The Blue Pitcher

This is a painting I just finished entitled "The Blue Pitcher", size 18"x24", oil on linen on board. The picture took a very long time to paint, more than three months of work and involved quite a lot of glazing, especially in the dark sections. These dark passages I found took three or more thin layers of ivory black, ultramarine blue, and other dark colors to capture.
Originally, the painting was intended to try to show different paper textures. The blue pitcher was thrown in to add color.

Here are a few thumbnail sketches I did in the beginning, right after setting up the still-life:

two older portrait paintings

I am finishing up a still-life painting right now (which I look forward to posting) but I thought I would post a couple of portrait commissions from 2006. In the first piece, "Stacey and Riley", I was very interested in the formal concepts of composition, specifically the dominant element, subdominant element, subordinant elements, and accents. The woman in the painting would be the dominant element, the child the subdominant, the arm of the sofa an example of a subordinate element, and the flower petals and the polka-dots on the girl's dress accents. I think about these concepts on every painting I do. The painting of my grandfather "Big Jack", below, was originally intended as a demonstration piece. Both pieces are life-size.

Carpeaux cast drawing

This is a charcoal cast drawing I did a few years ago. The cast is by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875), one of the greatest French sculptors. This bust is part of a group called "Four Parts of the World Sustaining the Globe" which can be viewed in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.

new portrait

This is a compositional drawing for a new portrait commission I am starting. It is life-size, and is a follow-up to an older painting I posted earlier. Once the drawing is finished, I photocopy it and transfer it to a canvas that I construct to the same size. It is 37"x27":

old paintings/drawings

I found some images of some pieces I did in 2002 when I was just out of art school. I thought I might post them:


this was one of my favorite portrait drawings


a copy of one of my favorite paintings "Girl with a Red Hat" by Vermeer on cardboard. I painted it the exact size of the original.


a pencil drawing of an ominous-looking doll.


a painting of the interior of my first studio in New London


a small painting based on the last scene in Romeo and Juliet. I hope to do some Shakespeare-themed paintings in the future.


a sketch of a real skeleton done in the library of Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio.

two old still-lifes

These are a couple of old still-lifes (2003-04) that were stored away for years and I just looked at them again the other day. The above one was painted with just lead white, yellow ochre, vermillion, and ivory black. This was great practice as it forces one to create form and the illusion of color with a minimum of pigments. Now I use about 20 colors.

drawing/still-life class

This is a preparatory drawing done for my still-life class at LAA. The still-life will have good color, and I hope to post progress on it.