from the Jim Lane Collection
In keeping with my recent exploration of the fine line between illusion and reality, here I've experimented in escaping the traditional image space both horizontally in "breaking the frame" on both sides with the tires, as well as moving forward three-dimensionally into the viewer's space with the protruding radiator coweling. Plywood allows me the freedom to carve, paint, and securely mount shapes on the surface of the painted panel. Beyond this, the two-dimensional illusion is painted to further enhance the image causing at least a momentary disconcertion on the part of the viewer in trying to adjust visual expectations to perceived reality. Environmental illusionary colors are used within the traditional context of the framed image while this AND the viewer's local color reflects in the coated, high-gloss surface of the half-inch raised radiator coweling. It's a work that begs to be touched and is designed to elicit an "OH, WOW!" reaction once the viewer comes to realize the tricks being played on his or her eyes.
Created simultaneously with the painting above, this piece, while not breaking the frame, does break new ground in terms of carving up the line between illusion and reality. In a sense I've "reinvented the wheel" by extending it up one-half inch from the painted surface, carving recessions into the dark openings, then painting the whole thing to visually suggest polished chrome within the context of the image environment. At a distance, there is the impression of an actual chrome wheel. As one approaches the work, that changes to the painted illusion of a chrome wheel. Then, upclose, the whole thing begins to take on a certain abstract quality as the viewer inspects the painted, high-gloss surface and comes to realize the extent to which his or her visual perceptions have been "tinkered" with.
Chevy Beach© (18"x36" acrylic on stretched canvas) We each have somewhere in the back of our minds a "dream car." Maybe yours is a red '57 Chevy convertible. Mine was...and IS. Though I lived hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean beach, this is the dream setting too, overlooking the surf, the sun setting in the west, strains of the Mommas and the Poppas "...California dreamin' is becoming a reality" in the background (sigh).
The Delta Queen© (18"x36" acrylic on stretched canvas) Probably the most "painted" watercraft in America, the queen of the Queens is here being seen by the crowd that gathers every time she comes to Marietta, Ohio, near my hometown. Moored at the levee, she is the oldest overnight steamer and the ONLY wooden craft of its type still operating on this country's inland waterways. Built in California the 1920s near the end of an era, she saw duty on the Sacramento River, was towed at sea to the Panama Canal and from there up the coast to the Mississippi Delta from whence she got her name. It took an act of Congress to save her in the 1970s. Since then, her popularity has spawned two larger sister ships, the Mississippi Queen and the American Queen (seen below).
The American Queen© (18"x36" acrylic on stretched canvas) This is the newest and largest of the overnight stearnwheelers that periodically visit the levee at Marietta, Ohio, near where I live. I have painted numerous versions of her sister ships, the Delta Queen and the Mississippi Queen. This one I like because of the sparkling fountain in the foreground. Whenever the boats like this tie up at the levee, there is sure to be a sizable crowd to greet them, hoping the captain will agree to allow a quick tour. 
The '57 Chevy© (18"X36" stretched canvas) I don't know how many times people have told me at art shows where this painting has been displayed, "I use to own one just like that." Of course what they mean it was a '57 Chevy, it usually turns out to have been a different color, or a sedan, or convertible, but that seems not to matter. I wonder, did everyone drive a '57 Chevy back then?
The '59 Caddy© (18"X36" stretched canvas) I remember when these first came out. Someone said they looked like a rocket launcher. I've driven a Cadillac much of my adult life but never one like this. It's kind of my fantasy car--bright red, maybe a convertible, but I'd settle for this. I guess when I'm a rich and famous artist...
The Claire-E © (12"X24" signed, limited edition print) This was my first venture into limited edition prints. It features a privately owned sternwheeler, now a bed and breakfast, moored on the Muskingum River at Marietta Ohio. Yes, it's still an operating, diesel powered, sternwheeler. This limited edition of 300 is printed full size, in full color, on heavy stock, pH balanced paper, available matted and framed in oak, (20"x30") for $75. It is also available matted (20"x30") but unframed for $35. and unmatted for $25.
Framed: $75.
Matted: $35.
Un-Matted: $25.
1956 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud © (20"x26" stretched canvas) I guess if one is to paint classic cars, they might as well have a little "class". I did two different paintings of cars belonging to a collector friend of mine. This was his. I painted his wife in her MG. She bought the painting, he didn't.
Unframed........................................................$195.
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