Sold & Private Collection — Sun Dog Studio

TWILIGHT SENTINEL - SOLD

Watercolor on Clayboard, Textured (12h x 9w)

Giclée Prints Available

I had a good day of painting and left my studio for an early evening walk in a field next to the woods. It had been raining prior to my walk. It was so silent that time of day after the rain.

Then this great horned owl flew out in front of me and landed to perch on this dead tree at the edge of the field. This gave it a clear view of potential prey in that field.

In spite of the quiet, my adrenalin was through the roof! What an intense yet quiet solitary moment.

West Wind - Private Collection

Watercolor on Paper (7¾h x 10¾w)

Giclée Prints Available

It was a frigid winter’s day when I was coming back from my walk on the farm. A snow squall had kicked up and the wind was coming from the west. I was fascinated when the snow suddenly sprayed off of the side of the old weathered barn in front of me. The still and sullen atmosphere dramatically and suddenly changed in a moment. The contrasting white snow spraying across the red barn was striking and gave movement to the still cold day.

Snow Time - Private Collection

Watercolor on Paper (5 ½h x 8w)

Giclée Prints and Greeting Cards Available

While looking out of a window at my home in New Hampshire, I caught this fun moment of grandmother and grandson playing in the snow. I had to capture it in a painting. It could certainly be any adult and child.

Pumpkin Pie - Private Collection

Watercolor on Arches Paper (8½h x 6½w )

Giclée Prints and Greeting Cards Available

My inspiration for this piece was my wife’s delicious pumpkin pie made from actual pumpkins. I wanted to paint a still life that included some of the ingredients from her recipe.

Living in the country at the time, I wanted to give this piece a wholesome feel and to put the viewer in the mood for pie.

It was interesting and challenging to create the reflections of the pumpkin and eggs onto the glass milk bottle. I had poured some of the milk out of the bottle to develop the milk droplets coming down inside of it.

Endurance - Private Collection

Graphite Study on Paper (9h x 6w)

Giclée Prints Available

I got the idea for this several years ago when Dad described the battle he had while hauling this lake trout into his boat when fishing alone. He said he fought it for over an hour. He was trolling using a record spoon lure fishing near the bottom depths of lake Willoughby in Vermont. Once he was able to get it close to net it, he injured his back pulling it into his boat.

Hearing this story, I decided I needed to do a painting of him. I received a Polaroid for reference a few years later. Eventually, I will be painting this study.

Dad passed away on August 29, 2016. He was 90. I love you and miss you dad.

Hummingbird and Alstroemeria - Private Collection

Watercolor on Arches 140 Lb HP Paper (18h x 12w)

Giclée Prints Available

When my wife and I first began dating, she commissioned me to paint this female Ruby Throated Hummingbird. She had many hummingbirds frequent her feeder and loves them. Alstroemeria was chosen as a hummingbird favorite.

Sketching slow motion film studies and photo references of the hummingbird in flight helped me to achieve the final result. The technique for this piece was very tightly painted to convey the complexities of the flowers. I tried to convey the rapid motion of its wing by loosely painting them.

These birds are remarkable and agile in flight stopping in mid flight on a dime, and beating their wings 53 times per second. They are are extremely fast and acrobatic. This makes them a favorite of bird watchers.

This painting remains one of my wife’s and favorites.

Kings of the Hill - Private Collection

Watercolor on Stonehenge Hot Press Paper (8h x 10w)

Greeting Cards Available

These are my sons, Christian and Nicholas, from their childhood with our golden retriever, Maximus. Painting this brought up great memories for me as a dad and some wonderful memories of my own childhood, as well.

Sun Spray - Private Collection

Watercolor on Paper (6h x 9h)

Giclée Prints Available

This scene was painted in the woods behind my parents house in Hartford, Vermont.

I was on a leisure hike when I came upon an open area in the woods. For a moment the sun burst out from the clouds. I was able to catch the rays as they sprayed across the opening in the woods. Hence, the title, Sun Spray.

Basking - Private Collection

Watercolor on Stonehenge CP Paper (8h x 6w)

Giclée Prints Available

This little fella took up residence behind a board on my shed door that it was sunbathing on. The board has popped out slightly because of age and weather. He would slip behind the board to hide every time I opened the door to get tools. When I shut the door, he came right back out to bask in the sun.

Their camouflage is amazing! I almost didn’t see him at first. Not only do they change their color to camouflage, they also change their color seasonally to help keep them warm or cool depending on the weather.

“You never have to add life to a scene, for if you quietly sit and wait, life will come.”

- John Constable

Among the Brambles - Sold

Watercolor and Pastel on Clayboard Smooth (8h x 10w)

Giclée Prints Available

The Cottontail Rabbit is common to Pennsylvania. This rabbit was a frequent visitor at our home in Evans City, Pennsylvania. I enjoyed studying this rabbit.

Brambles and thickets are some of the preferred habitat for these rabbits. I lightly applied areas of blue pastel and some of the warmer colors to the dead dry grasses and weeds.

In this piece I like to give the viewer a sense of walking toward or into the rabbit’s territory. Another perspective could be a stalking predator watching and waiting through the thicket for the optimal time to pounce.

Nick's Discovery - Private Collection

Watercolor on Paper (11⅜h x 7 ⅜w)

Giclée Prints Available

When we were living in New Port, New Hampshire, my son, Nick, and I went on one of our many hikes. He loved observing nature and insects. On this particular hot summer day, we were headed toward the Sugar River. I let him take the lead, as I often did, so that I could watch him learn about the natural world around him. As we meandered along, at the field’s edge along the river bank, he stopped and reached over to an alder branch next to the water. He slowly put his hand out to touch a very large dragon fly only to discover that it did not move. He picked up the fully intact exoskeleton and cupped it in the palm of his hand to show me his find. I saved it.

Years later, after we moved to the country in Pennsylvania, I did this painting and included other elements that I had gathered from nature to make a composite and create the feeling of that first moment. I then gave this painting to Nick as a gift.

This was a result of one of the special moments that I spent with my son. I am not a botanist or an entomologist. I am an artist and a wild life painter.

“I consider myself as a fond observer of wild places.”

- George McLean

Man Child - Private Collection

Charcoal on Paper (17h x 11½w)

Giclée Prints Available

The model for this drawing was actually much younger than he appears in this sketch. He was perhaps a young teenager at the time. I met him at a pow wow years ago in Dartmouth, New Hampshire.

I was fortunate, and I must say honored that he allowed me to both sketch and photograph him.

I was struck by his intense and proud appearance. He demonstrated both maturity and masculinity while he posed for the short time that I was there. I found the title fitting.

Flower Garden - Private Collection

Watercolor and Pastel on Paper (6h x 8w)

Giclée Prints Available

This was my wife’s flower garden painted outside on location (plen-aire) in Newport, New Hampshire. It really was a good exercise in spontaneity. Weather, light, wind and atmosphere were all factors forcing me to respond quickly while also relying on memory before conditions changed.

I believe that I captured the impressionistic feel that I was after. This is one of my first paintings that I introduced pastels to a watercolor. I included pastels to bring out the warmer colors and to lighten some of the taller flowers.

Allegheny Flats - Sold

Watercolor and Pastel on Arches Paper (6h x 9w)

Giclée Prints Available

On a fishing trip at my friend’s camp, I was able to capture this scene while on the Alllegheny River in the fall. It was early in the morning and fog had begun to rise off the river. The colors at that time in the morning were very muted. I found the the hues and tones of this atmosphere very intriguing. As the fog lifted the vegetation colors warmed. I lightly applied pastel to the floliage to demonstrate this.

The Pool - Sold

Watercolor on Paper (16h x 13¾w)

Gicée Prints Available

These are waterfalls that I painted that are part of a brook in Sharon, Vermont. It is set back in the hills in the deep woods. It is one of many that are scattered throughout the state. These brooks and waterfalls are so clean, cold and clear. Due to the cold waters and the cool air in the early spring, it created a thin layer of ice that I painted on the ledge.

While painting this piece, I had interesting dreams of floating down the waterfall.

Tenuous Balance - Sold

Watercolor and Pastel on Paper (18½h x 26⅜w)

Giclée Prints Available

This was a commissioned, rather complex piece. The buyer wanted to include some of her favorite flowers and also wanted to allow me creative freedom in a natural setting.

As with several works, in doing research, it often becomes challenging yet an educational journey. It takes on a life of its own. Gathering reference took many trips to rural areas collecting film footage, onsite sketches and taking dozens of photos. Frankly, it was a matter of working, observing and learning in the moment.

The intense micro-world and all that was around me in this one small segment along a Wolf Creek marsh was astounding. I was struck by the beauty of wild flowers, insects and plant life, There were many incredible Golden Orb Weaver spiders, Swallowtail butterflies, Blue Darners, and other dragon flies to name a few.

The diversity in such a small area while trying to focus on what to capture and to incorporate into this painting became almost overwhelming. At the same time, I knew that marsh and swamp areas like this serve such a vital purpose to our eco system. The areas nature filtration of the surrounding water serve as a sponge if you will. . Preserving it and the delicate nature of it is vital. That is why I found the title of this piece very fitting.

A Day of Wonderment - Private Collection

Watercolor on Clayboard, Textured (9h x 11¾w)

Giclée Prints Available

As they paused and gazed into the creek, learning to read the water, our little journey became, “A Day of Wonderment.” My Sons, Nicholas and Christian when they were children.

“It is only in thoughtful reflection and in hopeful action that we will be able to pass on to our children’s children a world worth keeping”

- Robert Bateman - wildlife artist

Carmel - Private Collection

Watercolor and Pastel on Paper (6h x 8w)

Giclée Prints Available

During a visit at the coastline of Carmel, California, I enjoy the color scheme of the views. I was visually attracted to the diversity and richness of colors in the ocean and on the beach. This prompted me to paint this scene.

After the Storm - Private Collection

Watercolor on Paper (10h x 7w)

Giclée Prints Available

This scene faces Mt. Pisgah on the Southern end of Lake Willoughby in the Northeast Kingdom in Westmore, Vermont. The mountains that rise up both sides of the lake have been described as being similar to the Fjord Mountains in Norway.

I spent decades at my Dad’s camp with my family up in that rugged and beautiful magical part of Vermont. On one of these many visits, a summer rain storm had just passed through. Dad and I took a drive as we often did to read the water and weather conditions on the lake for possible fishing. The water was calm I was impressed by the mist from the rain raising up the cliffs of the mountain.

Fishing with Dad and my brothers at Lake Willoughby were some of the best times of my life. My hope is to visit this area again some day. Not only for the beauty and the memories, but also to begin new works of art of this rich and majestic part of Vermont. .

Blackberries - Sold

Watercolor and Pastel on Arches 300 Lb CP Paper (18¾h x 12w)

While out in my yard one hot afternoon observing song birds I noticed my rows of blackberry bushes. As I walked closer to the berry bushes, I was struck by the complex variety of insect life in and around the berries. There were Paper Wasps, Hover Flies, Daddy Long Leg Spiders and many other insects. I noticed some of the wasps feeding on the berries and the Daddy Long Leg Spiders meandering within and around the leaves.

The heat, humidity and smell of the berries with the busy constant movement of flying and crawling insects had me captivated in that moment. The varying stages of the berries ripening and the colors influenced me when I painted the dark and purplish black colors of the ripe berries. I was reminded of their wild and sweet flavor.

This caused me to intentionally carry the shadow cast color onto the leaves with the cool dark colors of the ripened berries. As part of my reference, I collected insect specimens, plant clippings, shot photos and watched slow motion film of insects in flight.

This sparked my memories of picking berries with my sons and my childhood memories of berry picking and eating them. These memories influenced the composing and evolution of this piece.

I later displayed this painting at the Alliance for Visual Arts (AVA) Annual Juried Summer Exhibition in Lebanon, New Hampshire. I was privileged to receive one of the three Jurors Recognition Awards for this piece.

Tranquil Flurries - Sold

Watercolor on Paper (Approximately 16h x 12w)

I have always left my dead sunflowers up for the winter so that the birds could feed off of the the seeds. During heavy winter flurries, I was fortunate to catch this Black Capped Chickadee perching on this sunflower. I wanted to capture the harshness yet peacefulness of the moment. Despite their small stature, chickadees are incredibly hardy winter residents of New England.

This original watercolor was displayed and sold at the National Wildlife Art Exhibit at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Woodstock, VT.

“As artists, we routinely step beyond, straining our eyes and vision to discern and record the shapes heaving into birth from darkness.”

- Julia Cameron

Scanning Red Tailed Hawk - Sold

Watercolor on Paper (15h x 12w)

These raptors are one of my favorite wildlife painting subjects. I wanted to convey a hint of subtle beauty but also give the viewer a sense of being watched and the feeling of harshness that plays out in survival. Birds of prey are an important part of the life cycle balance in nature.

This piece was displayed and sold at the National Wildlife Art Annual Fundraiser Exhibition at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science , VINS.