New England

This is a small painting I just finished. Its really a commission for a couple in Nantucket that already have a painting. This one is 4"x 4.5". We spent most of the summer in New England and this piece comes from that trip. It's a small creek near the coast, north of Boston. We were just north of Rockport when I found this little place. It rained this day, but our weather for the next 7 days was perfect.

It's the end of the world as we know it..............

I am a little sad today.

R.E.M. decided to quit being a band.

I have been a huge fan for a long time. Obsessive really. I have listened to their music nearly everyday for years. My first album was Document and I listened to that until it would play no more. Then I got another one and the same thing happened. Simply put, their music made my life a little better. It is the soundtrack to the creation of my paintings. They are all around 50 and deserve to do whatever they want with the rest of their lives. I say good luck to them.

And thank you very much..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRFFNSgo_N8

I have spent most of my life traveling. I have been down just about every dirt road, country highway and interstate this land has to offer. America is just beautiful. So many times I have been driving at night with the windows down, on a two lane highway between two small towns, the cool air whipping through the car, and R.E.M. playing on the stereo. So many memories. It was just......right.......

and it will be again.......

Endless Sea of water paintings.......

Here is a new painting that may come available soon. Endless Sea. 5"x 9" Oil on wood.

The Unconquerable Sea

Well, here is another painting of the sea from Nantucket. 22"x 33". The ocean can be so many things, but one thing for sure it should be, is respected. It is an indomitable force that cannot be contained. The sea will do whatever it wants and we must abide by it's wishes. Woe unto the man who is arrogant and prideful who thinks this not. I have so many dreams in which I am standing on the edge of the sea and the waves crash at my feet, slowly getting higher and higher, until they overtake me. I am swept away by the sheer power and relentless surge of the water and I am terrified, yet equally calmed by and in awe of, it's beauty.

American Artist Article

This summer's American Artist Magazine has an article about me and my work. It focuses on my wave paintings. It is very well written by Courtney Jordan and many thanks to her for making me sound a lot smarter than I am. It is currently in all major bookstores and our coffee table.....

Niagara

Two years ago I did a painting of Niagara Falls. It was clearly inspired by Frederick Church's Niagara painting. We actually went to the Corcoran Museum in DC to see the painting on the way to Niagara Falls. I was shocked by the poor condition of the painting. It clearly had been punctured and repainted a few times. It's funny. I was so excited to finally see it in person. Maybe I had just expected to be blown away, but I really wasn't. I spent a lot of time looking and, this is hard to say, it seemed very ordinary. I think he is a great artist. I am not fit to clean his brushes, but this was a let down. It even had its own room. Wouldn't that be nice? Maybe I created something impossible in my mind. I don't know. I walked away a bit disappointed.

For my painting, I wanted to create a sense you were looking out over the falls like Church. When we were there the angles clearly weren't right for what I wanted, so I exaggerated the front part and lengthened it to give the viewer a little vertigo. This is based on about 7 in the morning. I was almost alone and the sun was peeking through the mist. It was quite beautiful. The light was dramatic and I tried to get as much information as I could. It was also quite damp with the mist rising up and out. Plus, if you have ever stood there close, the sound is thunderous. The painting is 20"x 44". It was about 8 weeks of work. I repainted the sky as well, trying to get the right color. I hope I did the place justice. Someday I will go back and do another piece. Maybe in winter. And very large. 50"x 75" or so. Now that would be dramatic.....

At the beginning.....

This is a little painting I did in 2005. It's 6"x 6". It was for a solo show I had at Tanner Hill gallery in Chattanooga. It was at the beginning of this phase of doing small work on smooth panels.