Most people have probably not heard of the band Throttle Back Sparky but I was contacted last fall by Allen Lulu, one of the band members , who asked me to help him pay tribute to the band. Throttle Back Sparky was an American rock band that played in and around Los Angeles in 2000…. Read more »
Posts Categorized: Uncategorized
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music. He was born in 1770 although the exact date was not recorded. At he age of 10, he withdrew from school to study music full time and by the age of 12 he published his first musical compositions. His… Read more »
Painting a Pop Art Icon…Andy Warhol
I love getting commissions. This one had me excited. It’s not everyday you you get challenged to paint one of the most-renowned American pop artists of our time… Andy Warhol. While the client wanted him in black, I also realized this piece needed color. Warhol, who was born in Pittsburgh on August 6 1928, began… Read more »
Honored Guests Are Coming To Dinner
I was recently contacted by a retired journalist from Ohio who had a desire to have a dining room table occupied by four noteworthy African American women. I welcomed this challenge and was honored to complete it. If only these guests could talk…what a story they would have to tell. The chairs included: Sojourner Truth,… Read more »
Our Two Year Neighbor Became a Big Sister
…and to help her celebrate, I created a table and chair set for the two girls to play on (in time). Her favorite place is the zoo, so it was only fitting the this set feature images of her favorite animals. These have everything from a zebra, flamingos, and lion to an elephant as the… Read more »
How I’m Spending My Shelter In Place Time
Like the rest of the world, COVID-19 has me and my family sheltering in place for a while. For a change of pace, I decided to take this time to step away from chairs and work on some flat canvases for a while. I just completed the painting above of an old rusty truck we… Read more »
Botero Special Commission
Fernando Botero is a renowned Colombian painter and sculptor know for his volumetric stylization of figures and objects. While his work includes still-lifes and landscapes, he really concentrated on situational portraiture, and all of his paintings and sculptures are united by their proportionally exaggerated, or “fat” figures, as he once referred to them. I was recently commissioned… Read more »
A Magical Special Request – Dumbledore from Harry Potter
If you ask our 20-year-old son what book series had the biggest impact on his life growing up, beyond a doubt, it would be Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling. The first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone came out just two years before he was born and by the time he was six… Read more »
Cheers to This Bar Stool Special Request
I recently had a potential customer reach out to me telling me that he loved my chairs and asking me if I would paint him some special bar stools. I said sure and asked him to send me the chairs. When they arrived I was shocked at how large and heavy they were. They were… Read more »
Looking to Host a Painting Party? Let’s Talk!
I had a pretty rough childhood. I grew up in poverty with a very difficult dad. So I often found myself trying to escape from the stress of daily life by pulling out my paints and painting my little army figurines with toothpicks. Fast forward to my young adult years, and as I was trying… Read more »
