"A Nice Chair" 8"x10" (Click here to bid on eBay)

I can't get enough of the dramatic aerial perspective of the Grand Canyon where the shows turn brilliant blue and the rich hues dissolve to blued pastels. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Three Sisters Again" 8"x10" (Click here to bid on eBay)

I named this Three Sisters " Again", because I painted at least three views of this structure by now. it's in Monument Valley in the northeast corner of Arizona. There were many westerns filmed here including, The Searchers, one of John Wayne's best to name just one. Another popular spot for westerns to be filmed is in Jackson, Wyoming which saw Shane filmed there years ago. Click on the image for a larger view.

Superbowl 34 Where did the Time Go?

An artist friend of mine,

>Frank Ordaz

, wrote and ask me for copies of any superbowl posters I may have painted. It all reminded me of some fun times back in '99, and some great things to look forward to this weekend.
Back in '99, I was ask by Brad Jansen, of the NFL to create the key art for the big game that year. It was being held at the Georgia Dome in Atanta, so the theme was going to be Georgia Peaches. It wasn't known at the time that I painted it, who the contestants were going to be, but lucky for me, it turned out t be the Rams from St. Louis, and the Tennessee Titans.The months before the game, while I was painting the piece, my favorite player at the time, Walter Payton had passed away. Without the Art Director knowing, I slipped in an homage to him, by painting his jersey number into the peach tree in the back left. #34 is visible on a larger print, in the negative light areas within the leaves.
The other interesting thing is that Kurt Warner, this weekends QB for Arizona, was the wining quarterback back then for the Rams. He was a local product for us Midwesterners, in that he graduated from Nortthern Iowa and before he got a shot at playing in the big leagues, he was tearing it up in Arena Football.
Superbowl 34 was played on January 30, 2000, and the Rams preserved a vistory with a stop on the 1 yard line with 6 seconds remaining. I just hope this weekend's game plays out as well for him and his Cardinals. He's a great role model that always gives credit to God, and his savior Jesus, before any interview. The world needs more players like him.

Thanks Frank, for reminding me of some good times.

"Lemons and an Orange" 8"x10" (Click here to bid on eBay)

I've been really impressed with work that I have seen on the web, of artists who paint dramatically lit still lifes. I ran across this shot of lemons and an orange and thought that I wanted to join the party. As an illustrator, you're trained to push color for appetite appeal, but as a fine artist it's more about mood that carries a painting. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Tahoe Peak" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

I have only a few locations to choose from when it comes to Lake Tahoe. We arrived there by the 3rd of November in 2007, but they had already closed all the campgrounds on the lake's shore for the winter. Good thing to know unless you have a lot of time and don't mind hiking past the gates. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Superstition Gully" 11"x 14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

Last May I took a third trip out to "The Lost Dutchman's Mine", state park on the east side of the Phoenix valley. I hiked a few miles closer to the face of these mountains but soon found out I should have stuck to the trails. The thorns and bugs rule the range in all these gullies that have been created around the slopes of this park. Click on the image for a larger view.

"November Sagebrush" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

While driving down from Lake Tahoe in November of '06, we drove southward through the Owen's Valley on the western side of California. I've painted four more pieces from that drive and I can't wait for May, in just four months, when I get to drive through there again. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Into the Sun" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

It's back to landscapes and trying to paint water. It's always a challenge because you don't want to paint every ripple, but at the same time you need to catch the effect of that particular color and activity of the surface without it standing out as unfinished, or overworked. Keeping it somewhat lose and sketchy helps to get the impression. Click on the image for a larger view.

"A Watermelon Slice" 8"x10" (Click here to bid on eBay)

To change things up a little, I decided to paint a still life for a change. Kind of an odd choice though because this is really a summer favorite. It looked like too much fun to pass up painting again though. Click on the image for a larger view.

"A Downpour Over There" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

If I remember right, this was a scene I stopped and shot in southern Colorado. We were driving back home to South Dakota and it must have been in the warmer months because we never went through Denver in the winter. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Lemons on Wood" 8"x10" (Click here to bid on eBay)

I've been having a lot of fun painting landscapes, but I thought it might be time to do a still life for a change. Knowing that I've overdone the orange theme lately, I dug into my files for some lemons that I shot a couple of years ago. Click on the image for a larger view.

"In the Spot Light" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

This scene was painted from shots taken at Lake Tahoe in November of '08. The campsites were all closed for the winter so my access to the lake shore was limited. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Resting Place" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

Last year when I hiked up to Hidden Falls in Jackson, I constantly looked for nice rocks to stop, sit, and take a look around and appreciate all the silence. Only in the middle of the night here in Phoenix does it ever get that quiet. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Winter Grand" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

It's amazing to imagine the amount of time it took for these shapes and masses of rock to form to the images they are today. Unless there's an earthquake of huge proportions, I can't imagine them ever changing. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Peach Colored Cliffs" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

I had one more image of northern Arizona to paint before I dig into my Grand Canyon reference. I'm not big on huge dramatic sunsets, but I do enjoy the "Golden Hour" when the sun is low and it drenches the landscape with yellows, reds, and crimsons. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Shaded Foothills" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

One more painting from Jackson before I move on to something new. I've been wanting to do something from the Grand Canyon so I'll start searching through my reference. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Teton Peaks Above" 8"x10" (Click here to bid on eBay)

Jackson, Wyoming sets at the foot of the Grand Tetons. It's a popular ski location and is home to many ranch owners with large stables of horses used for pleasure and to tend their cattle herds. Click on the image for a larger view.

"What a Butte" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

I painted this butte once before but could help but want to try it again. I liked the atmospheric perspective of the distant mountains against the hazy foreground butte, which is really hard to try to make it look as large as it is without having something else in the scene as a point of reference. In this scene al I had were the small sagebrush to show a relationship. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Muddy Waters" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

Checking through my reference I found this muddy stream that I stopped to photograph somewhere in Southern Utah, if I remember right. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Spring Rain" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

What's great about painting these scenes is that I get to relive these trips that we took over the last 4 years. This scene was from one trip through southern Wyoming where we didn't have the best traveling weather but it turned out to be great for capturing the stormy side of the west. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Zig Zag Stream" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

I have painted this stream from a few different angles now. It was a great find for me as we were driving north from Rock Springs, Wyoming towards Jackson. By best guess is that it's about 50 miles south of Jackson in some wide open farm country. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Evening on the Lake" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

I was inspired by another daily painter, Don Gray to get back into some snow scenes. Although I haven't seen snow in more than a year, I do miss it, but not being in it. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Broken Aspen" 11"x14" (Click here to bid on eBay)

The pastures around the Tetons in Jackson Wyoming are some of the most interesting settings I have ever experienced. I need to make another trip up there for some new reference. Click on the image for a larger view.