This is the beautiful city of Venice. You see depth in the painting because it has linear perspective. The waterway is wider at the front and narrower at the back. The buildings do the same. Note the reflections in the water. The white part is the reflection of the sky, while the rest is reflection of buildings and gondolas. There is a magic in that place. I’ve tried to create that magic feeling in the painting.
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I love Britain. My ancestors were British. Whenever I go there I feel like I’ve gone back home. The soldiers with their ceremonial uniforms excite me. I should tell you exactly what street these guys are on, but I can’t remember the name of it. I do know they’re just up the street from the gate to 10 Downing Street. Their helmets shine. Their uniforms are crisp and gallant. I love the pageantry. It makes me proud that British blood flows in my American body. This was really a fun painting.
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As a kid I loved to visit my grandma’s house in Idaho Falls. Her kitchen was right next to a window, and the sun would shine in on us as we ate breakfast. I remember my little brother, Chuckie, always wore red and white striped pajamas. This is how I remember him.
Notice the way I’ve portrayed the sunlight coming in from the window. The pajamas are half shadow, half light. Chuckie’s face is illuminated. and a a sliver of shadow is on the opposite side of his face. The wall is yellow where the sunlight hits. The table with everything on it is in shadow.
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![fruit-bowl[1].jpg](/wp-content/uploads/image/fruit-bowl[1].jpg)
This still life features pears, plums, bananas, and tangelos. One of the most important features in this painting is the reflected light. The banana has an orange reflection from the tangelo. The bottom of the tangelo has a reflection from the plate. Each fruit has a highlight on it’s right side and the shadow side is on the left. There are complementary colors (red and green) and different shapes and sizes which add interest.
The owner of this painting hung this in her formal dining room, and the color of the paint in her room was chosen to fit this picture.
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I was an art student at the university. I was just weeks shy of graduating. I was SICK, SICK, SICK of school. I was tired of my professor. He was a great man, but I was so ready to get out of there. He always talked about how he despised clowns. My last project in the class was supposed to be a self-portrait. This is what I did. The professor came over to help me–he saw the clown in the background and just walked away. He never spoke to me again.
Yesterday was the anniversary of my graduation. As I look back I am so grateful for the many hours of hard work and instruction that I endured. I could never have become the artist I have become without it. Anything worth having is worth sacrificing for . . .
I still think it’s funny though.
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This is a piece I did in college. We were learning about reflected light. I had a box with a red and blue side and a yellow bottom. Those are the primary colors. I set an egg in there and immediately it picked up the colors that surrounded it. I had a small paintbrush and put little dots of color as they appeared on the egg. This is the best example of reflected light I know of.
If two people stand next to each other and one has a green shirt and the other one is white, the white one will pick up the green. If the person in the white shirt stands outside on a sunny day, the part of his shirt in the shadow will pick up the color of the sky.
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![barricades-on-market-street[1].jpg](/wp-content/uploads/image/barricades-on-market-street[1].jpg)
This is another Indianapolis cityscape. It is from an icy winter day when west Market Street was under construction. You can see the one-point linear perspective. Everything flows to the front-center of the State Capitol building. The road is wide towards the viewer, then narrows to the point. The buildings on each side narrow down the closer they get to the same location. Notice light and shadow on buildings and cars. You can feel as though you are walking down the street.
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![pigs[1].jpg](/wp-content/uploads/image/pigs[1].jpg)
Although I live in the Indianapolis metro area, I am within five or ten minutes of farmland. I can see many different types of farm animals, and a whole lot of corn. This farm raises pigs. If you look in the background you can see the pig shelters. My wife thinks this painting should be called “HI” because the pig in the front seems like he is saying that.
There are three sections in the painting: the bottom one which has the animals, grass and weeds; the middle has yellow grassland, trees and the shelters; the last one is the sky. Being done that way presents atmospheric perspective — there is a feeling of depth. Also it gives rythm to the picture and makes it more interesting. OINK!
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