"Saguaro Hillside" 8x10 SOLD (Click here to view results on eBay)

This is a scene of an area just east of Phoenix called Fountain Hills where we were checking out possible places to live here in Arizona. Great Saguaros out there. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Bishop Pasture" 11x14 SOLD (Click here to view results on eBay)

This was a scene we saw near Bishop, California as we drove down from Lake Tahoe to Phoenix, last Fall. It was late October and every view was a painting. My problem was that we always got started late every morning and lost at least five hours of daylight. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Orange Desert" 8x10 SOLD (Click here to view results on eBay)

This scene was from shots I took from all over the desert but primarily from Anthem, a city just north of Phoenix. Every night it seems there is a warm sunset glow cast over the hills and mountains of the desert. It may be from the dust in the air. I'm not sure but it is always more red than the midwest. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Dry Wash" 11x14 SOLD (Click here to view results on eBay)

This is a scene that you would see as you approach Monument Valley from the east. Coming down from Moab in Utah, you start to see the formations of Monument Valley rising above the horizon with nothing but flat desert leading in. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Small Coke"Available on my blog for $100 plus $7 shipping

I really messed up on this one. I thought it was posted on my blog a week ago, but the auction ended and I didn't send out an update before that happened. I also went back into the painting to lighten it up a little at the last minute. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Moab Parade" 12x12 SOLD (Click here to view results on eBay)

There are so many amazing shapes of rock formations in this park that it's hard to look in any direction without wondering; how did that possibly get formed. There are bridges, pedestals, chairs, and people formations everywhere. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Rocky Path" 9x12 SOLD (Click here to view results on eBay)

These Path scenes always remind me of the fun I had hiking up to Hidden Falls in Jackson, Wyoming. It was the first week in May and everyone was being warned not to go alone without bear spray. The bears had just come out of hibernation and were hungry after a winters sleep. I didn't get any spray, and every crack of a twig or bird chirping would make me jump. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Oak Creek Autumn" 9x12 SOLD (Click here to view results on eBay)

There's a main stream that flows through Sedona called Oak Creek. This view is located to the south and west of Sedona near the Page Springs Fish Hatchery. It was late fall so the water in the creek was probably as low as it gets. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Not Dead Yet" 9x12 SOLD (Click here to view results on eBay)

This is a scene I've wanted to paint for a long time from the group of photos I shot a couple of years ago. It was winter and the skies were overcast most of the day until after sunset when they started to break up. Click on the image for a larger view.

"Let there be Light"

This is the first painting I did, "Walking on Water", for "Let there be Light", the show that is now hanging in the gallery at the Crystal Cathedral, in Garden Grove , California.



This is the first version with Christ looking like he was near the shore. Besides not looking like a sea, the illusion of walking on deep water wasn't there.



This is the second version of water which I liked because of all the color I infused into it, but it still didn't have the feel of deeper water and rougher sea water. On the third and final version above I decided to limit the color on the water and try to convey a rougher wave feel with all the warm tones in the figure of Jesus.







Here's a shot of the Gallery building



Let me tell you how it came about.
I am fortunate to know, and be best friends with an artist in Seattle, Chris Hopkins. He's always been an oil painter, even in the early part of his career when we both worked at a Hollywood design studio, Willardson & White, where we were primarily working as airbrush painters making a living at advertising art of all kinds. Album covers, movie posters and product advertisments of all kinds. Chris and I both landed there out of Art Center, and had more than three years of working side by side having a great time and creating so many fun memories. I stuck with airbrush after leaving W&W, but very quickly, over a period of just a couple of years,Chris crushed his airbrush, (literally, and then painted it as a still life), and developed a portfolio of nothing but oil painted illustrations.
Just when I thought Chris had outdone himself on any one project, he would blow me away with a bigger and better piece that looked like he worked on it for a year. He can paint more in one week than five painters can painters can paint in a month. It was Chris that suggested I paint something for an upcoming show that he helped organize, that was going to include, not only some of his Christian pieces, but many of the other best known names in Christian art. I have to thank Chris publicly for inviting me into a group that he worked for years earning their respect. This is a highlight of my career and a real honor to be hanging my art among the works of these artists.

I won't post any images of their art here without first getting permission, but I will give you links to all of their websites so you can see how amazing this group of artists are.

Chris Hopkins

Dennis Lewis

Thomas Blackshear

There are many more artists in this group, but I'll need to find my catalog from the show to continue with links. I'll add to this post as I locate links to the artists, and photos from the show.

Here is the second piece I contributed, "Into the Desert"




Here's a shot of Dennis Lewis posing in front of the piece he painted.

"Morning on the Peaks" 8x10 SOLD (Click here to view results on eBay)

After a week of catching up with illustration work, it was fun and relaxing to just paint. I had to get a little of that in before I jumped into trying to document the "Let there be Light" art show.

This is a scene from a trip we took in May of '06 when we visited Moab for the first time and then later in that day, watched air races in Monument Valley. Click on the image for a larger view.