In the course of study, I tried my hand at painting in the style of Luis Melendez, an 18th century Spanish still life painter.

The aim of these exercises was to understand this artist's techniques, then to go on and incorporate parts of this style into my own works.

In the later paintings, I have endeavored to show movement in still life. This is proving to be a popular idea.

Continuing the series of still lifes with strong contrast, these small paintings on panel depict fruits, vegetables, and other interesting objects. The point is to take a close look at ordinary things.

Most paintings are 5" x 5", all are painted on a panel: either wood, masonite, or archival aluminum.

Started in 2016, this series has proven to be very popular. I started it to learn how to capture metal textures. For me, part of the excitement is the visual  puns. Have fun looking at these!

Begun in 2020, this new series is trompe l'oeil chalkboard paintings. People have been afraid to touch them, thinking they will be smeared. An interesting part for me has been to research the math to be sure it is correct! A bit of whimsey.

I have been a professional kiltmaker in the Baltimore, Washington, and Pennsylvania area for 40 years. Kiltmaking is highly specific form of tailoring. Tartan is a special form of plaid; tartans are named plaids. Besides family and clan tartans, there are district, province, and national tartans; besides Scottish tartans, there are Irish, Welsh, Canandian, and tartans specific to schools, universities, and other organizations. Tartan is specially woven for kiltmaking; twilled to the edge so the selvedge can be used for the hemline.

Within the tartan families, there are different colorways. Modern colors are quite brilliant and basic, for example, the reds are bright scarlet, whereas the ancient colors are more subtle, the reds becoming a soft red-orange, as perhaps faded over time. Also, there are muted shades and weathered shades. For instance, one can order a kilt and specify 'weathered hunting Stewart'. I find that my clients educate me!

There are many different pleating patterns one can choose. The most common is pleating to sett. A sett is a complete repeat of a tartan design. Pleating to stripe means that the lightest stripe is centered in the pleat face, this is commonly done for military kilts, but can be done for most any tartan. Other choices include pleating to alternating pivot points, pleating to a field color or alternating fields, pleating to a preferred stripe, or simply to a pleasing pattern.

In my career I have made many items for the Scottish community. I am nearing 800 different tartan projects. I currently limit my work to kilts, kilted skirts (for ladies), plaids for pipers and drummers, and bagpipe covers. A kilt generally takes eight yards of fabric, a prodigious amount.