Quotes and Observations

'If you want to be an artist, do it. If you want to direct, or act, or write, don't think about it, do it. Take a chance and jump off the cliff. You can build your wings on the way down. As long as you love what you do and do what you love, you won't fail. Love is the key to everything.
 --Ray Bradbury, 2009

'To all who come to this happy place ... Welcome!'
 --Walt Disney, July of 1955

'If you can possibly afford it, always buy the best. You'll rarely be disappointed.'
 --Alex Sherman, 1994

'Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.'
  --Samuel Clemens

'Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. '
  --Leonard da Vinci

Painting

I do both digital and “real world” painting, and the occasional mashup for fun:

This first one was something I did for Olivia Hussey. I took the original photograph and hand-painted a scene extension to make it look as though it had been part of the original photograph, replicating not only the style of the painter of the oriental screen behind her, but the hand tinting applied to the original photograph and the film grain.

This was my niece Christy when she was about 4 years old (she’s in her thirties, now, all grown up). I’d been asked to simply restore the photograph, and corrected sun and water damage. I couldn’t resist adding the faerie wings and ears, and gave my step-mom both versions.

This one speaks for itself.

Speed painting, done in the Gimp. Took about ten minutes, I guess. I do this stuff for fun, just to remind myself that I can still do it when I want to.

"Pilot", Acrylic on posterboard

Acrylic on posterboard, circa 1987. I won an award for this one. It represents about three day’s work.

Painted for a friend, Jim Davis (no, not the creator of Garfield) for his 50th birthday. Acrylic on canvas – it was the first time I’d tried to paint anyone’s likeness in perhaps 30 years, so I’m not as happy with it as I’ve been with other things I’ve done. He loved it, though.


Painted as a birthday present for another friend, Susan Fox. Acrylic on canvas, 11″x14″.

More speed painting. Done actual size in the Gimp, about 15 minutes work.