 | Haunted Outhouse
Acrylic
The moon only shows us one of its faces. Here it looks down on an outhouse, its silvery light lending an eerie mystery to the building. |
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Roslin Chapel
Acrylic
After its starring role in the DaVinci Code, ancient Roslin Chapel became a media star. I saw a helium party balloon lodged up on the vault and it seemed to hint at Roslin's new fame. |  |
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 | Goldfish
Acrylic 12” W x 36” H
I think it went something like this: Sailing ship—wind powered submarine—submarine winds up looking like a fish. |
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Beacon
Acrylic 26” W x 32” H
It’s overcast and there’s a thin mist out on the water. Will it matter to the ships at sea that Wallace cleaned the last speck of dust from the beacon? Maybe not, but when night falls on the harbour, it will help him sleep. |  |
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 | Incunabula
Acrylic 21” W x 17” H
Incunabula is a word for the first books they printed after the invention of the printing press. It must have been a big deal listening to someone read books printed locally, since reading was a rare skill and books in the common language were a novelty. I suspect the ability to read dramatically and with feeling took a while to develop, though, and it looks like this scholar, putting the king to sleep, isn’t there yet. The other guy is beginning the ancient tradition of fooling around while being read to. |
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Lunar Attraction
Acrylic 25” W x 31” H
This is an attempt to paint the force of gravity. A swirling tunnel of clouds and seaspray draws the good ship Selina to the Moon. We know the moon drags the tides up the seafloor, and here it tugs at our ship, even drawing the smoke from the funnel down the well of gravity. Try imagining the picture upside down and you’ll get the idea. |  |
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 | Stardust: an Allegory
Acrylic 25” W x 23” H
The housekeeper sweeping stardust from his front steps is telling us an inconvenient truth about planet earth: We’ve got to keep our little planet green and clean or we perish. It’s such a big, dark void out there…where else would we go? |
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Landscaping
I enjoyed painting the truck, but somewhere along the line I got sidetracked into thinking about that big empty truckbed and what to put in it. The truck wound up being a sort of flower pot. In a not too convincing concession to reality, I figured maybe the truck belonged to a landscaper.
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 | Life Cycle
Life cycles from sunlight through lush vegetation to the dried leaf. The masks put a human face on the process.
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Hairpin Turn
Acrylic 20” W x 17” H
Narrative pictures have two frames around them: a frame in space, and a frame in time. Here I wanted you look a little bit into the future, because this picture is about to become all squealing brakes, sparks and screams. If you feel sorry for the little man in the steam engine, don’t worry. He’ll never have to make that turn. My favourite bit in the picture is the railway signal stuck right in the water—how useful is that? |  |
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 | Twittering
Machine 2
Acrylic 25” W x 19” H
Twittering Machine is the name of a famous painting by Paul Klee, which is where I got the idea for this bird seed powered vehicle. It’s actually an homage to W. Heath Robinson, however, who was famous for drawing hare-brained machines. I figure this one might actually work, but, boy would it be slow…which is why the driver, holding his supply of bird seed, looks so bored
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Jack on the Beanstalk
Acrylic 24” W x 18” H
I know how I feel when the escalator is out of order, so I figure Jack must have taken a break on his way up the beanstalk—maybe had a bratwurst sandwich and opened a thermos of tea. Settling back in his lederhosen, he would have had a great view. Time enough for giants after lunch.
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 | Station Stop
Acrylic 40” W x 13” H
This is loosely based on a real train in an old fuzzy black and white picture, so all the little thingamajigs and doodads are about right, but that’s where reality ends. I wanted the train pulling into the station and stopping, so the front is nice and stable, all ready for the mail bag to go on--but the other end, way back there, is still twisting with momentum.
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Wind and Rain
Acrylic 12” W x 12” H
This looked like it was going to be straight forward: wind and rain. Then suddenly there was that bright red umbrella commanding attention. I mean, really...a raindrop with an umbrella?
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 | Haggis Hunters
Acrylic 24 ” W x 18 ” H
Here we see the intrepid hunters combing the highlands in search of the wily haggis. They’ll have to be alert, for the haggis is well adapted to the grassy moors and can change its coat to the colour of heather. The second hunter seems ready to believe anything his local guide tells him. |
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The Jabberwock
Acrylic
The Jabberwock is the one in the arm chair, and the Bandersnatch looks on. They're reading about themselves in Alice in Wonderland while the Jubjub bird cools his heels in his cage. |  |
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 | Starfishing
Acrylic
Sailing through the stars is a pleasant notion. So why not tie up and cast a lure overboard? Who knows what you might catch... |
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Eclipse
Acrylic 26” W x 32” H
This is a solar eclipse, with regal old Sunny Jim being blocked out by the Man in the Moon. The moon is in his nightshirt, of course, but you can tell he’s tickled pink at being allowed to come out to play during the daytime. The candle reminds us that he brought the stars out with him.
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 | Sky Chief
The old Sky Chief pump is a fairly accurate recollection. The reverie that it prompted should be taken, well…lightly.
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Canada Post
Sometimes I like to paint real cars, mostly old models, but this mail van, like the mailbox, is one of a kind. They're both from some neverland file in my brain.
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