Staple Bend Tunnel, 9 x 12, oil on panel

Over the last 15 months I've done about 60 small plein air paintings of Johnstown. Most were done while standing next to my truck. This one required a bit more effort. It was a 2-mile walk from the parking area, which meant carrying my supplies 4 miles to do this. This tunnel, just 4 miles east of Johnstown, was the first railroad tunnel built in the United States. It was constructed between 1831-34 and is 900 feet long.
The exhibition, Scenes of Johnstown and Cambria County opens April 14.

Champagne Lane, 30 x 40, oil on canvas

I'm having an exhibition in Johnstown, April 14. It will feature about 65 paintings from the last 15 months. I think of it as a portrait of the rust belt city. The above painting is Luzerne Street, actually in Westmont. It is the last cathedral-arched boulevard left in the United States. There are 195 elms, the longest continuous stand of American Elms in the country, planted along the street. I call it Champagne Lane because, not only is a lovely street, an elm tree has a champagne glass shape to it.

Lights On, 8 x 10, oil on panel

On a walk the other night I noticed this scene, which is a little different for me. One of my favorite times of the day is when the sun goes down and there is still enough ambient light to see. It about this time some interior lights come on, giving spots of warmth to the overall darkened cool landscape. I painted it from a very grainy iphone pic and memory when I returned to my studio.

Behind Art's Tavern, 16 x 20, oil on canvas

I did this from a photo taken at a stop sign in the strip district. It was one of those things you see and say, wow look at the sunlight on that painted building. This is an example where the light would be changing so rapidly that working from a photo makes sense. The telephone poles echo the vertical panels of the fence and reinforce the geometric shapes. Yes that is a dumpster in the lower right. I almost edited it out but liked how it anchored the painting and created another overlapping shape.

Magnet Machine, 16 x 20, oil on canvas

This is the second of the scrap yard series. This baby picks up anything, as long as it is made of steel.  It's technical name is Link Belt 5800, but I nicknamed it the Magnet Machine. Can you imagine how much fun it would be to move huge pieces of metal around with this? Probably a boy thing. I painted it from the front so the extreme foreshortening would add drama and depth to the painting. Next subject, the CAR CRUSHER!

Scrap Yard, 30 x 40, oil on canvas

Landscape painting can encompass just about anything. Here we have a scrap yard. This holds a lot of memories for me and a close friend who used this as their playground. The entire area is a cornucopia of shapes and colors, all waiting to be recycled. The large yellow machine on the top shears it all into small pieces before being shipped to a steel mill. I choose to paint it with snow because it introduces a lighter value and delineates the forms.

Twin Windows and Chairs, 9 x 12, oil on panel

This is part of my Johnstown series. I was taken by the twin windows and chairs, not to mention the twin shadow slices.  Sometimes the most mundane setting can be a piece of art. Degas once said, "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see".

My painting Blue Awning was just used for this book cover, Emily Alone. The novel, which is set in Pittsburgh, has received good reviews. Here is the link, Emily Alone, Penguin Books