Come on MeowMix, please deliver (a study in Feline) (SOLD)

these are my rules for a successful piece of art.

1. If it comes easy, I tell myself, "please let it be".

2.If I have a happy accident, I tell everyone I meant to do that. Including myself, and I believe it.

3. I am confident that I can paint more like Rick Nilson than anyone else on the planet.

4. I don't care if you like me or my work. I used to, but I don't know you anymore.
5. I will be crushed if you don't like my paintings.

Oil on canvas 8"X20"

(SOLD to a collector in Memphis)

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."

Fear of Flying(SOLD)

oil on canvas 8"X16"
This painting is sold.

My Secret Decoder Ring (on naming paintings) (SOLD)

The owner of the KDH Cooperative Gallery in Kill Devil Hills, NC, told me a story of a couple that came into the gallery one day. The husband really liked one particular painting. He called his wife over to look at it. She said she really liked it too, and then she asked what was the name of the painting. The husband read the name of the painting from the nearby plaque "...............oh, I don't like the name." They left the store without buying the painting. So do names really matter? Somebody must have an original thought. Acrylic on canvas 24"X16" (SOLD)

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.

"Later we went swimming" (SOLD)

This painting is sold.

Steamers (on painting proud) SOLD

I have finished yet another painting. I am so proud.

Acrylic on canvas 20"X20"

This painting is sold 

On paintings in kodak Easyshare (most of the time)

(Work in Progress)

kodak easyshare comes with the walmart machines that transfer chips to disks. I use it to crop my photo's. "easyshare" has several options. a brutal test option is convert your painting to black and white or to sepia. The photo above is further progress with sepia applied. Another option is "cartoon" shown above. If "coloring book" on top works, then the painting may work, if you get the color right. Meanwhile.. working with large mass's on the canvas. the software helped me realize that the shingles on the roof were the weakest part of this painting. As the software did, I did. It was my choice. thanks hal.

The cool thing is no matter how bad the painting is (really), I can blame it on that crappy monitor! Can you get behind that?

Meanwhile............

Back to the beachroad.Here is a new scene along US158 "The Bypass". Yes, there are 2 roads through my island. North Carolina Highway 12 (the beachroad) and U.S. 158 (the bypass). This house is on the west side of the beachroad. (One row back)(from the ocean) (BTH=between the highways) This house has such visual grip. If you have driven through Kill Devil Hills, then you have seen it. What a bonanza of "Stuff" this house has. Over grown landscaping, privacy fences, trashcans, a hotel across the street, a sailboat in the sideyard and weeds 3 feet tall, most of the time.

As to avoid confusion and not eliminate this post, I have posted the final product in its own post above. Thanks for looking.

Romeo is Bleeding (SOLD)

 I like my crab with lemon butter and a side dish of pasta with pesto sauce......... and a little grated parmesan cheese.

 Acrylic on canvas 20"X20"

This painting is sold

Good Cow Bad Cow (painting on grass)

Why it seemed like only yesterday Oom Flippus was telling all the little children not to be afraid of cows and just ask to speak to an attorney. You must know now that June is pasture month.

Today, all across the great plains, heifers are dining in lush green pastures with horny bulls that are using pickup lines like "......look honey, I'm only trying to keep you out of the feedlot". Acrylic on canvas 24"X24".
this painting is no longer available.

Screaming Grouper (on painting with insecurities)(SOLD)

Do you like waffles? I really like the Belgium waffles with lots of butter and warm maple syrup, and some strawberries and you gotta have whipped cream. This painting could be hung in any angle. Wait........ I'm waffling. Everywhere you look you read stuff on indecision and how bad it is to paint indecision. ".........the brush strokes showed indecision in the artist's work"..... well, I don't want to be wrong about this......so ........ you decide, ok.

I better take out the garbage. The lawn will need mowing soon. Yeah, I sure do like waffles. Hope I don't go senile! Acrylic on canvas 24"X24" You can buy this painting directly from the artist and hang it any ole way you want to, or I could change it, or. what do you think? (SOLD)

Saturday Tease (painting with envy)

For the brave but not so brave. Wait near an intersection. Best to even the odds and try to catch him in the heavy sand near the gate. On saturday morning the tease would appear out of the crowds dressed in white. His weekend pastime was toro le taunte . Everyone laughed in quiet terror as he dodged in and touched the horn. Everyone smiled in commonality at his bravery. Everyone is happy. Just inside the gate death awaits.....the bull has picked a beautiful day to die! Acrylic on canvas 12"X16". Buy this painting for $130.00 or take your own trip to Spain.

Crouching Rooster (Hidden Puppy)

Painting the unpaintable (Hidden Puppy) Go away Mean Kitty. Rather than looking for the puppy, just say "Come on Boy....." wait.... He may scare away Crouching Rooster. Acrylic on panel. 6"X8" NFS

mug and flowers (painting with loathing)nfs

I started this painting yesterday with freshly picked hybiscus. This morning the flowers were dead dead. The problem began yesterday when I was looking for my shoe. I often rearranged my studio in attempts to find stuff. The act of looking for my shoe is not unlike a treasure hunt but for the treasure. On other ocassions a voyage of discovery into the past, and then there's the stuff nobody should have to touch. Dang...There it is, stupid shoe. .......Dang.I moved the stuff I had been painting. Still life means the stuff doesn't move around while you paint them. A real no no for still life painter's. Everything was different and the flowers were, you know, dead. I winged it, all the while loathing the flowers in their withered repose and new shadows. Acrylic on canvas. 16"X12 (GOOD LUCK TO THE BRIDE AND GROOM)

yesterday's flower

Hi, my name is Rick, I am a photoholic and this is my 4th painting without a photograph. I moved the tomato. I must be suffering some kind of photo withdrawl. Wow this hurts! I have had the hiccups off and on for the last 24 hours. Now my stomach muscles ache with every hic. If it keeps up I could get sixpack muscles by default. Hic. Wow, if you see the flaw's in this painting I blame it on the hiccups. I get them sometimes for a day or more maybe once a year. It could be what kills me. Yeah, sure, hiccups can kill you. I heard about some guy that lived with them for 50plus years. Hic woke me last night a couple of times. I have been to the doctor about hiccups. Doctor shruged his shoulder's and said, "Rick, take this thorazine". I am going to scour the medicine cabinet, but I know Cindy threw them away. Hic. Hey Doc, moo...ore thorazine hic please....... It... does.... the.......trick.....e..v...e....r....y..............t.....i......m.......e...... Hic. Wow this hurts.
Acrylic on canvas 11"X14" . You can buy this painting directly from the artist for $120.oo

parrot cup and tomato

Hi, my name is Rick, I am a photoholic and it has been 2 paintings since I had a photograph. Acrylic on canvas 11"X14" You can buy this painting directly from the artist for $120.00

Clinton's Hiefer (painting bleak lives)

The promise of a brief life as a milk factory. 24"X24" Acrylic on canvas.

This painting is available in the KDHCOOP.

Bluefish (SOLD)

When I heard about the bluefish blitz's that happened along North Carolina Highway 12, I knew I had to move here. I have been very fortunate to say that I fished lots of 'em! From the Virginia State Line to Ocracoke Inlet I chased these guys. I never kept one. A lot of them ended up in dumpsters in Virginia. They have an oily taste. Ginsoaked boy claimed he could catch them with spell check and a garden hose! Acrylic on linen 9"X12"

SOLD

Flounder

Summer Flounder. This painting can be hung at any angle. Something completely different. Throw the little ones back or else! Acrylic on canvas 24"X24" this painting is no longer available.

BANG BANG (painting with remiss)

Two bucks by the lake. Take careful aim. Do not miss. Your bullet may ric-o-che, and kill somebody! Take a deep breath and say goodnight. Acrylic on canvas 36"X24".This painting is no longer available.