Christmas Commissions

During the holiday season, I try to make as many gifts as possible by hand to rid myself of the commercialism that is the secular version of Christmas.
This landscape painting was commissioned for my grandmother. When I started oil painting at the age of 10, I thought the only "acceptable" subject was nature. Obviously, I have shaken off such narrow thinking. These days I usually don't have much interest in landscapes, but I found myself really having fun with colour in this piece. Gran really liked it when she found it under the Christmas tree, so that's all that really matters to me.

Landscape, acrylic on canvas board, 24 x 36
(2007)

Landscape, detail

Landscape, detail(2)

I created the painting below for my dear friend, Lee. It is based on a few of his arm tattoos (black & grey) but I wanted to add some colour. Lately I've been using a very loose brush technique, so I applied the same attitude to this piece. The work was done on unstretched canvas for easy transport. He seemed to like the work as well, so...yeah!

Given Wings, acrylic and ink on unstretched canvas, ~ 3' x 5'
(2007)

Given Wings, detail

Given Wings, detail(2)