I finished the painting today in time to enter it in the upcoming show at the Englewood Art Center. I have the frame already made. A friend was moving and had a 10"x 60" board of African mahogany that he had been hanging onto for a while and asked me if I wanted it. Of course I wouldn't pass up such a nice board, butI didn't know at the time that I would find a use for it so quickly.
    I struggled with the portrait of the drummer. If you look back at the work in progress you will see the drummer is much different. I think with his head slightly down and in profile it makes a nice counter point to the other faces, and also suggests more movement.

After three days of painting I feel like I am making good progress, but there is still much to do. I want to brighten some areas, and tone down others. I still need to work on the cloths, and continue to add detail.

I have been the photographer for my brother's band "Forbidden Fruit Farmers" for the two years I have been in Florida. Over a year ago I did a pastel of the band using a compilation of photographs with the intention of eventually doing a painting. I bought the canvas six months ago and am just now getting started.
    I decided to start now because I am in a holding period waiting to get started on the next mural for the Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society, and because there is an opportunity to show the finished painting (if I get it done in time) at an up coming show at the Englewood Art Center.
    I feel I have made a good start. My initial problem was getting all the band member in the painting. Typically the keyboard player pictured in the back left would have been to the rear and further left of the bass player. I wanted a more compact grouping so I based the grouping from a photograph taken from sharply left of the band and then moved the keyboard player between the bass player and lead guitar.

This is an oil painting I just finished, commissioned by my niece Sarah of her son and daughter. It was done from a photograph on Wixom lake in Michigan.The painting is 24"x30" on streached canvas.

Here is a close-up view of Danny and Ella.

A friend told me a story of Picasso pointing at a room full of his paintings and asking a friend, "What do you think these are all worth?" The friend knowing that Picasso was at the height of his career, said, "Why they must be worth millions." Picasso responded, "They are worthless, because I have not yet signed them." Someday maybe this will be worth more than the commission.

I went back this morning to take a picture under better light conditions. The colors in this photo better reflect the true colors in the sculling mural in Punta Gorda.

I spent 7 hours today finishing up the Sculling Mural for the Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society. At one point I got so engrossed in my painting That I stepped into my bucket of water for cleaning my brushes! I carried on with a wet foot.

 The first thing I did today was finish the frame by painting the gold band. That was my least favorite thing that I planned on doing, so i got it out of the way.

 Then it was painting the people on the beach and the people on the sailboat, and adding contrast to the water in the foreground.

 Finally I added my name

I am not happy with the overall photo; the light was coming from the back and the colors are washed out. I will go back another day and take a better picture.

 The holidays are over and I am back to work. I spent some time working on the figures today. They are almost done. Interestingly, I see some things in the photographs that I didn't see before. For one thing, I want to add some blue under the left arm  like I did on his face to suggest light reflecting off the water.
I made the boat in the foreground brighter, and added color in the boat reflections.

A man stopped his car today and got out and took some pictures and asked a few questions about the mural. He was the first person I handed my new business card to. After the last time someone stopped and I had to write my e-mail address on the back of my brother Tom's card for his band Forbidden Fruit Farmers, I decided I needed one of my own. Tom had printed his own, so after drawing a logo for my card, my brother printed some up for me.