Hungarian Doors

This painting is from my Hungarian Series.  This was a home in Budapest.  In previous paintings of doors or windows I had removed wires, signs, etc.  I was discussing a painting by Andrew Wyeth with my wife, Maura.  Wyeth painted an electrical junction box that was beautiful.  So Maura dared me to paint this image with all the wires and signs.

This is a garage in the country side of Hungary near Balatonfred.  The color was so great I had to paint it!  I modified the composition using Divine proportion.

Middle Eastern Series

The Alhambra in Spain.  There are an incredible number of columns in this painting.  The reflections on the floor came out really well.

This is probably my most recognizable painting: Moroccan Sunshine.  I painted many versions of this image to get it just right.  This watercolor painting is 24 x 36 inches.

This is from Turkey.  Jim Kelly took the photo on a trip.  I modified it a lot.  The title is Face in Ruins.

Swan Fountain is also in Turkey.  This is a watercolor painting with pencil on top.

These paintings are from a series I painted in the late 1990s.

Church Series

This painting is from Budapest.  The ground in Hungary is white clay.  This creates a great effect in the light so that the sky appears more pink than we are used to. 

Cathedral Light.  This is from a German church.  I painted almost seven versions of this before I thought it was perfect. 

This is St. Stephen's Cathedral in Budapest.  The painting is titled St. Stephen's Shadow.  I thought the city looked like the sea and the dome of the church looked like a rock rising out of the sea.  I painted the sketch for this painting as the sun set in Budapest.  I completed this painting in my studio on my return. 

This painting is titled Krakow Convent.  My mother took a photo of this church during the day.  I turned it into a night time image and added the figure.  This is one of my all time favorite paintings.  I love the figure and the small light in the upstairs window. 

This church is called, The Church of the 14 Saints.  It is located in Germany near Bamberg.  The sunset and the statues on the top are wonderful. 

Paris and French Country

Arc de Triomphe at night. 

The Louvre

The Louvre at Night.

French cottage.

French hay stack.  This could be in North Carolina, but it is French hay!

French Cottage at Dusk.


For the past three years this blog has been devoted mostly to figure drawing.  However, I realized that my other series of paintings were not available to see on the web.  So for the next few posts I am going to put up paintings from series I have done in the past.  This post has paintings from Paris and the french countryside.  After looking at these paintings I want to make reservations to fly to Paris right now!  All of the above are watercolor paintings. 

Gallery Crawl Tonight

Two of my sketches for the Weight figure drawing series were juried into the Charlotte Art League Spring Show.  The show opening is tonight from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at the Art League in Southend.  The drawing above is one of the sketches to be judged into the show.  See you tonight!

Portrait of Allen with Salamander

This is a painting of my son Allen when he was about 4.  At a Camp Cheerio alumni reunion, a salamander jumped onto Allen while we were on a hike.  As you can see it was bright orange with black spots.  Allen was so excited to have a new friend drop in that he kept the salamander on his shirt for about an hour while we walked. 

This is a watercolor painting.  I am really pleased with the way the shirt and whistle came out.  I am less pleased with the background.  I don't paint many portraits.  I think other people are so much better at portraits than I am, but every now and then I am moved to paint one.  My son growing up and becoming an eagle scout caused me to paint him at a younger age.  Nostalgia I guess. 

Sketching on MLK Day

I began this sketch with a very detailed drawing first.  This is unusual, I usually just do an outline in pencil then move to the color pencil sketch.  I like the mad expression on the models face.  I think that the pencil sketch has a better expression than the color pencil sketch. 

Step 1.  The eye brows were important on this one, so I spent a lot of time in the early stages on them. 

Step 2. 

The necklace in the final color pencil sketch looks like metal links, but it began as a twine rope necklace.