Orchards at Graves Mountain

8" x 6"oil on canvas panel


Sarah and I try to get out to Graves Mountain every year for some apple picking/wine tasting; usually around the time of our wedding anniversary.  The B&B is booked for the weekend of October 17th - our five year anniversary!

Step back from your computer to view this one.

Harper's Ferry Wax Museum

 8" x 6" Oil on Canvas Panel
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This is the wax museum in Harper's Ferry, VA.  The real wax museum has "wax museum" written on the side of the wax museum (the pinkish building).  Wax is a weird word. I might paint wax museum on the side of the wax museum once the paint dries.  This might have been the most annoying paragraph I've ever written. 

I experimented by painting a practice painting alongside the actual painting, featured here.  The idea was to test out values and brush strokes prior to using them in the real painting.  I hypothesized that the practice painting would turn out better than the actual painting because there would be less pressure, resulting in a looser, more relaxed painting style (which is what I'm going for).  However, the experiment failed because the practice painting is identical to the actual painting, I was no more relaxed while painting the practice painting, and it became extremely tedious to paint two paintings side by side.  Who would've thought?  So, if you like this one, you're in luck because I have two. 

Evening Light

Evening Light
8" x 6" oil on canvas panel
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I took the reference photo for this painting from the Daily Paintworks website: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges.  Carol Marine, one of my favorite artists, runs the site and posts monthly painting challenges to site members.  This was the German landscape challenge.  I wanted to finish this painting quickly while ignoring details ad focusing on getting the values right, which is pretty much always my goal.  I like how it turned out - interesting, and not muddy.  Here's the reference photo:

Indian Summer

Indian Summer
8" x 10" oil on canvas panel
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I attempted this painting a few years back and failed miserably.  Usually, I will post paintings whether they are terrible or not, but this one was particularly bad.  On second shot, I think I've completed one of my best yet, and it looks better in person.  I like the grey of the fence and the back-lit highlights.  In person, it's a little warmer with a little less contrast between the green shadows and the yellows.  I tried to adjust it in i-Photo, but i-Photo sucks. 

The Judas

The Judas
"8 x 10" oil on canvas panel
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I'm not in love with VW Beetles, but this one was just too good to pass up.  Sarah and I passed it on the way back to our hotel in Merida, Mexico and then I walked back an entire block to get a photo of it.  The real Judas has "The Judas" written in white cursive stickers across the top of the front windshield.  I don't know the significance of the name as it relates to the car, and I was so happy with the painting by the time I was nearly finished that I was afraid to attempt to paint the name.  Knowing when to quit is one of the greatest lessons to learn if you're serious about painting.  I adhere to that advice about 50% of the time. 

The Lobster Boat

The Lobster Boat
8" x 6" Oil on HD Canvas
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"The Lobster Boat" is hanging in a consignment shop in Maryland. I like the painting, but I'm not too fond of the name.  When I dropped it off, I hadn't thought of a name for it - I was at a loss, so the first thing that slid from my mouth was "Lobster Boat."  It is a lobster boat, but you can call it whatever you want.  The boat was parked at a dock in Portland, ME.  In reality, there were ugly cars parked on the dock and you couldn't see the water behind them.  The indistinguishable white thing across the water is, in reality, a fuel tank of some sort.  And there were a bunch of them, but that doesn't make for a very good painting.  So I got rid of the cars and gave the impression that the body of water continues upriver to the left.  I turned the fuel tanks into happy little white houses.  

Turtle Cove

Turtle Cove
8" x 6" oil on canvas panel


Another image from our trip to Mexico this summer.  We dodged most of the thunderstorms during our time in Tulum, but we were shadowed from time to time as they mushroomed out of the Caribbean and floated off to the west.  Occasionally, shadows covered our beach while the sea a few yards out was still bathed in bright, warm sunshine.  I was interested in this phenomenon, and I kept thinking how inviting the ocean looked beyond the shadows of the passing storms.  In this painting, I tried to capture that feeling, and I think I did OK - maybe I could have enhanced it a bit by darkening the shadow on the water in the left-center. 

Sevier River, Utah

Sevier River, Utah
8" x 6" oil on canvas panel
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This is the view along the Sevier River from the intersection of route 12 and route 89 near Bryce Canyon, Utah.  Sort of.  I've been thinking about painting from this image for a long time, but it needed some adjusting to work, compositionally, as a painting.  The house in the top left quadrant is not really there, but I tried to make it the main focus by using the highest value white and putting the darker shadowed trees around it.  I Google Street viewed the scene again before I started to write this post, and it brought back some nice memories from our trip out west a few years back.  

Tulum Sunset

 Tulum Sunset
5" x 5" HD Canvas
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I threw this one together on a whim because I had a bunch of leftover paint that I didn't want to waste.  I was strapped for time, and I didn't want to wash brushes, so I slapped it down with the palette knives.  Another image from Mexico. I like it. 

Green Tea with Lemon

Green Tea with Lemon
8" x 10" oil on canvas panel
Not available for sale

*This painting no longer exists in this form.  I have painted over it in the name of progress*

My summer afternoon drink of choice.  I was determined to put down each individual brush stroke without blending or overworking, which is the number one reason I'm not satisfied with most of my paintings.  The values are good, but I'm not sure if I accomplished my goal. 

Casas de San Cristobal

Casas de San Cristobal
8" x 10" Oil on Canvas Panel
No longer for Sale

This painting has been painted over. 

I did this painting from a photo taken during our trip to Mexico this summer.  The concrete buildings and tile roofs featured in the painting are typical of San Cristobal's colonial-style architecture, although I'm not sure if I did it justice.  San Cristobal de Las Casas is so beautiful, and I think I overworked this one a little. 

Harvey and Watson

Harvey and Watson
Oil on 8" x 10" HD Canvas
Commissioned - Sold

This is Harvey and Watson.  I painted them waaaay back in January, 2014.  I gambled with the abstracted background, and I love the way they turned out.  Maybe this winter break I'll have time to do some more dog commissions. 

Blue Bathroom

8" x 10"
Oil on canvas panel
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Yes, this is the inside of our downstairs bathroom. I must have been desperate for something to paint last February.  Not the happiest of paintings, but that's indicative of my overall mood come most Februaries.  Hey, February's coming!  Awesome!

Happy Anniversary

11" x 14"
Oil on Canvas
$50 plus shipping

This is the bouquet that I gave to my wife for our fourth anniversary.  We drank wine and painted together...I painted this pretty quickly, but I think it turned out well.

Jackson Square

9" x 12"
Watercolor on paper
$35 plus shipping

I'm painting with watercolors more and more these days due to my lack of free time.  Watercolor is quicker to set up and easier to clean.  The technique is much different from oil painting, but one thing I've learned that I really enjoy is leaving holes in the color to let the bright white paper shine through.  Easy highlights!  This painting is from a photo taken in Jackson Square, New Orleans.

Burbon Street II

9" x 12"
Watercolor on paper
$35

I usually try to stay away from Burbon Street when I'm in New Orleans, but it makes for a good painting.  And this is what (I imagine) it would look like stumbling toward your hotel room on Canal Street after a few Abitas.

I'm still trying to move away from purely representational painting, toward a more loose and expressive style.  But that's true in all areas in my life.

Red and Yellow

9" x 12"
Watercolor on paper
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Didn't want my followers to think I'd gone the entire year without painting.  I have done a few paintings, but if I've been lazy about painting, I've been even lazier about posting.  I shouldn't say that I'm lazy; I just don't have time to paint.  That's why I'm not making it a resolution to paint more in the new year.  I paint when I have time.  I still love it; I read about painting, and I study other artist's work every day.  Grad school is over for me this March.  Along with teaching licensure hoops and paperwork.  I know that I will paint more this summer.  No worries!

Winterpock Grocery

6" x 8"
Oil on Canvas Panel
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This is Winterpock Grocery in Chesterfield, Va.  In real life, the bright, white wall on the right says Winterpock Grocery.  However, I couldn't bring myself to paint Winterpock on the wall for fear of destroying what I feel is a pretty decent painting.  I like this one.  The photo does not do it justice!

Oregon Inlet Surf

6" x 8"
Oil on Canvas Panel
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Per usual, we were left with a four-hour window of time after driving to the Outer Banks, NC, buying bait and beer, and checking in to our lodging, to fish.  Turns out this would be the only window of fish time available to us thanks to freezing temperatures and 40 mph winds the following day. One, unidentifiable fish was caught. Despite the weather, we found ways to amuse ourselves.  This painting is my recollection of Thanksgiving weekend in the Outer Banks and that four-hour window of unproductive surf fishing.

Pemaquid Point

6" x 8"
Oil on Canvas Panel
$35 plus shipping

Ironically, I painted Pemaquid Lighthouse years before I ever visited Pemaquid Point, ME, and it turned out to be one of my favorite paintings.  Sarah and I drove out to Pemaquid Point on a whim as part of our trip north from Boston to Bar Harbor, Me., this summer, and it was incredible.  The ocean is full of color regardless of the coast, but I have never seen anything like this.  My painting does not do it justice.  I'm going to apply a heavy varnish to the painting once it dries a little more to bring out the colors and give it a wet look.