Girdle : 2026-07

Girdle

04 July 2026

Acrylic on wood

20 x 14 in (50.8 x 35.6 cm)

FOR SALE

This was the third painting to join Hideout and Snipe for a call for art (mentioned in Snipe). There are entry fees for most exhibitions which generates revenue for the museum and I tend to look at it as paid advertising. Sales would just be butter. I receive plenty of rejections so that's paid non-advertising. Some calls - like this one - will allow up to X number of paintings for a set fee. Typically, you can submit more for a higher price. This call the fee didn't change until four paintings so to take advantage of the fee, I wanted to submit three. This is somewhat of a belted kingfisher so I called him Girdle. Belt felt a little too generic.

A gif showing some of the stages. I liked all the backgrounds but in the end, I thought the gray gave the best contrast to the cattails, the bird and the foliage. The last foliage change was pretty significant. I liked it because it was getting too busy. About two days passed in this gif. The longest part is assembling the surface. Girdle is painted on the remainders of frames. The frames - such as the one holding Snipe - require a rabbet to be cut. If you make two cuts (verses one really wide one) you get little boards which are nice wood (typically radiata or Monterey pine) but a difficult size to use. I simply splice them together and then trim to size - this is about 34 of those 'little boards'.

The frame currently holding Girdle. It's a fabricated woodgrain with a

reddish cherry/walnut appearance. I think the color works well.

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Breach : 2026-07

Breach

02 July 2026

Acrylic on wood

8 x 8 in (20.3 x 20.3 cm)

FOR SALE

This was my first painting of July 2026. It was also intended for "Tiny but Mighty" (see Rabbet for more info). I had a sky which was very difficult to follow and/or discern from anything else but maybe the terrain. I'd also done Sandy and I didn't want to repeat a skyscape/landscape. I also wanted to be more abstract. There is on show in the gif with an exploded shell. I liked it but I don't think it'd be juried into a show. On that note, I should probably stop using that as a litmus test. I can just paint another painting. The biggest thing I struggled with were colors. I think I ended up in the right spot, and losing the halo was also prudent. The title comes from that space of time when it was an artillery shell. Trench immediately came to mine for trench warfare but Breach makes a similar connection and better serves the painting. 

This gif covers about eight days and you can see the grabbling I did with colors.

There is no frame currently holding Breach, but it will likely be a wooden museum wrap.

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Sandy : 2026-06

Sandy

30 June 2026

Acrylic on wood

8 x 8 in (20.3 x 20.3 cm)

FOR SALE

This was another painting for "Tiny but Mighty" (see Rabbet for more info). I didn't really have an idea so I went with what something I love - big skies and dominate clouds. In retrospect, the sunburst versions might have worked - especially the second one - but it didn't grab my attention as much as I though it would when I took a step back. Before painting over the original sky (second and third shots in the gif below), I sanded the painting. I thought it gave a cool texture to the terrain. It also gave this painting its title.

This "stage" gif shows some versions and about five days had passed.

There is no frame currently holding Sandy, but it will likely be a wooden museum wrap.

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Growler : 2026-06

Growler

29 June 2026

Acrylic on canvas

20 x 16 in (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

FOR SALE

I had watched nature show recently about the oceans. I also had a black canvas open so I thought I'd try a moonlit glacier with strong reflections. I have loved Caspar David Friedrich's The Sea of Ice since the first time I've seen it so glaciers are often in my mind. I also love his The Abbey in the Oakwood and Monastery Cemetery in Snow but those are unrelated. Monastery was destroyed but I was fortunate to see The Abbey. As you can see in the gif below, I struggled with the glacier and its colors quite a bit. I love the water and reflections almost from the get-go. Black frames are hard to photograph (as you can also see in the gif). I was going to cover some of the moon with clouds, but the Moon is cool so I left it bare. The title is an actual term. Growlers are small fragments of glacially derived ice that has broken off an iceberg or glacier.

A gif showing the process/stages - about 17 days had passed.

There is no frame currently holding Growler, but it will be similar to Nottetorre.

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Rabbet : 2026-06

Rabbet

24 June 2026

Acrylic on wood

8 x 8 in (20.3 x 20.3 cm)

FOR SALE

This was painted with the intention of submitting it to a call for art in Norfolk titled "Tiny but Mighty". I had some smaller works, but this call's limit is only 8 inches max on any side. I started with an abstract background but then thought a crow perched on what was otherwise just a line would bring the flatness to life. The title is a little involved. When I make frames and cut the recesses to hold the canvas, there are several pieces of small, but good wood remaining. I don't like throwing them away so I spliced them together and made this board. Yes, I'm saving the earth. Those cuts on the frame are often called rabbets. And since it sounds like rabbit, it might make people doubletake.

There is no frame currently holding Rabbet, but it will likely be a wooden museum wrap.

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Snipe : 2026-06

Snipe

23 June 2026

Acrylic on canvas

20 x 16 in (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

FOR SALE

This is somewhat of a follow on to Hideout, and there was a call for art titled "Flowing & Flying: Waterbirds & Waterscapes" for which I thought this could be a contender. I like how the bird turned out, but I think I could have stayed with thinner foliage (like in the third shot of the gif below). I do think the addition of some blooms was a nice touch. Birds are fun to paint since you can kind of make them up. This "snipe" is made up - kind of like a snipe hunt, but on that note, snipes are real. He looks elusive.

A gif showing the progress. It covers about a day and a half.

This is the frame currently holding Snipe - I made it with Radiata or Monterey pine.

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Monster Bob : 2026-06

Monster Bob

22 June 2026

Acrylic on hardboard

18 x 14 in (45.7 x 35.6 cm)

Donated to Manitou Springs Elementary and the Manitou Monster Project

This is the third monster I've done for the Manitou Springs Elementary school and the Manitou Monster Project in conjunction with Manitou Art Center. The first was Monster in 2023 and Mud Monster in 2025 - they skipped 2024. You can read more about the project in the Monster post. when we're given the monster, they original art work is accompanied with some details about the monster. This year's questions/answers were; My monster likes: Red, My monster feels: soft and My monster eats: bananas. This year, it was also named, Monster's Name: Bob. If I remember correctly, they previous monsters weren't named. I appreciated the name. I went with a lot of red - because Bob likes red. Added a few more bananas but tried to keep Bob as close to Bob as possible. Since he feels soft, I fluffed up his body a little bit. At 18x14, this is the largest Monster I've painted.

Above left, the original Monster Bob (artist unknown) and a gif showing some of the steps.

I had a frame which is neutral enough to not distract from the painting.

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Hideout : 2026-06

Hideout

18 June 2026

Acrylic on canvas

20 x 16 in (50.8 x 40.6 cm)

FOR SALE

I don't have any progress shots, but this sat at least a month with the predominant green stripes. I'd recently seen one of many forests by Max Ernst. He's made several - dozens across four decades. I saw The Forest (1923) in Philly and more recently Age of Forests (1926) in Buffalo. I think that was in the back of my mind when I laid down the green. Along the way, I saw a little bird emerge and realized he was using the things in front (they can be whatever you see) to hide behind. So, that was the end of the painting. It kind of manifested itself thought several layers. Hideout has no 'secret' meaning, it just seemed appropriate, and I do like one-word titles.

This is the frame currently holding Hideout - I made it with Radiata or Monterey pine.

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Ritorno :

Ritorno

16 June 2026

Acrylic on canvas

20 x 24 in (50.8 x 60.9 cm)

FOR SALE

This was another painting for the MANY HAPPY RETURNS theme in the local airport. You can read more about it in Dodecaluna. This one zooms in on Pikes Peak and brings in bolder strokes. It was fun to paint with the looser strokes and less detail. The sky took some extra work as I used a blue that doesn't cover very well, but I think that complimented the overall relaxed feel. The most part that took the most attention was the jet and the contrails. I think the addition of the aircraft ties in nicely to many happy returns.

I painted this rather quickly and only took a couple shots. It was a paint-over of Sabre Two.

I liked the original clouds, but they were a bit too spiney/wing-like.

This is the frame currently holding Ritorno. It was the same frame holding Sabre Two,

but the green is so much better with this painting. Remember, most frames can be removed.

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