Heath Jokers                               The first painting in this series was a tribute to the late actor, Heath Ledger, with his portrayal of the Joker in the 2008 masterpiece film, The Dark Knight. It was fun to paint the series in its entirety, and became a therapeutic exercise for myself in between more strenuous projects. I was just trying to capture Heath at his most brilliant and manic moments.

Mountaintop Removal                     This series of pieces are all a product of my returning home again and  again to McDowell County for the last decade.  The landscapes of the mountains where I grew up kept changing, many times becoming unrecognizable to me.

    Mountain-top removal, combined with incessant timbering and gas-drilling have led to inconceivable disruption of watersheds and ecosystems and have resulted in the wholesale desecration of the face of McDowell county.

      This work is my response to the arrogance and greediness of the coal, timber, and gas companies and to the immense violation;  rape, if you will;  of the oldest mountains and forests on the continent.  Our air, water and wildlife are held hostage to the heedless ambition of these entities, while I watch the destruction of the last free world I know.

Monsters and Stuff                      Most of the work in this ongoing series can be considered more of a calendar than anything else, representing my state of mind or a particular feeling at a given time.

  Some are more directly related to the mountaintop removal series, in that they are images representing nature and are symbolic of varying forms of evil, as well as the suggestion of nature’s retribution. Other pieces that I have created are more directly influenced by pop-art.

   In the end, much of my work resulted from me simply creating what I felt like doing – period.