so riled up not being able to bid. thanks for buying and looking at my stuff. without you i'd have to get a real job LOL

A Different Gig

Today i've been working on a project for a real estate developer in Raleigh. you may remember i did several paintings for them back in the early spring. they were painted plein air around north hills mall.

this project is much harder by far. then i could just go set up my easel and do what i always do, paint what i see. on this job they asked me to imagine what a scene would look like on a building thats not even there. its being built. looking at something and painting it is wayyyyy easier!

so i drew up some sketches and tried to imagine what a sunny day at this soon to be retail space will look like.
they want to show the concept paintings to potential renters to show that the place will look like a parisian cafe area, with people, trees, and all the rest.

they'll pick one of these 3, make a change or two and get me to do the final, which will be a little more finished. you dont want to spend tons of time on these until you know that youre going in the direction they envisioned. then you can hone in on it!

String is Dry

Mystic Cloudbank- 8x20- SOLD

Today the storms and clouds left after a week. these beautiful clouds and bluebird skies were left. the temps were nice and this painting fell off the brush.

getting and keeping the large masses the right value, hue, and chroma, allows you the freedom to get really colorful and varied on your big shapes. its when you lose that tender balance in value, hue, and chroma that things start going south fast.

you gotta click the photo above to see the clouds. this little pic doesnt do 'em justice. i love it when you dont have to fight the painting. makes the experience all the sweeter.

Dockside Seating- 8x6-SOLD

When i saw this girl sitting in the chair talking on her cell phone i knew i had to paint her. the way the sun was hitting her skin it glowed, and that pink dress she had on was shimmering. the purple was a great temperature contrast to the pink of the dress and the orange tinge in the hair. i took a picture of her and hoped she didnt catch me and think i was some stalker or something. i took the image to my photo software program and tweaked up the red in her hair till it was like i remembered it.

its still raining (more forecasted for tomorrow) so expect to see more work from photos or still life paintings.

Seeing Color and Values vs. Matching Them

See Through and Blue- 9x12- Available

you can always tell when its crappy weather here on the coast of NC by checking my blog. if theres a landscape or two on there its sunny. if i've painted a still life or commission, its rainy. kinda like the weather forecaster string. havent heard of that?
ok what you do is nail a string to a tree outside your window. make a sign under it that says
" if string is flapping= windy
if string is dry= sunny
if string is wet= rainy
if string or tree is gone= hurricane"

did a little tutorial for Bonnieluria whose becoming quite a regular visitor here lately. she's a wonderful artist living in the carribean. check out her work by clicking here

she thought it was helpful so i thought why not cut and paste and save all that typing. not that i'm doing much today. the string on my tree is wet and flapping. LOL

p.s. you miss alot when you dont click the word "comments" at the bottom of the post. thats where you can respond and also see what the conversation (or thread for you pre- 80's computerheads LOL) is. alot of good stuff goes on. please join in!

so here it is-

Seeing color and value vs. matching it
We all have a problem seeing the way we need to. we're trained from birth to match arent we? my idea for you to counter this natural tendency would be to do little excercises to train yourself differently.
heres one:
take a magazine and cut out any random photo and tape it to your easel. mix paint to paint on the shapes that is different than what is really there. you can do the first one monochromatically (in white and black) to get the feel for studying value relationships. remember that a white shape or no.1 value reads right as long as the shapes/values around it make it a white/or light shape.
in other words you can make that shape a 2 value as long as you drop everything else down 1 notch as well. are you confused yet??
if not let me go on. LOL
everythings relative. a shape only looks light in "comparison" to shapes that are much darker next to it.
so do one, matching exactly
then do the next one dropping the shape thats a 1 value down to a 2 and drop everything else by the same amount. this trains your eye to compare shapes to other shapes instead of trying to "match" the value and just paint it on. seeing it in relation to whats around it is better than just copying it. then do the third one in color. then on the fourth try to change the colors that are really there keeping the same value but either warming up the shape or cooling it down. but KEEP the same value. these excercises will help you "see" instead of match.

hope this helps. BTW i was a sign painter before i started my fine art gig, so i know about matching!

Another commission

On a Bright Day-9x12- Sold

this is a commission piece based on a previous painting.

the place where i paint this couldnt be any more idyllic. its a beautiful place. still water to get very cool reflections, neat little boats always tied up, and that sweet boathouse.

remember that when you paint reflections in water to make the dark shapes its reflecting a little lighter and the light shapes its reflecting should be a tad darker. same with boat reflections.
i like the contrast in this one of the warms against the darks. very few really dark spots too. makes it feel very light and airy.

Backyard at Noon and Bald Head Island Commission

High Noon Yard- 8x10 -Available

SOLD

12x16- Sold

here are two recent paintings. one is a yard in swansboro and i was trying to portray the backlit house and the way the light was bouncing all around.
the second was a commission where i painted the landscape plein air and then added the man and his dog from a photo many weeks later. i had to make sure the light was coming from the same direction, when i set up to paint, as the photos of the guy.
i love painting on Bald Head Island. its kinda tropical and has tons of paintings everywhere you turn.

Flatbeds-9x12 SOLD

SOLD

this is one of the what i'm calling "gallery unfriendly" pieces
i loved the way the sun lit up the grass and the bed of the truck. also the window of the second truck is lit up in a cool way. not your typical landscape painting but i loved the scene and i think i did it justice. light is what i'm painting. this one just happened to have some trucks involved. i sold the small one of this to my artist friend in richmond, sue morris.

give me a shout if you'd like one too!

Dreamy Vase-12x9

Available

this was a study in reflected light and keeping even the shadows very colorful. the background is muted out to really bring out the colors in the vase. it looked so dreamy to me, so thats why i titled it that. this one you have to see in person to appreciate the subtle reflections on the vase and shadows.

A Brave New World

Local Store- 9x12- unframed oil on canvas board

Available


last winter i did a bunch of vehicles and semi tractor trailers against bright orange walls, flatbeds sitting in a field, the sides of old run down buildings etc. i love painting and dont really care what "it" is i just enjoy describing the light on it. sometimes its not a marsh, or a beach umbrella, or a pretty sailboat with a setting sun. cant help that. sometimes its a field of haybales where i chose to put in the billboard and busy street running by it. i paint stuff like this as much as the "pretty touristy" stuff (which puts the majority of bread on my table) so i'm still doing tons of it.



i totally understand a gallery not wanting to put up a painting like the one above. for crying out loud, most people dont want a van sitting under an old country store. but some do.

Life in the Slow Lane- 12x9

Available at Woods Gallery- Bald Head Island

this is one i did while on the island last weekend. there are no cars allowed there and everybody gets around on these things. i really love painting them because of all the different surfaces and planes on a golf cart, so color abounds. i also love to paint the shadow on the sand and the offwhite seats in shadow. the last one i painted was on the wall of the gallery less than a week. these golf cars are iconic bald head island!
all shapes on this painting started out pure out- of the- tube colors. warm on every shape and cool on all the shadow shapes. then i put a color on top of that that will bring the shape more in line with what it really looks like. i stay just on the colorful side of reality (as you can see) . if i wanted photo realism i'd take a picture right? i enjoy doing this beachy "still life" to sharpen the landscape skills.