Man from Kalispell

Here is a painting I've had in my studio for awhile that I decided to re-work. There was something about it that I felt if I changed it would make a better painting. I thought I would take a big risk and re-size it from a 9x12 to an 8x10 by cutting off a portion of the original canvas. After I'd done that I figured it was getting better but now the beard bothered me. I had it so dark on the left side it was hard to see that he was holding a pipe in his hand. I lightened the beard but I still wasn't happy with the look of the hair itself. It wasn't fuzzy enough. I pondered how to make the hair fuzzier without a lot of brushstrokes and came up with an idea. I got some coarse steel wool, mixed some "hair color" on my pallet and got the fibers coated. Then I started daubing the steel wool on the face and I got the hairy fuzzy look I was going for.

By the way, he is the same model with the dog that is in my last blog posting. I have more reference photos so you may see him again in the future.

Man's Best Friend

I love painting animals and people. When I got this image of a man and his dog that a friend of mine sent me, I couldn't wait to get my paint brushes out and get to work. I wanted to capture the love and devotion there was between the two of them.

Morning light on the Tetons

A recent trip to Jackson Hole inspired this painting. One morning we got up at 6:00 a.m. with our group taking a bus ride out to see the wildlife that live in the area. We did indeed see plenty of wilderness creatures but what really captured my eye was the sun rising on the Grand Teton mountain range. It was breathtaking and I'm glad I had my camera at the ready to be able to take lots of photos.

There is no greater fun than painting something for my family. I especially love it when my Grandson wants a particular subject. I think he will enjoy this red train to hang on his wall in his bedroom. I may noodle on it a bit more before I give it to him.

Two French Bulldogs

I loved the posture of this women and the similar look on her pet dog. I've heard that some people resemble their canine friends and this is what I wanted to capture with this portrait.

Bearded Old Man

I thought this bearded man had such an interesting face that I just had to paint him. The reference photo was black and white which showed me all the values I needed to complete the portrait. It's a small 6x8 which I completed in a day.

Neck and Neck

This time I wanted to catch the look of the horses running straight at the viewer. I guess I just didn't want to deal with all those legs and hoofs with this painting but still wanted to create a lot of tension and action. A jockey has a lot of balancing to do to keep his weight over the saddle as the horse runs at breakneck speed down the track and this was the look I was striving for.