Realistic Paintings as My Goal  

I love to capture light. It's the principle reason I use egg tempera paint. The crisp clarity attainable with this medium allows me to recreate the bits of detail and texture that I rely on to embrace the light and shadow on my subjects, which in turn invites the viewer into my art. When I paint, I'm not interested in abstraction. I see things in nature that fascinate me, I love the way they look in the light, and I am driven to replicate that experience. 

   Idyll

It took me a while to figure this one out, but you can actually see a bit of the detail through the shadowy areas of the drapes. Where the sunlight hits there is a burnout effect, but not so in the shadowy places. I had to study photos of my own drapes for quite a bit before I could get it.

Nocturnal Series

     Tintinabulation

These peaks are called the Maroon Bells. Quite a popular place to see in Colorado. However, the whole time I was painting it, I kept thinking of  a poem by E. A. Poe titled "The Bells". 

  "Keeping time, time, time,
         In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinabulation that so musically wells
       From the bells, bells, bells...
        

Beach and Ocean Series

The Shell 

 A very special thanks to my good friend Terry Groseclose, who talked me into braving the heat to explore the seashore in Padre Island, Texas. Until then, the idea of painting seascapes seemed a bit trite. Then I discovered the great dunes there. The unique shapes and the shadows they cast have inspired me for years since.

Western Landscape Series

Hard Winter 

Cirque Mountain, in the Sneffels Range of Colorado. Why "Hard Winter"?  Because when you can see this much snow in July at 11,000 feet, a few months earlier it was a really hard winter.

Cowboys and...

Checkin' the Back Trail

This painting went to a rancher somewhere in Oregon. I know because the Cawdrey Gallery, which sold it told me so. Steve said that the fellow who bought it did so because it reminded him of his daughter, who was constantly looking behind herself as she rode.

Original Miniatures

 In the Moment

You don't experience places like this for very long. They pass pretty quickly, especially at 10,000 feet.