World War II Memorial

The World War Two Memorial is enormous and very complicated. This is a veiw of the arch that commemorates the Atlantic Theater. While painting this, I was surprised to see that I was being filmed by a camera crew. After a while a woman introduced herself as a journalist for Russia Today, and asked if I would mind being interviewed. We talked about the Atlantic campaign, which I think is a great historical model for our current campaign in Iraq. After all, some people questioned the wisdom of fighting the Germans in North Africa, and then Italy, when it was the Japanese who'd attacked us in the Pacific. I explained that the location wasn't nearly as important as the concept of drawing Hitler's forces to a place where we could fight them. Although our losses in Italy were astronomical and our gains were pitifully slow, we forced Hitler to commit 14 divisions to the fight. That's 14 divisions that would have been fighting in Russia or opposing our forces as they landed at Normandy.

That brought up the question of my impression of Russia's contribution to the war, which, I suspect, was the real reason for the interview. The crew seemed surprised that I knew how important Russia was to the effort, and that I was aware of the tremendous sacrifices - probably in the millions of lives - made by Russia. The interview should be posted in Youtube relatively soon. Just search for Russia Today.

Smithsonian Institute Castle

The weather has been terrible lately; heavy rain for the last few days. Still, I managed to get out yesterday to do this painting.

Washington Monument

After work today I got two paintings done. This view of the Washington Monument was the first. It found a home right away with a guy from Tennessee.

Jefferson Memorial

After I painted the Washington Monument, I did this view of the Jefferson Memorial

Painting for my Supper

The weather here in D.C. has been lovely. I bought myself a camera tripod and fixed my french easel to it so I could do some painting outdoors and headed for the National Mall.

I found a nice shady spot and painted this view of the Washington Monument (It's not finished in this photo.) and when people passed by I explained that I was painting for my supper. I said that I'd sell the painting before I left for the day, and whatever the painting brought would be my budget for dinner.

Not only did I meet some very pleasant people, but I ate well last night. I'm heading back this afternoon.

Hills and Clouds

I've been taking note of lots of local scenes to paint, but every once in a while my imagination carries me back to California, and I have to paint a landscape I remember from there.

This is where I'm living these days, as I attend some Air Force training in the Washington, DC area. Today was one of the first warm days of Spring and I got to use the screen door for a change. The painting in the chair is my current project.

Got troubles? Take a nap. Everything will be better after a little rest. It seems to work for cats, at least.

I've been thinking of basing a painting on this photo. Lots of textures to play with.

Catnap

My family visited recently. My wife, our son, our daughter, a yellow lab, and three cats made the camper seem a lot smaller, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. Here's a picture of our son taking a snooze with one of the cats.

Sweet Gum Pods

Lately I've been thinking a lot about painting these seed pods from the sweet gum trees. They present lots of challenges.

Distant Train

When I was driving across the country in December I caught sight of a distant train crossing the prairie. It was rainy and foggy and the far-off mountains were shrouded in low cloud.

Pasture

Here's a little painting I did a while ago for my wife, Susan. It was almost exactly 5 years ago that she told me I should start painting. The last time I disobeyed her I got struck by lightening, so when she said "Paint." I painted. Like always, her advice turned out to be good.

Windmill

It's been a while since I've posted; I've been doing some traveling for work and even when I've had time to paint, I haven't gotten a moment to show you what I've been up to. Here's one example. I'll try to do a better job of keeping you current.