Painting Portfolio

My portfolio showcases various series of paintings created throughout my career. My work tends to investigate our relationship with the natural world, with its creatures, with each other, and with ourselves. I make social commentary with a sprinkling of humor, a titch of nonsense, a dash of self-deprecation, and a pinch of bird droppings. Please find my contact information below. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or would like to purchase a painting or commission one.

Tame your Marmots

The girl could see the marmot clearly but her mother could not.
He was young, cool, and completely oblivious about the marmot on his shoulder and the poo running down his back.
It seemed a harmless act, to pat the marmot, but they soon found out otherwise.
Her awakening was a sudden and forceful shove into reality.
Once he removed his marmot-blocking lenses, his predicament became clear.
The white marmots women’s society met every week but never considered the veracity or morality of their convictions.
Everyone was shocked at the enormity of Melvin’s marmot.
The marmots were so persuasive that all those in attendance joined the Club.
With persistence and a firm hand she kept her marmots in order, at least for the moment.
The underfunded volunteer marmot training squad had curious ways of finding and taming feral marmots.
If the voice on the other end chucks and whistles, hang up.
Their foolishness was blindingly obvious to everyone but themselves.
She temporarily had her marmot by the tail.
It took a lifetime, but they were wise to their marmot.
The thinner her waist the heavier her marmot.
The marmot had imprinted itself so deeply upon her psyche that it reappeared in her artwork whether she intended it or not.
The secret society was not so secret after all.
Her marmot demanded absolute perfection.
Poopski’s mendacity was notorious, but her human was clueless.
The marmots only half-heartedly acquiesced to her enthusiastic commands, but it was a start.
He was ashamed to ride his marmot into town but he never showed it.
She remained silent while her man blindly drove them into a ditch.
To tame your marmots, you must first get their full attention.
He faced his marmot with grace, dignity, and the intention of fair play.
Out of her element, her marmots had her trapped between a rock and a hard place.
It was supposed to be a fun day at the lake until the marmots began screaming
Beware of sneaky marmots little one.
They thought that a display of force and a line in the sand would stop the marmot
The privileges experienced by the members of the exclusive blue hat society far exceeded those of others.
She was running full speed from the darkness and didn’t see the lump in the trail.

Artist’s Statement: The Tame Your Marmots series builds upon the earlier series, Exposing the Sneaky Marmot, where I explored the various forms of self-deception as observed in an individual’s behavior. In this new series, I further explore self-deception and add group deception, which is self-deception on steroids, amplified by the echo chambers in which we choose to participate.

We Want Our View and Eat It Too

Walking the Cranes
Interview with a Carnivore
Afternoon Instructions
Deer Dreams
Sleep in a Wigwam
Have Cape Will Conquer
Prophetic
What I Did on Summer Vacation
Street Fishing
So Free Me and My RV
RVNV
Please Don’t Harass the Humans
Hoola Hoopin Western Theme Park
Clean It Up
Into the Pink
The Hive
Wilderness Adventure
We Want Our View
Dancing Purple Bears
Parking Lot Paddling
The Screen
Bison Traffic Jam
RV Park Speed Bump
Summer Camp

Artist’s statement: The series “We Want Our View and Eat It Too” explores how we, as tourists, interact with the natural world, especially when visiting National Parks and other beautiful places. These paintings examine our relationship with the natural landscape, its wild creatures, and preserved historical sites, while questioning our notions of fair use and conservation.

Domesticates

Birth Order
Family Management
Running of the Errands
Sisters
Red Shoes
Glued and Tattooed
Three
Boy’s Club
Girl’s Club
United
Bound
Almost Jaded
Executive’s Club
Invisible
Dads are the most fun until someone loses a toe

Artist’s statement: Domesticates explores the influence of relationships, especially the close, domestic bonds of family and friends, where the colors and patterns of our daily existence imprint themselves onto us, forming the person we become, the roles we play, and how we view the world.

Exposing the Sneaky Marmot

She Wondered How Long the Sneaky Marmot Would Make Her Keep This Up
The Sneaky Marmot Had Convinced Her that the World Was Like a Beach Ball
He Did Not Have the Power to Resist the Polka Dots
By All Appearances, He Had All His Sneaky Marmots in a Row
She Assumed She Was Prettier When She Pointed Her Toes
They Mistakenly Believed that the Sneaky Marmot Was Going Away
She Imagined that Supersonic Bicycle Speed & a Pretty Dress Were All a Girl Really Needed
Occasionally, The Sneaky Marmot Took Her for a Ride
Somebody Has to Do It
Sneaky Marmots Start Early
She Believed That Her Backside Was Her Best Asset
A Few of Them Were About to Discover that the Sneaky Marmot Had Led Them All Astray
Against Her Will, She Was Beginning to Resemble the Sneaky Marmot
He Believed that He Could Convince the Marmot by Using His Finely Honed Skills of Logic and Argumentation
Lining up the Sneaky Marmots

Artist’s statement: Sometimes, our beliefs about the world or ourselves don’t serve us well. False or misleading perceptions can, at best, lead us into harmless folly or, at worst, cause others and ourselves a lifetime of misery and heartache. 

Exposing the Sneaky Marmot examines various forms of self-deception. The presence of a trickster marmot throughout the series embodies the tendency to be misled by our perceptions and beliefs. These mindsets are formed in childhood and carried into adulthood, often functioning below our conscious awareness. 

I reference old photographs to allude to the temporal persistence of long-lasting familial mindsets and use the landscape as a setting to represent the wild terrain of our subconscious mind. These paintings are twisted versions of grown-up dramas that are humorous on the surface but sometimes dark and insidious underneath, with far-reaching consequences.

Human/Nature

Retired Studs
Performance
Migrating Pairs
Cocky
Mob
Mating Pairs
Manguanas Resting Before Competition
The Main Attraction
Rut
Inspector
Judge
Appraiser

Artist’s Statement: The Human/Nature series began as a mashup of animal and human behaviors, an exploration of mate-seeking and the power of pheromones, visual cues, adornment, competition, attraction, and ritual. It was meant to be a romp into the clunky, awkward strangeness that occurs when humans and their animal kin hunt for a mate. However, as I delved deeper into the paintings and their meanings, I realized that what began as a playful exploration had become a complex, confusing, and emotional journey that I hadn’t expected. While this series is humorous on the surface, the topic of human sexuality is a complex and sometimes emotionally loaded subject. Yes, humans are mammals, and we behave in ways that mimic our wild kin; however, human sexuality is far more complex and evolves as our lives change and we age. In addition, the “Me Too” movement revealed how many of us have been victimized by sexual violence. I am struck by the fact that humans are supposed to possess a higher level of consciousness than our animal kin, but we sometimes fail to behave that way. 

In this series, there are very large, sensual women; I gave them complete control over their own bodies and sexuality by making their canvases much larger than the others. Their titles give them absolute authority to select with whom they share themselves. 

The smaller canvases feature a mixture of activities and human/animal traits, including intra-sexual selection, where males compete with each other and put on elaborate displays for females, and inter-sexual selection, where females choose their mates. There are also canvases representing those who have passed the stage of attracting and selecting a mate and are now focused on other things instead.

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