"A Grave Situation"

I worked at historic Elmwood Cemetery for three summers. It was a great job that allowed me to be outdoors all day and get paid to do it! It's such a beautiful setting, right in the heart of the city of Detroit. And it has so many great scenes that are definitely paintworthy. Here's one of them. 

"One fish, two fish"

Another stab at goldfish. In this case, they're the stars. I've discovered that some paints/colors have a low opacity. In most cases that's a pain in the butt. However, it was to my advantage when painting the fins of the goldfish. It allowed me to give them a couple of coats, yet let them remain somewhat translucent, just like they really are. Hey, I'm learning!

"Just a lily. Really"

I thought I'd take another crack at flowers. I think the key for me is to keep it simple. Some of my previous attempts had a lot of difficult shading, which I definitely need to work on. This flower was pretty straight forward and I think it turned out okay. 

"Chicago Reflections #1"

When walking around downtowns like Chicago, there's just so much to see. So we don't look up as much as we should. We miss out on all the interesting reflections in the distinctive buildings. This scene  caught my eye when I was in Chicago a month ago. And I think it made an interesting painting as well. 

"Still Life With Mouse Trap"

My wife cut a few branches from a young lilac bush in our backyard and stuck them in a vase. I thought it looked stunning against our living room wall. The color is actually more of a grey with just a hint of neutral green in it. This is as close as I could get. I stuck a mouse trap in the scene to add a bit of humor. If you have any other suggestions of odd combinations for a still life, let me know. 

"Georgia On My Mind"

"Stop!" That's one of the many lessons I'm learning about painting. When I was almost done with this one, I decided to make the right hand side a little more "interesting." So I started adding a line or to here. And some color there. And finally, it was a mess. I thought it might grow in me if I slept on it. However, when I woke up, I knew it looked all wrong so I immediately painted over it plain yellow, like it was before I screwed it up. And the title? A modest reference to Georgia O'Keeffe. Not that my work could ever get close to one of her masterpieces. But I do find her inspiring.  

"2.5 Sunflowers"

This one gave me some trouble. I was almost done with it when I took a good look at it. Somethings just wasn't right. (You're probably saying, something still isn't right) Anyway, the flower on the right had no definition and you couldn't tell which direction it was facing. So I completely redid it and it turned out, well, okay I guess. It really made me appreciate what masters like Van Gogh can do. And I've come to the realization that flowers ain't easy. 

"This Old Factory"

As most everyone knows, Detroit was once one of the manufacturing hubs of the world. Sadly, the auto business isn't what it once was and the city is littered with old, abandoned factories. I've been trying to document them while they're still standing. And this is one of my favorite old buildings. I drive by it a couple times a week and wonder why it hasn't either been torn down, or repurposed. Here's a painting I did of it from a photograph. 

"Two Lips"

For Mother's Day, my older daughter brought a couple bunches of tulips from her boyfriend's moms yard. They were without a doubt the biggest and most intensely-colored tulips I've ever seen. I simply had to paint these. So I took photos of them and started in on a painting. Well, I've never done any painting like this before and it was a tad daunting. The canvas sat in my studio for a couple weeks. Finally I said, "let's do this!" I put several dabs of paint on a pallet and had at it and I think it took me less than an hour to complete. It's kind of refreshing to paint so quickly and spontaneously. I think this may be the start of a series. 

"Once, was a gas station..."

Our fair city of Detroit has large tracts of land that were once viable neighborhoods. I'm sure it'll see a comeback someday. Maybe even in my lifetime. In the meantime, it's fun to drive around and document the current state of what I like to call, "The Detroit Prairies." This abandoned gas station was across the street from a beautiful, shuttered Catholic church and a block from the shed of an old farmer's market.  I can just picture a couple of old geezers, sitting on milk crates, shootin' the breeze in front of this business. Who knows? It might be repurposed as a candy store or something.