2020 in Hindsight

2020 has not been a good year: catastrophic, climate-change driven wildfires from the western US to Australia, a deadly pandemic, and disturbing assaults on democracy. This painting is as much symbolic as it is artistic - a fitting scene for a terrible year, and an attempt to find some beauty in the wreckage left behind. A burnt forest, a discarded face mask, and clearing skies with a hope for a better future.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Reflecting on Autumn

Along the shores of a slow-moving stream, fiery leaves of autumn glow on the trees on a clear, cool day. Their colors reflect in the water as the leaves fall like sparks, each slowly extinguished. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Untamed Wilds

In the rolling mountains and wild forests, a cool autumn breezes whips through the trees. Limbs creak with age, and leaves are tossed on the wind, each a spark of fiery color that floats through the air. This painting was inspired by a mix of things, including fall in the mountains of the eastern United States to the artwork on an old Magic card by the same title as this painting. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Corn Maze Adventure

An autumn tradition in much of the eastern US (and probably anywhere with cornfields) is the corn maze. These mazes can take many forms, from simple ones for young kids and their parents, to complex patterns that change every year with hidden secrets within the maze. Either way, they are a great opportunity to get some exercise while walking amid the glowing, golden corn under the blue skies of early autumn. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Tribute - Cycles of Fire

The last in this series of tribute paintings to the 1980's science fiction artwork classic, "Cycles of Fire," this painting is my interpretation of that book's cover painting. The original piece, create by William K. Hartmann, depicted a barred spiral galaxy in the background with a binary pair of a red giant and white dwarf looming close in the foreground. My version has the same basic composition, but I moved the foreground stars off into the distance since I chose to focus more on the sheer scale of the scene vs. the stars themselves. As with an earlier painting, the technique of flicking water-diluted paint with a toothbrush was used to create the sparkling stars; finally, like most nocturns, this painting was very difficult to photograph, but I think it turned out well.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Tribute - Comet Storm

Another tribute painting based on a classic piece in the late 1980's "Cycles of Fire" science fiction artbook. One of the paintings that I found most striking among so many great ones was one painted by Ron Miller; the scene was that of a young, alien world of fiery colors with numerous comets filling the sunset sky. When I first ventured into landscape painting, I tried to recreate that image, but never succeeded; 25+ years later, I decided to give it a whirl again, and this is my version of that scene. Along the wet sands of a large lake, above the rocky spires and far-away hills, comets hang in the blazing sky.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Tribute - Nightfall

This painting is inspired by a mix of scenes: Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall" story, the classic science fiction artwork of the book "Cycles of Fire" from the late 1980's, and my experience watching the sun set and the Milky Way fade into view at Death Valley. The stars were painted using an old toothbrush and a watery mix of paint; I held the brush close to the painting and gave the bristles a slow flick to produce the scattered light of countless stars bit by bit.

Here, in a dry region of an Earth-like world, we see the sun set and a single constellation with millions of stars fade into view. The blazing light of a huge globular star cluster dominates the night sky with its warm glow. What legends of the stars would form on a world like this?

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Snowy Sequoia Solitude

Continuing the theme of isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, here we have a different take on the concept. A lone, ancient sequoia stands in a snowy forest in the Sierra Nevada mountains, far away from civilization. While there are other trees around, none of them have experienced all that this mighty tree has in its thousand or more years of life, so it is still alone, in a way.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Isolation - Humphreys Peak

The theme for the past month or so has been one of isolation and social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. So, I figured I'd paint a scene related to that theme based upon a photo taken on my most recent trip out west in last June. Here, we see Humphreys Peak in the distance - the tallest mountain in Arizona - from somewhere in the desolate, empty lands between Antelope Canyon and the Grand Canyon. While the mountain and the city of Flagstaff are both around 100 miles away in this view, there is basically nothing around us; it's about as "socially distant" as one can get. This painting was both challenging and easy to paint for the same reason - there's essentially nothing in the scene aside from crumbling desert rocks, some brush, and the distant mountains under floating clouds and a blue sky.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Old Redbuds New Spring

After a warm and snowless winter, the flowers are all blooming early in Maryland. At the edge of a forest, we can see several old redbuds amid the yellow forsythia blooming to greet a new spring.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17" (SOLD)

Updated painting information

A quick note: all paintings displayed on my blog have been updated to list if they are already framed and if they've already been sold. You can find this information at the bottom of the entry for the painting on this website.

Crossroads of Winter

Winter is a season of contrasts and changes, marked by the passage of time. One year passes to another, the weather wanders between harmless and brutal, and fiery skies oppose the frozen earth. Here, in a wooded park after a modest snowfall, we stand at the crossroads of winter, contemplating the various paths in all directions and marveling at the eerie contrast around us.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17" (SOLD)