Upcoming Work

​For many years I honed my skills as an artist photographing & painting wildlife and my attention to detail during this time developed my personal techniques. However, despite my skills in artistic realism, I began to enjoy working in a much freer, semi-abstract style with the big skies. I believe this approach allows me to capture the essence of a place in a way a photorealistic representation can't. I still love birds and animals and without all that previous work I'd not be painting how I do now.  I don't work from references for my scenes, other than maybe a quick glance at a photo before I begin... I prefer to paint these intuitively. My inspiration is from the many wide open spaces I've explored over my lifetime. It feels much more natural to me now as an artist to paint skyscapes and land in the style I do, although at times I have an internal struggle to go back to old ways of painting every detail, but that's just habit I guess.  It's hard not to place a bird or animal in these scenes, but I hold back, as I want the viewer to visualize what they may wish to see in a scene, as well as just feel whatever mood the scene makes them feel without distractions.  

All that being said, I have a large painting on the horizon I'll be doing soon, and for this one, I'll be painting my favorite bird as a portrait in the foreground, with a little sky behind her.  Ollie has a specific marking – a heart on a feather – and I recently acquired this picture of her which shows the heart in all its glory.  I felt it fitting if I were going to work on a bird in pastel, it be this bird, with her specific marking.  Of course I'll have to work in more detail again to accomplish this, but she has given me so much joy over the last nine years, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate it!  It will be a large painting, to go in a huge frame I "rescued" recently.  Because of the size, and because of the amount of work this one will entail – and because this is "my bird" -- the original will probably be priced far out of range for most people.  But that's ok, as there will be prints available for those who may enjoy her painting.  Stay tuned, if all goes well and I get the painting completed in time, it will be revealed at an event I'll be attending in May. :)