Gallery

Stark and dramatic, like an oasis in the saltgrass marsh, Alys Beach is a town of dreams in the Florida panhandle. If you can't find peace here, you never will.

When you get to Utah, hang a left to Moab and Arches National Park. Drive the loop and see the sights, but don't skip the hike out to see delicate arch, perhaps the most stunning natural rock formation ever.

Chosen as the Top 100 of the Paint the National Parks Competition, 2006

The last light of the day over lake Pend O'rielle in Idaho brings the floatplanes in to harbor at the floating restaurant for a spectacular sunset view. It also brings the other winged residents into roost for the night.

A still-life of my favorite instruments, lit by the setting sun and a blue-violet neon sign, Jazz in Blues is as much a tribute to jazz musicians as it is an experiment with complicated lighting. As usual, I'm drawn to the reflective qualities of the subject, but also to the vivid colors available in this lighting scheme. Close observation will reveal my watercolor palette underneath the saxophone. My intent was to recreate visually the audible inspirations of the music still playing in my head.

Best of Show at the Keystone National 2008 Juried Works on Paper Exhibition in Pennsylvania, 2008

Agnes Bossu Pirnat Memorial Award from the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, 2007

Jack Richeson Award/ Creative Catalyst from the Kentucky Watercolor Society's Aqueous USA, 2007

Second in watercolor from the Disney Festival of the Masters, 2007

Silver Award at Southern Watercolor Society, 2008

Searching for sunset is one of my favorite pastimes. In all my travels I am constantly aware of the position of the sun and always seeking the perfect place to witness it’s magical color shift at the end of the day. This sunset was on Orcas Island in the straights of San Juan de Fucca, off the coast of Northern Washington. We spent an amazing day exploring Orcas Island, settling on a jetty at the end of the local airport runway. Every twenty minutes the same biplane would take off with a new passenger for a quick aerial tour of the island. Every time the plane would land, a defiant seagull would leave his perch on the channel marker and race the plane as if in competition for supremacy of the airspace.

Best of Show, 2010 Missouri Watercolor Invitational

Three months before the 9/11 attacks I was touring NYC by helicopter for a bird's eye view. I took great photos of the Twin Towers up close, but was emotionally distressed by the images after 9/11. My tribute to the former skyline of Manhattan seemed more respectful from a distance, showing the scale of the buildings, but only if you want to see them.

Sunsets seem to punctuate the special events in my life. While they are as regular as clockwork, each one is a surprise. I couldn't possibly witness too many sunsets and I believe each one is a gift to be cherished.

Sunset in San Diego is a regular celebration by those on the water. All activity slows to witness the spectacle in the sky, reminding us all that every day can be magical.

The sidewalk became my subject one evening in the city. There is little detail in this painting that would indicate a particular place, yet somehow it feels like NY.

Selected for NWS, 2009

Most people find their true calling late in life. Mine found me early and has been an ever-present obsession since. As an artist I am a collector of objects. I study them, form attachments to them and study how they affect other objects. This obsession I have to collect and organize creates conflict between my inner neat freak and my outer slob. I engage in a Spring-cleaning ritual annually but am frequently distracted by the inspiration I find in the piles that accumulate. There exists a certain beauty in randomness and chaos that I cannot ignore.

Winner of the Winsor & Newton Award from the National Watercolor Society, 2007

Merit award winner from the Louisiana Watercolor Society's 37th Annual International Exhibition, 2007

Winner of the Morrison Family Memorial Award from the 27th Annual Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors, 2007

Winner of the Missouri Artist Award from the 2009 Missouri Watercolor National

Small still-lifes have always appealed to me. Combining a few objects to observe their relationships and explore their potential for inspiration is a passion I enjoy sharing with my workshop students as well. Most lessons about painting in watercolor can be taught in a small piece like this. I also enjoy the mystery created when combining unrelated objects. Some questions are answered, but more questions are created.

Most travelers have great appreciation for things foreign to their own world. More than studying the architecture, I enjoy studying other people gazing up it in wonder. I found the contrast between the cathedral and the pilgrim most fascinating.

Frank Webb Award fom Audubon Artists 65th Annual National Exhibition, 2007

I was working on the drawing for this painting the day that Pope John Paul II passed away. The news footage repeatedly showed tributes to the Pope from St Patrick's cathedral in New York, the very building I was drawing. I included the dove in my composition as my own Tribute, but also fondly recall watching the Pope once release a white dove that flew right back in the window where he was standing. The dove was named Pax, meaning peace. He was the father of a flock of 21 white doves that I hand-raised in the 90's.

International Watercolor Masters Invitational, China

Silver Medal, Southern Watercolor, 2007

Semifinalist, American Artist's 70th Anniversary Competition, 2007

Utrecht Award, Keystone National, 2007

Honorable Mention, Taos National, 2008

Some of the simplest compositions can be the trickiest to paint in watercolor. When you pull it off, it looks easy. When you don’t, it can look disastrously overworked very quickly. To truly experience this painting, you have to see it in person. Some things just defy accurate photography.

Just prior to Hurricane Katrina ravaging the city of New Orleans I led a workshop tour through the French Quarter at night. We stopped at the display windows of the Fleur de Paris, a vintage hat shop well known for evoking memories of a different era. I challenged my workshop students to create a visual story in paint based on these windows. The plan was to get together again and show our various interpretations, but the hurricanes interrupted our experiment. Many of the local artists lost their homes and studios and were now scattered around the country. Somehow this idea never lost traction despite all of the chaos, and eventually images from each artist came together.

Winner of the Morrison Family Memorial Award from the 26th Annual Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors 2007

Winner of the MOWS Members Award from the Missouri Watercolor National Exhibition 2007

Winner of the Canson Award from Watercolor West 2007

Around every corner along the Oregon coast you’ll find a magnificent view. I have passed this seastack a half dozen times in the wrong light. On this evening I caught it with an incredible sunset that just could not go unpainted.

Created as a design for a floor mosaic, this painting represents the beauty of the landscape around Fayette, Missouri. If you find yourself in Fayette, walk around the town square and look in the shop windows to the south of the courthouse and you'll see the large mosaic based on this painting.

I imagine every artist has a recurring image stuck in their head. This is mine. I have always drawn eyes and have been drawn to eyes. I see landscapes emerge from the familiar shapes and my imagination falls into the depths within. At times my art is a combination of observation and imagination, but once in a blue moon the imagination must be unleashed to run free.

Deep in the heart of Shanghai's glass and steel skyscrapers you can still find the charm of spectacularly detailed ancient Chinese architecture. In this city of 24 million people I almost never found myself entirely alone. Early morning was my only opportunity to paint this place without the crush of people that fill these streets every day.

Lit by colorful neon, this tangle of overhead highways in Shanghai makes for an intriguing composition at night. I loved the color and flow of the industrial design, but it wasn't complete without the introduction of a tiny human presence to indicate the grand scale of this place.

Homer, Alaska is as far as one can drive in America. It is well known as the end of the road. It's a long drive that ends at a bar named the Salty Dog. If you make it that far, you probably owe yourself a visit and a drink while you watch the sunset. Most visitors don't make the marathon drive up the Al-Can highway, instead hopping into Homer by bush plane, the most popular and practical transportation in the wilds of Alaska.

To paint in the footsteps of a great artist is a thrill. Painting in Monet's Gardens is all but impossible with crowds, weather, and bugs, but persistence pays off occasionally. Just as the fall colors began to illuminate the gardens, I got my workshop in to paint for the day. We had a combination of sun and rain, but it is a day none of us will ever forget.

Winner of the Missouri Artist Award, Missouri Watercolor National, 2011

At midnight in downtown Denver, a carriage horse named Storm gave my new family their first carriage ride. The textures and abstract shapes of this composition intrigued me, and the memories it captured are priceless.

Looking for good sushi in a strange city is always an adventure. I'm usually disappointed because I've been spoiled by the best sushi at Jina Yoo's in Columbia. Nothing yet had measured up, but I keep trying. Hong Kong is a city surrounded by water and shares space with some friendly wildlife. Even the birds are out late in search of sushi occasionally.

Dappled light and the greens of summer illuminate this still life from behind, warming the glass and igniting the imagination. My eyes follow the path of the light bouncing between objects, defining their contours and creating patterns in their shadows. Discovering the subtle details and tinkering with reality make this subject a constant and favorite challenge for me.

Rising out of the quicksand, Mont St Michel appears to be an unapproachable fortress. It is however, a monastery that welcomes visitors. Personally I find it more interesting from a distance. It forms a wonderfully out-of-place silhouette against the Normandy sky.

I believe there are angels amongst us, softly guiding us through life with kind words or even a smile. You may never know who they are and I doubt you could recognize them by their appearance. I've always thought it best to treat everyone as a potential angel, to look for the kindness within. Maybe you are someone's angel? It couldn't hurt to try.

Hiding in the reflections of the houseboats in Sausalito there are a variety of wading birds that energize the still morning water with each step. They come in search of food, yet feed my inspiration.