"Learning to Fly"

Take Off, oil on canvas, 18"x 24".

The Landing Pond, oil on canvas, 18"x 24".

These two paintings are were fun little sketches to test out a new element of paint application. After graduating from Grad school I am left to try to figure out "what story to write." These little sketches are two attempts as I step in to that next phase.

# 61 Abraham Lincoln

It has been a while since I took some time and did a head painting. I am about to get a batch of them going but before I do those, I wanted to do one of a hero of mine. With the upcoming anniversary of his Gettysburg address, I thought it fitting to do a quick sketch of the man who not only held a divided nation together but put an end to slavery at the same time. The more I have read and studied his life the more I am in awe of what he overcame and what he was able to achieve. 24"x 24", Oil on canvas.

As our country struggles in its current debate, these words from Lincoln's first inaugural address are as applicable to our day as they were to his...

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”