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I have included a sampling of the
paintings that I have done over the past few years for you to see. I hope
that you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed painting them. I
really can't recall a time when I didn't draw and paint. The photo above
was taken when I was in fifth grade. I had gotten an oil painting set
for Christmas, and was attempting to paint a portrait of Red Cloud. I
painted another one of him called Twilight
of a Titan a few years ago, a little better, I
hope. I have spent most of my adult
years learning to paint people.
Examples of my efforts are seen in paintings such as Southern
Gentleman , The Virtuoso, Purple Heart (now destroyed), and Apartment on Esplanade Perhaps
you can tell that I have been very heavily influenced by the works of
Caravaggio and Vermeer. It was Caravaggio who showed us how powerful
a painting can be when strong lights are played against strong darks.
This is where even the great Rembrandt got the idea. Caravaggio's Calling of St. Matthew is one of the
most powerful paintings ever painted. And that's the right word,
"power!" A painting can have the power of a novel, a song, or a
motion picture, if executed in the right manner. From the first time
that I saw Vermeer's Girl in a Red Hat, I have wished that
I could paint something with that kind of look and emotion. I may
never succeed, but I won't stop trying.
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