Fort Collins Pianos about Town project.

Artists paint (donated) pianos and they are moved about town every two weeks and are meant to be played!

My piano is the story of the Owl & the Pussycat, a poem written by Edward Lear in 1861 for a friend’s young daughter and it’s love and humor are as real today as then.  I had a great time painting in Old Town Square and reciting the poem to passerbyers; some knew the poem and those who didn’t loved it!  People played the piano while I painted, a great time was had by all!

City of Fort Collins Transformer Mural Project

The Cache la Poudre river is plays an important part of Ft. Collins history and identity.  This mural depicts many of the creatures that use the Poudre River  on a regular basis.  Because these creatures come from many places and use the river in many different ecological zones I borrowed from the Native American idea of the Four Directions to depict this concept.  The Native American interpretation assigns the color red to the south, white to the east, yellow to the north, and blue to the west.  In this mural I have used local birds that to represent those directions; the red tail hawk for the south (red), the magpie for the east (white, sunrise), goldfinch for the north (yellow), and the great blue heron for the west.  The animal tracks range from bear to mouse.  People often refer to this as their “favorite” box. (Thanks!)

The City of Ft. Collins Transformer Mural Project

This mural was fun to paint.  It’s Aesop’s story of the Hare and the Tortoisep.  The moral of the story: Slow & Steady wins the Race is just as true as it was when the fable was written in ancient Greece 2600 years ago!

City of Fort Collins Transformer Mural Project 2010

“Rainmaking”

The theme of this mural is “Rainmaking.”  The images are drawn from Kiva Murals located in New Mexico.  The murals were painted approximately 600 years ago by the Ancient Puebloan People.  The artists who created the Kiva Murals used symbols representing scarlet macaws, rain clouds, lightning, and dragonflies to depict rainmaking activities that took place in the kivas.  They also painted large abstractions of these symbols.  The scarlet macaws represent the south and the sun which, along with the rain, made the corn grow.  Like humans, the dragonfly and the mosquito need rain to prosper and play an important role in “Rainmaking.”  The Butterfly Maiden, Cloud Blower, & Mosquito Man play important roles in bringing rain to the people.

Won the Gamblin Prize for Oil Painting

Canyon Spirits

Canyon De Chelly, AZ

Oil on Canvas on Board, 24″ x 36″

$1800 USD Framed

Fontanelle, Living Dune

When I worked as an archaeologist in Opal WY (Exxon Sour Gas Plant on BLM land) my job was to draw cross sections of the dunes where we were working.  This painting recalls that time and work.

Watercolor on Paper  28″ x 20″ $500 USD (framed)

Woman Across the Prairie

This painting is an image of a woman as the landscape, the metaphor was strong in my mind for several years before I had the nerve to actually paint it.

Watercolor on Paper 34″ x 48″  $1095  USD

Brown Trout

I’ve painted trout for 25 years, inspired by my fly fishing safaris throughout the Western U.S.  This one is very popular and people see eyes, smiles, and dreams in it.

Watercolor on Paper 25″ x 35″   Original $1095  Giclees available in any size.  Posters $15.00 or $25.00 framed.

Dark from the Past

This is a composite of the elements of Kiva Floors that I’ve seen in Ancient Puebloan Houses.  The firepit has center stage in this painting, the vent is above it and the sipapu at the very bottom.  The sipapu is where the people came out of the earth and into the world.

Mixed Media on Paper  26″ x 23″  $200 USD

War Not, ’tis Hell

Oil, gold leaf on Linen

34″ x 36″   $2095 USD

Found in the Bighorn

Oil on Board

24″ x 30″  $1095 USD

Found in Salida

Oil on Board 20″ x 22″  $775 USD

Badger x Two (from the Both Sides series)

Oil on Board  14″ x 18″   $575 USD

Sleeping with Secrets

We travel to here every year, the giant beckons.  This painting is a view of the Sleeping Ute Mtn. from Hovenweep Nat’l Monument in SW Colorado. The land is controlled by the Navajo and most of us cannot go there.  This painting is 24″ x 48″ even though it doesn’t look that big here.

Oil on Linen   $1295

Lime Ridge

                                  This is Lime Ridge a ridge of green & red sand packed down into rock; the red made me think of the snakes who live there.  Its on the way from Bluff UT to Mexican Hat, NM.  That’s the San Juan in the valley between the two ridges.

Oil on Linen    20″ x 28″     $1075  USD

Far View

Far View, Ancient Puebloan House, what a view!

Watercolor 12″ x 16″ $125 USD

Gateway Park

View from Bridge on the North Fork of the Poudre,  upstream to Gateway Park.

Original Sold, Giclees available in any size

Prospect Pond, Reclaimed

I worked in the aggregate mining business for several years, reclaiming gravel pits to living wetlands was very satisfying; this is a reclaimed pond.

Watercolor on paper 22″ x 29″ $225 USD

San Juan River, Dream near Mexican Hat

This painting is kin to Lime Ridge, the San Juan River is surrounded by ancient rocks that are every color of the rainbow.  The river flows cool in this desert and reflects the amazing  landscape.

Watercolor on Paper  22″ x 30″  $350 USD

Sleeping Ute, View from Mesa Verde N.P.

This is the Painting I donated to the N.P.S. after I was Artist in Residence at Mesa Verde. You can see this painting at the Museum on Chapin Mesa.

Oil on Canvas, 30″ x 36″

These are some paintings of Balcony House & Long House in Mesa Verde.  Its a very warm and hospitable to tourists today, but was probably a hairy place to live in if you were a grandma or small child since the front drops straight down into a deep canyon

Balcony House, Room for the Past in the Present

 These empty rooms are very small & claustrophobic.

Oil on Canvas 16″ x 20″  $150 USD

Windows to the Past, Balcony House

The windows of these ancient buildings are dark and seem unknowable, yet hold the past’s secrets for us to find.

Watercolor on Paper, 12″ x 16″  $150 USD

Turkey Window, Balcony House

 A dark window in the back of Balcony House, smoke blackened room with a turkey enclosure and incised turkey tracks.

Oil on Canvas  16″ x 20″ $125 USD

Living on the Edge, Long House Mesa Verde N.P.

Long House is an amazing site; I know of at least two other artists who’ve painted this particular view.  I was attracted by the intimate yet mysterious feeling.

Oil on Board, 18″ x 22″  NFS

Sunset at Long House

Here’s another view of Long House, the sunset turning the canyon red and warm. Much  of what we see now was once enclosed.  It was dark and smoky.

Oil on Linen 20″ x 28″ $500 USD

Gabbyboy

Gabby Boy, my best ever Bird Boy
(1996-2008)
Portrait of a Quaker Parrot
16″x20″ Oil on Canvas