Don't Forget to Remember 26" x 34", Acrylic on Board  If you live in the midwest, you've seen the opiate epidemic firsthand in some form or other. The painting provides its own explanation. Showdown at Volcano Castle 16" x 20", Acrylic on Board  This painting holds a special place in my heart. My oldest son and I collaborated on this after talking about our favorite toys. I told him about how I would spend hours playing with GI Joe vehicles and action figures and creating elaborate stories of their adventures in my room and backyard as a kid. He mentioned the how much he enjoyed building worlds in the video game Minecraft and how he also loved playing Nerf guns with his brother in the house and backyard. We came up with this painting after my son designed the actual volcano castle in Minecraft and we arranged some of the GI Joe vehicles (which my parents had lovingly saved for my children) in the backyard and shot some reference photos. He and his brother were later wrangled into posing for some reference photos with their favorite Nerf guns and I tried as best as I could to put it all together with some advice from both my sons over the winter. In the spring of 2016, the painting was accepted into the 2016 Bryn Du Mansion Art Exhibition and my son and I was lucky enough to be featured in the Newark Advocate. You can check out the Advocate's story here. August Coneflowers 24" x 34", Acrylic on Board  Those long summer days right before school starts are a magic time for light and color in Ohio. The days start becoming shorter and the brilliant greens of summer begin to fade into shades of green gold. The bright golden tones of the coneflowers are often the last flowers of the summer that persist into autumn and are a reminder of summers past and the potential of summers ahead. Stranded 16" x 20", Acrylic on Board  As a parent you try your best to love and protect your children, but fate and circumstance don’t always follow that plan. We all have those moments when we feel lost or when what once seemed familiar seems long ago and far away. Uncertainty is often the only guide available and we try to find our way back the only way we know how, by using what we’ve learned. Plubnum Flowers 16" x 20", Acrylic on Board  Second Sight 26" x 34", Acrylic on Board  Every fall amanita muscaria mushrooms blossom in our yard. Amanita muscaria have traditionally been associated with shamans and witches for eons being as they are mildly hallucinogenic as well as poisonous enough to be deadly. This was my attempt portray a scene that is evocative and mysterious. |