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Daydreaming

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Daydreaming invites you to lie back and look up—right from the tangled base of a blooming cherry blossom. The perspective flips the traditional view of flowering trees, pulling you into the roots and letting the blossoms bloom upward like thoughts rising through a spring-warmed mind. Painted in layered acrylics with thick impasto texture and scattered … Read more

Meth Jesus

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Some commissions come with a story, but Meth Jesus came with a myth. A reenactment group, JR/IR-459 — equal parts World War One history buffs and long-lunch legends—frequented a no-name café somewhere on the edge of Pennsylvania obscurity. Above the counter, watching over greasy burgers and chipped mugs of coffee, was a portrait of Jesus. … Read more

Seymour

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A close-up painting of Seymour, the sea turtle from the product line "Seymour," shows him swimming gracefully underwater. Seymour's content expression is highlighted by his large, expressive eyes and meticulously detailed scales on his flippers and head. The background features a vibrant blue, enhancing the sense of depth and creating an engaging oceanic environment.

I painted this at the Fernandina Beach Shrimp Festival while dressed as the Pink Pantser (a pirate wearing pink for breast cancer awareness). It’s my first acrylic / canvas painting in a long time.

William Thatch, Chief Conservator of Oceanic Insight Magazine.

San Fernandina, FL,

“Seymour,” an intriguing work of art, captures the playful essence of sea life through the eyes of a seasoned naturalist and art critic. I find this painting to be a delightful confluence of accurate biological representation and whimsical artistic interpretation.

The artist has skillfully employed a palette that resonates with the vibrant hues of the ocean, lending the work an almost tangible quality of life beneath the waves. The choice of colors is both true to the natural appearance of the sea turtle and enhanced for artistic effect, creating a compelling visual narrative. The turtle’s gaze is rendered with a gentle anthropomorphism that invites viewers to consider the creature’s perspective, a subtle nudge towards empathy for marine life.

The composition, while simple, is effective in its focus on the turtle’s face, drawing attention to the details in the eyes and the patterns on the shell. These elements are depicted with a degree of stylization that does not detract from the overall naturalistic approach but adds a touch of charm and character to the subject.

“Seymour” thus stands at the crossroads of art and science, a testament to the power of painting to both represent and interpret the natural world. It’s an exemplary piece that showcases the artist’s ability to communicate the wonder of marine creatures while also engaging an audience in the broader conversation about ocean conservation.

Lost Mews-ing

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Channeling the Black Dog today, which is why this subject is dark.

The #painting is heavily influenced by two things: #Strangerthings the TV show (also #Strangerthings2) & H.P. #Lovecraft. I’m calling it ‘Lost #Mews-ings’ (after the #cat in the show)… at least until I pick a different title.

It’s not my best work, because a lot is lost between what I envision in my head and what appears on the canvas. I’m also using a Monet reference model again. Why? Monet is awesome, and I don’t have my pose-able figurines yet. They should be here after Christmas. Someday I should actually sketch these things out, then paint, but that’s part of the fun – brain to canvas.

Also, this started as a challenge to paint a flashlight beam. I don’t know if I achieved that. I’ll let you tell me.

#art #acrylic #horror #scifi #tentacle

The Calm Before the Heresy

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“The Calm Before the Heresy.” 18×24 #acrylic #painting on #canvas. $300 if interested, which is, mmm, $0.70 per square inch, plus $20 shipping CONUS. That’s a great deal. Prices are sure to shoot up the moment I’m discovered 🙂


I had the idea a couple weeks back, but it really wanted out of my head today. It’s part of my ramp up to #Halloween, the season of #magic – where the boundaries between our world and the #supernatural are at their weakest. 
The setting is #Colonial #America, or Europe, suit yourself (as Marty Feldman used to say). A man, walking through the woods, comes upon a scene of #occult #witchcraft, or worship as the old religions call it. You get the rest, burnings, hangings, people succumbing to their basest instincts.

The Watcher

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My favorite time of the year is here, Fall/Halloween. I’ve geared up the darker art to celebrate. This one I call “the Watcher”. I love gargoyles, so I painted one. The bushes are a combination of fantasy and berries I encounter on my daily walks. 

Techniques used include spray paint, acrylic paint, brushwork, finger-painting,  and the use of these styrofoam balls one can find in a craft store.

I wanted to do rain, but you can’t have a full moon in view with rain falling, apparently. I wanted to keep that accuracy.

Nature Rocks

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I may add some highlights to the Roses, but I’m bored, and as Rey found out when turning over her scavenged goods on Jakku, what was worth four rations yesterday, is only worth 1/2 today.

About the painting:

The idea stems from an audial affair I had with an old friend, Concrete Blonde. Concrete Blonde, for those wondering, is an 80’s band fronted by still smoking hot bassist Johnette Napolitano. Her gothic voice, driving rythym, and intense lyrics sucked me right back in as I was navigating my music collection.  

I was listening to the song ‘Caroline’ a lot, especially on my many recent road trips. One day, curious, I pulled up the video…

…And I sort of became inspired. So, the rocker in the painting is Johnette, although I’m horrible at 1:1 realism, and she’s wearing the dress from the video. I took artistic license with the guitar, sue me.  Here’s a still:


The roses? The song ‘Caroline’ is from the album ‘Bloodlettng’, which is chock full of roses. It’s been remastered for its 20th anniversary, by the way:


So that is the story. I guess you could call it fan art? Really, it’s stream of consciousness painting to good music. 

As for the title? Nature does rock. It fits and I’m a fan.

Parity Lost

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A surreal painting titled "Parity Lost" features a blue-skinned figure with dark wings kneeling and gazing into a large vessel. A woman with curly hair peers out from the vessel, swathed in pink fabric and surrounded by trailing vines. Abstract pink clouds form the ethereal background.

“Everyone knew the war would one day end. It had raged for eons since Lucifer decided he would rather own his house than pay rent. The sides of light and darkness had fought themselves to a standstill. “If only God’s pets could see the ethereal ruin that lay in between their Starbucks and obsession with the Kardashians,” most angels mused to themselves as the conflict went on.   

What no one expected, was for the war to end today. No one foresaw that the strongest of the Angels would exercise her free will, just as Lucifer had at the beginning of time. She had grown weary of the routine, the constant pressure of vigilance, of maintaining the balance, and had decided to do something about it. She would become what God loved most – human.
As her wings relented under the blade, tremors shook the ethereal, summoning Lucifer to her side. He loved her, this angel, his greatest threat. He had held her in greater esteem than those braggarts Michael and Gabriel. She, who had fought him to an aeons-long standstill, had earned his respect, and worse, corrupted the purity of his hate with love, however selfish.

She had chosen to become mortal, a contemptible, imperfect, creature that had what all angels desired. Now, the balance had shifted. He had loathed the favorites of God, he had achieved self-actualization through his torment of them – and now she was one of them! Could he go on destroying them? His heart sank at the only conclusion he could reach. The war was over.”

Aurora 

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A vibrant painting depicts a night sky filled with green and white splashes resembling stars, nebulas, and hints of an aurora. Below, a forest of leafless trees is rendered in dark red hues, creating a striking contrast against the illuminated, cosmic background.

Like most of my paintings, this one started off in another direction. I tend to go where my artistic Muse takes me, so planning is the first thing out the window. 

I started playing around on the canvas and eventually ended up with this. The scene in the painting is ostensibly a forest under the night sky, in abstract form, of course.  I named it ‘Aurora’ because it reminded me of a bucket list item, seeing the Aurora Borealis. 


A variety of techniques went into the creation of the artwork. I assume they have proper names in the art world, but I used a combination of wet canvas / color bleed, spatter (as the result of playing air-drummer while my favorite music was on), and using black gesso to fill in the branches.

Overall, I’m going with a win for the rescue of the painting. 18×24, acrylic on canvas, April 30, 2017.

Eater of Worlds

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An abstract painting featuring a large, blue face with a wide-open mouth, from which a trail extends. Figures walk on the trail towards the eater of worlds. Red and pink flowers surround the scene. The background is filled with swirling blue, green, and yellow patterns.

This painting is about #depression.  I could waste words trying to be eloquent about it but depression is a soul-killing illness that people joke about but don’t really understand or think is a real illness (as recently observed at work).  The flowering trees represent the beauty of the world, the ladies on promenade humanity, and the force in the background? Churchill’s ‘black dog’, that force which is the destroyer of worlds.

I was inspired by Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream,’ although I did not borrow from this great artist per se.  What more is there? This is an #acrylic #painting on canvas. 18 x 24. Available.

In other news, I’ve planned it out, I should have a studio by December 2018.  I’m working for the man to pay off my divorce debt, so that is why it will take a minute to get set up. All my fans will be invited to stop in and share a glass of wine.  However, I won’t know you’re a fan unless you say something 😉

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God Bless!

Blessed Be!

Alhamdulillah!

Sukhi Hotu!

Have a great day!

Postscript: Apparently a major social media company isn’t impressed with art or maybe is anti-depression. Regardless, my promotion was canceled. They (the company) would not say exactly why, save that it didn’t meet with their guidelines. 

This is the first post since I’ve been doing this that has been rejected. So if someone complained that it wasn’t happy enough, thank you! Depression is a serious topic. Maybe my art is nouveau-degenerate, but then again, art is supposed to make a statement.

Here’s the cryptic messages they sent.

Flight of the Raven

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A vibrant painting depicts a large, luminous moon surrounded by colorful clouds against a pink and orange sky. In the foreground, a dark blue bird with bright, reflective eyes appears to gaze toward the moon, an enchanting moment in the Flight of the Raven, framed by abstract, swirling shapes and colors.

My first finger-painting since the third grade.  I’ve always wondered how effective it would be. The answer? For a guy with big fingers, I can’t get any detail.  I’m going back to brushes for the next one, but it was fun to ‘roll around in the mud’, if you will, and stretch my wings.

As I’ve said, no brush touched this canvas.  It looks like it, right? The story, a raven soars in the evening sky, trees below and a gibbous moon riding high in the sky, illuminating it’s coat as it searches for a throne upon which to perch… or something like that.

Acrylic finger-painting on canvas (good thing its not the Middle Ages, where this stuff was not cheap). Comments welcome, I have mostly thick-skin 🙂

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Portrait of a Chicken: Still Life of Captivity

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An abstract painting titled "Portrait of a Chicken: Still Life of Captivity" depicts a bird's face, possibly a rooster, surrounded by vibrant, feather-like strokes in shades of red, orange, yellow, and white radiating outward like a sunburst. The bird's eyes, beak, and head are prominently featured in the center.

I’ve become bored with it, so I’m moving on. This painting evokes the confinement all beings find themselves in, hence the reds. The chicken represents humanity shackeled by our desires, and the eyes seek to capture the emotions connected with the human condition.

Acrylic on canvas painting 14″ x 18″.