The Washington State Capitol building seen across the mouth of the Tumwater River on a balmy autumn day. 

The people's citadel of government in Olympia, Wa where the ethereal becomes mundane. An impressionistic plein air painting, done 'alla prima'. Bold brushwork done from the southwest promenade of the Washington State Capitol. 

Legislative issues and the government are a mixed love, hate relationship. The ideals of law and the people are housed in classic archetecture to last the ages and the storms of society. When I am at my Olympia studio I frequently 'go to the hill' ... 

Lucky and I are old friends as he was foaled on the ranch. He's been logging and farm help for nearly 20 years. We've been over the dam and back. He's the epitome of a solid, bomb proof horse you can always count on. His only problem is he weighs... 

En Plein Air painting from Memalouse Overlook, Hood River, Oregon. One of my personal favorite paintings. A watershed piece for me in which I achieved the goal of painting outside the box of conventional plein air painters. Still with one foot in ... 

"If you want to be happy for an hour, get drunk If you want to be happy for three days, get married If you want to be happy forever, make a garden." -Chinese Proverb  

Painting in the Canadian Rockies around Banff is inspiring. One feels truly close to nature, God and the Earth. I painted this 'en plein air'. The wind blew strong across the lake and clouds from the north streamed above the peaks that soar into t... 

Standing in the presence of greatness one can't help but create great paintings. Malachite or turquoise lakes caused by the ice and snow runoff of glaciers and snowfields high in the escarpments of the Rocky Mts, feed the west with life. Gentle win... 

My studio and coral for horses are side by side. After I say good morning to the herd, check for dings and scratch a few bellies, I sketch, study their anatomy and try to capture horse talk. Horses talk with their bodies. It is a physical language... 

The horse coral adjoines my studio. I spend many hours capturing the gestures of the horses, sketching. One of my favorite sketches that captures the gestures of the Belgian/Quarter horse crossbred drafthorse, "Rainy". 

Just when horse powered technology was at its peak, the internal combustion engine came along and made such benign, sustainable technology obsolete. I'm sure grandpa was grateful for the tractor but I know from experience he missed the "good 'ol da... 

Horses are incredible to me. They can sustain themesleves just eating hay. Wild, they wandered the planet freely, wherever there was grass to forage. It is the sun that makes it possible for grass to grow and the sun that sustains the life os thes... 

A team of white Percheron and a team of Belgian work horses rest in the shade of a Pine tree after a hard days work in the fields. It's hot out. Heat rises from the ground. The lone pine barely offers enough shade. Sun dapples their hide. This... 

Alla Prima, a painting done 'all at once'. En Plein Air, outdoor painting. Standing in the cold capturing the play of Northern Lights on the snowy mountains of eastern washington state, painting is fast and deliberate. Color is laid in fast with a... 

As a 'plein air' painter, one who paints on location in the open air, capturing a subject before the light has changed is the challenge. Look closely at this painting and you will see the spontaneity of brush, the exciting overlay of impasto paint, ...