Lily Pond

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This is a painting of Claude Monet’s lily pond in Giverny, France.  Claude Monet was the father of impressionism.  His story is unbelievable.  His influence on art has been amazing.  He is truly my hero.  I was so excited to go to France and stay in a hotel just a block or two down the little country road from his home.  It was almost a spiritual experience going to visit his gardens and this pond.  He created the pond himself and planted all of the water lilies and greenery around it.  He had spent so much time away from his family to paint, and now he could stay home and paint scenes from his own residence.

I have tried to portray the reflections in the water, the different values of green, and the lily-pads and flowers exactly as I saw them.  You would have to go there to understand the power of the place.

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Mike and Heidi

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This is a portrait of Mike and Heidi.  I wanted to paint them because in my mind, they were the perfect couple.  They love each other a lot and you can tell it whenever you’re around them.  They have a beautiful family of little girls.  Everyone they know feels so good to be around them because they treat others so nice.

I have positioned them so there is light and shadow on their faces.  You can see their facial structure,  There is volume.  Heidi is wearing a white shirt.  It is very simple in color, yet look at the different reflections it picks up  —  the red from his tie, the color of her skin.  Her light hair makes a beautiful contrast to the background behind her.  His dark suit and hair are another beautiful contrast.  I really love this painting.

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Illumination

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I’ve always been amazed by the glow of buildings lit up at night. I remember seeing the monuments in Washington, D.C. and wondering if they actually had light emanating from them. Since then I’ve been obsessed by nighttime colors and reflections. This is the Indiana State Capitol building. I wondered for a long time how I would portray it’s light. Then I finally used my old technique of finding shapes and values of color. I quit thinking about how the building seemed to glow by itself, and matched the actual colors I saw. As I did, the individual shapes and colors all fit together and the glow suddenly appeared.

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Amber Waves

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I did a show once based upon the song “America the Beautiful.”   Each phrase in the song was represented by a painting.  I went out in the fields of Indiana to do this one.  If you look at the horizon you will see the sun setting.  The sunlight backlights the weeds in the foreground.  The sky is bright and the field has highlights of yellow, green and red.  Also you can see shadow to contrast with the light.  The idea behind this picture is to show the greatness of our land.

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Italian Rain

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This is a scene in Venice.  If you look you can see the domes of the cathedral in the background.  Of course this is a very impressionistic painting.  I’ve never tried to actually paint as an impressionist.  I just paint as I feel.  It is something like singing versus reading printed word.  I guess this is the “impression” of my own emotions. You can see people walking along while it rains.

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Perspective Rhapsody

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This is a scene in downtown Indianapolis.  The large glass building is the Indianapolis Artsgarden.  Included in the painting are all of my favorite subjects and techniques.  I love cars, people, and buildings.  I really enjoy perspective, both atmospheric and linear.  Perspective gives depth.  The atmospheric perspective makes things closer be done larger and with more detail, but smaller and less defined as they are further away.  For example look at the cars on the left, but the buildings in the distance under the Artsgarden.  The linear perspective is shown when the sidewalk is wide at the front and narrower as it goes to the rear.  Everything goes to one vanishing point in the distance.

Look at the different colors in the white car on the left or in the artsgarden.  I looked for shapes and values and painted them.  They eventually came together like a jigsaw puzzle, creating the objects.

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Artisan

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This is a painting of a dear friend.  His name is John Frazee.  I became aquainted with him when he called on the phone and asked if he could take painting lessons from me.  I became very good friends with him.  There were three or four of us who painted together.  We were all very good buddies.  We went many places to paint together.  This painting is of him in his basement.  He had some metalworking tools he wanted to show me.  My wife and I have had dinner with him and his wife, Lucille, many times.

I’m saddened, though, because he is in the hospital being kept alive on a respirator.  He went in for a five bypass surgery.  Complications happened shortly after.  I hope he’ll be okay.  He has really meant a lot to me in my life.

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Classic

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I love old classic cars.  This one has those big fenders over the wheels.  I remember when I was a little kid my dad had a car with fenders like this.  I used to climb under the fender and lay on top of the tire just for fun.  One day I was doing that when I heard the car door shut and the ignition started.  I hopped off fast.  My mother never knew how close she came to squishing me on the driveway.

This painting is done with linear perspective, the front is wider than the back would be.  I have painted shapes of colors on the car, from deep red, to pink, to orange.  Also I have painted an old-time gas station to give atmosphere.

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