"Altar Boy" oil on canvas 16"x20"

My friend Dottie and I decided to paint this boy from a newspaper clipping that she had cut out years and years ago. . It is a black and white photo. (Colored print in the Times Picayune were rare in those days.) This boy is no doubt married with 10 kids by now. Anyway, she is working on the watercolor version and I am anxious to see her results.

New Orleans French Quarter Festival April 13th and 14th.

It is that time of the year again. I have been accepted into the Pirates Alley Art Show that takes place in conjunction with the New Orleans French Quarter Festival. Please come visit me and view my latest work. My spot is actually on Pirate Alley which is on the left side of the St. Louis Cathedral. There will be different bands and great food throughout the area. Hope you can make it!

"King of the Road" 16" x 20" oil on canvas

 

Never miss a photo opportunity. I was buying some eclairs at this local bakery and this man with his dog entered the shop.The dog was wearing, what looked to me like, swimming goggles. Found out the two are biker buddies and they travel everywhere together on their Harley. This was the first motorcycle that I have painted. Hope there are no missing parts! I think the title of the painting is perfect. The shop was selling king cakes and had that sign on the railing. And his last name was King!

Julie and Manny 16" x 20" oil on canvas

 

These are my fellow classmates. We get together once a week to improve our painting skills with Roy and catch up on the latest gossip, listen to awesome music and basically inspire and encourage one another. This painting is the second in a series of three. I will have painted almost 360 degrees of the room when I am finished the third.
Everything was first sketched in loosely with soft charcoal, followed by yellow ochre to make the lines more permanent so that I could block in the shapes. Same procedure as the smaller paintings.

Roy and John 16" x 20"

 

This is at Roy's studio. He has a life sized poster board of his idol, John Wayne behind him always keeping an eye on what he is painting. It was morning light and I basically painted from life as he painted. I had to take a photo though to do the finishing touches on it when I got home. It took about 3 sittings to complete. The studio facinated me with all the interesting "art" stuff laying around. Imagine that!

Just Country 16" x 20" oil on canvas

 

I took a picture of this little girl at a church festival. Never miss an opportunity for a potential painting. I removed the harness and straps that were connected to the four-pony walker and made it look more like she was a real country girl. I should have left the flip flops off her feet! Anyway I truly enjoyed painting this and it inspired me to get more new reference photos.

Super Trio 12"x 12"

Yes, I did this painting before but it was worth repeating on a slightly larger canvas board. If only you could really see the rich colors that are in the "blacks". I used no black paint, only mixtures of red, yellow and blue in their deepest values.