Picking Teams, Summer

Picking Teams, Summer

Oil On Birch panel, 2012, 4.75"x 3.75"x 2.5"

sold

On a day like today where it feels like spring and the sun is shining, although it is still winter, I should feel warm and have a brighter outlook. I don't. So, I thought I'd cheer myself up with a summer painting. I play softball in the summer with a bunch of great characters and people. The first thing that happens besides opening a beer is to pick the teams. We usually play two games, and in this painting the sun is getting low in the sky as the second game is about to be sorted out. I painted this on one of my right angle panels. I enjoy painting on these sculptural forms.

Girders, Rivets, Shadows, Sky

Girders, Rivets, Shadows, Sky


Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"


sold

Todays painting is a close up view of a junction between two steel beams on a railroad truss bridge. The sharpness of the light and the shadows that they made struck me.

Portrait of El Chupacabra

Portrait Of El Chupacabra

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

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Todays painting is a painting of a portrait of El Chupacabra. A legendary bigfoot type creature. El Chupacabra roughly translates as goat sucker. There are some red flowers of some sort here too.

Adobe Wall, Wedding Dress

Adobe Wall, Wedding Dress

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

sold

Todays painting is another portrait of a friend.

White Dress

White Dress

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

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Todays painting is a portrait of a friend. I hope you enjoy it.

Ms. Murphy

Ms. Murphy

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

sold

Todays painting is a portrait of a friend, the beautiful Ms. Murphy.

Trestle Bridge, Shipyard

Trestle Bridge, Shipyard

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

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Todays painting is a bit of a departure for me. I am abstracting things a bit, although there are still some identifiable objects in there. Steel girders, trusses, the back end of a ship. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

House On Fire

House On Fire

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

sold

This is another view of the house in Detroit I saw burn down. The smoke coming off of the building was intense as the fire ate the house from the inside out. Houses all contain their own histories and memories inside them, this one after the rubble is cleared away will have had its history erased, and its too bad. This was one of the last houses on the block, I'm sure the other homes died a similar death. A whole neighborhood burned to the ground, house by house, years apart. Everyone remembers the Great Chicago Fire or the fires that destroyed Atlanta or San Francisco, and Hurricane Katrina that destroyed  a large portion of New Orleans.  No one will remember these Detroit house fires individually even though they have been equally, if not more destructive, and have the nation rally around our community. Its just history lost, without ever making history.

Detroit House Fire

Detroit House Fire

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

sold

A friend and I went out one evening with the intention of shooting some photographs and we came across this house fire in an abandoned house on the east side. It was well under control when we arrived, after following the smoke from a few miles away. This kind of thing is all to common around here and its been gone over ad-nauseam in the press and elsewhere about our cities problems, but when confronted with something like this. I defy any artist to turn and walk away, it is such an amazing, destructive visual spectacle that can only leave you spell bound.

Snowfall, Michigan Morning

Snowfall Michigan Morning

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

sold

I love seeing fresh snow on the road right after sunrise. I perhaps did push the colors here slightly (sarcasm), but when you are traveling and the sun is starting to rise, it usually makes for a memorable day and I wanted to make sure I didn't forget. Although now I only remember this as a yellow sunrise.

House By The Tracks

House By The Tracks

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

sold

This is on Chicago's south side. I lived in a house in Ferndale, Michigan that was very close to the tracks, and the sound of the train horn and the rumbling on the tracks was very soothing, especially at night.

Factory Roof

Factory Roof

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

sold

This daily Urban landscape painting is the roof of an abandoned factory in Gary, Indiana, although it could be anywhere, there are a million of these places in the old industrial mid-west. There is a sadness to some of these old forgotten bits of machinery and the forgotten lives they used to support.

Del-Ray Sunset

Del Ray Sunset

Oil on Birch panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

sold

The painting features a tug boat on the Rouge River inlet right off of the Detroit river with its lights twinkling in the oncoming darkness. The tug had just passed a drawbridge I was standing on when the alarm sounded and the bridge started doing its thing. I felt privileged to be there to witness what I thought was remarkable, but to the workers on the boat and the bridge operator I'm sure it was just business as usual.

Industrial Landscape, Rooftop Shadows

Industrial Landscape Rooftop Shadows

Oil on Birch Panel, 2012, 5"x 5"

sold

This painting is is a view from a rooftop of an abandoned factory. The shadow struck me as well as the duct work or exhaust pipe or whatever it is, I thought it had a lot of character.