F-15 Eagle

When I was in the Air Force, I worked on many types of aircraft to include HH-53 Helicopters and even the Space Shuttle carrier. But, by far my most favorite aircraft of them all that I worked on was the F-15 Eagle. It’s just an amazing aircraft in many ways and has stood the test of time of decades. This painting is my tribute to it.

NOTE: After I finished this painting, I noticed a figure in the clouds. It was totally unintentional, but there it was. It’s a figure of a man’s face staring down. The face image is above the right wing near the orange color. Do you see it? You can clearly see the nose, eyes, hair and beard. When I showed my wife, she said she didn’t see it at first, but seen something else that I didn’t see. A large figure of a man saluting above and behind the plane. He is wearing a military dress hat. His arm extends left and then back to his brow saluting. His arm is overly large, but it clearly shows a salute. Do you see it? Again, this was totally unintentional. Then my son found another image in the clouds. It appears to be a man’s head staring down to the bottom of the lightning bolt crashing around the white cloud. The man’s head is right to the left of the nose of the plane. I guess something was speaking through my hands when I created these clouds. Weird…eh?

Stairway To Heaven

I did this painting in honor of my mother who recently passed on 21 Mar 2020, and for my wife’s mom who passed ten years earlier on 4 May 2010. My wife and I loved our mom’s dearly. I wanted to create something special for them. Oddly enough I finished the painting on Easter Sunday. As I was painting it (and I’m not making this up), I was listening to my favorite Rock station. I love old 70’s Rock music when a song started playing. You guessed it…. Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” played. It was an emotional painting for me, but at the same time it was comforting knowing that both our mothers walked the Stairway To Heaven. I used 3 pine board planks glued together for my canvas.

Penelope & Louis Sunrise Snow Moon

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This is my 9^th painting of Penelope and Louis continuing their globe trotting adventures. Here they are in the Falkland Islands at sunrise with a February Snow Moon. The Falkland Islands are considered as being the Penguin capital of the world. 5 species of Penguins live on these islands in the South Atlantic. I painted this on 3 small wood pine planks.

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms out there! Why not do a “Feeling Good” painting for this special day! So I did. It’s a small little painting with a BIG message. Feel good about mom today and every day.

Twilight Windmill

I did this painting for my wife’s sister Adri. My wife and Adri are from Holland, so it wasn’t hard for me to come up with something to paint for her. The Dutch windmill is iconic. Most people immediately know that this kind of windmill scene represents Holland. Early on in my blog I did a windmill painting for my wife. I made one on two pine planks glued together.

Penguins Hiking

Penelope and Louis Hiking

This painting is of Penelope and Louis Hiking. It’s the 8^th painting of them in a series I am doing. I used to small pine planks glued together for the canvas.

Red Headed Woodpecker

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The Red Headed Woodpecker is native to Illinois. Someone my wife and I know loves birds. She left it up to me to surprise her on what kind of bird to paint. I decided to go with this species because it’s native to the state where we live. I went with two different wood planks glued together for the canvas. The right side where the bird is perched is Cedar and on the left side is Pine. You can see the color and grain difference of both planks. I wanted to showcase most of the natural wood with it’s knot holes and grains. I really kept it fairly simple and added a small painted area on the left and a crack on the right with a long vine with some leaves. All in all I’m pretty happy with it, and I hope the person my wife and I know is happy with it as well.

Penguins In Africa

This is my 7^th painting of Penelope and Louis penguin adventures. This time they find themselves in the African plains. This painting was inspired by my 8 year old grandson who says he wants to be a zoologist when he grows up. He asked me…”Grandpa can you paint the penguins in Africa?” He loves everything animals! How could I say no. I did this painting on 3 pine board planks.

Mount Katahdin

Strategic Moves

A challenge and a victory. Hiking the Knife Edge Trail to Chimney Peak on Mount Katahdin Maine. Like the game of Chess it takes strategic moves. I did this painting for my oldest son. I combined his love of Chess and hiking into one little painting. It is a reminder and tribute to him for tackling the Appalacian Trail back in the year 2000. This is small wood canvas measuring only 5″ X 7″.

F-15 Eagle

My brother-In-Law (Brother), Ray asked me to do a painting for him. I asked him what kind? He said something military. Since we were stationed together on the same base in Europe 40 years ago this would be something I could do that we both would feel good about. The first fighter I ever worked on was the F-4 Phantom, so I almost went with that for my center piece of the painting. But, my favorite fighter was the F-15 Eagle which I also worked on after the F-4. I decided to go with the F-15. Of course, since it’s called the Eagle I decided to also include it’s depiction. Since we both were in the Air Force and are Veterans I also decided to word it in the painting with a Red, White and Blue theme. For anyone who knows the F-15 it was known for it’s full after burner max climbs, as it corkscrewed through the clouds. It’s engines capable of producing 50,000 pounds of thrust easily propelled this fighter jet with sheer brute force. I never tired of watching it over the years I worked on it. Loud and proud…it was and still is an excellent bird! Thank you Ray for your service. Go Air Force! I made this painting on three pine planks glued together.