Descriptively Seeking Idols

A secret spot.

I am hanging this and a lot of paintings that are not in galleries into a one man one month show in Manteo, NC. I will post pictures of it when all the paintings are hung.

Oil on stretched canvas 18"X22"
I donated this painting someplace.

Kingfisher and Painted Ladies (SOLD)

put it on. wipe it off. put it on.

"Live to fight another day, Lads. Take some R&R. "

Its late in the day by the docks. The Shell Shop out on the highway is closed. That huge garage door is open. A kingfisher is eyeing the water below. Odd, I don't see anybody around. Sportfishing boats in Wanchese Harbour, NC.

Oil on canvas 16"X12" (SOLD)

Official Intermission (Furlough Boys) (SOLD)

I have 2 groups of 3 beginner painters come paint with me in my "studio" (aka mancave). They are all fun interesting people. Today one group all painted the painting above. I worked on it a little after they left. If you would like to come paint with us once or twice a month, contact me. Sometimes Deb says really clever things.

Oil on canvas 11"X14" (SOLD to a repeat collector)
How goes the battle then, boys? Some progress and a lot of paint on my rags, but, ".............Muck in boys. We can't win the war if we are a man short."
Oil on canvas work in progress

Boogie Shoes (on intermission)

Boogie Shoes

Oil on canvas 6"X12"

I took a break from the battlefield for refreshments.

Great generals instinctively know the moment to do that.

"Ok boys, you hold down the fort."

Welcome to the Battlefield (SOLD)

I never can get to 100% or photo real, but I can see the shapes are correct enough.The battle really is won when you decide to do "Something". In my humble opinion, the wrong line or shape will let you see the right one. Thats the way I draw, I just keeping moving the pen or brush around and eventually I will strike on the right line or shape. I believe your eye wants to forgive my errors and they fall away like texture or dead soldiers. I don't care about the color. Most of the paint or color here is just muds left over from my last painting. At this point I feel comfortable really "painting this". I will use lots of clean colors and bold brush strokes. I will wipe away the right color if I am not liking the brushstroke that make it. I try not to overwork them. I have not wiped away any shapes, yet.

This is very early on in a work in progress. I am just trying to get the shapes defined. These red boats are moored in Wanchese Harbour.

Stephen Austin spent his salad days teaching architecture at TAMU. I was fortunate enough to have him as an instructor in my first design lab. One day while I was busy tearing up my latest version of whatever we were designing, Professor Austin paid me a compliment that I did not appreciate until years later. ".....Rick, your designs look like a battlefield." I think anyone that has been forced to design anything with real world components that has to somehow function would agree. Good design never just happens. It is trial and error and only the winners should leave the battlefield. Thank you for looking.

Oil on canvas 16"X12"
This painting is sold.

Scared Crab (SOLD)

Oil on canvas 7"X5" (SOLD to a repeat collector in Mclean, Va.)

Chair Man on the Board

Oil on canvas 11"X14"

Yell Ohh

This might be considered a typical photo I would get (after a bit of cropping) while driving north on NC12 in Kitty Hawk. I love these buildings. You can see my antenna in the foreground and a slice of the Atlantic.

I had my left arm out the window holding my camera over the top of my pickup looking northeast.

I was eating a taco. My hair was perfect.

This KDH ocean front house had a new paint job this year. I don't know if anyone was fortunate enough to watch it happen or to witness the paint dry. Last year it was blue with kelp or something painted on the sides. You can miss so much not living in a big city like Kitty Hawk or Kill Devil Hills. I have always liked this house for its simplicity. I have been photographing the beachroad for 2 years now and I am more aware of the sun angles during the different times of the year. Right now this stretch of NC12 is dead on perpendicular to the sun and some sections of the beach road are not. I have never felt I got a good enough image of this house to paint it. My reference photo was very grainy, most of them are. I use the shotgun approach to photography. I click as quick as the camera will let me while driving at 35 miles an hour with the camera out the window. Don't worry, I usually don't eat or talk on the phone while I'm doing this. I have no idea what my short road trips will yield until I load them into my computer.

Oil on canvas 11"X14"

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $185 USD plus $12 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

Call Girl Blues(SOLD)

Lots of guys come to the Outer Banks on vacation. A lot of them get anxious or depressed because they don't know how or even what to call the local girl crabs. A lot of local crabs pass through Wanchese, and you may find the locals to be real helpful. If you go down there after the "Shell Shop" closes and hang around by the docks, one may approach you. Should you ask for names, you might get a wary ".....the "Shecrab?", you can spot her by the painted red claws, that's Sally. She's pretty young. Her mother has a bit more experience, we just call her Sook."........." ..the boys? well, you must be talking about Jimmy."...."..no.nobody named John around here.........anyway, what's your name, sailor?"

Oil on canvas 14"X11"

If you really want to see some bits, click here
This painting is sold.

Unassuming in Blue Green (SOLD)

This unassuming ocean front cottage is along the Beach Road in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

My town. Oil on canvas 24"X12"
This painting is sold.

Manly Flowers (on coming out)

I have come out in the past and declared that I rush to avoid painting flowers. I am of the belief that there are more manly subjects requiring my artistic attentions. Last night, however, a chain of events set into motion the eventual creation of this work. About midnight last night I awoke to a hissing sound near the kitchen sink. A water pipe under our house had burst. I shut the water off at the meter. I am not the kind of guy that would ask his wife more than once to deal with this in the wee hours. She says she is a very sound sleeper. We spent the night and a brief part of the morning without water. I could have hired a plumber, but I did the plumbing myself. He would have charged me tens of dollars, but it was its not always about the money with me. I had the leak located at first light. I was at Home Depot with the contractors, and I had the leak fixed by 9:30 AM. With that type of thing under my belt so early in the day I tackled this subject without fear of any silly stigmas or ramifications. My manhood never in question, and it didn't take me very long either.

oil on canvas 12"X16"
I gave this painting to my daughter. damn it.

Punk Ass (Open the gate, Homer) (SOLD)

I started this painting yesterday with my Tuesday painting guys. I finished it today. I bought 2 paintings today. Something I have never done. Both by the same artist. Something else I have never done. I bid 600% higher than the minimum bid on one painting and about 250% higher than the previous high bid on the other. I hope I get them.

Oil on canvas 12"x16" (SOLD)

Bad Instructions

It is only now, decades after it happened, that I can bring myself to discuss it here with you. I was a victim of bad instructions. What is worse is that I believe I was singled out for this conspiracy. The worst of it happened at university during my second attempt at linear equations. It was not limited to one of my math instructors, I look back and see that the entire math department was in on this cruel prank. There were times when 3 or 4 instructors and tutors would tag team me and show me bits of some equation and describe the bits in smaller pieces. I am certain that none of the other students were subjected to this barrage of instructions and they all did fine. Afterwards I would have less understanding of their bits and logs with rhythm than I had before the class began. I thought it was me.

Oil on canvas 8"X6"

Nice Kitty

She wanted fish up front.

If anyone wants this painting, I will give it to you. If you don't already own one of my paintings and if you send me an email, and if you pay the shipping, I will give you this painting.
(Joe S. in Duck got it. Thanks Joe.)

Oil on canvas 6"X12"

Moving Through Here (SOLD)

When people ask me, as they so often do, how it is that I can tell the best stories, I have a prepared response. I explain that almost anyone can tell a good story. The part that comes with years of practice in manipulating facts is the knowing just what part of the story to leave out. I then add "Great artists and and story tellers have the instincts to judge exactly at what point during the telling not to mention it". I then stop explaininng, and I know they wonder at my ability to provoke thought with such limited resourses availble to me, but I remain silent. Then they nod their heads. I nod my head too, but I know it is a lie.

oil on canvas 12"X24" (SOLD)

A Fistful of Feathers (SOLD)

 This was a fun painting of a rooster on mud creek.

oil on canvas 16"X20"
this painting is sold.

Silly Fish Facade (SOLD)

This little house is "between the highways" in the shadow of Jockey's Ridge. Nags Head, North Carolina

oil on canvas 20"X16"
this painting is sold.

The Nail Job (SOLD)

Oil on canvas 6"X12" (SOLD)

First Place Winner (SOLD)

This painting ("Wanchese Party Boat") will be on the cover of next years "The Beach Book", a local phone book.

Cool. Over 55,000 copies of this phone book will be in local homes on the Outer Banks of NC. Oil on canvas 16"X20 (SOLD)

The Village Knowitall (SOLD)

I did not get much time to paint yesterday, what with life and all. Here is some progress. I have smeared away as much paint as I have applied, almost.

This is a work in progress.

I first stained the canvas with an acrylic red oxide. I let it dry. I spent about an hour unceremoniously sketching my subjects and filling in the other areas with shades of grey and yellow to begin developing the "structure" of the breaking waves. Oil on canvas 12"X20"

(SOLD) I sold this painting and I did not get a final photo of it. It was spectacular.

Thanks for looking.

Formerly Jennette's Fishing Pier

This is new construction on the fishing pier and aquarium at the old Jennette's Fishing Pier site.

The link below offers some interesting info on local fishing, and a brief discription of whats happening here.
click HERE

Beachroad Satori

This is Island Dyes, or at least the corner of the building and some trashcans. Your moment of Zen. Lord I got 'em!

Oil on canvas 14"X20"