Love, Power, And Pizza
Thumbnails Of Paintings On This Page Including The Ideas That Inspired The Compositions
Orange Orlando
When depicting a story from the Bible and placing it in Florida, Adam and Eve’s story needed to be adjusted to suit its new setting. In this version, Eve asks for an orange from Adam instead of offering a bite of an apple.
The painting’s frame has side panels with painted jigsaw-cut wood oranges and leaves over oxidized copper panels. Also, flat rounds of abalone shells make up the top and bottom designs.
Ciel
Oil on woven fiberglass over board 60″x60″
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The painting was originally commissioned for the ceiling over Tom and Barb Clifton’s hot tub, but it was installed over their dining room table when completed. It features a portrait of Tom and Barb and is a testament to their love. They were a remarkable couple who worked hard and embraced life to the fullest. When we first met, Tom was a bail bondsman, while Barb worked as a framer. What set them apart was their profound appreciation for the arts. They were not just supporters but fervent champions of dance and opera, serving as patrons for the artistic community and leaving an indelible mark on it. Additionally, Tom had a passion for sculpting jewelry, primarily in gold. His dedication to the bail business was palpable, and he reveled in pursuing individuals who had skipped bail.
Tom and Barb’s trust in me extended beyond our personal interactions. They entrusted me with multiple painting commissions, each a testament to our shared experiences and the depth of our relationship. One such commission featured a group of their friends on a gambling trip to the Bahamas. We all traveled to Freeport, and I crafted a portrait of the group gathered around a craps table. This painting and the others held a special place in their hearts as it encapsulated a particular moment and the essence of their friendships and shared experiences.
Dancing in the Dark
A couple is on the terrace, dancing in the sunset. Each searching for love in a world of their own.
Our Lady Of The Checkout
The newspaper flyer reports the great anniversary sale. The store is a showplace. Cashiers are dressed for the event and the display of cantloupes is destined to win an award. The action has stopped at the pricise moment that Our Lady’s rendezvous with commerce is proving the display’s merits.
The conflict between the baroque composition and the classical order of the store hints at our own conflict as we balance routine with the unusual and eztraordinary in oout lives.
The frame is a gilded collage of over $350.00 worth of merchandise coupons-real money that can be saved by our wise shopper
Suzanna And The Lawn Service
42″x52″ including 6″ frame, oil on linen over wood.
Each epoc has it own tenets of beauty, and bodies seem to have changed as much as dress in the past five hundred years. Susannah of the Apocrypha, with the aid of liposuction, has come up against the scrutiny of some curious hedge trimmers that may test her morals a bit more that the elders of Jacopo’s that she turned away.
The Bacchanal Of the Woodstockers
The late nineteen-sixties and the flower children brought a bacchanal that far eclipsed any from Greek mythology. The God Bacchus, armed with new elixirs of intoxication, put on a musical celebration among wet sleeping bags and umbrellas.
The painting records the event of Woodstock. The treatment owes a debt to Giorgione’s “Fete Champêtre” ” life and the stories of two of the models, who were Woodstock veterans, one of whom is blowing bubbles into the stained glass frame.
Shenandoah On A Syrian Poof
Description Of Painting
Description Of Frame
Shenandoah, a beautiful model, was lovely and relaxed. She taught me a lot about painting. We talked while working, something unusual for me. I became less concerned about the results and found that the change in attitude gave my work freedom and a better quality of line and brushstroke that I had never achieved consistently. Accuracy should never be more important than the quality of the line, and these sessions made the results I was searching for consistent and natural. This painting shows her beautiful hair and the start of a smile that was always about to light up her face.
The frame is Mexican, hand-carved pine, which I painted, antiqued, and embellished with black glitter. I liked the artistry—this type of frame used to be easy to find at framers. Unfortunately, stylish machine-made frames replaced these beautiful frames. I rescued many from the garbage. Style is fickle.
Jet Skies and Manatees
Dance In The American Mall
Washer Wisher
Sapient Circius
Varnishing Cocktails
Adam And Eve At Seven Eleven
The painting “Adam and Eve at Seven Eleven” draws inspiration from Michelangelo’s “The Sacrifice of Noah” on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. As I embarked on this creation, I encountered several challenges while adjusting the positioning of three key figures within the artwork. This experience underscored the critical nature of preliminary sketches to address core compositional issues before commencing a painting. The process significantly enhanced my ability to craft compelling and evocative compositions despite these adjustments’ complexities and time-consuming nature.
Hildagard's Migraine
And One Medium With Pepperoni
Description Of Painting
Vulcan’s Forge.” Velázquez’s painting is the first classical artwork I found humorous. The scene depicts men in bare feet, wearing loincloths, working with red-hot metal, and sparks flying, which gives it a comical feel. I primarily chose this painting for its excellent study of skin tones. However, there is an error in my painting with the perspective, which I decided to keep as I painted as it gives the painting a peculiar visual impression.
Rape Of The Daughters Of Wooten
When I created this painting, I used Rubens’s painting as a guide. I used a model and a local setting to understand how he achieved the paint quality and composition. I used a full-figured model but found that certain poses made her appear heavier than she actually was. I concluded that these poses were chosen to downplay the sensuality of the women and emphasize their vulnerability in their nudity. The original painting was intended for display in a palace, and Rubens ensured it would not be misunderstood as pornography. Upon further examination, I also noticed a change in the position of the lower woman’s hand. Her forearm in the painting shows a muscle in a position that would only occur if the hand had been rotated.
TV Courtesans
The courtly life of the Renaissance evolved to the salon of the 18th and 19th centuries and finally to the TV room of the 20th; courtesans were still watching from the sidelines.
The inspiration for this painting was the great source of American culture, The Reader’s Digest Family Treasury of Great Painters, given to me by one of the models who posed for the painting.
Vittore Carpaccio’s Truthful View of the Empty Tragic Life” has been set with contemporary women in their “Better Homes and Gardens” interiors. The TV is set to a painting by Degas, “The Rehearsal,” which the same book describes as using a Japanese device to slice through the subject. Degas’ image has been further sliced, symbolizing the sliver of culture that makes the hours in front of the TV worthwhile.
