“The White Bridge” - acrylic, 24” x 18”
This is a more contemporary take on a fairly “standard” subject
of ducks in a pond. The rhythmic, abstract design of the bridge’s
reflection in the water truly takes center stage here. The ducks who populate the
scene (a Wood Duck drake on the foreground rock and the Mallard hens on the
water) obviously add to the composition but as supporting players. The star here
is the black and white pattern.
“Taking a Dip” - oil, 27” x 15.5”
This painting depicts an American Dipper in its natural watery habitat. The waterfalls in the
painting are actually some of the LeHardy Rapids in Yellowstone where I have watched and
enjoyed these birds bobbing and “dipping” on numerous occasions. The chance to paint the
complex look of water moving over rocks in a fast moving river was my real challenge in this
oil.
“Lazy Afternoon” - giclée, 15” x 22.25”, 20.5” x 30.5”
Wolves are amazing creatures and favorites of mine to paint.
Wolves spend a good bit of the daytime hours resting.
Hunting and patrolling begins as afternoon blends into
evening. As the waning light of day creates long shadows over the surrounding
terrain, this regal female gray wolf waits for the action yet to come.
“Bouldering” - giclée, 24” x 18”
This coyote is bounding around on boulders strewn across a meadow as late afternoon light
creates a somewhat reddish veil over everything—including the coyote. The touches of
autumnal color further heighten the warm palette in use here.
“No Stone Unturned” - acrylic, 7” x 14”
Because Grizzly Bears are omnivorous (basically opportunistic eaters
enjoying meat, insects, fruit or whatever is at hand), they spend some
of their time turning over rocks to get at the grubs and other insects
underneath. This painting shows just such behavior as a young Grizzly
is turning over boulders to get at whatever tasty morsels (merely
appetizers for such a large mammal) are hidden beneath.
“Barn Dance” - acrylic, 9” x 12”
Poppies are one of my favorite flowers and these Poppies with their almost “stained
glass” quality just begged to be painted. This piece was chosen as one of the top
100 finalists in the Blossom II International Floral Art Competition and Exhibition in
2011. In creating this painting, I was intrigued not only by the colors but the rhythm
of “swirling skirts” and “bobbing heads” which reminded me of a barn dance. I
composed this painting to draw your eyes through the picture like you were looking
at the rising and falling notes on a piece of sheet music.
“Bollenvelden” - oil, 24”x 36”
This is a picture of the Dutch bulb fields. This painting is the first in
a series of paintings done from photos and other research from my
trip in 2013 to the Netherlands and London in the spring. For anyone
who has never been to the Netherlands during bulb season, this is a
small attempt at showing some bulb growing fields behind a small pasture where
sheep were grazing. If only there were a “scratch and sniff” component where the
smell of the hyacinths (the pink and lavender flowers in the field depicted here)
could waft up at you as you viewed the painting. The reds are early tulips and the
yellow and white are narcissus. The sheep and lambs were there in late afternoon
light frolicking and eating grass - totally oblivious to the beauty which surrounds
them.
“Golden Days” - giclée, 8” x 10”
In the late summer/early fall, ripening seed heads of wild sunflowers or black-eyed
susans bring on the goldfinches, among other seed eaters, to partake of the bounty
of the season. The backlit elements bring a great sense of drama to this life-size
presentation.
“Morning at Soda Butte” - giclée, 15” x 30”
The Soda Butte formation in Yellowstone National Park is an unusual light
gray mound of volcanic ash “stone” which overlooks the Lamar Valley. It
lent its name to one of the early reintroduced wolf packs in the Park and
was the general area where I saw my first wolf in the
wild—albeit from a very great distance. This painting
depicts a black variant of the gray wolf clan standing on
Soda Butte overlooking the Lamar Valley in the soft light
of early morning.
“Petal Pushers” - acrylic, 12” x 16”
The water is painted using layers of acrylic gels to create a “faux” encaustic. The
Mallard couple was swimming in a pond at the world famous Keukenhof Gardens in
Holland. These gardens are only open for a few months every year to showcase
bulbs of all types in acres of gardens. When I was there, cherry trees were at their
peak along with millions of bulbous plants, and the petals were strewn all over the
water, hence the genesis of “petal pushers”. The patterns of the petals on the multi-
hued water as the Mallards drifted along just begged to be painted.
“In A Temple Garden” - oil, 32”x 18”
While exploring the Byodo-In Temple on Oahu in Hawaii, I was struck by the slowly gliding
Black Swans and the frantic swirling motion of the Koi as they shared the same area of pond
space—one above and the other underneath. The challenge was to present these divergent
movement styles into a cohesive, well-designed whole.
“The Importance of Being Ernest” - oil, 18” x 10.5”
Ernest the Cat belongs to a good friend of mine in Wyoming. One morning, I had
the good fortune to catch him just “being Ernest” as light flooded him with
beautiful color tones and purple shadows. This painting was a study in purple
and orange. The title refers to the play by Oscar Wilde of a similar name, “The
Importance of Being Earnest”, and pays homage to my friend’s thespian leanings and the
haughtiness that Ernest seems to reflect in this pose.
“On the Move” - oil, 14” x 11”
This Gray Wolf is “moving out” as the low light of late afternoon beckons her into action.
Late afternoon through evening and into the night are when Wolves are the most active
and this painting is reflecting the harsh backlit lighting of that time of day. The bright light
creates staccato patterns over a predominantly dark ground and suggests movement over
the surface while the Wolf “glides” silently below.
“Success!” - oil, 13.5” x 17.5”
The focal point of this painting is really the fallen dead lodgepole
pine with backlight illuminating the remaining clumps of needles like
spots of fire. It is only after spotting the tree that one sees the Coyote in the
foreground. The Coyote seemed a good choice to bring a duller version of the
needle colors to the foreground and the Mourning Dove that it has in its mouth
provides the painting its title.
“June Morning” - oil, 9” x 12”
Roses are an unmistakable sign of June in my garden and this painting pays homage
to that well-known flower. The backlit roses were impossible to resist and the
chickadee perching on the rose completed this spring moment.
This section shows examples of my paintings, giclées, and sculptures, some currently for sale. They accurately reflect the scope of
my work done over many years.
“Red Parasols” - acrylic, 10” x 24”
This vibrant painting pits the complements of red and
green in strong relationship to each other. Shirley poppies are a favorite
of mine and I paint them often. These bright red flowers from my garden
suggested Japanese parasols to me—especially the one “sheltering” the
house wren.
“A New Dawn” - acrylic, 9” x 14”
This painting depicts a fledgling robin perched on a
climbing rose growing on a wrought iron arbor. I was intrigued by the almost
“stained glass” quality of the leaves when backlit by the midday sun and tried to
suggest that luminosity in the leaves. The title comes from the rose which is a
variety called “New Dawn” and refers not only to the rose but to the young bird,
as well, just on the brink of a new life.
“Young and Curious” - oil, 9” x 12”
I was inspired to paint this oil when I saw this young grizzly bear in
strong daylight and a myriad of colors seemed to play across his thick fur. Grizzlies get their
name from their “grizzled” salt-and-pepper coloring where light ends on darker hairs create
beautiful ever changing tones ranging from browns through caramels to golds and silvers.
Even without being wet, grizzly and black bear fur seems to be highly reflective and the light
play from the sky and the reflected light of his surroundings, in this case, created a perfect
subject.
“Morning Stroll” - acrylic and gouache, 9” x 12”
This gray wolf is strolling through grasses in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone in the first
light of dawn. There is a misty silence to that time of day and the wolf seemed content
to traipse through the meadow, pausing now and again to sniff around, and then
continue onward in no apparent rush.
“Black and Blue” - 2 views, 32” x 15” x 6”
This sculpture portrays a male Eastern bluebird on a wrought iron fence. Both the bird
and the fence are fabricated of wood—the bird is basswood and acrylic paint and the
fence is maple with acrylic paint. The “wrought iron” is the “black” and the bluebird
obviously is the” blue”.
“Lookout” - 3 views, 27” x 9” x 6”
This sculpture portrays a male California quail on top of a stalk of yucca. The bird
and the pods are carved out of basswood and painted with acrylic paint and the
stalk is a steel rod. Typical of many birds, it is common to alight on higher
vantage points in their environment to scan the surrounding area. Yucca provides
such a perch in the often brushy, low vegetation world of the quail.
“Duchess” - 3 views, 16” x 11” x 14”
This sculpture represents a scene from my own backyard. A
female sharp-shinned hawk successfully surprised and killed a
red-shafted flicker. The challenge was to create a sculpture
with a seamless blend from the smooth, graceful lines of the
walnut base to the fully rendered hawk at the apex. The
pattern of the underwing of the flicker creates a beautiful
pattern in the intermediate area between the solid natural
wood base, the half-realistic half-natural flicker, and the
realistic basswood and acrylic paint “duchess”.
“Gliding Thru Green” - oil, 13.5”x 18.5”
What inspired me to paint this picture was the little Ruddy Drake floating on the surface
of the green pond. I think Ruddies have interesting “personalities” and they are one of
my favorite ducks, but it was the chance to just play with a design simply presenting the
classic red/green complementary colors in an interesting way that really
drew me to paint this. Believe it or not, this is a clear example of how
amazing and complex water and lightplay can be because this painting
is of the same pond as “The White Bridge” shown below, only from a
different angle and time of day.
“Winter’s Embers” - acrylic, 13” x 20”
In this piece, I was drawn to the beautiful play of light through the backlit
leaves. It was early morning, and the sun from behind almost made the dried
oak leaves look as if they were ablaze - like the embers of a fire. The Blue Jay
was a natural addition to the composition because jays are still present here in
Colorado during that time of winter and he adds the blue element also present
in most fires and a counterpoint to all of the orange at play.
“The Promise of Spring” - acrylic, 12” x 16”
Once again, the Keukenhof ponds in Holland provided the starting place for this
painting where I wanted to present tulip reflections in a new way for me. I wanted
to work with layers of gels and other clear mediums to create interesting depth
and water effects in ways I had not before. The cygnets (young Swans) were the
perfect “fluffy” foil to the water and its reflections.
“Rounding the Bend” - oil, 20” x 16”
This painting is of Mallards in another of the many ponds at Keukenhof in Holland. The
reflections of the 100-year old plus beech trees (some are around 160 years old) and the
myriad of tones and patterns they create was my inspiration for this piece. Bulbs cover
areas all over this park - even covering this small peninsula of land almost to the water’s
edge. The ever present Mallards and Swans cruise along unfazed by the intense colors of
blossoms and the visitors who populate the park coming to view them.