Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Sunday, August 3, 2025

Driven to Distraction

oil on panel, 12" x 9"

This little ditty came surprisingly quick and easy.  Fun!  Updated 8/6/2025.

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Symphony in Orange and Green

 
acrylic on canvas, 24" x 24"

Another work in progress, I nearly gave up on this one.  It has turned around, though, and I may end up really liking it.

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Tokyo Rococo

oil on panel, 12" x 24"

This is a work in progress.  The challenge will be when to stop.  Updated 8/3/2025:  Now it's done.

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Pam

 
oil on canvasboard, 14" x 11"

Here's another portrait study taken from the BBC's Portrait Artist of the Year.  The sitter was Pam Hogg, a British clothing designer.  She was an interesting subject, which everyone picked up on.  I'm thinking of doing a larger portrait of her from the same angle.  We'll see...

Monday, July 14, 2025

White Hydrangea

 
oil on panel, 11" x 14"

I rarely do still life paintings, but I came upon an early Matisse still life of flowers in a vase and felt compelled to do one.  

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Portrait of Monica

acrylic on canvas paper, 12" x 12"

This is a portrait sketch of the Italian actor Monica Belluci.  I've painted her before from this same image, but this one was done fairly quickly, and I liked the green showing through in the lower part of her face and in the upper right of her forehead.

Monday, July 7, 2025

Head Series #2

acrylic on canvas paper, 12" x 12"

Here's the second head done from imagination with the self-imposed time limitation of 30 minutes.

Monday, June 30, 2025

Head Series #1

 
acrylic on canvas paper, 12" x 12"

This is a challenge I've set myself to paint a series of imaginary portraits, each in under 30 minutes.  This is the first one.

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Coit Tower at Dusk

 
oil on panel, 12" x 12"

This is another in a series of urban scenes I've been painting lately, done mostly with a palette knife.  Updated 8/1/2025:  I toned down some of the oranges to draw more attention to the tower.

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Floodlights

 
oil on canvas paper, 12" x 12"

Another palette knife study of a somewhat abstracted cityscape in the rain.  Just playing with abstract elements within a cityscape.

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Sacto

 
oil on panel, 12" x 12"

A painting of downtown Sacramento.  I did it primarily for the warm color palette.

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Thursday, May 29, 2025

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Emily

oil on canvasboard, 11" x 14"

One of my favorite shows to watch is the BBC's Portrait Artist of the Year.  I decided to paint one of the sitters as an exercise.  The competition for each portrait is what can be accomplished in four hours.  I spent 3.5 hours on this one.  It could be good practice to do more of these, since many of the sitters are unfamiliar to me.  Emily is an award-winning singer/songwriter based in the U.K.  I thought she had a regal bearing and I liked the three-quarter angle.  Updated 5/29/2025:  I changed the background a wee bit with an overlay of lavender.  

Monday, May 19, 2025

Facade

 
acrylic on canvas, 20" x 20"

This is the finished painting of an abstract that I started way back when, then consigned it to the time-out room forever.  Patience.

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Fierce

 
oil on canvasboard, 14" x 11"

A portrait of a young Choctaw Indian woman.  I found her stare compelling.

Thursday, May 8, 2025

A Heart of Gold

 
oil on panel, 24" x 18"

This painting has been in the making for a while.  It was a slow process as I sat with it and pondered how I wanted to paint it and what I wanted to say through it.  I'm happy with the result.

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Sunday, May 4, 2025

b-girling

oil on panel, 14" x 11"

Another painting of a break dancer to add to one I did a short while ago.

Saturday, May 3, 2025

Le Quartier

oil on panel, 16" x 16"

Another in a series of urban night scenes, this is a neighborhood in Paris.

Monday, April 28, 2025

Yellow Frock

oil on canvas paper, 12" x 12"

This was an exercise in relinquishing control.  Sometimes you just need a reminder . . .

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Sunday, April 20, 2025

The Unfolding Flower

oil on panel, 12" x 12"

A painting of a rose in closeup as it unfolds its petals.  I've done this before but thought I'd try it again because of its abstract quality.  Plus, I was jonesing to paint in reds, a color I find challenging to get right.  

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Hip Hop Hooray!

oil on panel, 14" x 11"

This was a fun painting to do of a hip hop dancer.  I'm building quite a collection of dancer paintings, it seems.  I must like painting dancers!   Update 4/10/2025:  I had Jacob Dhein do a critique of this painting and I subsequently worked on it a bit more.  Now it's done.



Monday, April 7, 2025

Flippers

oil on panel, 12" x 9"

 This painting presented an interesting conundrum.  I originally painted it in landscape format, which would have rotated this image 90 degrees counterclockwise.  However, I found it a bit disconcerting to paint it in that format, so I flipped it to portrait format, which is the way you are seeing it.  I had painted another pair of swimmers in 2023, called "Floaters," and this one is the next incarnation visiting this theme.  I find these narrative two paintings quite amusing.  Updated 4/9/2025:  I decided I like it better in landscape format, which is how I originally meant it to be.  Works just fine this way.

Monday, March 31, 2025

Polina

oil on panel, 18" x 14"

This is a painting of the Russian ballerina Polina Seminova, who I used as the subject of a painting workshop conducted by Jacob Dhein on the figure in motion.  I may do more to it after the last layer of paint dries.  Lots of paint on this one.  Updated 4/14/2025:  Made some changes, adding a few more color notes here and there.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Fun 'n Games

oil on canvas paper, 12" x 12"

This started as an experiment (don't they all?) in abstraction that took on a life of its own.  So, there you go.