Louis

My version of Louis CK as a Van Gogh self portrait.  11x14 acrylic on canvas.  This was fun.  I think I may do Patton Oswalt next.

Blue Wheat

Decided to try out pastels for the first time.  My brother gave me a set for Christmas last year, and they've been sitting on a shelf, neglected.  A bit messy, but okay for a first attempt, I think.

Bison and Belteds

16x20 acrylic on canvas. A nice little Valentine's Day present for a friend to give to her park ranger boyfriend.  He loves Bison and kingfishers, so she wanted to give him a painting with both, and this is what I came up with. 

Heron preening

8"x8" acrylic on canvas

A job well done

Another 16"x20" acrylic painting for my boss of his black lab.

Blue jay

Acrylic on 6"x6" canvas

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is my boss' son with dinner!  I called this one "Big Tom".

Happy birthday, Drew!

Monticello, acrylic on 12x18 board.

white lily

Here is another completed lily painting for my friend Kerry.  40x40 oil on canvas.

three lilies

For Kerry in Kentucky.  Three lilies in water soluble oil.  24"x36" canvas.

redtailed hawk progress pic #2

redtailed hawk progress pic

Good Ole Fashioned Downhome Robot Wedding!

A coworker of mine just got married and asked if I would do a painting of two robots wearing Converse sneakers.  Hell yes I would!  I took complete artistic license and added working lights.

pickin'

I started this painting on glass over 9 years ago and never finished it. The paint ultimately chipped off the glass and I finally just trashed the window I had painted it on. The only problem was that I painted the picture for one of my roommates at the time. We all moved on, got married, had kids, and then Facebook happened. I've been gentley reminded every several months since then that I never did finish that banjo lady painting. So today I finally did it! Here you go Matt. This ones for you. I hope you like it. . .even though it's on paper.

Peter Falk

owl see you later

Have you ever started something with a vigor and passion that makes you think this task will be the quickest, easiest thing you've ever done? Then, hours or maybe even days later you realize that excitement isn't enough to get the job done. You actually have to know what you're doing. Well, this owl was that for me.

I got about a third of the way through and realized that I didn't know what I was doing and feathers were looking like flat weird plates of armour and colors were being used that shouldn't have been. I was ready to take a large knife and end it all with a few bold strokes to the canvas. But then a friend of mine saw something I didn't and offered to buy the piece if I would just finish it for her. Thank God she did because I finally figured out what worked and what didn't when it came to painting a bird close up and learned a lot about painting in general by completing this piece. So the moral of the story is this: finish it and fail miserably or finish it and succeed. Either way, you finished what you started and you may come out ahead in the end. And if you don't, well, there's always that large knife to make you feel better.

whoot whoooooooooot!

Here are some progress pics of the great horned owl painting. Still needs some work.

upcoming stuff

this one is finished.
this one is not.

May 20th I'll be showing some artwork for a customer appreciation night at work. Here are a couple of things I'm working on. I think I'll stick with a nature theme.

Finished Mural Pics

Well, for a two day project, I think it turned out pretty good. Thanks to Kelley for the photos!

Seton Center Volunteer Mural

Went to the Seton Center in VA Beach today to work on a mural for a boy's room with some coworkers. The Seton Center houses children who need a place to stay for various reasons and they told Starbucks that they could adopt a room to decorate, so a few of us decided on a sports theme and here are some pictures of the progress. One of the boys was there and thought the skateboarder was "sick", so that made me feel like we'd done a pretty good job!