Portrait of Prince

Charcoal on paper, 12"x9"

I'm missing Prince on his birthday...and actually every day since he moved on to the afterlife. I am so grateful that my time on earth coincided with the life of this great artist. Even though Prince didn't celebrate birthdays I remember and celebrate the dazzling creativity and beauty he brought to the world. 

Portrait of Alicia - sold

Oil on canvasboard, 7"x5"

It was a fun challenge painting a portrait study from this unusual angle while keeping things loose. One of the things I love about painting faces, capturing expressions and moods.

Portrait of a Red Haired Girl - sold

Oil on hardboard panel, 10"x8"

Playing with color again. The starting point for this painting was an old black and white photo so that left a lot of room for invention. I'm not sure where the red hair came from but she seemed to want to be a redhead and it was fun to paint. Perhaps with St. Patrick's day around the corner Irish types were on my mind.

Portrait of a Girl in Pink - sold

Oil on harboard panel, 7"x5"

Experimenting with mood, expression and color combinations. Trying to create a completely new painting frequently is quite a challenge but I love when I find it taking me in different directions.

Portrait of a Young Man - sold

Oil on Canvas 12"x9"

A portrait of a young man painted in a classical realist style. This man reminded me of a Caravaggio figure with his intense gaze. 

Bid in the eBay auction

Young Man Sleeping - sold

Oil on Canvas 8"x10"

Focusing on small moments is one of the joys of painting. Capturing the light falling across a face, enhancing the feeling of a scene with well chosen brushstrokes. A photo can freeze a point in time but painting breathes a special kind of life into it. Or at least that's the goal...you can also paint something to death. Finding that delicate balance where I've achieved my vision without pushing over the edge into a labored abyss is sweet.

Girl in a Cloche Hat - sold

Oil on Hardboard Panel, 10"x8"

There's a haunting blend of heartbreak and strength in this girl's expression that I love. In this painting I played with a combination of rough strokes in the background and soft, painterly brushwork in the outfit contrasting with sharper focus on her features.

Sargent Study: Olimpio Fusco - sold

Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas, 10"x8"

I believe in learning from the best and John Singer Sargent is one of the great masters of portrait and figurative work. This is a study with a twist; the original portrait was a drawing but I used oil on canvas based on what I imagined a Sargent oil study of this model would look like. A fun exercise and it really made me think about Sargent's flesh palette and brushwork.

Portrait of a 1920s Girl - sold

Oil on Canvas 10"x8"

Portraits are an obsession of mine. I love faces. There seemed to be something especially expressive about faces from the twenties and thirties, both in film and still photographs. This young woman puts me in mind of a heroine from a Fitzgerald novel.