"Tranquility 2" - 24" x 24" x 1.5" - Acrylic on hollow core door panel - $250.00

Initially this painting was a follow up for an earlier painting called "Tranquility" which was reminiscent of a peaceful Island paradise.  I leaned this painting against a wall upside down (as it appears now) and things really changed.  A young man walked by and asked me if it was a transformer jumping off the canvas.  Another person saw a sea turtle and so on... Little did I know that I had created an ink blot test of sorts but that is the wonder of abstract art; each mind see's something a little bit differently and I suppose it is not un-like laying in the park and watching clouds float by on a summer day.

Turtle or island paradise...  I hope you see something you like in this painting.  Perhaps it is the simplicity of it all or the cool relaxing colors and the good news is that you have four different ways you can rotate this little gem so you can always change your latitude...

"Cold Front" - 24" x 24" x 1.5" - Acrylic on hollow core door panel - $250.00 (SOLD)

"Cold Front" is another in my series of smaller works geared to sell on the street and out of my mobile art gallery.  Well actually it is more like a mobile painting storage unit that I unload where ever people congregate and then begin the process of shameless self promotion as I sell the populace on the concept of buying local AMERICAN art and not a bunch of cheap knock offs from China.  I mean have you looked on EBAY lately?  Sure you can buy a 24 x 36 abstract oil painting on canvas for 49.99 but when you get it, it may not look at all like the photo and additionally all you get is the canvas which then has to be stretched over a frame.  Most people cannot do that themselves and end up paying Hobby Lobby to do it for them.  This generally costs as much as the painting and if you want a gallery wrapped look then your painting goes from 24 x 36 to 21 x 33.  If you choose to save the entire painting then you are left with a piece of art with either a white border around the sides, or you could paint it black or frame it which costs even more money....

I know everyone cannot dish out $150 for a painting in these hard economic times (which actually are not that hard...) so I do accept offers when I sell my work on the street or when you call or email me from this site!  If you love a painting then work with the artist.  Trust me, we want you to have the painting and many of us will reduce the price to accommodate your budget.

Stepping down from my soap box...  This painting was inspired by some crazy weather patterns we had this spring.  One day it was 96 and the next day it was 68.  You could actually feel the air cooling down while the deck was still hot under your feet.  I thought to myself:  "What would that look like visually?" and here is where we ended up, letting warm and cool colors do all of the work!

"Nuclear Family" (SOLD) - 24" x 36" x 1.5" - Acrylic on hollow core door panel - $350.00

So...  Little did I know that the title of this painting would end up being controversial.  I saw a really old magazine from the 50's and it had this picture of a family ducking and covering in their white picket fence - leave it to beaver house with a mushroom cloud in the background; and then I painted this little piece and called it "Nuclear Family".  Next thing I know someone is telling me that it is not politically correct and all that...  Really?  I was just having some fun with a play on words.  (Hence the mushroom cloud)  Relax and enjoy the painting already, I promise there is not an ounce of hatred or judgment in it.  Scouts honor, no groups of people or animals were harmed in the painting of this painting... 

"Quandary" - 24" x 30" x 1.5" - Acrylic on hollow core door panel - $225.00

SOLD!!  I was out on the street last Friday evening trying to sell some paintings and this monochromatic piece was among those works that I was displaying.  I must have had five or six people ask me "what does that say, are those letters?"  

Honestly, I was not being intentionally cryptic when I painted the white line.  It is just what happened after I picked up the squeeze bottle of white paint and started moving it over the painting.  Later I did notice however that it seemed to resemble some semblance of a word, maybe...  I also did not intend for the black and grey space to resemble an aardvark but it sort of does doesn't it?  Quite the "quandary" isn't it? 

"Diatribe" - 36"x48"x1.5" - Acrylic on Masonite panel - $525.00

This large piece is an example of "automatic" drawing and painting.  Some also call this style of art "expressive" painting.  The goal is to express what is inside of you automatically with little or no thought toward what the end will be.  This is an exciting exercise as if forces you to completely abandon you creative inhibitions and open yourself to endless possibilities. (and of course, criticism...)

I started with black paint, white gesso and a three inch house painting brush.  First I gave myself one minute to apply black on the already primed Masonite panel.  After a minute and even before the black dried I came back in with the white.  This process repeated until the painting began to speak to me and then I stopped and took it in.  This is what it looked like after about ten minutes of work...

Though there was not any actual form to the painting my mind began to put the pieces together (gestalt...) and with just a minimal effort the "faces" emerged.  I began to add more color and refine the work until it "felt" finished.  A great example of the abstract version of Bob Ross's "happy accident" can be seen in what appears to be two crows sitting on the right side taking in the view.  Those two birds get a lot of attention from the viewers and I made zero attempt to put them there, they just happened.

If you are an artist and you feel stuck then I encourage you to try a painting in this style.  Don't worry about the finished project, just go along for the ride!  You can always paint over it if you must....

"Blood Moon Rising" - 20"x34"x1.5" - Acrylic on canvas - $225.00

A "blood moon" is a phenomenon that occurs during a lunar eclipse.  The earth passes between the moon and the sun blocking a lot of the suns rays and some of the light actually bends around the earth causing the surface of the moon to appear reddish in color.  There is a belief that when several blood moons occur in close proximity to each other and the days coincide with Jewish feast days that something remarkable is about to occur regarding the nation of Israel.  This coinciding of the blood moons to the four Jewish feast days has occurred 10 times since 1 AD and three times since 1492.  (When Columbus sailed the ocean blue...) 

Many people believe that these blood moons are a token of a radical change ahead such as the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the beginning of the tribulation period.  Blood moons have occurred on 4/15/14, 10/18/14, 4/4/15 and the fourth is set to happen on 9/15/15.  These four dates fall either on the Jewish Passover or on the Feast of Tabernacles.  What will happen on or near Sept. 15, 2015?  Well the fact is that no one knows for sure and even Jesus said that no one knew the date of His return except for His father in heaven. (Mark 13:32)

What we do know is that the day of His return is closer than ever and that we need to be ready for it.  Are you ready?

"Canyons of Io" - 32"x38"x1.5" - Acrylic on repurposed hollow door panel - $525.00 (SOLD)

Io is Jupiter's fifth moon, is the fourth largest of all of the moons orbiting Jupiter and is slightly larger than Earth's moon.  Io is the most volcanic celestial body in the solar system and volcanoes there reach a staggering 3000 degrees F while the surface of this moon is -220 F, making this the moon of fire and ice.  It actually snows on this moon however the flakes are made up of sulfur dioxide and not water. In mythology Io was the mistress of Zeus who turned her into a Heifer to avoid detection by his jealous wife Hera.  This story continues with all of the assorted drama of the ancient gods...

I really like the colors in this painting thought this picture does not do them justice.  I also enjoyed making the wet on wet "lava river" that runs across the paintings surface.  The blending of colors gives it an almost marbled effect which is beautiful to me due to its organic nature.

"Focal Point" - 16"x20"x1.5" - Acrylic on repurposed canvas $75.00 SOLD

This is a small painting that I created for the singular purpose of creating affordable art that most people could easily purchase.  While this painting may not have been "Inspired" (some might call this style soul less or décor art) it is still an interesting piece full of color, texture and interesting technique.  I was also pleased to see it sell very quickly which made me think that I might have opened up a new venue.  Time will tell.  Look for more smaller pieces to follow as I try to compete with the inexpensive Chinese art flooding EBAY as well as all of the cheap prints at Gordman's and other home stores...

"Sequence" - 24"x24"x1.5" - Acrylic on repurposed hollow core door panel - $125.00 SOLD

Yes, I admit that it is strange, but the inspiration for this painting came from mosquito larvae in a bucket of water.  It has been reported that the similarity between human and chimp DNA is between 95-98.5%.  Well, before you start thinking that maybe evolution is true, you should know that scientist also claim a 60% similarity between human DNA and that of a fruit fly or mosquito!  All DNA is made up in combinations of sequences of threes and these are called triplets.  Which of course brings us back to the magic number three...  Everything that has ever been made was created by Jesus Christ and this is a true statement if you choose to believe your Bible.  So just because there are basic similarities between my DNA and that of a monkey or fruit fly does not necessarily mean that I used to be a monkey or a fruit fly.  There is also a 75% similarity between the DNA of humans and nematode worms.  So what is it then, did I come from a monkey or a worm?  Or perhaps the Bible IS true and we were all created independantly by God.

"The Space Between Us" - 30" x 34" x 1.5" - Acrylic on hollow door panel - $425.00 SOLD

There is a certain amount of repetition in the universe.   Spacial relationships are governed by unseen forces such as gravity and electromagnitism.  The earth rotates around the sun at a distance of about 93 million miles.  If the earth was moving faster its orbit would be even further out from the suns surface.  This painting however, is not about planetary objects, but speaks to the spaces between sub-atomic particles.  If a single hydrogen atom were enlarged to the size of the earth, with its nucleus of a single proton in the center of the earth; then the electron orbiting the nucleus would be located somewhere out in the earths atmosphere!  I have read that if all of the matter in the universe were compacted to the point to where there was no longer any free space between the individual particles; then the resulting object, if shaped into a cube and placed in the center of our sun, would reach out to where its sides would be located at the orbit of Mars.  This means that we are surrounded by and made up of, a LOT of empty space!  Did you know that a neutron star has been compressed so tightly by gravity that its core is a giant diamond?  Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.  Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky...

The Life Is In the Blood - 32" x 38" x 1.5" - Acrylic on hollow door panel - $525.00

Blood cells, veins and cappilaries...  The "LIFE" is in the blood.  Blood cells carry oxygen to the body and ultimately CO2 and other wastes from the body.  Blood, if you really think about it, is simply a transport mechanism.  Without it we die for it carries in it what we need for life.  The Bible even makes a statement about our blood:  Le 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood:  This speaks of course to human life but when we take a look at this concept with spiritual eyes, it becomes pretty easy to see a parallel story line.  If we want to have "spiritual life" then we can also find that in the blood.  Not in our own blood however, but in the precious blood of Jesus!   His blood washes our sins away and replaces them with His own Righteousness.  Now that is a blood transfusion!

Stratospheric Anomoly - 24" x 31" x 1.5" - Arcylic on hollow door panel - $325.00 SOLD

There is not a lot to say about this painting other than it was an experiment with color juxtipostions and using a wet on wet technique to bring to mind cloud formations.  I also use a paint removal process to expose the red beneath the greens...  It ended up looking like a view of a weird purple lake from an airplane at about 30,000 feet!   I will say, that this piece is much richer looking in person that it looks in this photo.  I will keep experimenting...  You never know what might happen next.

Into the Shallows - 9 x 36 x 1.5 - Acrylic on Hollow Door Panel - $165

After fishing all day and catching almost nothing we headed back to the boat ramp about 10 pm...  There was a bright yellow spotlight hitting the water and as we pulled the boat up the ramp I went over to make one last effort before heading home.  As I approched the shore I started seeing dark shapes moving in the water and soon realized that they were walleye searching the shallows near the shoreline for shad.  I stayed there for almost two hours watching the fish; sometimes close enought to the shore that I could have scooped them out with a dip net!  (not allowed by law...) Some of them were nearly three feet long and they paid absolutely no attention to me at all.  I ended up catching only 2 (by accident I am sure) but getting to see them so close up was a real treat for this nature lover.  About a week later I started an automatic or expressive painting and this is what emerged.  As the painting was only 9 inches tall and fish shapes were emerging; I thought back to that night and the fish in shallow water...

Beneath the Thermocline - 34 x 36 x 1.5 - Acrylic on hollow door panel - $525

This last summer I started fishing again for the first time in about twelve years and I had a blast.  It all started with the white bass in the spring and I fished a lot in the rivers heading into nearby Stockton lake at that time.  In early Summer we would fish the lake and stay near the shoreline and around cover.  By mid June it started getting harder and harder to find the fish as they started going deeper in search of cooler water.  One day I was fishing near a bridge in a really great boat (not mine, i do not have a boat) with a state of the art fish finder. I noticed that for the first 20 feet or so of water, that there were barely any fish at all but below the 20 foot mark they were just thick.  I didn't catch many fish that day but it did inspired this painting so all ended well!

Nebulous Substrate in Red - 36" x 40" x 1.5" - Acrylic on hollow core door panel - $625.00

 

 

Believe it or not, this painting or at least a part of it was inspired by the partially constructed "death star" from the very first Star Wars movie.  It is currently on display at "ART INSPIRED" here in Springfield, Mo.  The fascination that I have with our universe continues to grow within me, and when I think of just how vast it is I am in awe.  I often wonder just how big God has to be in order to create something that is 13.7 light years across and contains literally billions of galaxies.  I guess it is no exageration when He says in Isaiah 66: "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool"!!

"Days of Noah" - 20" x 24" - Acrylic - 150.00 US

This is actually the third in a series that began with the "Rule of Nines".  The second painting was called "Solstace" but I cannot find a decent photo of it and now it has sold!  Not a bad problem but I kind of hate it when that happens.  I am loving the juxtiposition of organic verses geometric in this group of paintings.  I have also started using some metallics just to spice things up a bit.  I coated this piece with two layers of liquitex gloss varnish and the colors just popped.  I wish you could see the depth in this photo but it just isn't showing all of the detail that I wish it would.  This painting will be showing soon (next week I believe) at Dr. Becky Bryants' office at the bone and joint center near Cox South.

This deserves a shout out to the Springfield Regional Arts Center (SRAC) as well as all of their corporate members for sponsoring shows like this one.  Thanks for the opportunity!





"Impact" - 30"x15" - Acrylic - SOLD

This little 30"x 15" painting is called "Impact".  Really, I need to quit watching ancient aliens and through the wormhole.... This dinosaur killer tells quite the tale but I will leave you to figure out the story just the way you see it instead of boring you with my explanation.  Can you believe that someone recently told me that I talk too much about my art?!!  Not sure if I can change that but if the aire of mystery causes more interest then it would definitely be the right thing to do.  I think...  What do you think?  I'm co-dependant right?  Nuff said...

"Rule of Nines" - 24"x 40" - Acrylic - 425.00 SOLD

Ok...  Well a lot has happened over the last month.  I curated a local show called "Intellectual Abstractions" at the Creamery Arts Center here in Springfield, MO and it was a great success.  I sold four paintings and made several new friends.  In addition; I have begun working as an Artistic Consultant, mainly assisting local venues in setting up gallery space and finding artists for shows and the such like.  It is very rewarding and I am very happy to be working in a field that I am so passionate about.  Thank you God for answered prayers!

Along the way I have still been able to find some time for painting.  This painting called "Rule of Nines" is 24"x 40" and is painted on a hollow core door panel with acrylic paint.  This is the first in a series and I will be posting more as they come along.  The number nine is a great number mathmatically and has held my interest for some time now.  I decided to make this painting after reading the Terry Goodkind novel "The Law of Nines" but prefered to use the word rule instead of law...  Here is one interesting factoid.  If you multiply any two digits between one and nine by the number nine (ie - 3 x 9 =27), then the two digits in the resulting number will always equal 9 when added together.  I will stop now because I see my wife yawning and rolling her eyes...  Enjoy the color if nothing else!

"Subduction Zone" - 24"x 48" - Acrylic - 550.00 US

This 24x48 acrylic on hollow core door panel combines both geological and geometrical aspects into one painting.  The concept is a merger of two of my painting styles and it came to me after watching a show on NatGeo about earthquakes.  No deep meanings here, just my abstract rendition of the movement of tectonic plates along fault lines.  This painting is currently for sale and on display in the lobby of University Plaza here in Springfield, MO.

"Babel On" - 36"x 32" - Acrylic - 625.00 US

 "Babel On"...  an appropriate title for this painting as well as my state of mind!  Things have sort of exploded around here and in a good way even.  This year has been full of opportunities starting with my own show at Driskill Gallery in the SBU Art Department.  The show went very well (I actually sold something...) and it seemed to open a door of further opportunities.  One of our upscale hotel properties, University Plaza,  fell under new management and opened their doors to display the work of local artists.  I was the first chosen to display there and ended up helping to curate the show which was a hit and actually made it into two separate newspapers! (woo hoo!!)  I also had several pieces accepted into the "Big Show" at the Springfield Airports Sky Gallery and directly after that was asked to curate my own show "Intellectual Abstractions" at the the Springfield Regional Art Council's - Creamery Arts Center.  This show will open next Friday July 6 and so far it is looking very promising.

Babel On is the second and last painting is my very small series investigating the use of a mono-chromatic pallet and symbolism to embrace social commentary and visually discuss the results of language and math in regard to their contributions to mankinds ability to grow in wisdom and pass on that knowledge to future generations.  Just try for a moment to imagine a world without language and then a world without mathematics.  Can you say "stone age"???

The writing in this piece is ancient Sanskrit, Cuniform and African Andinkra symbols.  These are some of the (if not THE) oldest "writings" in our recorded history of language.  Without the ability to document and record progress (Inventions, knowledge...) much is lost over time and the wheel then must be re-invented.  The ancient art of story telling is romantic and probably way better for us than television, but, in the end it allows for the "recipe" to change over time thus affecting the outcome...  True to my first sentence I have babelled on!!  Enjoy this piece and enjoy your day...