A10, Warthog

An old friend and fellow Air Force Veteran whose son was in Afghanistan, flying the Warthog, mentioned that he would like a painting for his son.

This was the result. (no I didn't charge him)

Meet Gus

Meet my best buddy Gus. Gus is a two year old Golden Retriever. He is the friendlest, sweetest dog I've ever had. Of course he is the first Golden I've ever had. I wish I had found this breed years ago.

The first photo is Gus at the top of the stairs. When we get up in the morning Gus will wait at the top of the stairs until I quit messing about and make a move for the front door.

The second photo is Gus in the tub. Sometimes, when he detects us getting getting ready for his bath, he'll jump in the tub and look at us as if he's saying "What's taking you so long?"

The third photo is of Gus and me on his first day home from the breeder.

I don't remember who said it. It was either Will Rodgers, or Mark Twain, who said "If dogs don't go to Heaven, when I die, I want to go where the dogs go." Gus would be a wonderful companion in the after life.

Japanese Gardens

I have painted several versions of Japanese Gardens and this is one of my favorites. It is a pastel on coarse Canson paper, hence the texture.

It's titled "Strolling Paradise", and it has an attached haiku.

"Gentle warming sun

Fragrant caressing breezes

Strolling paradise."

In the ancient world, the word for paradise was the same word as garden, hence my justification for the haiku.

May you also stroll paradise.

This painting also won several awards and has been sold.

A Couple of Marine Paintings

I wanted to get a couple of paintings of marine subjects on my blog before I called it a day. The first painting is an acrylic (sold) of the fishing pier in Portsmouth, NH. The title: "Ice and Fuel" is the sign above the fishing boats. The boats were being prepared for sea.

It was a rainy day and I sat on a picnic table under a canopy, on Pierce Island just across a narrow part of the harbor. The humidity was so high that my acrylics wouldn't dry and became too slick to continue painting. I took a couple reference photos and finished the last 20% of the painting at home. This painting won several awards for me. This painting has been sold.

The second painting also picked up a couple awards and is a pastel. It's coarse texture is due to the Canson paper. It is not a smooth paper. There is also an autobiographical haiku that goes with this painting. It's titled "adrift."

"Adrift on a dark

Dark sea I dream of what never

Was and never will be"

What's a couple extra syllables among friends? It's a lament of a dreamer.

This painting is still available.

B58, Hustler

I have to show you my favorite aircraft. At the time it was the fastest aircraft in the world. If it were made of titanium, it would still be one of the fastest aircraft in the world. At over twice the speed of sound and a skin temperature over 300 degrees, I would have to throttle back to cool the skin. I loved that aircraft.

On one of my flights, as I was approaching a KC135, jet tanker, for refueling, a kindly boom operator took this photo and mailed a copy to me. Many thanks to him.

After the Hustler was retired, some of our pilots went into the F4 fighter. I was told the F4 had to dive to break mach. The F4 pilots couldn't believe the ease at which the B58 went supersonic. We accelerated to 600 knots and started to climb and just slipped through the sound barrier as we climbed. As an aircraft gains altitude the thin air meant we were going much faster than what our airspeed indicators displayed. By the time we climbed to about 50,000 feet we were going about 1400 miles per hour. Alas we were entering age of the transistor and all the Hustler electronics were tube and very vunerable to the heat we generated.

High Flight

I created this painting as a tribute to the poem "High Flight" by John Magee. I found this inspirational during my career as an Air Force Pilot.

To paraphrase the sentiment: I soared the lofty heights and reached up and touched the face of God.

This painting has been sold.

The painting was a pastel and the aircraft was a ryan trainer. A couple of weeks ago I met an elderly gentleman (even older than me) and he purchase a print of this painting. In his youth he had had pilot training classes in this aircraft. It was a beautiful aircraft. I wish I could have flow some of the older aircraft such as the Ryan, and any of the biwings. The age in which I learned to fly was almost excussively jet. I only have thirty hours of piston time all the rest was jet.

My Aviation Art

I consider this painting "Into the Sunset" to be the signature piece in my aviation art endeavors.

It is actually somewhat biographical. I spent much a great deal of time in Japan and love Japanese Gardens and the Haiku.

The Haiku is a brief expression of a moment keenly perceived. The Americanized version is three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.

My Haiku for this painting is:

"The sunset Bekons

I fly the valley of clouds

Tracking the beacon home."

I'm 70 years old, tracking the beacon home.

This painting has been sold and it is so personal to me I now wish I hadn't sold it.

I'm an old guy trying my first attempt at blogging so forgive any lack of skill or sophistication in this attempt.

I'm more interested in portraying my feeling of the romance of flying than the seriously accurate depiction of a specific aircraft that would be acceptable to the Association of Aviation Artists. I have nothing against the rivet counters (used in jest) and admire their art immensely, it's just not what I wish to paint.