Why don't you just ask him? (SOLD)

For a while I wasn't sure if I would ever finish this. The more personality they had the more I wanted to paint. I winged this from the get go anyway! The idea came to me as I was looking at photos of seagulls. The lone blackbird.

acrylic on canvas 12"X36 (SOLD)

Crabes bleu con limone

I will not be painting today. So for your culinary enjoyment, behold crabs for lunch. Mixed Media.

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)

Salmon

(Rates may vary)

Yesterday I saw Don Gray's painting of a salmon run. I liked it so well that I sketched this last night at the kitchen counter. To satisfy your wishes to see all of my efforts. "...............I'm sorry honey, did you say something?"

Beach Road Blue (SOLD)

I love the lines on these old houses. The exposed rafter tails, white trim against weathered cedar shakes says "vacation" at the beach. Acrylic on canvas 24"X16"

This painting is sold.

Gaillardia Forests (on real men don't paint flowers) "Where are you goin' now, Biff?"(SOLD)

"..I'M GOIN' TO THE DANCE, GRANDMA!"

I usually rush to avoid painting flowers. It seemed like there were more important "man like" things to paint. I can draw pretty good vegetation, but today it's loose little flowers. This is a painting of a cottage in Nag's Head. Another September sunset on the Outer Banks. The gaillardia is a hearty little annual with orange and yellow petals, not to be confused with blue bonnets or pear trees. Bonita! This has been an enjoyable painting. Acrylic on canvas 24"X18" (SOLD)

Remedial Crab (on the days you can't explain)(SOLD)

"This is what you get for the money." Everybody has days they can't explain.

Acrylic on canvas 16"X24" (SOLD)

Wild Boy (SOLD)

"If we're fools in life, then a happy fool I'd rather be" Taj Mahal

Someone emailed me some photo's of Hannah in Manteo. Looks like fun.

Today I painted a crab somewhat blue. I don't use photo's anymore with these guys. I justwing it. It is a way of painting that is similar to the way I doodle or sketch. Acrylic on canvas 18"X18"

(SOLD)

Crab Whore (on sex sells art)(or art sells sex)(SOLD)

Sometimes I follow comments too. The other morning, I'm surfing blogs and some guy makes a clever comment on an artblog. I follow it to his blog. It goes to his profile. I notice he has been blogging since July 2008 and he has 12,000 hits. I think "Wow this guy must be really really good, or has a huge following!" I click on one of his blogs. He is selling time with "Art Models" with names like Angelina and Drisell. Gretchen in Sweden wants to know how old I am and whats my favorite color. Acrylic on Canvas 18"X18". (Sold to a collector in Atlanta)

Party Crabs! (on painting blue crabs)(SOLD)

Blue crabs dance the night away. Acrylic on canvas 20"X18"
this painting is sold.

Bar Scene (on painting the beachroad)

If a painting is complicated I often do an acrylic underpainting. It is difficult keeping that same loose feel in the final product. Above is proof that mucking in can be just that. I have learned important lessons with this painting. People give life to the work. Thanks Tyler. People are difficult to paint. A bar scene at sunset along the beachroad. Oil on canvas 20"X16".

(Check for availability)

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.