Machine: Odyssey Drypoint Etching

Machine: Odyssey (variation IV)

[Drypoint etching, artist's proof]

A sketch based on a painting by Raphael became this drypoint

etching which in turn became a 5x7 foot wall painting

Jane McGowen as Greta Garbo

Jane McGowen as Greta Garbo

[pencil on paper]

My girlfriend at the time looked enough like Garbo

to give me the idea for this combination portrait

Test Pattern

Test Pattern

[pencil on watercolor paper]

This was intended to be a watercolor painting, but

I never went back and painted over the drawing

Street People II

Street People II, Athens, Ga.

[ink on paper]

When I talked to these guys, they had the same story:

Lost their job, the wife left with the kids,

they were now homeless and penniless

This was an era well before "corporate outsourcing"

of American jobs to Asia, and massive layoffs,

short-term profits for long-term destruction

of the nation

Pharmacy Building Glass Repair

U of Ga Pharmacy Building Glass Repair

[pencil on paper]

Someone doing demolition on the street below with dynamite

managed to blow out all the windows in this facing corridor of

the Univ. of Georgia's pharmacy building - the entire corridor 

was filled with thick, heavy glass shards when we got there

Sunset on Monterey Bay

Sunset on Monterey Bay

[oil pastel on paper]

Private Collection

Fisherman's Wharf Boats

Fisherman's Wharf Boats, San Francisco

[pastel on brown paper]

from a photograph by Charlton D. McMillan

Cell Series, Number 2

Cell Series: Number 2

[oil pastel]

As far as I can tell, this was the second in this series that started with tree cell slides in botany class in college. The series was my most popular, most are gone, either sold or given as gifts.

Shadows in the Woods

Shadows in the Woods

pastel on paper

Gilley at the Rizzer

Gilley At the Rizzer

[pencil on paper]
private collection

Wupatki Indian Ruins

Wupatki Indian Ruins

pencil on paper.....[Not For Sale]

Some of the Native American ruins in the southwest were estimated to be cities housing thousands, like Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, which was thought to be a domed city holding 5000 people. This one in Arizona was merely a castle sized building with maybe 30-50 rooms. It's now being turned into a beautiful sculpture by wind, water, and time. I think this is my favorite drawing that I've done.

Cell Series 2000 #1

Cell Series 2000 #1, watercolor pen
Unframed (shrinkwrapped)...$500


I've never worked with watercolor pens before, maybe because they didn't exist. I thought I'd give them a try and was surprised by the vibrant colors. I started drawing cells from microscopes in botany class in college. The first was pine tree cells, most of the rest were imaginary. I imagine them having an autonomous life, and sometimes they escape their boundaries and become explorers.

Navajo Madonna

Navajo Madonna (large version), charcoal pencil..NFS

This was the first of eight drawings of this Navajo girl (from a photograph by American master Edward Curtis in the late 1800's), and was actually done on watercolor paper, intending this to become a watercolor. I have two remaining, six others are in private collections. She has the most incredible eyes I've ever seen, and "eyes are the window to the soul".

Flying Over Athens

Flying Over Athens

oil pastel
Unframed (shrinkwrapped)...$500

I had a pilot friend that could do aerobatics (stunts), and we'd go flying over Athens, Ga. where we lived. Often friends would say they had seen us above, in the yellow bi-plane, doing stunts over the city. It was great, never felt queasy as centrifugal force makes you always feel upright, its the world that moves around you, under, side, then above! He like to shut the engine down, then kick it on about 500 feet above ground, about as close as you can get - you have one chance from that low. The guy who rented us the plane said "This guy is nuts!"

Navajo Madonna 2

Navajo Madonna 2 

small version, pencil on paper....NFS
(From a photo by Edward Curtis)

My guide for these portraits are numerous Renaissance portrait drawings, I have books of these and have spent years studying them.