"Mission: Fishin'"

Once a year, our community would hold a "Fishing Rodeo" where kids would try to catch the biggest and most fish and win lame prizes. It was basically an excuse to get sunburned and eat a lot of crappy food. As I recall, Lake St. Clair was pretty well depleted of fish when I was growing up, so almost nobody caught anything. But it still was something to look forward to every summer. This scene is really a view of our park, even though the actual event took place at a neighboring lakeside park. 

"Hockey Night in GP"

As a kid, my dad used to flood the backyard and build an ice rink for us. Then all the neighborhood kids would come over and we'd play hockey until the wee hours of the night. Nah! I just made that up. I think my dad might have done that once. Growing up we had figure skates, even though we wanted hockey skates. And I don't really recall ever having any actual hockey equipment or sticks. But in my ideal world, this is what winter would have looked like. Maybe in my next incarnation. 

"Still Life With Power Tool"

I'd never really done a still life before and decided to attempt one. But what could I add that would be just slightly out of place? I had recently caught a mouse in a mousetrap, but that was already in the trash can, decomposing. So that was out of the question. How about some wrenches? Nah. Then it dawned on me while foraging around the tool area in our basement. The ol' Craftsman electric drill! Bingo! I think it compliments the oranges in the fruit bowl nicely. What do you think?

"Hyde Park Hijinks"

When I decided to start painting again after a several year hiatus, I wasn't sure where to begin. As luck would have it, I found a sketch I had done years ago in my box of paints. So I based my first new painting on it and this is the result. Aside from the cricket players, this could be any park in the world. But London is one of my favorite cities, hence the title. This painting is from the beginning of March of this year.

"Super Bowl"

I've always enjoyed Henri Matisse's goldfish bowl paintings and thought I should take a stab at one. But first I needed some goldfish. So I went out and bought four of the little suckers for 40 cents. Well,  after spending $30 on a bowl and other supplies, I had my goldfish. This is a scene from my studio, which has the most amazing light all day long. The style is definitely more impressionistic than anything I've done before. One thing I've noticed is, goldfish sure crap a lot!

"Belle Isle Giant"

So I headed down to Belle Isle on a Sunday afternoon thinking I'd spend a few hours doing some quality sketching. I totally forgot it was Easter Sunday and it's a huge Detroit tradition to go to the conservatory and check out the Easter displays. So I took a few snaps and headed home to address to commence painting at a later date. This is the result. The colors in the photograph don't do the painting justice. Not bragging or anything, it's just that you need to see this one in the flesh to appreciate it. 

"Rivard Rakes"

This is a scene of me and my bros raking up leaves in the fall. My dad would usually dump a gallon or two of gasoline on the pile and light it on fire. Then this huge fireball would shoot up through the trees. I'm surprised the massive elm tree never caught fire! Truth be told, we would usually put off raking the leaves until the first snowfall. Then my dad would scream bloody murder for us to get out there and rake them up. And the three of us would be cursing under our breaths the whole time. Oh, what fond memories! 

Sanders

Just about everyone in the Detroit area of a certain age has fond memories of the venerable Sanders. There was one about 5 blocks away from my house growing up. Sitting at the beautiful marble counter was truly something special. Absolutely the best malted milks on the planet! And I had a great aunt who worked at a Sanders back in the day, and she claims to have met Fred Sanders, which I have a hard time believing. But my first advertising boss, Jefe, knew one of the Sanders heirs. And she was adamant about the pronunciation of her family name. It's SAND-ers. Not SAUND-ers. I did this painting from some archival photos, and from photos of the building which is still in use in the Village in GP. 

Brooklyn Greengrocer

While in New York recently to see the "Freda" show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, we roamed around for a bit looking for a cuppa. We found a newer coffee shop of the hipster ilk and stopped for a cup. Typical, the coffee was fine until it cooled off a bit. Then it was virtually undrinkable. As we were siting there looking out the window, I noticed this quant greengrocer across the street. It looked like the perfect subject for a painting. This is the perfect example of the types of businesses that are being lost due to the gentrification of our cities. I decided to leave off the address on the awning because as it's been pointed out by someone much wiser than me, when you include numbers or words in a painting, that's what the eye is immediately drawn to. In this case, I didn't want that to be a distraction, and just let the subject speak for itself. 

"Slots of Fun"

This is a scene from my youth. We had this dingy basement and a rec. room that we called "The Recked Room". My brothers and I set up a slot car track on our ping pong table and we would spend countless hours after school racing. Ah, the joys of youth. Homework? What homework? 

Thames Embankment

I was in London in October, 2018 and had a free morning. I took the opportunity to stroll along the south side of the Thames Embankment. The river was at low tide which allowed me to walk along the shore. It was unusually quiet and peaceful, and I just sat there and soaked up the sites and sketched this most remarkable view. 

"Skywood"

The first painting I've done in at least 20 years. Not sure why I stopped exactly, but maybe because I just didn't have any paintings in me. I seem to be making up for lost time. I did this one from a sketch I did in the fall of 2018. To me, it just represents serenity. A nice place to rest and contemplate the world. 

One of my recent paintings

I recently saw the movie "Krisha" on Netflix and this was a scene from the film. I froze the movie on my laptop and took a photo of it. I thought the composition was striking. This is a painting I did from the photo. I took quite a bit of liberties with the night sky, but I think it's more dramatic the way I interpreted it.