Tricity : 2024-04

Tricity

22 April 2026

Acrylic on canvas

16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

FOR SALE

I had a canvas that was originally a face but that was frustrating and had sat for over three months. Instead, I felt like making another cityscape. I had concept of That City in mind when I started. It's funny how different paintings can turn out even if you have the same concept. I think the city portion turned out very well. The sky is darker than That City, which might detract from the contrast of the skyline. However, I like that I stayed with the odd beige/yellow behind the cloud formation. It was good practice at not over painting or over fretting the details. This was a blank canvas so the title sits on its own. Tricity follows the line of That City and Second City.

A gif showing progress...of the original idea. Sat for over three months, then morphed in one day.

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Deadlight : 2024-04

Deadlight

21 April 2026

Acrylic on polycotton canvas

16 x 12 in (40.6 x 30.5 cm)

FOR SALE

I wanted to paint something with bold strokes and colors we may not always see. It took the shape of a well-fortified building, maybe a chapel, so I went with it. Thinking more along the lines of a chapel, I gave the left side some hefty windows with light and/or reflections to match. I like the simplicity and it was a good exercise in avoiding over-controlling details and using bolder strokes. The title comes from a nautical term. The repurposed canvas had a picture of shutters. 'Shutters' is somewhat of a boring title so I used deadlight. A deadlight is a strong shutter or plate fitted to a cabin window or porthole to prevent water entering during a storm. Deadlights also serve to prevent light being emitted from a ship.

The canvas had a pretty good wrap so I continued the painting into a gallery wrap.

There are no stage pics - I just painted it. However, here you can see the original of the title.

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Angel Sabre : 2024-04

I flew an Angel Flight with Bob and it was a great event. We did some practice approaches on the way to McCook - more technically, McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport. Names like that strike me a polite nod but completely impractical. It will always (to me) be "McCook traffic". I had never walked around at McCook. In fact, I think I'd only been on the ground once even though it's on the way when I visit home. There was an F-86 Sabre out front (above left) so I had to take a picture. It was in "lizard" paint which you don't see often. It was in pretty bad shape. The sign reminded me that McCook is the capital of the Great Lakes of Nebraska. The Great Lakes of Nebraska are primarily man-made with Lake McConaughy, or "Big Mac", being the largest. The plane we used was Goldilocks, a wonderful A36. She's pictured above before a lot of modifications (including paint) when she was known as Coppertop. It was a great day and the patients were quite grateful.

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Verbs : 2026-04

Verbs

18 April 2026

Acrylic on hardboard

19 x 12 in (48.3 x 30.5 cm)

FOR SALE

I had painted Economy for a call for art at an airport. It wasn't accepted but I liked the cube portion of it so I wanted to continue that flow. I got rid of the cylindrical shapes at the bottom and multiplied the cubes. I really like the background and earth tones. The other nice thing about this is the texture. It has a very subtle bumpy surface. You can see it best in the left corner shot below. It's called Verbs because Economy is no longer relevant and it was painted over a list of verbs.

Pictures showing it on the wall and in it's gallery wrap - about one inch deep.

The original wall art - hence verbs, and Economy as submitted to another contest.

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Laundry : 2026-04

Laundry

17 April 2026

Acrylic on hardboard

14 x 11 in (35.6 x 27.9 cm)

FOR SALE

I had this 'old' sign for laundry service and I finally got to painting over it. It was a nice, solid surface. A bit small, but nice and true. I painted this during a call for art titled "Dreamscapes". I like the moon and I like skies. As the gif shows below, it was originally just a moon and sky. I added some funky clouds to make it more of a dreamscape. The building was on a lark, but it makes a good contrast with the moon. I didn't enter this - instead I entered. Ecclesia (post hasn't been made), Cordillera and Suture.

The original laundry sign and a gif showing progress. Looking back, I can't believe a month had passed.

This is about 3/4 inch deep so I made it into a museum/gallery wrap.

The dirt is gallery wrapped but the sky is a black museum wrap.

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Cordillera : 2026-04

Cordillera

09 April 2026

Acrylic on polycotton canvas

20 x 16 in (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

FOR SALE

I was watching videos of amazing pictures of space. Space can be very inspiring. I love how this painting turned out. It's called Cordillera because I painted over some wall art of mountains. Cordillera is a Spanish word, which means "mountain range," "chain," or "ridge". You can see the original cordillera below and one stage shot. I only took one because I was pretty into the flow and was digging how it was taking shape.

The original wall art on the left and the only progress picture I took.

This frame was holding another picture but I thought it was a great match.

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Pozzo : 2026-04

Pozzo

07 April 2026

Acrylic on hardboard

41 x 34 in (104.1 x 86.4 cm)

This was painted for an contest where you pick one of several in-town organizations and paint something that would capture what that organization is and does. The artworks must incorporate themes unique to selected cultural organization(s), including but not limited to performances, events, people, architecture, exhibits, art forms, or spaces, including abstract interpretations etc. This is for one of them but I will not list that organization before the contest is over. Pozzo is Italian for well - water well not state of being. The frame came with a picture that had a handpump water well and the title also sounds like 'pose'. Dancing can bring out things that might otherwise remain deep inside. It can be the well which lets expression flow freely. Love the title. It may be for sale in the future.

This painting really when through some changes but just three shots don't really show that. The concept (and first image) were to be similar to Ekster Dance. I think I retained that feeling but the main figure became much smoother. The background dancers are very Eskter-sih.

Pozzo is currently in this frame.

A shot of the print in the frame and inspiration for the title.

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Peanuts and Payload : 2026-03

(L) Payload, 16 x 20 in, acrylic on polycotton canvas, 16 March 2026

(C) Peanuts, 16 x 20 in, acrylic on hardboard, 16 March 2026

(R) Economy, 11.75 x 18.75 in, acrylic on hardboard, 20 March 2026

I painted these for an art call at the Colorado Springs Airport - Art at COS.

This exhibition is INFLIGHT DINING - In Consideration of the Airline Meal.

Payload and Peanuts were accepted. I wanted to do an abstract - Economy - but jurors either like something or they don't. I guess Peanuts is somewhat abstract. I painted over APR, but the truth is, it was painted for this exhibit. I just stopped before adding the peanuts for another, unrelated exhibit - Patterns. Funny enough, none of my submissions were accepted into Patterns. The idea with the shapes (or credit cards) was paying for everything - to almost include peanuts. For Payload, I like jets in the sky and this one is dropping peanuts - pretty simple. I'm not posting these in the Store, but they are for sale.

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Blaffer Art Museum : 2026-03

     DIANA WERTS, Distant Hills: Summer 1, 2, 4, 5

2023, oil on panel

I had an unexpected layover in Houston and had some time. The closest art museum was the Blaffer Art Museum which seemed to be in the buildings of University of Houston School of Art. It's always open and free to the public. In this case, I was pretty happy it was free since the lower floor was closed for an installation. Here are some things that caught my attention...

Above are closeups from the arrangement of four at the top of the page. These are Distant Hills: Summer 1 and Distant Hills: Summer 4. I liked the undefined strokes and how they add a sense of motion to the fields and trees.

JAMES DEAN PRUNER, Moonlight Night Over Cleveland Ohio, oil on canvas. If you click the link of his name, it's interesting how it ends. He disappeared in December 1987 and his body was found in April 1988 - dying at 36 or 37 years old.

MATTHEW REGIER, Compline VIII, 2024 and Compline IX, 2024

Monotype

I thought the colors and contrast were great. The impact of the overall simplicity was very nice. Below are two more of REGIER's pieces. On the left is Look Down, 2022 and Field Study 6, 2022. I can appreciate these - if for nothing else - for the amount of work involved.

Two more pieces from DIANA WERTS.

(L) Rattlesnake Master, 2016 and (R) Indian Pink, 2016, both acrylic on linen.

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