Still Life

Another painting I am working on.

Male Fancy Dancer

Did a little more work on him today. Not sure which way I want to go with him so will put him aside for a bit.

Native American Fancy Dancer

This is the latest piece I am working on. I have always loved going to pow wows and watching the male traditional and fancy dancers. A truly spiritual experience!

Series of "Skies"

Caribbean Skies

African Skies

Autumn Skies

This is a series of "skies" pictures I did using bright colors and the Mexican technique of circles on circles

Alone At The Party

Just playing with colors. A fun piece to do.

Dream Lover

My abstract version of the perfect man...strong, proud, fearless, resilient and a wee bit stubborn.

Girl in Veil

Veiled women intrigue me. The entire concept of hiding who you are behind a piece of fabric for me anyway... only makes me more curious to know more about the woman. I think that is contrary to the intention of those who force these women to wear them.

Line Dancers

I have always loved the bright colors of Africa. The people, the clothing, the incredible skies combine to bring an undeniable energy to any piece that attempts to depict it.

The Firedancer

One of my first paintings. I laugh now when I look at the errors I made in scale and perspective but still like the concept of the piece.

Storm in Gray

Back in the 80's I came across an old magazine page that had a black and white picture of this scene. I held onto it hoping some day to recreate it on canvas. What struck me about the picture was this incredibly ferocious looking sky. It is a reminder to me that try as man does to contain and control outside forces, he must never lose sight of the fact that he does not have the capacity to regulate, control or predict the most powerful of forces...nature.

Topaz

Topaz came about as a result of Lisa. I wanted to do a piece in warm colors but with less drama. She was my attempt to see if I could use a palette knife creating more realistic skin tones. Even though she looks nothing like my beautiful auburn haired daughter,  I did have her in mind when I created Topaz.

Fear

As a history junkie with a long held interest in Nazi occupied Europe, I have poured over both scholarly accounts and personal survivor stories of the Holocaust. I suppose initially I had hoped to make sense of it all. Having concluded long ago there is no rational to be had for genocide, still I have continued to read survivor accounts and find inspiration in them. I suppose the human side of us needs to see that even under the worst possible conditions there is in each of us a built in desire to survive and with a little bit of luck on our side, we can stand against anything that comes our way. On the flip side it is very difficult for us to consider the personal tragedy that occurred millions of times over at the hands of the Nazi's. With so many Holocaust survivors passing each year it is imperative for us to continue to remember the history they soon will not be around to share with future generations. In creating "Fear" it was my hope that people would look not at the survivors but put a face to the millions of Jews, Poles, Romanians and others who did not live to see liberation but were forced to face the realization that their options for survival had run out permanently and they would not make it. "Fear" I hope captures that second in time when the victim had to face that reality head on.

Meteors Stars and Planets

On a trip to Cancun we were dining at a Mexican restaurant that had very colorful artwork. There was one picture that caught my eye and as we were leaving I had to get a closer look at it. It amazed me that the designs were created by just incorporating circles upon circles. It inspired me to do this piece. Very tedious to do (but also addicting) but I love the end result!

Mardis Gras

I love using bright colors and bringing in black and white to offset and ground the rest of the piece. I have not varnished this piece yet because I am considering adding some gems and other objects such as confetti to it. I love the idea of mixed media and wish to pursue it with my future projects. I love the idea of adding a third dimension to my work.

Lisa

Lisa was one of my first attempts at using a palette knife. I Enjoyed playing with the paint and the feeling of sculpting out a face and body. In the end the texture was incredible, the colors were vibrant and I was very pleased. I will be doing much more work with the knife!

The Calendar

This piece came about because of work I used to do when I was a child. I had loved making "calendars" and filling the squares with different colors, designs, shapes and textures. I used crayons back then and wanted to see if I could pull off the effect with paint. I LOVE it and will be doing more pieces like this one. The end result is a collage like effect with little "vignettes" that are fun to incorporate into the piece.