"Autumnal Farm"

6" x 8", oil  on canvas panel. $150.

October afternoon, full of warm sunshine reflecting off the metal roof of an old barn in the countryside near my home. This is based on a reference photo I took out the window of my car while sitting at a traffic light. I've been wanting to paint this barn scene for years...glad I finally got around to it.

"Valley Forge Cabins"

6" x 6", oil on masonite. $125.

Two log cabins (replicas) at Valley Forge National Historic Park...not far from where I live. I'm about to do a large 30" x 40" version of this scene for a commission.

"Springtime Abundance"

6" x 8", oil on canvas panel. $150.

After painting all the Iris leaves, with all the varying angles and color shades, I now have a new respect for Van Gogh! This took way longer than I thought it would but I am happy that I stuck it out. The surface of the painting has a lot of texture...hard to capture in a photo.

"Tied Cobs"

6" x 8", oil on canvas panel. $150.

Couldn't resist that title! This is based on a reference photo I took at my local farmer's market about a month ago. I abstracted the background and changed the basket, but otherwise it's pretty similar to the photo. I love the way the background color harmonizes with the yellows. So glad I changed that.

"Strouds Nature Preserve"

6" x 8", oil on canvas panel. $125.

This place is all about hills and trees. I definitely need to come back here and do some plein air painting with my new outdoor portable easel! I meant to get out there within the last week or so to catch the peak of the Fall foliage...maybe this week :-)

"Heaven and Earth"

6" x 8", oil on board. $125.

My initial attraction to this scene was the cumulus clouds. This little painting was an exercise to practice painting clouds. It's based on some reference photos I took while hiking at Strouds Nature Preserve in West Chester, PA.

"Wind and Water"

6" x 6", oil on board. SOLD.

A grassy lake inlet on a breezy afternoon. There was something very zen about this location as I was walking around Marsh Creek Lake that provoked me to take a reference photo. I like the feel of motion on the water surface. I think I might do a large version of it on canvas.

"Good Morning"

6" x 6", oil on board.  SOLD

This little painting is based on a reference photo I took at sunrise in Rehoboth, DE. I like it so much I decided to do a large version of it (36" square) that would fit over a fireplace. This time of day for me is the most magical, especially standing on a deserted beach as the water advances and retreats.

The Way Home

6" x 8", oil on canvas panel.  Small painting based on a reference photo I took while hiking at Stroud's Nature Preserve in West Chester, PA. Thanks to that rider for allowing me to photograph her.

"Pumpkin Patch"

18" x 24", oil. Please contact me for pricing.

October is definitely my favorite month, and pumpkins are one of my favorite fruits. Last weekend I was driving through a stretch of countryside about 20 miles from my house that I have never been to before and drove past this large field of miniature pumpkins. It's located on rt 724 just outside Birdsboro, PA. Luckily I had my camera with me and I pulled off, almost into a ditch, to get a few reference shots. I'm so glad I had that camera! I usually do a small sketch or mini painting to experiment with the design and get familiar with the scene before scaling up to a larger canvas but this time I just grabbed an 18x24 I had laying around and dove right in! This design is based on elements from three different photos.

"The Edge", 30" x 40", oil

Two years ago my wife and I decided to travel to Sedona, AZ for our annual vacation. It was the first time either of us had been to a desert. Being from the east coast (suburbs of Philadelphia) I was immediately struck by the peacefulness and largeness of everything. I felt like a visitor to another planet. And like any wide-eyed alien I was eager to capture as many images with my digital camera as I could. I must have taken hundreds. Two years later I'm still finding inspiration in those images for new paintings. So, about a month ago I pulled them out again and found this image of the grand canyon that I had overlooked before, but somehow it jumped out at me this time. I painted a small 6"x8" study to get familiar with it and the experience was magical and effortless...like it had been waiting for me to discover it when I was ready to really see it. I was so happy with the study (which btw, I recently sold at the Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show in Philadelphia!) that I couldn't wait to try a larger version. I had an older 30" x 40" painting that I wasn't happy with in storage and decided to sand it down and prime over it. Two weeks later I was looking at the same image you are looking at right now...it was done! I wonder what else is waiting to be found in that database of photos?

"Seaside Rendezvous"

6" x 6", oil on masonite. SOLD.

Funny how seagulls seem to travel in small gangs. They walk around like they are policing their turf...even strutting. I was taking photos on the beach one morning when one of them (seen here on the right) spotted me and threatened to "bust-up my camera if I didn't move along"...so I moved on.

"Breakfast on the Beach", 12" x 12" x 1.5", oil on "gallery-wrapped" canvas (stapled on back - painted around the sides).

I did a mini version of this before (6"x8"...sold) and like it so much i decided to do a larger version. I was recently asked by a local gallery for some gallery-wrapped pieces (unframed, painted around the sides), so this is the first one I did in that format. I think it turned out great; I'm very happy with it. I usually frame everything for exhibitions but this one really works in the unframed style. It looks contemporary enough to be hung without a frame. I think I'm gonna do a bunch more like this...simple, colorful and contemporary looking. Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in this peice or have any suggestions for future themes or commissions! I love feedback.

"Star Wars" themed violin project

"Battle of Endor" (Moon world of the Ewoks)

"Coruscant" (Imperial home world)

I was invited by a local music school to participate in a charity event to raise money for the student orchestra.  About 20 artists were asked to choose a classical song or composer from a list as inspiration for a hand-painted violin. Each violin will be on display around town for a period of time, then auctioned off at the main event in October. The theme I chose was "Star Wars" by John Williams. I had painted these images before for murals so I was excited to see it on the list and to challenge myself to reproduce them on such a unique medium. Of course I had to make some adjustments and edit them to fit the size and shape, but overall they are very similar to the spirit of the originals that I created for the murals and I must say look even better in this format! I'm very happy with the result and very happy that I'm done ;0)  The sides of the violin are painted straight black and the tuning pegs are the original wood color that came with it. After a few weeks of curing I will apply a layer of satin varnish to protect it and bring out the colors a bit. All of the paint used on this project is acrylic (water-based).

If you have any questions or comments about this project please feel free to email me...I love to hear feedback!
May the force be with you.

Monterey Coast

16" x 20", oil on canvas. My wife and I took a trip last September to Monterey, CA. This painting is based on a bunch of reference photos I took on the 17-mile drive around the perimeter of the penninsula. One of my favorite places on the planet! So peaceful and hypnotic.

Bucket of Sunflowers

11" x 14", oil on canvas. SOLD (but contact me for prints).

Point Lobos Cypress

11"x14", oil on linen, SOLD (but contact me about prints).

Last September my wife and I took a trip out to Monterey, CA. We rented a spicy red 2010 Mustang convertible and drove down PCH (rt 1) to Big Sur. Just south of the charming former artist-colony of Carmel there is a small state park called Point Lobos. We were directed to check it out by a gallery owner in Carmel. What an amazing place...IMO it blew away anything we saw at Big Sur! This is the second in a series of paintings I'm doing based on my reference photos. Please let me know what you think...I love feedback. ;0)

"Sycamore Sunset"

18" x 24", oil on canvas. $1,050 USD

I can't believe this day has come and I'm finished with this painting! At least until I spot something that needs adjusting ;0) It's hard to let it go and say "finished" sometimes, and I've been working on this one for over a week, a few hours a day. I think I'm ready to move on to the next thing. Besides, I'm getting tired of snow. Looking forward to Spring!

Out on a Limb

So, I've been working on this new painting for a week now and I'm at that point where I can't tell if I've gone too far but suspect I might have stepped over that imaginary line a couple of hours ago. It's so hard to tell until you've blown past it to realize you have. I hate that ;0). I wish there was a little art gremlin that could sit on my easel and squirt me with a water-pistol when I've reached that magical and illusive stopping point! The thing is, I chose a hard subject because all of the trees, both foreground and background, are bare. So the question and challenge is to decide how far to go with all the detail of the branches and twigs and blades of grass showing out of the snow? I was really liking my Sycamore tree subject a lot until I started adding smaller branches. At some point it started to become something I didn't expect it to become and wasn't sure if I had ruined the abstract design of it or if i should just keep going. I chose to keep going and now I'm pretty sure it's almost done...just a few minor changes and smudged sections to fix. I decided to walk away for a day or two and start working on my next painting.

If you have any comments or suggestions I'm all ears...and branches ;0)

Study for a new snow scene

"Snowy Sycamore", 6"x8", SOLD.

This is a small study I just finished for larger painting I'm planning. It's based on a couple of photos I took of a large, twisty Sycamore tree ext to a creek (Pickering Creek, Charlestown, PA). I am interested in the colors that the late afternoon light create on the trees and the shadows on the snow. Snow is one of my favorite textures to re-create with paint.

"China Beach, Point Lobos, CA"

12"x 16", oil on masonite. SOLD (but contact me for prints).

In September my wife and I took a trip out to Monterey, CA. While we were wandering around Carmel, CA one day we strolled into an art gallery...one of the many great galleries in Carmel (now one of my favorite towns!)...and we saw a painting of this exact view on the wall by a local artist. I asked the gallery curator where this location was and was told Point Lobos, just south of here..."you must check it out!". So the next day we decided to stop at Point lobos on the way down Pacific Coast Highway 1 to Big Sur National Park. That was the best advice we got the whole trip! I have never seen an area so breathtaking that close up before...and I've traveled quite a bit and been high up in the Alps and Rocky Mnts. There were areas that had "Lord of the Rings" qualities to them, especially when the fog rolled in! Anyway, I made my wife hike the entire length of the trail until the very end (several miles actually) when we finally reached the exact location that was in the painting we saw at the gallery. I snapped a a few photos from this point of view and the from them painted this painting, which I just finished today.

Some color advice for re-painting a room in your home...

“What is the color of happiness?” by John Pompeo

Harness the emotional power of color in your home décor!

Have you ever been to a restaurant or entered a room that you felt really uncomfortable in and you weren’t even sure why? It may have a lot to do with the color scheme. Color affects people emotionally on subconscious levels, and some people are more sensitive to these emotional influences than others. That is why most offices and new construction is painted in “neutral tones”. Most people think that means that the carpet won’t “clash” with the drapes, etc. That is a safe but not very creative way to think about it. Subconsciously, beiges and taupes are emotionally neutral…ie. they don’t have a strong emotional pull in any particular direction and therefore don’t offend anyone. For that same reason they can seem boring in residential décor. Your house is not an office, it is your sanctuary from the world, and is the perfect place to express who you are and how you want a room to “feel” through interior design! One of the most effective ways to do this is through creative use of color. It is one of the most misused and under-utilized elements of design, but can have enormous influence on whether or not a design is successful in communicating the feel and mood that was intended by the designer.

As humans we cannot help but be attracted or repulsed by color. It is sewn into our psyche with the threads of our DNA! It is how early man determined which berries were poisonous or which animals to stay away from. Whether it’s the pinkish blush of a cheek or the orange-glow of the moon, color helps us read and understand our world.

We process color on both an individual level and on a societal level. A color may remind you of something from your childhood or have a very personal meaning to you. Perhaps you have an affinity for the color red and as an adolescent used that color either consciously or unconsciously as a design element in your bedroom. At the same time that color means something to you based on your cultural upbringing and nationality. For example the color red is a strong symbol of luck in Eastern Asian cultures, especially in Chinese culture. As a result it is a major design element in Chinese décor and both interior and exterior architectural design. The same red would be considered too bold to use on every wall of an interior in most western cultures, and is used primarily as an accent color.

You make choices on a daily basis that are influenced by color, from the clothes you wear to the foods you eat to the stores and businesses you patronize. Advertisers and marketers take full advantage of the psychological influence of color on consumers. It is not an accident that McDonald’s restaurants chose the combination of red and yellow. That combination has been shown to stimulate appetite.

If you were trying to describe the color blue to a color-blind person, what adjectives would you use? Lonely? Cold? Pensive? Pure? Marine? Here are some adjectives commonly associated with specific color palettes. It can be very helpful to keep them in mind when choosing paint colors or general color palettes for interior design. These associations are especially useful when decorating a child’s bedroom or playroom as children are more sensitive to color stimulation than adults.

• Lavender: imaginative, fantasy color, romantic

• Purple: spiritual, passionate, visionary, royal, (assoc. with kings), creative, rare (gems, dyes). While many adults dislike it, it is a good color to use in children’s play areas because it stimulates imagination.

• Pink: compassionate (breast cancer ribbons), faithful, feminine, innocent

• Magenta (red-purple): inventive, outrageous, imaginative, creative

• Indigo (blue-purple): knowledge, powerful, integrity

• Light Blue: peaceful, cool, sincere, affectionate, masculine (for babies)

• Turquoise: refreshing, cool, imaginative, tranquil

• Aqua: motivated, active, dynamic, tropic

• Blue: calm, intuitive, intelligent (IBM), trustworthy (ie. uniform, navy), masculine, pensive, cold, pure (Virgin Mary), deep. It suppresses appetite so would not be the best choice for kitchens or dining rooms.

• Green: growth, abundance, vitality, life, earthy, natural, cool, relaxing, restful, serene, organic

• Brown: stable, reliable (UPS), earthy, common

• Orange: happy, successful, courageous, (assoc. with harvest), abundance, cheerful, warm, balance

• Gold: illuminating, wise, wealthy, distinguished

• Yellow: enthusiastic, playful, optimistic, friendly, welcoming (caution: bright yellows can cause anxiety in infants and young children).

• Red: energetic, stimulating, determined, passionate, hot, romantic, bold, lucky (Chinese), (most common color in advertising). It evokes a sense of excitement and can elevate blood pressure and energy levels. It stimulates the appetite and is often used in restaurants and dining room décor.

• Black: sophisticated, elegant, modern, luxurious, formal (tuxedo or black dress)

• White: pure, sterile, cool, modern, clean, angelic or heavenly

Nationality / Ethnic / Regional associations to color:

Red: Chinese, Oriental, Indian, Russian

Yellow/Gold: Egyptian, Roman

Orange/browns: Moroccan, Spanish, Mediterranean

Purple: Indian, Moroccan, Persian

Green + orange: Irish, Scottish, Italian

Blue + white: Greek, Jewish

Pastels: Caribbean, Miami, Bermuda

"Cary's Lighthouse"

16" x 20", oil on masonite. This is one of the rare images that I don't own the copyright to...it belongs to a good friend of mine, Cary Moore. He's a professional photographer and this painting is based a photograph he took of a lighthouse in Maine. He gave me an enlarged print as a gift and in exchange I told him I would do an oil painting of it for him. So, this is the painting as it sits, just finished, on my easel. I found the sky to be the most challenging part!

"Cary's Barn"

9"x12", oil on board, (make me an offer!)

My friend Cary Moore is an excellent and talented photographer. He recently loaned me a B+W print of an old farm that he photographed near Pottstown, PA so that I could use it as inspiration for a painting. I chose colors from my imagination. It was a nice little exercise!