To me something about sunrises and sunsets have a calming effect. The anticipation of a new day or the satisfaction of a day well spent. The geese fly west…southwest towards the extinguishing light. The lake is like glass in the still of the night, and soon the night will consume the horizon’s red glow. Peace, serenity and calm. That is what this painting represents to me. I made this painting in one day. That includes cutting, gluing and sanding the wood canvas made of 3 pine board planks.
One of my favorite places on earth is the Missouri Ozarks. People come from all over the world to float it’s rivers. Of all the rivers there that I have floated, my all time pick has to be the Current River. It’s gravel bars, caves, bluffs and the river itself teaming with wildlife makes it hard to beat. In this painting the river divides temporarily by a center gravel bar. Looking back from the canoe towards the large tree in the center, you can make a choice to float down the left or right side of the gravel bar. The painting shows the canoe resting on the other side of the river on another gravel bar. The occupants chose to come down the left side. but as we look into the painting this would be on the right. Looking back at the amazing bluffs on either side, the canoe made a long sweeping turn on the right side of the painting, and came to rest before launching over a small rapid. It’s a good place on a hot summer day to grab a snack and beverage and look up river from where you just came from. The summer sky, the rushing water and magnificent bluffs can fill your senses. It’s personal to me because I have floated this river countless times since I was a teenager. I’m 60 now, and hope I have many more floats in me. It never gets old. This painting is a compilation of my many memories to reflect several aspects of the river. It’s hard to compact all aspects in one painting. That said this painting makes me want to go back and “Go With The Flow”. I made the painting on three pine planks.
I called this painting Sunrise Moon Hawk. It has a sort of mystical look to it I think. There is a tree near where I live that when stripped of it’s leaves in winter looks like the one I have in this painting. The moon is the moon and it can look many different ways depending on the light, time of day and season. The moon here looks half asleep and half awake as it rises above the cold morning sun. The sunrise within a crystal blue sky is always a cool sight, so I thought it would be the right backdrop for these images. Then I decided to add a Red Tailed Hawk to the scene. There are 17 species of Hawk in North America and the Red Tailed Hawk is one of my favorites. There is a Hawk in the woods within walking distance of where I live that occasionally visits the trees near me, so I wanted a Hawk in this painting. All these images are bold and stand on their own, but when I put them together in one scene they sort of created a mysterious other world to me. I guess part of the reason is the silhouette and reflection effect. Most of my paintings mixes realism and fantasy, and this painting is no different. For me, this painting is easy on the eyes and creepy at the same time. It creates different reactions. If I can do that with a painting then I feel good about what I painted. I look forward to reading any responses to it. Three pine board planks were used for my canvas. As always, thank you for stopping by and having a look, and I look forward to any thoughts about it (good and bad).
Northern Lights have always facinated me. So, why not do a painting of it? And, for added measure, I through a snowy owl in the mix. This is just one reason I love to paint. You can create anything your imagination desires. I’ve done paintings with owls before, but this is my first snowy owl. The backdrop is somewhere in Norway. I’ve never been there, but would like to see the Northern lights in person some day. Just another thing to add to my bucket list 🙂 This was done on three pine board planks glued together. For those of you who have never picked up an artist paint brush, give it a try. You might surprise yourself.
With this painting my mind harkened back to when we went to Colorado on vacation a little over a year ago. The scenery is a hodgepodge of photos we took. Part of that trip we stayed in Estes Park. This is a stunning area of the Rocky Mountain National Park, and it’s loaded with Elk. I guess I wanted to make a tribute to the magnificent Elk standing majestically in the cool crisp Rocky Mountain air. It is a beautiful animal, and I don’t know what the painting commands most? The attention of the Elk or the scenery? I made this painting on three pine board planks.
The air is crisp and clean. The majestic Locomotive roars powerfully across its tracks. The Lion within also reveals itself as it roars powerfully in the escaping steam. With manmade and nature forces combined, these two images are unstoppable as they speed across the shadowy landscape. Do you have the Lion within you? Are your body and mind like a Locomotive? I wanted to capture in this painting the strength and noise of the Locomotive and Lion together as one symbolic powerful roaring force. I decided to go mostly black and white with this one using three cedar planks to show-case more of the grainy cedar wood canvas. I’m pleased with the result, and I hope whomever lays their eyes on it is pleased as well.
I call this painting Sky Chess. Ever since I was a little kid I have always loved the game of Chess. I have been wanting to paint something about Chess. Little things came to me here and there, but I was having trouble coming up with an interesting Chess theme. Then I figured why not just go all in and make something grand. This painting is a mix of my imagination, reality and fantasy. The water falls, bluffs, trees and parts of the mountains are all reality. They are from pictures I took from state parks in Tennessee. Of course, the chess board rising out of the water, and both the sun and the moon out at the same time is from my imagination and from ideas I had seen on the internet. The raven and dove are the Chess adversaries. Black is in check and the end game ensues with both birds locked in battle. The fantasy is dark v.s. light, good v.s. evil. Winning and losing are at stake on Mother Nature’s world stage. At the moment Black is in check. As I said, I love the game of Chess and this painting is my tribute to it! I made this painting on three pine board planks. It took me a long time to finish this, but I’m pleased with the time I spent creating and completing it. I hope you like it as well.
We have a family friend. Her name is Grace. She is only in her early thirties and she was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 Sarcoma cancer. As of this writing she has started intensive chemo therapy.
Grace is a talented nurse and caregiver, a devoted and loving wife, and an amazing soul. With the support of her amazing network of friends and family, she is taking on the fight to beat it. Grace is the definition of a strong woman, and we are here to help her focus healing by taking on some of the financial burden through donations and t-shirt purchases. Anyone who wishes to contribute can go to:
https://www.bonfire.com/fightwithgrace/
NOTE: This fund raiser has been extended to 20 Sep 2017. See results so far from link above.
I wanted to do a painting for her as well. She likes owls, and earthy colors with yellow being her favorite color. So, I put my thinking cap on and came up with this painting. It’s painted on 3 pine board planks.
“Jesus Takes What is Broken and Makes It Beautiful…Its Called Grace”.
Daily Scrolls Quote.
Harris Hawk
A mysterious night above the desert floor. A Harris Hawk soars through the moonlight sky. The idea of making this painting came to me on a recent trip that my wife and two of our three grandkids made. About a 45 minute drive from where I live, there is a World Bird Sanctuary. It’s basically a hospital for all kinds of wild birds. They even do bird shows that both kids and adults enjoy. During this particular show they brought out a Harris Hawk. These hawks are native to the American Southwest, Chili, Argentina and Brazil. It’s a social bird that usually hunts in packs. Their eye sight is eight times stronger than humans, and they are amazing to watch in flight. I used three pine planks for this painting.
Sunrise mist floating over the river. A Great Blue Heron effortlessly glides across the water. I was inspired to do this painting from the many memories I have of the Current River. The morning sun rising above the river bluffs. The mist hauntingly climbing the trees from the cool waters below. The Current River is spring fed, so year around its between 58 and 68 degrees. The many springs feeds 20 million gallons of water a day into this river. This painting is not an exact depiction of the Current River, but the beauty of that river easily made my paint brush flow in my mind through my hand. A combination of creating out of imagination and reality. I couldn’t resist adding a great blue heron. It’s wing span can reach over six feet, and they can cruise 20 to 30 mph. On the Current River they fly just above the water. It’s a sight to see as they stay just ahead of your canoe. If you are lucky enough you may quietly float past them as they stand and gaze upon you from a gravel bar or river bank. I used 4 pine planks measuring 26” long for this painting.
Wood Canvas Artist 