Portrait of my Boys 16x20 Oil Stretched

My three kids, William, Steven, and David. I had a lot of fun painting this one. It was for their grandmother for Christmas. I plan on doing more portraits in the future as they get older!!

St Thomas Island Sunset 9x12 Oil Stretched

A friend of mine from high school had moved down to the caribbean and had taken this photo of St Thomas Island at sunset for me to paint. I enjoyed doing this one quite a bit as I remembered when I had visited this island. My fiance has already found a place in our house for it to go!

Central California Coastal 6x8 Oil

Here is a coastal painting of a beach in northern/central california. It depicts a hillside with some bushes, a distant lighthouse barely visible, and some cold currents, and surf. Had a lot of fun doing this one.

Christmas Holly's 6x8 Oil

Finally got back to painting again. And I can't be happier. With Tis The Season around the corner I thought what better subject matter than a christmas holly!

Picacho Peak Diesel 9x12 Oil

This was painted from a photo taken last year from inside the car on the freeway going 75mph. Ironically with the fast shutter you were actually able to count the lugnuts on the diesel especially since the resolution on the digital camera was so high. Anywho I painted this because it had a sense of urgency feeling, a feeling of going somewhere and as we didn't get to take our big family trip this year I could atleast paint a trip.

Caribbean Coast 8x10 round canvas

This is from St Thomas of the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. I did a 7 day carnival cruise down there visiting 6 islands in 2000. I'm pretty happy with this one. I'm not however happy with the photo of it. My beach sand is actually much lighter than turned out and in the photo it looks like the sand and chairs are blending together which bugs the crap out of me. I believe I got a good value experiment out of this. I've been practicing lately with my value contrasts

Sycamore Sunset 9x12 Oil

Yet more paintings of sycamore trees again in Harshaw, AZ. These were painting from photo's taken back in early February. My kids enjoyed the afternoon running around this old campsite my parents used to take me to. It was nearing sunset and the yellows were starting to show on the ground while blue was still in the sky. I was lucky enough to have a clear day being that we were down here the week before and it was blanketed in snow.

No Tresspassing 8x10 Oil

A large tree hang over a barbwire fence surrounding the property of a ranch in Harshaw, AZ. I rather enjoy this tree and you can see a winter leafless version of it further down.

Dirt Road 8x10 Oil

Sycamore tree in Patagonia, Arizona about a few miles north of Mexico. It was a beautiful warm summer day and the dirt road looks to go on forever. However it was a busy weekend as most of the camping sites were taken up by campers for Memorial Weekend.

Lincoln Park Atrium 8x10 Oil

Bridge accrossed Aturbery Wash in the Lincoln Park Atrium Loop in Tucson, AZ.

Arizona Sycamore 5x7 Oil

This painting was from a photo reference of an arizona sycamore tree in Harshaw, AZ. It depicts the base of the tree behind a fire-pit where my family camped each year in the Patagonia Mtns when I was a kid. This was taken in August in the middle of monsoon season and I had never seen it that green before. Usually when camping it was fall, winter, spring before foliage returned. I plan to make it back down there soon to paint more sycamores plein air. until then i will continue to work off of my photo references that I have taken. Once my kids resume school again I will be able to get outside again and paint, until then Studio work for me. I hope you all enjoy this one and you can look forward to more sycamore tree's in a series from me soon! Thanks.

Autumn Cottonwood, Oil 4x6 on Masonite

I hadn't painted in a while and had planned on doing a whole autumn/winter series of paintings before christmas. Life gets in the way sometimes. This is of a Cottonwood in the autumn, and is one of three in my backyard. Though it isn't my favorite type of tree, I thought the colors were nice. The leaves on mine have since changed and fallen, and we have actually had some major snowfall in the desert recently. This is from a photo I took in November and painted in my studio between layers on my portraits of my kids for the grandparents. Note: Portrait update coming soon!!

Fellowship of the Ring 8x10 Oil

In part of my "Themed" paintings this one comes from Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring. Everyones seen the silhouette of this and I thought it would be nice to capture it on canvas. You see in the painting the Fellowship (from right to left, Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, Pippen, Boromir, Sam with Bill the Pony, and Aragorn), walking in front of a bright misty background with snowcaped mountains in the background.

Auction at Z Mansion Tucson

This new painting of the convento is an Oil 9x12. It will be auctioned off for charity on Tuesday October 17th at the Z Mansion in Tucson, AZ. I had the oppourtunity to meet with Doug Gann this past week who is the man behind the redesign of this complex for the Rio Nuevo Project. He asked to come visit the auction to see the painting sell.

Patagonia Tree 12x16 Oil on Board

A giant Sycamore Tree in the Patagonia Mountains, Arizona. This is from Winter of 2006. I painted this one for my mother and never got around to finishing it until this weekend. I went back to the mountains after Monsoon rains had turned the entire area green including this tree. It was remarkable how different it looked.

Some Paintings I did for my Kids.

A few years ago I did a ton of acrylic paintings of Winnie the Pooh characters for my two boys William and David. Now, with our third, Steven being almost 3 months old now, I'm about to begin on some new ones this time in oil.

24x30 Acrylic on Stretched Canvas. This one features Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit, Piglet, and Kessie. It was originally taken from the cover to the movie Pooh's Grand Adventure and then I took an artistic liscense and added Kessie and changed other areas.

Acrylic 8x10 on Stretched Canvas. Tigger Pounced on Pooh.

9x12 Acrylic on Stretched Canvas. Tigger bouncing with Roo in Tree.

9x12 Acrylic on Stretched Canvas. Tigger bouncing and Pooh getting hunny pots down for a party.

Halo 2 Master Chief 9x12 Oil Step by Step

In this third update, I have added the gold reflective face mask and shading to the underside of the visor. The gloves and SMG guns have also been painted. In the next phase the helmet and areas of upper torso will begin to be painted.
Decided to get some painting in today. So in the start of the laying system I began with just the background and boulder at bottom. Once dry I'll begin several layers for the actual character!!


Here is a preview of a painting to come. It's the Master Chief from Halo and Halo 2! This is just the sketch on the canvas board to show where my values will be laid. I will first begin with a monochrome underpainting and then work up from there. Not sure if I'll add a background or do a marbled look to the back. I've been wanting to paint the Chief for a while now. It took several hours today to get him all sketched out and his shading in place. It's modeled after teh cover to the Xbox game. And to show enthusiasm towards to soon to be released Halo 3 on the Xbox 360. It's on Canvas Wrapped Tempered Board 9x12. I will begin painting it sometime late next week. Click to Enlarge.

Saguaro Cactus and Creosotte Bush 5x7 Oil on Board

I have here a Saguaro Cactus and Creosotte Bush (which smells like rain) behind a fence. I'm a little more happier with this one. I'm still trying to learn the eroded dirt aspect of painting. Maybe doing a thinned out underpainting and use thin paint for it. Sometimes straight from the tube ends up giving me more mud than anything. I hope that I have achieved a slightly better understanding of the contrasting of colors. I feel I have learned a little more with this one. Hope you all enjoy!!!

Saguaro Nat'l Park Sunset 16x20 Oil on Stretched Canvas

Here is the Saguaro National Park East at sunset. This was done around 8:00pm in early July. Part of Twin Hills is seen in the distance.

Sailboat and lighthouse 16x20 Oil on Stretched Canvas

Here is a sailboat sailing by a small lighthouse.