The good painting, the milky shape of my dreams rose from the dark depths, a hint of what it might have been before it dove again, further and further out of reach. I wasn't going to get my prize. Romantic images of standing poised on the edge of a small boat with a paint brush turned harpoon won't explain the theatrics of disappointment or the success of a good painting. I was trying, almost...

read on »

"I don't need a whole fish. Just the head, please."

Stretching out to a whopping sixty-three square inches of prime real estate, the larger board - 9" x 7" versus the usual 6" x 5" - was more than twice the size of the previous studies. It was the right size for the battered weight of the big salmon head.

Fish Head 9" x 7"


The greater size and the substance of the subject came with higher...

read on »

The innocent lime is chopped and set upon a board. A light is adjusted and the bits of the green fruit moved around. The board is swapped out for something with better color, a piece of dark cardboard - a better contrast to the light glistening flesh. The painting is roughed in, but an issue with the composition becomes readily apparent (translation: it didn't "feel" right). The lime is moved a...

read on »

A neighbor and friend works for the local health department. I wonder what she'd say about a piece of uncooked chicken posing for its portrait.

Drum Stick, 6" x 5", available

For more information about and an inventory of the Small Works, click here.

Your wife is on her way home from a rehearsal. She's had a long day. She's hungry. She's tired. Out of the fridge you pull a pair of perfect pork chops. The pan is hot, the butter melted. You pick up the first chop to put in the pan and pause, considering the color of the meat, the soft irregular curve against the hard edge of the cut bone. Sometime later, your wife has a burrito for dinner.

read on »

Lynx rufus 6" x 5", sold



It was a nondescript building with a peeling windowless front door never intended to be exposed to the elements. A worn sign no longer displayed the hours or even the name of the company. The only hint, in this tired strip of car lots, bars, and gas stations that it was a taxidermist was the placard out front - "Bring a deer, get a pair of gloves."

I'd called...

read on »

There were a few new twists in the story of the studio. Two weeks ago I handed off to a very nice young woman at the city's permit office all the paperwork for the setback adjustment (or "variance") so that I could build the studio on the property line. She looked over the drawings, complemented me on the design and asked, "Why are you applying for a setback adjustment for a garage?" (a garage...

read on »

Over the past decade and longer, a great friend of mine, Shawn Kenney, and I have urged each other on to paint more and better. Not a week goes by without us sharing stories of paintings won and lost, of artists we've discovered, of which wine needs to be tasted. Sometimes that urging comes in the form of a competitive kick in the teeth. As I slipped off my schedule this past week, he found...

read on »