I paint in a style known as “classical realism”, meaning that I attempt to recreate my scene as close to reality as possible.  To accomplish this, I work from photographs. 

The quality of my finished painting will therefore be directly proportional to the quality of the photo I am working from.  If you were to look at a collection of the paintings I have personally done within the last few years you will see  quite a bit of differences in how some of them are painted.  That is caused by the quality of the photos I was painting from.  If one photo is sharp and clear, its painting will also be sharp and clear.  Conversely, if another photo was soft with a blurred background, so too will the painting be soft and have the background blurred. 

I am an avid admirer of the 17th Century Dutch painters.  Not just the Masters, but all of the painters of that era. 

I would also include in the list of painters I admire the Flemish painters, of which Peter Paul Rubens was the Master.

Another painter who I consider to be my hero would be the 16th century painter, Tiziano Vecellio, who was known simply as Titian.  Wonderful painter.

You can see the similarities in styles between what I try to achieve and the 16th and 17th Century painters by looking at my "El Vira" and comparing her to "Portrait Of A Woman" by Michiel Janz van Miereveld, early 1600's. 

In the world of color there are only three and they are known as "primary colors", yellow, red and blue.

Every color in the rainbow is comprised of a mixture of these three colors.

They are somewhat ambiguous since each could mean something totally different from one person to another.  To solve that problem, professionals in the world of color have come up with specific terminologies that have specific hues.  They are referred to as yellow, magenta and cyan.

Along with black and white we can mix any color we choose to.

I only use the 3 primary colors for my paintings.  By doing so I solve a lot of problems common to painters.

First, I will always have the right color available to use.  Back in the days when I was using a multitude of colors I was always looking for a color different than what I had in my box of paints.  By mixing my own colors I always have just the right color to use.

Secondly, my colors will automatically complement each other.  Without getting technical here, let me just say that colors have varying "temperatures".  Some may be "hot" and others, "cool" and they all have various intensities.  As such not all colors available will be complementary when used side by side.  For example, to me French Ultramarine Blue just does not go well with Ultramarine Blue.  By staying with the three primary colors I avoid that problem.

Finally, I can always "find my color" again.  There is nothing more frustrating than mixing a perfect color one day only to discover the next day that you have forgotten what colors you had used the previous day.  Mixing everything with only the primary colors solves that problem.

Yellow - yellow

Here you will see a tube of Yellow from the Italian paint maker, Maimeri Puro. 

These pure colors are hard to find in your local art supply store.

Because pure colors are so hard to find, I substitute other colors that are more readily available.

I previously used Cad Yellow Light as my yellow, but with the shortage of that color on the market, I often use Cad Yellow Hue.

The main difference you will see when using the hues is that they aren't as intense and require more paint to do the same job with.

Red - magenta

As described above, red is actually magenta.

It has more of a "fire engine red" look to it.

On my palette, I use tubes of Permanent Rose as my Magenta.

Blue - cyan

Cyan is also one of the three primary colors that is hard to find.

I use Cerulean Blue as my Cyan on my palette.

As with a lot of colors, I am being forced to use hues, such as you see here a tube of Cerulean Blue Hue.

Black

For my blacks I tend to use Ivory Black.  I seldom use Lamp Black and I NEVER use Paynes Gray as it tends to go really blue when you lighten it up.

I call black my "super blue" because it acts like blue does when mixing with other colors. Example; black and yellow mixed together make a very soft green for foilage.  Or black and red mixed to come up with a nice violet or purple.

White

I prefer Permalba for my whites simply because I like the thinner texture of it, thus minimizing my use of thinners.

You will notice that I use Winton paints from Windsor-Newton.  I am not hung up on brands but use them because of availability.

I also buy the largest tubes I can get, which are the 200 ML size.  More value for your dollar if you buy the large tubes.

Click to enlarge

Done by the famed Scottish painter J. Barker around 1850 this delightful piece now hangs in my private collection.

I bought it from an antique dealer while I was in Europe on vacation.

The painting had a major
scuff across the entire canvass, as if it had slid along the pavement or something.  The scuff covered a lot of the bottom half of the painting.

Using Cerulean Blue, Permanent Rose, Cad Yellow Hue, Ivory Black and Permalba I repainted over the scuff marks and restored the painting to its original appearance.

I would defy anyone to show me where I made the corrections.

My colors will match any colors, even those 160 years old.

As example, I repainted part of the lower section of her shawl and the green foilage.

Use my colors and you can mix virtually any color out there.

The light shade you see in the bottom right quadrant is glare from my flash and not a flaw in the painting.

I prefer to use bristles for most of my basic work.

However, I do use nylons for painting most fleshes and for extremely delicate work, as well as for blending. 

As I have mentioned elsewhere in this website, I prefer to stretch my own canvasses.  For starters it gives me a tremendous advantage of being able to do my painting according to the dimensions dictated by the subject.

For example, I may look at a photo and think it needs to be painted 15 x 23 in order to have the finished piece look just right.  if I were to use a standard, stretched canvass, I would have to compromise on size and do the painting something like 16x20.  That would cause me to lose what I was trying to accomplish with the right size.

Secondly, by stretching my own I can easily mount the canvass to any hard surface of my choosing.  That allows me to control my brush strokes without having to contend with the "bounce" of stretched canvasses.  When I am painting I don't want my canvass to be moving around as I press against it with a brush.

By using an unstretched canvass I can also have extra canvass to test my color mixtures on.  No more having a second canvass beside me to try out a color mixture.

Due to its cost and availability I normally use cotton duck canvass.  I prefer the heaviest weight I can find but mainly end up with a midweight 7 once.  It's difficult to find painting canvass much heavier.

I also tend to use primed canvass rather than priming my own. 

I purchase most of my canvass from Dick Blick art supplies.  I shop the internet for my specialty canvasses, such as my linens and hemp. BTW, if you have never painted on pure linen my advice is DON'T  LOL  It is tough to work with.

I gave up making my own stretchers and only use manufactured ones now.

For a sealer I tend to use either spray varnish or a light coat of Liquin applied with a rag.  Having said that, I should say that lately I have been avoiding sealers totally in order to minimize the gloss from the paintings.  Less gloss means less glare when photographing and viewing under lights.

As a master artist I consider it my duty to not only produce wonderful works of art but also to pass along my skills and knowledge to the next generation of artisans.

In the tradition of many of my heroes such as the 17th century Dutch painter, Peter Paul Rubens and the modern painter, Thomas Kincade, I follow their beliefs in using personal assistants in producing art.  That allows me to become much more prolific in the amount of art I can produce as well as passing my skills on to the next generation.

It is not the act of smearing paint on a canvass I am most proud of, it is the concept and visualization of the end product that I take the most pride in.

I am often asked if I sign the canvasses when I have used an assistant, I say absolutely yes.  If it comes out of my studio it is my art.  In the words of Master Rubens, "Pity the man who lays the last drop of paint."

1. Depth in a painting can best be achieved by layers of paint.

2,  Sharp edges come forward and soft edges recede.

3. Focal point is more important than composition.

4. All colors are only combinations of red, blue, yellow, white and black.