Crab Interrupted (SOLD)

There was this movie about a gang of thugs. They were causing trouble and generally giving everybody grief. After a while the bad guys get everybody cornered in the livery stable. Some guy on the roof shouts out "........... its goin' down to the wire!"

Then all you hear is wind blowing. I could have tried to save them, but......

they knew not my name, and I knew not their faces, I found they were all rank strangers to me.

Acrylic on canvas 20"X20"

(SOLD)

Burt Lancaster (SOLD)

There was this movie with Burt Lancaster. And he was kissing some girl on the beach, and just then a wave came in and washed over them. A golden moment in movie history. This is my interpretaion of that moment. Acrylic on Canvas 20"X20"

 this painting is sold

Crab Drama (SOLD)

I have been thinking about this duel or dance for a while. So in an effort to move on with my life, here are 2 crabs locked in time. The claws are still a bet too wet to finish, and there is that bit just over the chateau. Oil on canvas 18"X18" (SOLD)

BlueDog's Yearlings

I liked painting this. I kept it simple. 2 yearlings down for a drink in the morning. Another scene out there in BlueDog's hunting grounds. Oil on canvas 18"X18"
This  painting is no longer available.

Judy's Flag

It takes a couple of paintings to get South Dakota out of me or me out of it. I saw this northwest of Webster, S.D. I came back in the afternoon to get a photo in the sun. Oil on canvas 20"X16" (Check for availability)

Lambs on Bitter Lake (SOLD)

I visited my cousin, Trent Nilson, when I was in South Dakota. (you know, Justin's kid, Trent.) "Oh yeah, the "T"MAN, what's he doin' now?" He quit shaving when his mother died, and he keeps a lot of his stuff just north of Bitter Lake. Dead cottonwoods are witness to rising water levels in Bitter Lake. If you click on the title "Lambs on Bitter Lake" above, behold, a schematic of regional lake levels. Bitter Lake has risen more than 20'. SDDOT has been busy raising the grade on lots of roads in the area.

Oil on Canvas 20"X20" (SOLD)

Dream Time (approximately, except you)

I grew up on a farm in Day county, South Dakota, the glacial lakes region. One of the things that exists on the farm that few farms have is a real live cemetery. I am not certain of the dates as to when the cemetery originated, but it was when wagon trains trekked through the region from the east. A family lost 2 daughters to cholera and they buried the girls on this hill. When I was a child, my father showed me the "less than obvious" stones that marked the children's graves. The hill is one of the highest points in Day County and offers a panoramic view to the west. At sundown you can see 45 miles to Aberdeen. The more I thought about it, the more I realized these unfortunate children needed a proper headstone. So.................. One winter during my youth I created this piece. The wings are the front quarter panels of a 1950 Ford. I cut the cactus using 2 railroad signal switch crossing posts. The center piece has a bell footing with bolt holes, and the arms are cut and welded from the other. The bird is mounted on a wheel spindle and rests inside the top and it pivots with the wind. Its rear is always windward. The head is fabricated from the hood of a car. I cut a pattern from cardboard and transferred it to the hood, cut it and shaped it into the head. It has a pivot point similar to those bobbing dogs in your rear view mirror. The breast is formed from a piece of expanded metal. Rebar talons wrap around the exhaust system from the same car. A structural crossarm holds the thing together. The foundation that supports it is a concrete footing. Unfortunately I never learned the names of the girls buried there. I scratched two crosses and the word "CHOLERA" into the wet concrete. Sparrows have since made a nest in the body and a badger has excavated a home under the concrete footing. The graves are just to the east of the sculpture.

When I go back to S.D. people come up and say "what did you do that for?" I am sure that no one outside my family knows the reason why, except you.

Techno-Crab (Donation) Roanoke Island....

I quit painting when the canvas was full of wet paint. Then I quit painting for a while, and then I added more paint. and so now it looks like this. Techno Crab. Oil on canvas 20"X20"

I have donated this painting to "The Lost Colony" on Roanoke Island. I don't know how long it will take them to find it. (Donated) Roanoake Island.............

Techno-Crab (Approximately)

Mixed Media. No. You can't.

Flyless Afternoon (On Painting Summer)

At the end of a long flyless afternoon with orange crush and sunset on the Outer Banks. Oil on canvas 18"X18". You can buy this painting directly from the artist for $250.00

Temporary Like a Bird

Along the beachroad. Oil on canvas 20"X20".

Trois Crabe (On "just your style") (SOLD)

Just what is style anyway, a collection of bad habits, or is that just my style?.................... Ahhh. Sometimes crabs just explode onto the canvas. I painted for a while and then I didn't paint any more. Acrylic on canvas 18"X22"  and then like that this painting is sold.

A Movable Feast (on painting literally)(SOLD)

These crabs are so much fun. It seems like I am not really trying. It is difficult to judge your own work, and sometimes paintings just......."HAPPEN!" I may just drink a bottle of whiskey and pick a fight some small man I'm pretty sure I can beat. Hang out. Have some minnow.
Acrylic on canvas 18"X22" (SOLD)

The crabe bleu studies (Lets go to my place and molt)

I do lots of sketches of crabs. I know quite a few of the body parts. I put these 2 together and smeared some chalk on tracing paper. Looking for a cool way to take this to a canvas where the proportions may change in my particular xy scale conversion. Mixed media. (Priceless)

Red Round (On "I'm all wet too")

I mucked in on this some yesterday. I stopped when the canvas was full of wet paint. This morning I added more wet paint....and then I took a shower. I might go out and get a bagel and a Yoohoo. Oil on canvas 16"X14"

(Check for avilability)

3 and 1 (SOLD)

It used to look like that, and now it looks like this. If this looks familiar its because I painted this once and ruined it. I picked up the oils again and then this happened. "Its all new to me". Oil on canvas 12"X16"

this painting is sold

Walking on Sunset (on painting the beachroad) (SOLD)

I certainly enjoyed painting this. I did a tone sketch with washes in acrylic last night. This morning the canvas was dry and I mucked in with oils. I am quite satisfied with my efforts. Another scene along the beachroad at sunset. I have painted this house before. "No Parking" and "Beachroad 2:00AM". Oil on canvas 20"X36"

This painting is sold.

Thank you. This painting was one of my first with oils. I did do a acrylic underpainting.

 

Monday Trashday (the beachroad saga)

Hello to my old good A&E buddy, Doug Dieter, out there in Sacramento, Cal. Found me with a google search. This scene must look familiar to you.
It is very easy to overwork paintings, and if you love to paint, then you must fight that urge also. "But,............... I just got goin' good!"
I don't know if this is finished but it certainly was fun to paint. "Yes, but there is that bit just over the chateau, that certainly could stand another splash." The light at sundown on the beach road is wonderful.
I often beg for critiques. Carole Thompson, owner of Lighthouse Gardens "offered" a word on my work. "......Again the lean........". Thanks, Carole. Acrylic on Canvas 20"X36"