6 x 8

I am back from a vacation to South Florida. These were painted from the Lake Trail, a bike trail on Palm Beach. I took my daughter, Kendall, every morning to the trail that is on the intercoastal side on Palm Beach so she could run in the shade of the tall hedges between the mansions and the water. She is a serious runner on her high school cross country team. Palm Beach in the summer is a hot place, so you look for shade and run early. The trail is a beautiful and peaceful place. It is very well maintained almost like a nice golf course. In morning you hear the sound the gas powered lawn equipment. You don't get to see much of any of the houses unless you can find an empty spot in the hedges. The people on the trail are generally older and nicely dressed and more than a couple women smelled of expensive perfume. Everyone was very friendly. Kendall's workouts lasted just about an hour, so these got done quickly.

 
5x7
These were a great way to start the day. I wish I had had more time, but I was glad to be able to wear the Dad hat, and coach hat, for maybe the last time after ten years of helping kids run during summer vacation. Kendall is a senior this year and over the last ten years I have gotten up with first, Stephen, then Zack and now Kendall, and helped make sure they did their summer training. If you think that is crazy, then you are probably right. Having been a runner myself, I know how tough it is to get this done, even when you are not on vacation. And the fact is, looking back on all those years of riding bikes and searching for trails, and early morning wake ups, and after run coffee and donuts and conversations, I would definitely do it again.

Thanks for looking.

"Beach Colors"

Just got back from a week at Palm Beach.  We stay on Singer Island and just chill (not temperature wise) and soak up the sun.  I paint.  Yes, it is what I like to do.  It is not a job.  It is slightly anti-social, I will admit.  But it is not anymore anti-social than sitting there reading a book.  So the whole family on my side with my three brothers and their families hang out at the beach.  We have a tent that is about twenty years old.  (Really, no exaggeration.  I was looking at some old family vacation videos and saw my Dad getting it out its original box and my twenty years olds were new born babies.  AND I think we bought it at Walmart.  Can you imagine?)  Everyone brings chairs and extra umbrellas and we sit around and soak up the sun and have fun.  I painted a total of about twelve paintings which sounds like a lot, but my other choice was reading "Lonesome Dove" and I probably wouldn't have made much a dent in it.  

One of the hard things about painting at the beach is the big horizontal.  It is hard when you are sitting there looking out at the ocean to see anything but ocean.  The one above was done looking at the changing colors of the shore break right in front of me.  That's not easy because each wave is as different as a fingerprint.  So, you get one idea and then watch what the waves are doing give it a shot. 

Check out my website under the "Postcard" section to see more work from the week. 

Thanks for looking.

"Sunday Morning Thomasville"


18 x 24

I have change my "About the Artist" information.  Here's what is says now:

You could call this "A Lawyer Paints" or more accurately "A Painters also a Lawyer".   The marketing gurus would say keep these things separated.  Your legal client doesn't want to know about your artistic ability, and the collector wants to deal with a true professional who is struggling with his life and art.  Well, this is me.   If art paid like law, I would certainly give up the legal part (except those clients that are pleasure to help).  But the reality is that is not going happen soon.  So I have decided to embrace my circumstances.  I am an artist who can afford to do whatever he wants to do artistically.  If you want an artist who is willing to change a painting so that it matches your living room couch, then you probably have the wrong guy.  I paint what I want to paint because it inspires me and I want to try to communicate that inspiration.   I do enough of it that I like the idea of it hanging on your wall and you enjoying it, rather than it gathering dust in my closet.  So there you have it.  My name is Steve, and I am a lawyer.   Thanks for checking out my artwork.  Enjoy.

What do you think?