John's Artwork

I started doing some painting in 2003- mostly because at the time I had a business in Glendale, CA that was a 20,000 SF Executive Office Suites business.  As a result I had lots of wall space that needed artwork and not a lot of budget to decorate all that wall space.  So I figured I'd try my hand at painting.  I found that I enjoyed the creative process and loved the end result of having a tangible piece of art that had some degree of permanence- something I could enjoy seeing for years to come and maybe even pass on to my children or grandchildren when I've moved on.

My style has so far been what I would call "abstract".  I am not a trained artist at all.  I've never taken any art classes besides what kids typically do in Jr. High School and I still don't think of myself as an "artist"- just someone who had a need for some artwork and didn't want to pay for it.  Since 2003, I've created other pieces for my home and I've slowly added to my artwork collection.  A few of the pieces are based on other artwork I liked as I tried to train myself by trying to re-create something I liked.  Most are just original creations that usually ended up quite a bit different than what I had planned, but were good enough (to me) to not paint over them. 

I don't know why I'm even showing it on this site.  The only reason I can think is that it's part of what I've felt inspired to create and so belongs on this site which is my personal creative offering to God and to the world.

I'm not really marketing these for sale, but if anyone is interested in purchasing giclee copies of these pieces, please contact me and we'll work it out. 

In The Beginning

This was my first piece of artwork.  It was created in 2003.  It is a large piece painted on three 2 ft. x 4 ft. boards framed together- making the total size 6 ft wide by 4 ft. tall.  It was originally designed to be the feature peace for the lobby of my Executive Office Suites building where it remained for about six years until I sold that business and brought this back to my home.  It is now a feature peace in my basement by the billiards table.  I call it "In The Beginning" because 1) it was my first piece and 2) I think it conveys the elemental forces present during the creation of the Earth- Sun, Water and Earth or light/air, liquid, and solid.  In many ways this is still my favorite piece.

Amber Abstract Series

These next three were done as a series to go in the conference room of my office suites.  Each piece is 2 ft x 2 ft. These were created in 2003.

Autumn Abstract

Created in 2004- this is a large format piece that hangs in my family room above the fireplace.  It is about 3 ft. high by 4 ft. wide. There are several versions of this painting beneath the top layers of paint as I kept re-working this one until I liked it enough to stop. 

Copper River Sunset

This one was done in 2004.  This one was inspired by a piece of art I saw in a furniture store- it ended up looking quite different, but the color scheme is similar- except for the stark metallic copper river flowing through and dividing the image.

Metallic Alchemy

This one was done in 2004.  It's 2ft tall x 4 ft. wide.  I had fun exploring with some metallic toned paints of copper, silver and gold along with some brown tones. 

Panoramic Patchwork

This one was created as a Christmas gift to my wife in 2004.  It was custom made to hang above our bed and measures 24 in. x 87 in.  It is made from a patchwork of separate pieces of wood individually painted and then nailed together into a patchwork.  It's hard to tell from a flat image, but there is a lot of three dimensionality to this one as I used different thicknesses of wood and different textures in addition to different sizes and colors. 

Summer-set Splendor

This one is 48 in. tall x 24 in. wide.  Using a color palette of reds, browns and golds, I wanted to create a scene as though one is looking out of a tiled window across fields of grain towards a setting sun igniting the western sky in a blaze of glory 

Golden Valley

This is a large format painting.  It is 73 in. wide x 30 in. tall. This one was inspired by a painting I saw in a mail order art catalog.  I tried to "re-create" the scene from a small paper cut-out.  Of course it turned out different, but if you have a feeling you've seen this one or something like it before- you may have. 

Abstract In Brown Series

This was a series of four I did for our living room in 2005.  Each one is 24 in. x 24 in.  I was experimenting with using some additional elements besides paint in these.  I used strips of burlap, hemp string and glass tiles. 

Sunset Over Water Mosaic

This was done in 2008.  It is 24 in. x 24 in.  Each little square is actually a separate little piece of wood individually painted and then glued on another piece of wood to create a mosaic effect.  I started with some 1 x 1 pieces of wood that actually came as support pieces for a large mail order package.  I sliced the wood up into different thicknesses using a band saw and then painted each one and assembled them together, finishing with several coats of color glazes to unify the parts.  In case you were wondering- I count just over 300 individual squares.