This is a portrait of my baby sister, Larraine. She was such a cute little thing. I was ten years older than her and she was so much a part of my life. I actually introduced her to her future husband. She had three beautiful children. She was a very creative person — a musician, an artist, and many other things. She passed away a few weeks ago — I couldn’t believe she was gone.
This portrait shows her personality. I’ll always miss her.
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I love the crash of the waves and the call of seagulls. The wet sand creates a mirror if someone is walking across it. Pelicans glide effortlessly through the sky, and I can taste the spray of the water and smell the salty air. I live for that.
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I come from a big family full of musicians. I grew up hearing violins, violas and cellos. I even played the violin for a few years, but the rest of the family became professional musicians. I think I like being a professional artist much more, but I still love to hear the music. I wanted to show the grace of the musicians. To hold a violin and bow requires the most uncomfortable positions I’ve felt, and the other things involved are too much for me. I respect musicians a lot, though.
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Sarah grew up at the neighborhood swimming pool across the street. She swam on her high school swim team. Her name was on the record board in the pool area. She spent her summers as a lifeguard, also was a swimming instructor. She was on her university’s swim team. The water always has been a part of her life.
Last year, the family had a reunion at a beach condo at Oceanside, California. I stood on the balcony the first night — there she was, the first one out in the water.
The painting gives feelings of evening sun with the yellow shades. The shadows are portrayed by blues and lavendar.
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This painting was a demo for an art class I am teaching. It is of Mackinac Island, located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas. It can only be reached by boat. There are no cars there, just horses and bicycles. The island is where the movie “Somewhere in Time” was filmed. This painting is of their main street at night from a boat dock. The contrast between the light building and dark sky gives drama to the picture. Also the organic nature of the water versus the geometric shapes of the buildings make the picture interesting.
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This is a painting of Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. I love boats and I love the U.K. I’ve used atmospheric perspective. The boats I want to be closer are painted larger and further down on the canvas than the other ones.
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My ancestors settled in Toquerville, Utah, just miles from what is now Zion National Park. I’ve always felt a special closeness to that place since it’s a part of my heritage.
This painting has atmospheric perspective — the greens are warmer up close, but fade and go more blue as they recede to the back of the picture. The silhouetted cliffs and trees with the lighter background give drama to the scene.
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I had just started taking my upper-division art classes in college. I’d mastered acrylic painting and thought I was pretty hot stuff. I went into my painting class, feeling like I was an expert. The instructor told us we were no longer going to be working with acrylics, that to continue with our path to receiving art degrees we would be moving on to the higher methods of painting, meaning oils. I was offended. I thought it was stupid. Then she put a mask up on the wall, draped it with some cloth, lit it with a lamp and told us to get painting.
Acrylic was so simple. You’d just get it on your brush, paint it, it would dry fast and then you’d move on. I was really upset and confused with oil painting. It felt like I was pushing vaseline around on the canvas with a stick! It didn’t dry, either. Such a frustration! This picture is of that same painting. I eventually swallowed my pride. I realized acrylic painting looked flat and when it dried it went darker than when it was applied. Oil painting, however, has a beautiful luminosity and keeps it’s color. There is such a beauty that oil painting has and acrylic does not. I’m strictly an oil painter now.
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