The Secret

The Secret, oil, 11"x30"










My life for the last 5 weeks has been a whirlwind of pre-rehab demolition, chatting with visitors at the gallery, shipping artworks off to their homes and businesses, hosting my father for a week while he helped with drywall removal and pulled thousands of nails from the wood beneath, watching numerous episodes of "Income Property" on HGTV which we record to watch when we drag home and collapse on the sofa in the evening. I hope you can picture me grinning ear to ear!  I've only gotten to paint in spurts during this time and thought I'd show you a couple of paintings I like a lot. The one above is an idea I've mulled on for about four years.  The little girls who modelled for my reference photos were wonderful.  I'm considering a series with this theme. The Secret sold so quickly I didn't get to enjoy it very long before it went off to Connecticut along with the portrait I painted of John Pototschnik, the landscape painter from northern Texas.

Detail of McCaul- commissioned portrait, oil, 16"x20"





















The one above was a commission for a fellow in Ohio who wanted to surprise his wife with it. I hear she liked it very much.  So did I.  I made a few requested changes- shifting her gaze to the viewer from the reference photograph's gaze of up and to the viewer's right. I also did a bit of simplification of her outfit.
I have a few more commissions waiting, then- watch out!  I'm bursting with a need to paint landscapes.  Brace yourselves... they're on their way!