Pairs with:

Statement from the Artist:

This pairing reflects one aspect of my journey from full-time art student to full-time artist. So far, that journey has spanned 17 years, and I intend and hope for at least another 20. After a first career as a public defender, in 2009 I began as a full-time art student at the Atelier School of Fine Art in Minneapolis. The School had been founded by Artist Richard Lack to train students in the methods of the great masters of traditional realist art and required four years of full-time study. The curriculum was tightly structured. The entire first year was devoted to charcoal; paintings like “Leaving Miami” were not permitted until the third year of study.

“Leaving Miami” 2009

The strictures did not apply to work done outside the school, and in 2009 I painted “Leaving Miami” on my own. I painted from memory. The view is from the stern of a motorboat heading away from Miami. The painting’s focus is on the wake, reflecting my earliest interest in the movements and colors of water. Except for its title, the painting evokes no narrative.

“The Color of Exhilaration” 2026

I painted “The Color of Exhilaration” in July 2026. I have made some progress since 2009, both in skill and in scope. I have evolved into a painter in “imaginative realism.” My work reflects in part what I see and in part what I imagine. This combination expands my choices in subject matter, composition, color, and focus.

In “The Color of Exhilaration,” the water’s imagery is more complex (depth, movement, light and shadow, speed). The painting evokes the sounds of the boat moving smoothly and rapidly through water and the idea of people on board working to keep the sails full of wind. The image suggests a narrative of joyful sailing – whether purposeful or purely for the fun and exhilaration of it.