Homes of Greater Grand Rapids – Neighborhood House Portrait Collections
First Stage of my Grand Rapids Historic Home Portrait Series Now Completed! The Greater Grand Rapids Area is home to many beautiful neighborhoods filled with interesting homes full of character. After painting a wide variety of homes in many of these neighborhoods, I thought it was only fitting to showcase these home portrait paintings in a "Greater Grand Rapids Area" neighborhood series. I've added all of my house portraits from each neighborhood, which offers its own unique story and style, while the individual homes speak to the creativity of their architectural designers and homeowner caretakers. Baxter Neighborhood We'll begin our walk through Grand Rapids in the Baxter neighborhood. Wedged between Eastown and Heritage Hill, this small tight-knit community is resilient in it's efforts to create a more progressive and inclusive…
East Grand Rapids House Portrait Collection now Grown to Forty Original Paintings!
Craftsmen, Tudors, Colonials, Cape Cods and more architectural styles captured in East Grand Rapids Collection. Grand Rapids, known as the City of Churches, has always had a soft spot for eye-catching architecture. Nestled just 20 miles east of Lake Michigan, the second largest city in Michigan is home to a diverse selection of beautiful neighborhoods and suburbs, both historic and eclectic but still growing with modern styles; seemingly paying homage to the designers who paved the way. One of these communities is East Grand Rapids. one of the oldest suburbs in Kent County. It sits on Reeds Lake, named after the Reed family who founded the city back in the 1830’s. It boasts a variety of home styles and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed creating each of the forty original house portrait…
Pen and watercolor barn in Tennessee … its in my upcoming book!
No, I don't just paint houses.... anything that is in any way architectural and crosses my path is liable to be captured. These days I am blessed to get a constant flow of commissioned custom portrait work, such as this gorgeous barn in rural Tennessee. It is still an operating farm and has been in the same family for over a hundred years. And of course it will be featured in my coffee table book that will be released later this year so be on the lookout!
Celebrating Summer and Getting Out and About
Every-day scenes with House Portrait Backdrops. Well done for making it this far and I hope you are doing well. After months of being bombarded with the dangers of the pandemic and the need to stay at home and stay safe, things are freeing up at last -- a welcome relief with the beckoning warmer weather and longer summer days. These paintings are a celebration of getting out and about. They include simple, enjoyable, every-day activities, that we should never take for granted. From kids playing in the streets, to walking the dog and an inquisitive boy checking out a free little library. All have architectural backdrops that represent life and people in the city -- weather in urban areas or quiet suburbs. [caption id="attachment_17352" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] Kids playing…
Bringing Spring into Your Home
While turmoil rages in the world . . . spring is here and knocking at your door In the words of William Shakespeare.... “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." Being that I love to travel, my first response to being stuck at home was outrage. When I got over that and faced the fact that this is a necessity right now, my usual optimism set in and I decided to find a silver lining in this situation. Besides doing my usual house portrait work, I realized this is the perfect opportunity to make great strides in compiling my coffee table book so it can be published and released later this year. I confess that I have made more progress on this project in the last two weeks…
Sellwood-Moreland Neighborhood of Portland House Portrait Collection
Sellwood-Moreland in Portland has an array of architectural styles, including Colonials, Craftsman, Bungalows, Tudors, Cape Cod, Victorians and more, all of which are part of my Portland House Portrait Series. I have always enjoyed spending time in Portland. It's reputation of being quirky, cool, weird and green all at the same time, makes life very interesting. Its architecture follows the same mold. In turn, the neighborhood of Sellwood-Moreland represents these same unique qualities. I discovered a feast of architectural styles in Sellwood-Moreland and well preserved and maintained homes. Beautiful tree-lined streets and colorful gardens added to the vibrance of Sellwood-Moreland, a quintessential family neighborhood, with an amusement park, plenty of parks and hiking trails, and locally owned cafes. This neighborhood is technically a combination of two neighborhoods, Sellwood and Moreland,…
Welcome to my Portland Neighborhood of Laurelhurst House Portrait Collection
Laurelhurst neighborhood homes include Craftsman, Tudors, Bungalows, Colonials, Cape Cod, Victorians are part of my Portland House Portrait Series I have always enjoyed spending time in Portland and one of my favorite neighborhoods is Laurelhurst. My series includes paintings of homes in a total of 17 favorite neighborhoods and in 15 architectural styles that I feel depict Portland. I concentrated on 10 historic neighborhoods for my Portland series. These include Alameda, Beaumont-Wilshire, Concordia, Grant Park, Irvington, Laurelhurst, Sabin, Sellwood-Mooreland and Eastmoreland. Like many of the surrounding neighborhoods, Laurelhurst is filled with history. Stone markers flank the entrances to the area. The center of the neighborhood, Coe Circle, contains a gilded equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, which is a World War I war memorial. This neighborhood is located close to Downtown Portland, which gave…