Blog

I will begin a wonderful experience on Saturday May 18 when Cyndy and I travel to Beijing China to join with 10 artists from around the world. Eugen Chisnicean, Ian McManus, Chan Dissanayake, Antonia Giacomin, Ron Stocke, Andy Evanson, Konstantin Sterkov, Olga Litvinenko and Dongfeng Li. We will be participating in events in Beijing, Youyu County, and Qingdao. Look forward to more as we make our trip across many time-zones. A 14-hour flight from Dallas to Beijing.

I was thrilled that a great watercolor artist, Lauren McCracken, selected my painting called Janet to receive the Best of Show honors at the Lake Granbury Art Association juried show. This painting is really titled "Homage to Janet" because I painted it after meeting Janet Rogers. Janet paints her portraits with more white space and air than I typically do, but after winning this award, I might need to do more like this.

Lake Granbury Art Assoc. Fall Festival of Art- "Best in Show", $1000 Inge Foundation Award- "Janet" Watercolor on Arches 300# HP

My painting called "The Veil Has Been Torn" is the winner of the Lehmann Memorial Award at the 2014 Transparent Watercolor Society of America 38th Annual Exhibition. My thanks to the jurors--Janet and Steve Rogers.

This painting was completed late last year with hopes it would make to the award stage at one of the national shows. A young lady named Chloe was the model for this and I worked on it over a long period of time. I should say, I looked at it over a long period of time. Much of the painting had been completed and I liked the way it was going so I hesitated to add anything that it didn't need. I feel I had the right amount of restraint. 

This is my most recent completed figurative work.
The Veil Has Been Torn
14 x 20 Watercolor on Arches 300 lb HP

I just completede my workshop for 19 people at the Visual Art Society of Texas in Denton, TX. It was a large group but very engaged and excited to learn. Again, we worked on painting figurative works in watercolor (with a few other exercises thrown in) and they all had fun, improved and I believe enjoyed the three days. During my workshops I show high-speed video demonstrations to allow the students to experience several different paintings being created. During my workshops I include one main live demo, and then on the final day do a demonstration using one of the students as the subject. I have included it here.

We saw this young Gyspsy girl standing at the gate to an old fort high above the city of Izmir in western Turkey. There was a colorful group selling wares and weaving.

I was thrilled to have three paintings accepted into the 2013 New Mexico Watercolor Society Fall Show. It was especially meaningful for me since Ted Nuttall was the juror. I respect him immensely and his figurative work is exceptional and a real motivator for me when I started doing more figurative work.

I am thrilled that my watercolor, Lace and Grace was accepted into the 2013 National Watercolor Society Exhibition.
My painting is one of 84 accepted into the prestigious internationally acclaimed show and will hang along side some of the most widely recognized watercolor artists painting today. Thanks to the jurors...

Many have asked who the beautiful model was for this painting, and I am pleased that it is my lovely wife of nearly 40 years, Cyndy.

Another from my trip to the ranch. This is on the Arches Oil paper and it was fun to get a sense of how the paint takes to the paper in such a unique way. Different than canvas or gesso panel. Since I paint a lot of watercolors, the feel is fairly familiar.
Path to the Barn
Oil 8x10 on Arches paper