"Spirit Nonetheless"
Paintings About Animals
New Work and Selected Examples
of Archived Paintings
Horses.
Paintings of horses have defined my career as an artist. No glamour shots, no forced poses or forced action to achieve ideas of beauty or performance; no metal in the mouth or constraints to natural movement. Just natural spirit.
Opposite: "Morning" 32" x 28" Acrylic on Canvas
SOLD
HORSES:
"Two" 54" x 52" Acrylic on Canvas
SOLD
Horses and Crows. A theme I paint often.
Opposite: "Good Advice" 30" x 28" Acrylic and Pencil on Board. Sold
White on White Series
I love the way animals interact with one another for the benefit of both. Here an egret has a good seat to survey its world and to check out any annoying insects also getting a free ride.
Opposite: "With an Egret" 36" x 36" Acrylic and Pencil on Canvas. Framed and ready to hang up.
SOLD
White on White Series
I think we can all agree that crows are intelligent and resourceful. I like crows as subjects. I find that by using them, I can better avoid prettiness and sentimentality in my pictures.
Opposite: "With a Crow" 36" x 36" Acrylic and Pencil on Canvas. Framed and ready to hang.
White on White Series
Relationships. Here is another example of a symbiotic relationship wherein a crow appears to be sharing some useful information. Why? Because they are on the same team; brothers in a common cause. I like the idea just for art's sake.
Opposite: "Brethren" 36" x 36" Acrylic and Pencil on Canvas. Sold
White on White Series
There's usually something going on beyond the picture plane. Here there's obviously a story that the subject approaches with the real-life concern common to all herd animals: Keep the herd together. Therein lies safety.
Opposite: "I Will Wait" 30"x 28" Acrylic on Canvas. Sold
White on White Series
My intention here was to simply utilize a strong blue. Ultramarine! Always gorgeous.
Opposite: "Santa Ana Revisited" 36" x 36" Acrylic and Pencil on Canvas. Sold
Spirit None-the-Less
Sheep. Sheep make wonderful subjects. I love their complex bone structure juxtaposed with the kind, soft eye of a quintessential herbivore. And the wonderful texture and subtle coloring of their wool.
Opposite: "Long-Time Companions" 24" x 30" Acrylic on Canvas. Sold
Sheep.
In this painting I wanted to use black as the dominant color. Black can be complex. If mixed properly, black is much more than just black. It's the combination of several colors that makes for an interesting shade of black. (Also, the swatch of magenta was a big hit.)
Opposite: "The Marquise" 30" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas. Sold
Sheep
This painting is a favorite of mine. I think it pretty much defines the spirit of sheep without becoming overly sentimental.
Opposite: "A Portrait" 30" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas Sold.
Wildlife
Bears. If you are an artist living in the Southern Appalachians, you quite possibly have drawn upon these iconic animals as subjects. In this painting I continue to explore the complexity of the color black.
Opposite: "Sanctuary" 30" x 24" Acrylic and Pencil on Canvas. Sold
Bears.
This is another favorite of mine. This was a very large painting in which I wanted to present the size of the subject with a detailed focus on one small section...the face. Black bears have dignified, intelligent faces. And when given adequate berth, only show unwanted attention toward food sources.
Opposite: "Seated Bear" 60" x 48" Acrylic on Canvas. Sold, but prints available in any size.
Other Wildlife
I don't generally paint wildlife, especially deer. But this elk painting almost made me change my mind about that. It just worked so well and became one of my favorite paintings. Still, I never painted another one and probably never will
"October" 48" x 36" Acrylic on Canvas. Sold.