As a portrait artist, I find that immortalizing someone in a painting is intellectually challenging and artistically fun. My subjects find it to be a relaxing break from their daily routines. We both enjoy ourselves as we create both a painting and a friendship. I love it.

All the portraits in this gallery I have painted in oils on canvas or board. Even the two that are monochromatic, George and Sam, are oil paintings. They are grisailles. A grisaille (/gri zai/) is a painting technique made popular during the Renaissance which consists of using shades of gray to create dramatic lighting and a pronounced sense of three dimensionality. I am partial to classical realism. My goal is to capture a pleasing likeness that conveys the sitter's character and personality and answers who they are.

Being able to draw from life is the hallmark of great artists. Since I always strive to become the best I can be, I regularly sketch from live models. Several of these portraits I drew during my summer Tuesday morning open drawing sessions that I organize for local artists and conduct in my studio. Others I drew in classes or from private sittings.

I drew most of these with charcoal pencils on Strathmore Toned Tan paper, Canson colored papers, or on white drawing paper.

Why copy an old master drawing? Copying from a master is no mere duplication of someone else’s work. It is an intimate engagement with the thought processes of the master’s mind. By copying a drawing or painting, I learn how to see the way they did; I discover their thinking process. Experiencing how they shaded or painted specific areas offers me an arsenal of symbols and techniques. I learn how to mix color or how to make marks to convey the intended truth. By studying their use of edges, line, light and value, composition, proportion, shape, color, and rhythm and asking why the master did things a certain way, I can use the same strategies and techniques in my own work. Through this immersive experience, the master guides me through the creative process imparting important art principles which quickly become second nature.

Why do people purchase old master copies? They are beautiful great works of art with the richness of mark, texture, and color that photo reproductions lack. The elements of color, composition, light, form, and rhythm, which made the original work magnificent, are all present, and still creating a beautiful piece. Most da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rubens, Rafael, and other old master works hang in museums, unavailable for purchase. Artist rendered fine art reproductions are affordable alternatives which enable people to enjoy great works of art in the comfort of their own homes.

In June, 2015 I started painting outside on a regular basis. I love the immediate nature of the plein air experience. In October, 2015 I started painting landscapes using watercolors. All of these watercolors  I painted in 2016.

Painting outdoors introduces many new variables to the painting process. The sun progressing across the sky shifts the shadows cast by trees and buildings. Clouds transform further affecting the lighting and composition. The wind causes the grasses and leaves to sway or dance. The wind has even toppled my easel. The tide rises and falls. Everything is in a constant state of flux. Painting becomes immediate in nature. I must paint faster and looser in order to get as much down as possible before my view changes too dramatically. If necessary, I’ll return the following day to finish off the painting. I find outdoor painting exhilarating.

Still life painting uses commonplace objects such as food, flowers, vases, plants, and shells.  As an artist, I have the freedom to choose the composition, design, colors, and the mood all by the objects I pick and how I arrange them.

I painted most of these on wood panels which I prepared using the classical technique with rabbit skin glue and calcium carbonate. Others I painted on  canvas which I primed with rabbit skin glue and an oil based ground.  A few, I used commercially available pre-primed canvases.

These are all pieces that I have a special attachment to that didn't fit in one of the other projects. They include pen and ink, drawing, pastel, oil painting, and sculpture. They are all very different and show the breath of my fine art explorations.

This glimpse into my background as a medical illustrator specializing in maxillofacial reconstruction shows how I learned portraiture from the inside out. I illustrated for texts, slides, journals, video, TV, exhibits, and brochures. I designed and produced 3-D models and exhibits. This involved client/artist consultations, estimation of time/cost factors, surgical sketching, anatomical dissection, experimentation, reference search, and the determination of the best approach to visually represent the solution in the most appropriate format and techniques.

As a medical illustrator in the field of maxillofacial plastic and reconstructive surgery I concentrated on the surgical repair of the face and skull resulting from injuries or birth defects. Injuries were mainly due to trauma from car and bike accidents, fractures to the orbit (eye socket), and gunshot wounds. These injuries, poorly managed, leave a patient horribly disfigured. Surgical repair restores their image and ability to function in society, essentially their lives. My illustrations taught the surgical techniques pioneered at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in clearly depicted, bloodless, step by step, procedures to other surgeons around the world. I occasionally branched out into eyes, hands, and general medical/ biological illustration.

More examples from my years as a medical illustrator