Sleeping Dog
This was a fun one that we eventually framed and it hangs in our house. Our dog Mochi is difficult to get a good photo of when he is awake, I eventually got a good one of him sleeping. I was especially happy with the fringe on the pillow. I could have reworked the paws a bit.
Jack in Glen
“Jack in Glen” – Jack Daniels in a Glencairn Glass, January 2023. 8″ x 8″ Acrylic on canvas. This was my second painting of a Glencairn glass. My other one was at the beginning of the painting process. I took much more care with getting the shape and values right on this one. It took about 25 hours to complete.
Dozen minus one yellow roses
“Dozen minus one yellow roses.”
This one has a story. I like to surprise Florence with roses when there is no occasion. A few years ago I was waiting in line at the grocery store with a dozen yellow roses, Florence’s favorite. An old woman in line in front of me, worn and grizzled by life, looked at them and said, “Your anniversary, or are you in trouble?” I answered, “No occasion, just ‘I love you’.”
She got a distant look in her eyes and said in a voice full of resent, “Forty-six years, and Lenny never once bought me flowers for no reason. Too late for that now.”
When she was finished paying for her groceries, I pulled one out and said, “Lenny asked me to give you this. He always thought he would have more time.”
The woman’s face softened, and as a tear ran down her face, she looked at me and said, “Thank you. Thank you Lenny.”
The Hearth
“The Hearth” was started and completely painted during the quarantine for the Coronavirus in 2020. The photo was set up in our home using the bed warmer that was actually used by my wife’s grandmother, my Mossberg 500 shotgun, and our gas fireplace. This was a fun painting, though not without a fair amount of work. The bricks were time consuming, and I really struggled with the bed warmer, both color and shape. (I may go back to it and try to improve it.) The shotgun was relatively easy, though I did tape off the edges to help make them straighter. The hearth stone turned out a little bluer and smoother than I wanted. The screen came out ok, and the fireplace eventually took shape.
Table in the Hall
“Table in the Hall.” Acrylic on canvas. 18″ x 20″. Jan-Feb 2020. This was a painting I did as part of a painting course from “The Great Courses.” In this lesson, I was supposed to work from a black and white photo, paying attention to the dark and light values more than the colors. It was a very helpful lesson, and I wound up spending much more time on this painting than any other I have ever done. The values does give it a more realistic look, though I wish I would have also referred to the color photograph as well, because I got some colors completely wrong. Noteably, the pages on the bible were edged in gold. This would have made the pages and their reflection in the table more realistic. I was very happy with the reflection of the pitcher in the table, though the actual table does not shine nearly that much.
Bethlehem Sky
This is part one of a 6-panel Nativity theme. The overall collection will be 36″ x 40″ and comprised of the sky (36″ x 12″) , two animals (18″ x 12″ each), and the Holy Family (12″ x 20″ each).
This first panel is the Bethlehem sky. It is acrylic on canvas, and was painted on canvas prepared with two coats of black acrylic gesso. The stars were painted with a toothpick. The milky way was painted with a 2″ brush. The mountains were painted using a one inch chisel brush, and the Bethlehem star was painted with both the 1″ chisel brush and a 00 brush.
Manasquan Sunrise
This was painted from a photo taken at sunrise in July 2016 in Manasquan, NJ. It was painted on canvas primed with white gesso in acrylics (white, black, red, green, blue, yellow, and burnt sienna). I spent about 3 hours on it. Much of the sky and foundation colors were done with a 2″ brush, and detail work with a chisel-edged 1″ brush. A rigger and other brushes were used as needed. It was necessary to wet the canvas quite a bit at first, and continue to wet the brush or thin the paint for sky and water.
Arena Point, CA
Acrylic on canvas, 13 3/4″ x 10 3/4″. Painted 1/1/2017. It took about 3 hours using Mars Black, Titanium White, Burnt Sienna, Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green.
Mountain at Sunset
This was my first attempt at a Bob Ross style painting. I spent about 30 minutes using a very wet canvas and a 2″ brush and knife. It was going no where, so I covered over it and started over with a chiseled 1″ brush, using the 2″ brush only for background and smearing effects. There are some perspective problems and it looks a bit cartoonish, but I was happy with it for a first attempt. Total time ~2 hours.
“Virgin Gorda”
This was inspired by our stop-over at Virgin Gorda when we took a Caribbean cruise on Norwegian Cruise lines. The photo from which I painted it had people in the foreground, but I chose to leave them out.
Anatomically correct Valentine
OK, so there is a bit of atrial hypertrophy going on here. The proportions look more like a rat heart, which I’ve seen my share of over my career. but otherwise…
Those of you who know me know that I used to always give out an anatomically correct Valentine card. This one goes out to my wife Florence.
Banana on psychedelic background
The banana was tougher than I thought. Some day if they analyze my painting they will see it was painted over several times.
Glencairn nosing glass and Scotch
I really enjoyed this one. And I will go back and fix some of the problems with it because this one has potential. The horizon line was done hurriedly and without care, but it detracts from the subject. The lines at the top of the glass are a bit off, and the shape libes need to be touched up. I do like a lot about it though, including the base of the glass where it touches the table, the flare of the scotch in the shadow, and the scotch itself.
After pasting on Facebook and getting feedback, I fixed some problem areas of the painting. I really like the changes I made.
Apple on psychedelic background
I started this series about eight years ago with the peach. Then I stopped painting. Tonight I needed a short project just to keep myself painting. This was fun. The background was partially done already. I used up the colors on my pallet from last night’s painting to fill in the background. I had fun with the colors on the apple. Choosing ones that I didn’t think belonged, and then forcing them to work. It was a good study of color.
The mill at Clinton, NJ
This was the first painting I did after the mural project. I read a few books by this point, but had no practice. While recognizable as the landmark in NJ, the similarities are a stretch in many areas of the painting.
South Beach, Miami
This scene was inspired by a photo from Susan Mohorcic who lives in Miami. I had a lot of trouble with the sand. At first it was too flowing, live water. I lightened the color and tried to give it more texture, but it actually looked less realistic after I changed it. I got better at the grass plants with practice, switching from a chisel brush to a fan brush loaded with partially mixed colors.
Glass Magnolia
This was the finished painting of the magnolia. It was painted on a wooden letter box and given as a gift to the owners of “The Glass Magnolia B & B”.
Mauna Kea
Santa Fe Mural
This was the first painting of any kind I had ever done. After a conversation with a friend of mine who read about projecting an image from an overhead projector, tracing it, and then painting it as a mural, I decided to give it a try. The image was a compilation of two photos of the foothills of Mount Rainier, WA and a stock photo of a Santa Fe train engine. This was a fun project and started me becoming interested in painting.
Magnolia
This was a first attempt at painting a magnolia. We planned to customize a letter box for a friend of ours who owns “The Glass Magnolia” Bed and Breakfast in the Finger Lakes region of NY. Since the box was wooden, I wanted to practice on wood as well.
Peach
This is the first of a three painting series (unfinished) which was to include a banana and an apple. (I should go back and finish those.) I tried tinting my gesso a light green. Looking back, my canvas was a bit too dry and I probably should have added some gloss medium to the paint.
Fruit Bowl (unfinished)
This was a first attempt at a still life. I started out trying to paint a table cloth and fancy dish, but ended up painting over the table cloth. The dish needs to be painted over as well. Some of the fruit came out ok, but I had some problems with edges. I had not learned the trick of using a hair dryer at this point. That came 8 or so years later.
Man fishing
This was my first 1 hour painting (actually took about 2 hours) where I used no photo. I tried to incorporate many of Frank Clark’s ideas from his DVDs. It is a more free style of painting than I had tried previously, and I was fairly happy with the results.
Wilderness Adventurer in Stephen’s Passage, Alaska
This one started out as an attempt to paint dusk on Stephen’s Passage, but I couldn’t get my colors right, so it morphed into sort of an overcast day. The boat is sort of like the boat we took on our trip to Alaska, and yes, the water was this calm.
Mochi
This was my first attempt at an animal portrait. I struggled a bit with the body position, first having him in a sitting posture before painting over the body and painting a standing position.
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