Fishing Buddy #1 16" x 20" (Commisioned)

This last year my 9-5 has been insane to say the least. As part of that I got to meet and work with Dave. Not that he's insane...well he is a little but I consider that a good trait. He is the salt of the earth, hardworking kind of guy that a lot more of us should be. After getting to know him a little better he asked if I would be interested in completing these paintings for him. Of course I said yes. How cool is it to share times like this with your children not to mention actually being able to snap a picture of him with his first fish. While I was painting these I asked Dave more about Jesse. From what I found out we might have the next President on our hands. Turns out he not just a mean fisherman but extremely intelligent.

Fishing Buddy #2 10" x 10" (Commisioned)

This one was done smaller and in a little bit more of an Impressionist style. The idea was that this one was meant to compliment the first and not detract from it. That was part of the reason for the size and less detail. I really enjoyed painting these. It was very freeing to work in the more relaxed style on this one and use the palette I had developed on it to get right into the other.

The Way 24" x 30"

This is a tough one to explain in the right order. We were in Florida. I woke up from a nap (I love a good nap) and saw the door handle to the closet. For some reason my mind saw it like this. At that point my mind went back to some philosophical stuff about paths and life lessons that I had read years ago. It occurred to me that this gave a nice visual to what we all go through. We wander down and around the paths. We discover these pockets of exciting and wonderful things but they are finite. While we are doing this, what we are really searching for are the answers or The Way. The crazy part is that most of never even know the handle is there.

Tree At Sunset 10" x 10" (Sold)

Every sunset I watch the sky. If Cheryl and Kerrigan are around I always point it out to them. To let you know what a good family I have they have never expressed their boredom with this practice. We recently got a puppy for Kerrigan. As you may know puppies need a lot of "personal time." During one of those events I was outside and noticed a nice blue and pink sunset behind or neighbors tree. This image is how it registered in my mind.

The Gift 9" x 12"

The flowers were part of the Mother's Day gift Kerrigan and I got for Cheryl this past year. To be completely honest, I just really thought they were pretty and wanted to use them. I had a lot of fun painting this as I added and jabbed color were I felt it should be. This was an exercise in the joy of painting.

Old Hickory Lake 9" x 12" (Sold)

Last fall we spent a beautiful day at the lake on Mike and Deanna's boat. Mike enjoyed a very cold swim and we enjoyed the scenery. Shortly before we left I noticed the reflection of the gorgeous colors from the trees in the lake. To me, the impact of the image is in the fall colors and the feeling of the impending sunset. Each of them signaling the end of a cycle, both occurring simultaneously in this image.

Day At The Beach 9" x 12"

Our recent trip to Florida was nice. Cheryl did a great job researching and planning. We spent about a week there which was a much needed rest for the three of us. After spending the morning at the beach we went back to our rented 14th floor condo. I was looking down at the beach and loved the rainbow colored umbrellas strewn across it and snapped some pictures. What I think is really neat is that everyone set up their shade but was having too much fun playing to be in it when I snapped the pictures.

LoL 12" x 12"

This time it stands for Labor of Love. Before I started this version I worked on another one for quite a while. It did not turn out so good. That was a little tough to deal with and definitely affected my momentum. Through some soul searching I found a little more of my voice and affirmed that I truly love this medium.

Knowing that makes all of the effort and the emotion worth it. It truly is a Labor of Love.

Ahh 24" x 36" (Commissioned)

This one produced one of the most confusing and funny commission conversations I have had so far. When I started in the new position I have with my 9-5 I was training with a guy that worked for Ed. One of those weeks Ed was on vacation and sent this to his crew. I loved the shot even though I had Ed's reputation mixed up with another manager that was not so cool. I hung onto the email knowing I wanted to paint it and thought someday I would ask this not so cool person if he would mind me painting it. I figured I would just add it to my collection. I had mentioned this to some of his employees. Months after that I found out Ed was not the person I thought he was and then had the opportunity to work with him for and extended period of time. I found out that he is very cool, very much an out of the box thinker, and a hell of a song writer and musician. I also got to meet his lovely wife Gay. Not to sidetrack this but they have a very long and obviously very good relationship. They are nice to watch together. Anyway, back to the story. I was speaking to Ed and Gay, he said you know the Bahama toe picture, your going to paint that. I thought one of his guys had told him of my intentions. I said, I was going to ask your permission. I figured that I babbled for a while the way my mouth does when I actually free form engage my over thinking everything mind. Then he said "no, I want you to paint it for me". The rest is history. I got to do a cool scene, for very cool people, and get to laugh every time I think about that conversation.

Nashville from Broadway 30" x 40"

Cheryl, Kerrigan, and I were leaving a Disney on Ice show at the Sommet Center when Cheryl just casually snapped this picture. We both knew it right then it was great shot. The composition of the picture was awesome. I love the contrast of how the "Batman Building" towers up, gleaming against the backdrop of the sky and the old brick buildings stand low out in front, sturdy and with so much character. The angle she got was great too . I think she has a natural eye for photography. There were a couple of names considered for this one. NashVegas or Hollywood Without a Tan (from the Shawn Mullins' song) were two that I kicked around but I was not sure if the people who don't live around here would get it.

Knock Off #2 30" x 40" (Cheryl's "Private Collection")

Well it happened again. Cheryl went to Target and found a painting she loved and I opened my big mouth. I said, I can do that. Of course her reply (again) was, get busy! So here you go. To get all philosophical about it I feel like this life will lead you in the direction you need to go if you make your decisions for the right reasons and pay close attention. The fact is, I have been wanting to do some more "loose" or kind of impressionist pieces. This painting that I copied showed me a lot of what goes into this abstract style and I got that lesson because I wanted to do something nice for my wife. She deserves nice stuff for putting up with me over the years. As a matter of fact if you dig on the whole Karma thing she should be Oprah rich for having to survive the way my mind works. This will definitely give me a leg up on my next piece. It's going to be an original in a style between what I normally do and this. If you like this painting it was originally done by Kate Birch. The one at Target is 18 x 24. She has numerous pieces available at http://www.katebirch.com/

Magic for Monkey (Ref Col #4) 12" x 12" (Kerigan's Private Collection)

This past December we went to the "Magic Kingdom". Thanks to a lot of hard work by Cheryl it was truly magical. She spent many hours planning so that we would be able to really enjoy it. I think that you can tell by the smile on Kerrigan's face, we all had a great time.

As you might know I am sort of attracted to good reflections. So this image combines my beautiful daughter having a great time and two cool reflections (one in each lens) If you look closely you'll see Cheryl taking the picture in the left eye lens (your right).

Paradise 12" x 16" (Commisioned)

Jason and Sonya are friends of mine that happen to be co-workers as well. Sonya asked me if I would be interested in painting something for Jason's Birthday. Without hesitation I agreed. A great part of doing this painting is using this fantastic image that Sonya captured during their honeymoon trip while golfing in Hawaii. It's a beautiful scene, taken at the perfect point in his swing, while celebrating their love. It just doesn't get any better than that. Something that makes it more special for me is that I started golfing as a result of Jason's invitation to play in a scramble with Sonya and him. That scramble turned out to be the day I got to know Sonya, got to know Jason better, and started down the road to the poorhouse as a golf addict.

Tahoe (Ref Col #3) 24"x30"

Since the day I finished the first Reflection Collection painting I have been in search of images with cool reflections. Shortly after that Graeme came back from a ski trip. He had captured some fantastic images of his trip. In those images was one he took of himself that had a great reflection from his mask. At that time he was remodeling one house, selling another, working a very stressful job, and expecting the birth of his first child. You can imagine that when I asked him to send me the images it was not a priority. His life finally slowed down and Graeme sent the images that I picked out along with a "bonus image". I initially went through them and kind of settled on the original that I had selected. Then I looked again at this one and was completely sold. Not only does it have two reflections it shows a loving couple in the midst of their adventure.