Paintings With Soul

check her out, bring her home Vortex, 20x24, acrylic on cradeled panel (no need to frame), $2400, available exclusively through my website. S&H inside the contiguous US is on me. Hawaiian, Alaskan and Canadian shipping available at additional cost. What does it mean to wear a mask? how does peering through one change the subject? how does viewing a subject wearing one impact the viewer? what is Bear saying when she adorns herself with a maelstrom of leaves and blooms? With each of these masked paintings, more questions surface. I don’t have any answers, but I sure am enjoying unearthing them. I welcome your thoughts. There are layers of florals masking Bear - lilac, wisteria, roses, heather, geranium and tulips. Together they are a mixed bouquet sworling with a fantastic mysterious energy. Vortex is on my website for direct purchasing, along with viewing in a room or right up close. I am so grateful for your interest in my work. Thank you so much for your support. Big Red Tulip...

check her out, bring her home Stargazer, 16x20, acrylic on cradeled panel (no need to frame), $1600, available exclusively through my website. S&H inside the contiguous US is on me. Hawaiian, Alaskan and Canadian shipping available at additional cost. This lovely originally wore a mask dripping with rose petals, much like the cheek shields on a Roman gladiator’s helmet. While I loved the idea, it didn’t suit the square-ish 16x20 format - I’ve tabled it for a longer, taller composition. But that start did provide a great base for the petals to then take flight, which seemed perfectly suited to Bear’s awe-struck gaze. Initially I thought those lightest smaller flowers would instead be planets - literal stars orbiting Bear - but then this morning while in the midst of my yoga practice I saw little orchid blooms in my head, phalaenopsis, bobbing about. They seemed far more exciting than planets. And far more magical. I love that one of my followers on Facebook commented on an in proc...

Painting a Dog a Day (and a Cat) learn more and register It’s here! The course that has been 20 years in the making has arrived! (I know I usually send you painting announcements, but thought some of you might be interested in this as well) I committed to daily pet portraiture in 2006, thinking I would do it for 30 days or so. Painting a Dog a Day (which is still online and updated with every painting that comes off my easel) stretched into well over a decade. During that time I learned so much about working with clients while also developing a recognizable style and building a thriving studio business. And now I’m bringing it all to you. How to choose your resources, communicate with clients, create and finish the work, and send it out into the world. It’s all here. Along with some basic business practices and a wealth of challenges leveled for the beginning to advanced students. This is my 4th course through Kara Bullock Art - I can’t say enough about how wonderful her team and plat...

check her out, bring her home Divine, 16x20, acrylic on cradeled panel (no need to frame), $1600, available exclusively through my website. S&H inside the contiguous US is on me. Hawaiian, Alaskan and Canadian shipping available at additional cost. First there was Masquerade, then Witness , followed by Sweetheart and most recently Divine . With each one, I learn something more about melting two separate objects together, and the idea of peering through a mask becomes all the more fascinating. I have been reading legends about Bear as Creator. She still lumbers through my dreams, watching or guarding or protecting a perimeter around me. And with Divine, she visited my garden and the yellow peonies which opened up a few days ago. What might we say, were we to meet our Maker? and what might She, in turn, have to say to us? Divine is on my website for direct purchasing, along with viewing in a room or right up close. I am so grateful for your interest in my work. Thank you so...

check her out, bring her home Golden, 12x12, acrylic on flat museum quality panel, available on my website . S&H inside the contiguous US is on me. Hawaiian, Alaskan and Canadian shipping available at additional cost. 20 years ago I began painting daily, starting the pet portrait project Painting a Dog a Day. Over the years I developed a uniquely distinctive style and fresh approach that was eagerly collected by thousands. Yup, that’s not a typo. Shortly into the project things went viral and I had an 18 month long wait list for my daily paintings - it took me a loooonnnng time to get caught up to the demand. It was a lot of fun until it wasn’t - I got burned out around 2017 - and I have done very few pet portraits ever since. Until recently. I visited Kara Bullock at the beginning of May and we filmed my next online workshop focused on the characteristics of my Painting a Dog a Day pieces - loose, impressionistic color in personality packed portraits that can be completed in a sh...

make her yours 20”x20”, acrylic on a cradled wood panel with 3/4” profile (no pressing need to frame). $1900 to the first asking nicely, shipping inside the contiguous US is on me. Hawaiian, Alaskan and Canadian shipping available at additional cost. Masquerade can ship mid June 2026. Anyone remember the drawings I created years ago featuring totems made of Butterfly, Fox, Bear and Deer? I exhibited a dozen of the pieces in a group show, then tucked them away into my flat files. A pile of unresolved drawings still sits here, rather hopefully, on my drafting table. I also painted a number of Fox pieces featuring Butterfly in unexpected ways - most recently, Kitsune , featuring Fox spliced with a Butterfly totem. At the time I had tried a number of approaches with Bear and Butterfly, but wasn’t satisfied with what showed up. I figured it simply wasn’t meant to be and moved onto other concepts. Last weekend, after spotting the first swallowtail of the season, I saw a Bear Butterfly compos...

check them out, take one home At left “Berna Pup,” 8”x8”, $525 and at right “Sunshine,” 6”x8,” $470. Both of these paintings are acrylic on flat museum quality panels, available at my website through the above link. S&H inside the contiguous US is on me. Hawaiian, Alaskan and Canadian shipping available at additional cost. 20 years ago I began my commitment to daily painting, starting the pet portrait project Painting a Dog a Day. Shortly in, the project went viral (viral wasn’t even a thing 20 years back!), and   within days I had an 18 month long wait list for daily paintings . Over the years I developed a unique style and fresh approach that was eagerly anticipated by thousands of collectors. It was a lot of fun until it wasn’t - I burned out around 2017 and have done very few pet portraits since. Until recently. I snuck out to visit my friends at   Kara Bullock Art School   earlier this month and we filmed my next online workshop. Of which the above two paintings ...

check her out, she can be all yours 18”x24”, acrylic on a cradled wood panel, $1900 to the first asking nicely, includes s&h inside the contiguous US. Hawaiian, Alaskan and Canadian shipping available at additional cost. Hellebore can ship at the end of May 2026. This little fox started over a month ago with   a very simple drawing   derived from two other paintings of mine. I had no idea where she was going, just that I wanted a focus on basic value shapes and a young silhouette. Finished yesterday, she was inspired by violets and her namesake, both growing voraciously in my garden despite the mixed weather here in the midwest. I looked it up after signing her - I did not know that hellebore is in the buttercup family and highly toxic (don’t worry - it’s planted in a section of the yard our dogs have no access to). I had no idea it represented calamity - but also, because it blooms in snow, it also represents hope. Here I was thinking I wanted to fill Fox with hellebore b...