I never tire of painting actor Boris Karloff. Easily my favorite actor, or performer. His many film roles always thrill me, and his various audio performances whether they be on radio or record are just as wonderful. He appeared many times in radio on shows like Inner Sanctum, Duffy's Tavern, or Guest Star just to name a few. He showed his intellect on Information, Please and his wit on the Fred Allen show.

This was done on stretched canvas, 16"x20" in oils. I really prefer doing landscapes on stretched canvas instead of portraits as I feel I have more control painting on canvas boards. This was a tough likeness of him to capture, and I am pleased with the final results.

Wolf Man (again!)

First of all, sorry to all those who commented on previous works. I had to go to moderating comments due to spammers, and honestly haven't checked this for a while. My apologies!

This is my latest, another portrait of Lon Chaney Jr as the Wolf Man. It's an unusual shot of him that I found whilst surfing the net. I approached this one a bit differently than my usual way. I stood up for the majority of this painting of this one, hoping it would help me loosen up a bit. I think it did, but I will leave that to the viewer to decide. I also painted a lot of the shadows in a thalo blue underpainting, and allowed it to show through a bit, especially in the rocks.

The main appeal to me in this photo was the various textures. The bark, the rock, and of course the fur all made for interesting painting. This one is 16"x20" oils on canvas board.

Okay, after a serious case of artistic block I was at least able to do this small portrait of Boris Karloff from the film Lured. It's one of his I've yet to be able to see.

The Cool Ghoul, second version. This was painted from my favorite photograph of Dick Von Hoene, aka Cincinnati's Cool Ghoul. The first time I painted this I was going by thirty year old memories, including watching his show Scream-In in black and white. Needless to say I got a few of the colors wrong. His hat had more red and white than green, and his eyes were hazel.

Usually when I do a second version of a painting it never quite looks as good as the first attempt. I think this one is an exception, but I'll leave that up to the viewer. I think I captured his "impishness" better and I'm glad I got the colors "right" this time.

This is 16"x20", oils on canvas board.

Haven't posted anything in a while. My mother passed away in March, and I found myself unable to paint. I thought this was totally irrational since she was always, and I mean always a supporter of my art. Maybe it was just the grief, and seeing the effects of her passing on other family members.

I did manage to paint this portrait of her from a high school graduation photo. Usually I remember details about painting a particular piece, but this one was done in a fog. I remember wanting to do it for my brother as a gift, but that's about all. Then came a nasty slide of three months where I just could not paint.

So I'm happy to present this tribute to her, and thank her for all she did for me as an artist. I still use the drawing board she bought me at a garage sale in the early 70's. Probably always will...

Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant is a band that was active in the 70's. I was introduced to their music by some friends in college. Gentle Giant music is an interesting mix of rock/jazz/Celtic/classical music. They played instruments not typically associated with a rock band: cello, violin, recorder, xylophone, etc. The interesting thing was each member would play several different instruments during each set!

They have one song which really spoke to me, and in fact was the inspiration for the title of this blog. "Peel the Paint" spoke of not accepting things at face value, but digging deeper to see what you find. I've adopted this attitude in life. I try not to accept things on the surface, but look for different meanings.

I painted this tribute to the band in 1983. Perhaps it was a bit ambitious for my skill level at that time. Nonetheless, I am still proud of the piece, and am happy that it now resides on the band's official web site. It was painted in oils on masonite.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

I've painted musician Stevie Ray Vaughan several times. This one was done on a 20"x20" stretched canvas. It was given to me by a friend. I painted this on it and gave it back to him! Canvas boards are my preferred bases for my paintings, but I occasionally use the stretched. This particular canvas was so rough it was like painting on sandpaper!! It had such a thick tooth to it. I had sanded it down a bit before I started, and when I had begun painting wish I would have taken another layer off. In a way, it had an ironic twist to it.

I've read that the guitar strings Stevie would use were so thick, and so far off the fretboard that the average guitar player could even bend them, let alone play them. he had extremely strong hands. I felt that I could soldier on and overcome the thickness of the canvas. Much of the time this was being painted his music was playing on my stereo.