THE STRETCH

From a picture I took at the Charles Town racetrack. Complete with vignette effect trial.

CRAZY CLYDE

Portrait of one of our cats (Clyde, aka “Cloud”) that has nothing going on behind his eyes and looks the part!

RIDICULASAURUS

From a few year old photograph I took at the Frederick Fair of a ridiculous looking animal (Alpaca maybe?) with a goofy look on its face.

SUNRISE, THE FIRE BREATHING KITTEN

Started as an attempt to make an abstract sunset to use as a background. Didn’t work. This was so the obvious thing to do. Meet my new kitten; I named her Sunrise cuz who in their right mind would name a cat Sunset!

JACK ASS

Request from my God Mother. She said she likes animals, flowers, scenery and the color aqua. This is what I came up with. The name is because she calls me Jack and he’s obviously feasting on her flowers!

BOW? … WHAT BOW?

Per request from my God-Daughter … a lion with something in his hair.

BONNIE

Another creation from a pour painting experiment. It obviously goes together with our actual outside Persian cat, Clyde (who always appears to have lost whatever there is to his mind).

GHOST HORSE

Painting was the easy part. An experiment using tree branches sliced in half (begging for a trip to the ER!), glued together, added grout, built a wooden box around it and sanded. Stained with a proprietary mixture of acrylics. Horse painted using watered down acrylics. Finished with limited visibility after eye surgery!

A BUNCH OF BULL

Yet another pour painting background. The bull is from a picture I took when we visited a rodeo in Johnstown, Maryland.

PEAQUINE

Can’t recall the thought process (may be a good thing!) that inspired me to create a combination of a peacock and a horse. Originally, the body was supposed to resemble the feathers of a peacock’s tail but I realized my ability wasn’t up to that so I just settled on peacock colors. Even included a fancy frame experiment on this one!

Sasha

At the request of my daughter (Melanie), I painting this as a Christmas gift for her boyfriend (Chris). He had the dog it’s entire life (16 years) and was also the majority of his life. Not unexpectedly, but sadly, the dog passed away a few days after Christmas. Hope this painting can provide some happy memories of the time spent together between a man and his best friend.

Therapy Dog

So, I’ve been in physical therapy for a few months and plenty of time to chat with my therapist while I’m stretching and straining. I told her that I was painting the dog picture for my daughter’s boyfriend for Christmas. She mentioned that her boyfriend had always wanted a painting of his dog. Me, being me, cheerfully volunteered to paint it for her to give to him on Valentine’s Day.

SCRUFFY

Yet another dog! This time it was for the very nice people that delivered our hay for the horses. They mentioned how they missed their beloved Scruffy since he passed away and didn’t need to say more to get me started painting this for them. As hoped, they were delighted and emotional when we gave it to them and it now hangs in a prominent place in their home.

RODEO BOYS

Painting from a picture I took while at a rodeo in Maryland.

Caribbean Horse Excursion

From a picture of Melissa and I on a horse riding excursion while on a cruise. I chose to do this using an semi-abstract filter on the photo and in watercolor. I’ve learned that watercolor and I don’t get along all that well; much more difficult for me to achieve what I have in mind as opposed to using acrylics. Regardless, I’m neutral with the result – there are parts I like, ones I don’t and everything in between.

WHO!

Christmas present for my daughter Melanie. It’s a long story of how she used to have a fear of owls and, as the dad book says, I needed to take advantage of that. She commented that she liked a small random colorful piece I did so I combined the two. Personally, this didn’t come out as well as I envisioned or hoped but she liked it and that’s what matters. I’ll try this technique again someday and see if I can get the results I’d like.

GOT ICE CREAM?

From something my wife Melissa found on the Internet and requested I paint. For those paying attention, it would be “Got Milk” except it’s winter and snowing! Anyway, I’m really happy with how this one came out and wish it was a complete original. It now hangs in our home, by the choice of the decorating boss (that’s always a good sign!).

DOWN THE STRETCH

Continuing with my bathroom artwork theme, I had nothing to represent horse racing which is one of my favorite past-times. Unfortunately, this is not a total original as I found a piece of artwork I liked on the web and just painted my own version of it.

SAM & MELANIE

Birthday gift for my daughter with her constant companion pretty much forever. Sam’s been by her side for years through countless experiences and continues in his own neurotic way to this day.

EASTER AT OUR HOUSE

If this K9 breed is part of your household, you’ll understand!