"Tigrrr Lily"

We have several beds of Tiger Lillies. What's funny to me is when our oldest daughter was born, I bought and planted several different colors of lilies in our garden, Well, Tiger lilies or day lilies are a dominant gene and eventually they cross bred with the other lilies. Now we only have Tiger lilies. Oh well, I meant well! The actual flower is a bit more on the orange side, but I think this one works okay too. 

"Sidewalk Selfie"

While waiting in line to enter Trader Joe's, I noticed my shadow next to a beautiful bed of lilies and thought it might make an interesting painting. So I snapped a quick pic and this is the end result. Ya just never know where an image might pop up. 

"Oranges are the New Orange"

Just about everything looks great on our place granite counter. Add some oranges and a bowl of exotic grape tomatoes, and what's not to like? I love doing paintings like this. Trying to think of some unusual combinations of fruits and vegetables. Suggestions welcome! 

"Shady Character"

Late afternoon in a local park. I loved the long shadows the tree produced. Thought it'd make a nice, simple painting. I used a bunch of different greens for the grass, and just sort of smudged them with white and yellow. Not sure if it worked or not. But, it's done. 

"Kodak Signet 80"

I like the clean lines of this Kodak camera. Not sure when it was made, but I'm guessing late 60s or early 70s. I decided it needed a cheery background, so this is a kitchen towel my oldest daughter bought my wife for Mother's Day. I think it contrasts nicely with the plain B&W camera. 

"A house by the side of the road..."

This is a scene in ur backyard. Our peonies were in bloom--which lasts about 3 or 4 days, and I thought it might make a decent painting. Here ya go! 

"Koi Toys"

I know these fish look fake, but those are their real colors. I noticed them this spring at the pond at the Belle Isle Conservatory. Not sure I captured the underwater effect on a couple of the fish, but hey, I'm just learning! Not an easy effect to achieve. 

"Fern. Golly!"

While crossing a bridge on a recent hike, I looked down and saw this magnificent fern leaf. It had filtered sunlight on it and the plants below it were in deep shade. I loved the simplicity of the scene. Not sure if my painting does it justice, but hey, I tried. 

"Slovak Home, Alone"

Found this sad building in an area known as Poletown in Detroit. The whole area was decimated when GM decided to build a factory there. All the homes were bought up on the cheap and the residents had to relocate. Now, 20 years later, GM decided to close the plant. This elegant building is one of the few remnants of the Eastern European community that once thrived there. The roof has collapsed and I'm sure it'll be torn down in the next year or two. 

"Commander"

Talk about products of the 60's! What a great time for cameras. This is one of my new "virtual" camera paintings. I found the camera image on the interwebs. And I pretty much made up the background, although it was inspired be something I'd seen recently. 

"Fade to Black"

Just about everything looks dramatic against the backdrop of a black granite countertop. And the Alstroemeria is no exception They're one of the most beautiful and striking plants. Unfortunately they seem to drop all their petals in about two days. Here I've captured one in the middle of "the big fade". 

"Alstro What?"

The Alstroemeria is a plant that truly amazes me. It comes in so many intense colors it's ridiculous. This painting is only 11 x 14 but I think I may start doing closeups of flowers a lot larger. 

"Imperial Satellite"

Okay, I admit, I cheated. This is an image I found on the interwebs. As I may have mentioned, I can't afford to buy every camera I want to paint. So I'm getting creative in looking for sources of camera images. I'm combining these with fabrics I own and fabric samples I find on line. There are some pretty unusual cameras out there, so look for these in the months to come. 

"The Great Hairdryer in the Sky"

I love looking at the sky, whether it's during the day noticing the clouds, or at night observing the celestial bodies. About a week ago I spotted this unusual formation in the early evening. The sky was totally clear except for this weird grouping that really did look like a hairdryer. It only appeared for about ten minutes, then it dissipated and totally disappeared. Gotta love nature! 

"Zeiss Ikon Voigtlander"

There's a story behind this camera. Way back when, when I was in high school, we took a family trip to Spain. My father put me in charge of taking pics of our trip and he lent me his camera. At one point, I put the camera down and walked away from it. Within a minute I realized I had left the camera, but by the time I went back to get it, it had been stolen. I felt so guilty, but I never told my dad, and he never asked about it. Recently I found one on Ebay, and my bid of $10 won. So all these years later, I now own a Zeiss Ikon Voigtlander!