Fairy Tale Sunlight

I am fascinated by the way sunlight teases and plays with us. I was standing in a small park in the foothills of the Rockies when I saw this small gravel road winding through it.  As I stood there, I noticed that the flat afternoon light had changed and that just around the bend and just

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On the Pathway, Lake Harriet

My wife and I live near a large city lake in Minneapolis that is surrounded by bike and walking paths filled with people whenever the winter snows are gone. In the spring and summer, when the trees are full to bursting and the lakeside canopy is lush and green, the paths often are overlaid with

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From the Thicket, Homeward

Sometimes when I paint, I see something that intrigues me and I move directly to do my best to capture it. This time, the subject that I had stopped to paint felt limp and lifeless once my easel was up and my palette was ready. Disappointed, I debated whether or not to proceed when I turned

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Quickly, as the Shadows Deepened

The end of a frustrating afternoon. My wet panel boxes were almost empty––few paintings had sprung from my brush that day––and I was feeling disappointed. What I had tried and how I had tried to paint had simply failed to bring forth much satisfaction.  And on top of that, the light was now fading very

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Afternoon, as Sunlight Lingers

This was painted on a cool autumn afternoon as storm clouds threatened. The skies were growing darker in the West but the sunlight held on, popping out now and again from between the clouds and spraying dappled light on the woods floor below. I saw this quiet spot between the tree trunks and watched the

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Blue Skies as Autumn Beckons

Glancing up one afternoon in a stand of aspens, I saw the delightful light of that end-of-summer afternoon and the way the crystal blue skies framed the leaves just kissed with a hint of the gold to come. I became entranced with the cerulean spaces between the leaves, the way the sky pushed through the foliage

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Whispering Aspens

There is a forest outside of Cody, Wyoming with a stand of aspens to which I return time and time again. It is a common source for many of my paintings. I love the angle of the tree trunks and the random yet precise order of the elements there. I had originally planned to trim

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Grateful for the Sunlight

I have been a designer for years and so I see the geometry in nature, the form in random things and enjoy simplifying a complex subject into its basic elements. This is one of the first paintings I have made in a stand of aspens that has become one of my favorite subjects to paint.

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Afternoon Dance with Aspen Sunlight

When I first began painting trees, I quickly became enamored of the geometry in the forest. This is a study in lines and angles, massaged by light and accented with color. I love the way tree trunks all often lean at the same angle, a simple story of shapes and values that simultaneously describe a

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En el Jardín de Mi Tía

My wife was born in Arequipa, Péru, a mountain town that was formerly a hub of international trade. She grew up there for her first six years and spent many happy days in this house. It belonged to her tíos de cariño––her uncle and aunt of the heart––and to a cousin, all of whom are as

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