Evening- Cromwell Bridge Park

There is a big, white stone barn just across the stream of the Cromwell Park property in Baltimore Co. The evening sun turns the whitewashd sides a warm pinkish/orangy white.

9x12 oil on panel

Boatyard , Havre de Grace, MD

I was really drawn to the reflective qualities of the sailboats on this cold spring evening. It is also very odd to walk about these crafts that seem to be hovering in the air.

9x12in oil on panel

Off the Pier

I just wanted this painting of the Peninsula in the morning sun to be about flat, thick planes of color. 16x22 in oil on panel

The Road to Beth's House

SOLD -Beth Vaughn was a wonderful storyteller, mentor, and friend. Her home was always filled with stories and laughter, and friends dropping in for a warm welcome.She and her husband Chuck (and their Border collie Cei) lived in a Victorian farmhouse house among shade trees. I painted this in the height of summer, taking many breaks to sit around their kitchen table and drink tea. Chuck appreciated that I got the vapor trails of the jets flying overhead “just right.”

This is an older painting but it brings back the memory of hot Maryland Summers and two lovely people as well as a very important lesson learned about life and painting. I had just finished the piece after many hot visits in the sun. It was pretty large ,by my standards( 3ftx2ft) When I started the field had just been plowed. When completed , the corn had tasseled. The clouds were added on the last day. I was getting really fussy and detail oriented having painted it out and starting over many times but now I was done! Just then a bee flew up the pantleg of my cargo shorts and I began to do the Bee Dance, knocking my painting off the easel and sending it flying through the air to land face down in the grass. All those weeks of work, gone. after dislodging the bee(no sting) I picked up the painting to survey the damage and found I liked the result better than before! The detail was gone, the clouds were blurred. Things looked simpler and less strained. A few minutes of touch up and I was happy. All because of a bee up the pantleg. I think many paintings could use a bee up the pantleg. When I told Beth and Chuck they laughed and laughed. I didn't think I could part with this painting, but it's time . I am now happy to be sending it out into the world in the care of two other old friends.

Robin Hood Flats

"The weather outside is frightful." As I write, our "Spring" weather in Maryland is raining/sleeting and snow is forecast. I want to paint but plein air is not what I want to do at this time. During these times I like to do what I call a Memory Painting. I have no problem in working from my photos. My goal, however is not to reproduce a photo-realist image but to work on my color theory, capture a spontaneous moment, and I must add, to recapture a joyful memory. How do I mix these odd and unexpected colors? In working out my issues with with color mixing in my studio I have found my I can mix colors faster and make decisions much faster when I go outside. . For instance, The orangey green found in the trees is a combination of a golden ocher (a new find) and permanent green. Morning sun on summer grass can actually be a from the tube hansa yellow if it is next to greens made with a color I found called Arylide yellow. I think I could even push it more. I also like to see how much information I can leave out and what kind of marks I can make that suggest information without being explicit. oil 10x10in

Morning- Keene Valley

I wanted to try a new color for a ground, a dark reddish-brown. I used an acrylic product that is made up of discarded paint left after manufacturing. The ultimate recycling. After priming my birch panel I was left with a very grainy fine textured surface almost like my sanded pastel paper. I think I like the effect. Like painting on a window screen (only a Baltimore person would understand this). This is a memory picture from an old photo. When the sun finally comes up over the mountain and shines into Keene Valley everything is bathed in this yellow-orange glow. It is now that I start thinking about the summer. My show has been very successful so far. Many pieces have sold. After the big push of production I now need to think about what direction I want to go. I want to play with the effects of light, let surface textures play a part , flatten and abstract the images and, if using a photo, continue to go beyond what the photo does. If I can take that spirit into my plein air, great. oil on birch panel 10x10in. SOLD

red snapper

Took a little workshop with the Maryland Plein air painters and created this little still life. I haven't attempted still life in years and had never painted a fish! What great fun. When dry I will "tweak" the ellipses and colors in the white. I was really attracted to the reflected color of the lemon in the skin of the fish.