Up

The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs. - Vance Havner

This is 12" x 9" oil on hardboard.

Art Brut

Most of my art history classes dealt with post-impressionism or Italian examples of pietàs. When I looked online for some help with today's post I found out that Art Brut is "a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture" according to Wikipedia.

This is 6 x 12" oil on hardboard. Contact me if you're interested in purchasing this piece.

Trunk

If what I say resonates with you, it is merely because we are both branches on the same tree.
-  W. B. Yeats

This is 7 x 7 oil on hardboard. Please call me, email me, or click here if you'd like to buy this painting.

Separation

Tree dad, without all the complications of a human divorce, is on his way to find a younger tree partner without so many rings around her trunk and possibly without so many nests in her branches. The tree children stay firmly planted behind their mother wondering if the next day will bring rain or sunshine.

This is 8 x 10 oil on hardboard. Please call me, email me, or click here if you'd like to buy this painting.

I've added the dates for some of the art shows I'll be in this summer to the right-hand side of the blog. Mark your calendars!

Diligence

"To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent." - Buddha

This is approx. 6 x 11 oil on hardboard. Please call me, email me, or click here if you'd like to buy this painting.

Neighborhood

Estimated number of acres of U.S. farmland lost to development each hour: 114 (Harper's Index Book Volume 3. 146)

I put more planning into this painting than I do with most of my work. I try to create work quickly and if it works, great! If it doesn't then tomorrow is a new day. Every time I sketched this painting out it never seemed wide enough. Going too wide, however, simply resulted in two paintings stuck together. It was also important to me not lose that imitate quality smaller paintings provide.

This is 12" x 48" oil on hardboard. Please contact me if you're interested in this piece.

Shade

From the official Valley Forge website... "Few places evoke the spirit of patriotism and independence, represent individual and collective sacrifice, or demonstrate the resolve, tenacity and determination of the people of the United States to be free as does Valley Forge." Oh, yeah, and it's beautiful.

This is 12" x 6" oil on hardboard. Please contact me if you're interested in this piece.

Good Morning Baltimore

I tried to capture the essence of driving in the rain.

It is 9 x 12 oil on hardboard. Please call me, email me, or click here if you'd like to buy this painting.

Beach House

This is one of the mobile homes that surround the Fenwick Island lighthouse. This is 5" x 6" oil on hardboard.

Townhouse Shadows

Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides. - Junichiro Tanizaki

Thift Shop Bike

Somebody must be working early today. This is 6" x 6" oil on hardboard. If you're interested in this piece please contact me.

House By The Road

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by;
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban;
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

- Sam Walter Foss

This is 6" x 8" oil on canvas panel.

Morning Road

"We live in an age disturbed, confused, bewildered, afraid of its own force, in search not merely of its road but even of its direction." - Woodrow Wilson

This is 6" x 8" oil on canvas panel.

Diane's Thrift Shop

This is a larger painting of the same shop that I pass on my way to work. I still often wonder how it stays in business as it never seems open.  It is 9 x 12 oil on hardboard.

Green Winged Teals

I'm kidding! Everybody that won definitely deserved it and I certainly wasn't robbed. Wildlife art has its own unique set of challenges and the people that are good at it are incredible. Attention to detail, scientific accuracy, and great storytelling are all important parts of a good piece of wildlife art.

The duck stamp program was designed to raise money for land conservation both here in Delaware and in Canada, where many of the ducks live for half of the year.

These two green-winged teals (along with the winners) will be on display at the Delaware Agricultural Museum until May 8th. This painting is 8.75 x 12" on illustration board.

Please call me, email me, or click here if you'd like to buy this painting.

Handy Andy

This is another thrift shop on Route 40 in Maryland. I almost never see them open so I always wonder how they stay in business. For a guy that claims he's handy, I would also think his store would seem a little more finished. It is 6 x 6 oil on hardboard.

Thift Shop Corner

On my drive to work I pass through farmland, a large city, military bases, the Chesapeake Bay, strip malls, a national park... pretty much I pass everything. Today's painting is part of a small thrift store in Northeast, MD. It always seems so out of place in the early morning with colorful flags, orange lighting and empty tables. This is 6 x 6 oil on hardboard. 

Blue Sky

I recently took a trip to Bethany Beach and even though it was still cold there, it was beautiful.  No one would ever know that this picture was taken in late March and not in July.  It was so nice to see the beach with hardly anyone there, because it felt like a private show ready for me to paint. This is 6 x 8 oil on hardboard.

Hay is for Horses

A horse is a horse and a man is a man
And neither can be the other
And each can survive but is much better
In the company of one another.
And while a horse is a horse and that is true
A horse is but a beast
As a cow is a cow, some ask how
On its flesh we should not feast?
For they do so in France as in other places
And I don't know how they can
For while a horse is a horse and is only a horse
It is less a cow than it is a man!
-Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
It is 6 x 6 oil on hardboard.

Inside Out

This video game controller is trapped inside a vase and should remind us to take a break from playing video games, go outside, eat a banana and enjoy nature.  It is 12 x 9 oil on hardboard.

Please call me, email me, or click here if you'd like to buy this painting.