Galleries – Watercolors
I painted my first watercolors when I was about 15, after having worked in oils for several years in Tobey’s studio. It was on the encouragement of my high school art teacher to “branch out”. So I started to “play” with watercolor, exploring a sort of abstract expressionist, “Pollockian” like action oriented approach, (you can see a few of these under the Gallery menu: Abstract & Non-Objective), while still practicing and developing my work in oil with Tobey. These watercolors developed into a series, what I called “Prana Painting”. I was, among other things, practicing Yoga at the time, which included Pranayama – breathing exercises. Prana, in the Yoga teachings, is Universal energy that flows through everything and can be directed in the body through breath-work. It is very similar to the understanding of Chi in Taoist and Buddhist philosophy, and a variety of names under different cultures. These expanded into large acrylic and mixed media paintings. Not long after, when I was an undergraduate student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, I had the good fortune to formally study watercolor under the Japanese painter Kaji Aso, who required studying of calligraphy with him before watercolor. These led to the exploration of “oriental” style landscapes on rice paper and vegetable parchment using sumi-e ink and brush, and then in 1976, I brought these materials into the field to apply them to plein air painting, (you can see a few examples of these at the end of this section).
Dinner on the Beach, (meet you 4)
watercolor on 8″ x 16″ cold press paper
This piece was inspired by the many dinners over the years at Ramones Huachinago Restaurant on the beach across from the river from the Casa in Boca de Tomatlan, MX. It was later turned into a 12″x 22″ oil, (see in menu, Landscapes > Studio)
On the Path, Like in a Dream
Rembrandt watercolor on 1/4 sheet, (15″x 11″), Gemini cold press
Conversation in Sapa
Rembrandt watercolor on 9″ x 12″ cold press
Hot Day on the Beach
Rembrandt watercolor on full sheet,
(22″x 30″), Gemini cold press
Plein Air From the Casa Patio
Rembrandt watercolor on 1/4 sheet, (15″x 11″), Gemini cold press
Private Collection, Atlanta, Georgia
This painting was done in a couple of morning sessions on the patio outside my bedroom in Boca de Tomatlan, looking east into the jungle and mountains beyond
At the Staircase
Rembrandt watercolor on 1/4 sheet, (15″x 11″), Gemini cold press
Private Collection, Alaska
This painting, done from photos, is a view of a location not far from the Casa in Boca de Tomatlan, MX. The dock and staircase leading to the home of my dear friends Douglas (Casa Architect) and his wife Esther, as viewed from the water.
Tulip Fields Near Keukenhof Gardens
Watercolor on 1/4 sheet, (15″x 11″), Gemini cold press
This painting was done April 2022 as a demo for a group of artists I lead on a painting and museum tour of Holland organized by the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts
Nocturne at Saran Lake
plein air watercolor on 9″x12″ Fredrix w.c. canvas
Mist on the Farm
Rembrandt watercolor on 9″ x 12″ Rembrandt cold press paper
Rainy Morning, (Plein air at VIC, Adirondacks)
6″x8″ on Fabriano cold press
Morning at Buck Pond, (Plein air Adirondacks)
6″x8″ on Fabriano cold press
(private collection, Saran Lake)

– Rembrandt watercolor on 11″ x 7″ Gemini cold press
Read about this image Stand Firm, (1 & 2), in an article in Outdoor Painter,
the online home of Plein Air Magazine

– Rembrandt watercolor on 30″ x 22″ Gemini cold press

Rembrandt watercolor on 10.75″ x 11″ Fabriano cold press paper

– Rembrandt watercolor on 5″ x 7″ Fabriano cold press

– Rembrandt watercolor on 15″ x 22″ Gemini cold press

– Rembrandt watercolor on 6″ x 9″ Fabriano cold press

– Rembrandt watercolor on 9.75″ x 13″ Fabriano cold press

– Rembrandt watercolor on 22″ x 30″ Gemini cold press

– Rembrandt watercolor on 11″ x 14″ Fredrix watercolor canvas panel
If you would like to see more watercolor portraits go to Galleries in the Menu at top, go to Portraits in the Galleries and choose Traditional and scroll down.

– Rembrandt watercolor on full sheet, (22″ x 30″), Gemini cold press

– Rembrandt watercolor on 1/2 sheet, (15″x22″), Gemini cold press

– Rembrandt watercolor on full sheet, (22″ x 30″), Gemini cold press

– plein air watercolor on Fabriano cold press

Rembrandt watercolor on 6″ x 12″ Rembrandt cold press paper

Entering the Market, painted in Essouria, Morocco
watercolor on 10″ x 8″ Fredrix watercolor canvas on board

Morning mist – Looking up at the Casbah, Tangiers
w.c. on 7″x5″ Fabriano cold press

– Rembrandt watercolor on 42″ x 60″ stretched Fredrix watercolor canvas



– Rembrandt watercolor on 30″ x 20″ stretched Fredrix watercolor canvas


-plein air- watercolor on 7″ x 9″ Van Gogh cold press

– Watercolor demo on 18″ x 24″ Fredrix watercolor canvas

– plein air watercolor and ink in sketchbook

watercolor on 1/2 sheet Fabriano cold press


-plein air watercolor demo on 1/4 sheet Fabriano cold press

plein air- watercolor on watercolor on 10″ x 8″ Fredrix watercolor canvas panel

– Rembrandt watercolor on 30″ x 20″ stretched Fredrix watercolor canvas

– Rembrandt watercolor on 1/2 sheet, (22″ x 15″) Fabriano cold press

– Rembrandt watercolor on 8″ x 10″ stretched Fredrix watercolor canvas

watercolor on Fredrix canvas paintboard, 8″x16″

watercolor on Fredrix watercolor canvas, 20″x16″


watercolor on Fredrix watercolor canvas, 12″x 9″

watercolor on Fredrix canvas paintboard, 8″x 10″ (private collection, Sedona, AZ)

watercolor on Fredrix watercolor canvas, 10″x 8″ (private collection, Flagstaff, AZ)


watercolor on Fredrix w.c. canvas 30 “x 24 ”

watercolor on w.c. canvas 16″x 20″
Available at R. Michelson Galleries, Northampton, MA

Sumi-e brush/w.c. on watercolor canvas, 14″x11″

watercolor on Arches paper, 9 “x 12 ” | private collection
This painting is one of my favorite. In 1981, before we were married, Monica and I where traveling, (backpacking), through Europe and hiking in the Alps, we came across this perfect compositional/symbolic nod to the painter Casper David Friedrich, “father of German Romantic painting – no changes or additions needed

watercolor on Arches paper, 12″x9″ | private collection
Another nod to Friedrich, this time an altered quote of his painting of his wife titled, “Woman at a Window”. Here I paint Monica, again on an arches block while, while we were on our backpacking tour of Europe in 1981. Filled with symbolic content, as was Friedrich’s painting, but set in a more both contemporary manner and with of course my spiritual vision/symbolism not his. This painting was later used as a reference for a large piece where I included a trompe l’oeil copy of Friedrichs’ painting “apparently taped” to the wall. You can see this piece in the menu under Galleries: Works of SpiritRealism

Monica At Puri Beach
watercolor on paper, 12″x9″ | private collection
A painting done in a similar vein as the one above, done several years later when Monica and I were traveling through India.

watercolor on paper, 4″x6″

watercolor on paper, 9 “x12 “

Sumi-e brush and ink on rice paper, 28″x20.5″/private collection
While studying calligraphy, Sumi-e brush, and watercolor painting with the Japanese painter Kaji Aso at the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts I thought it would be a cool and an interesting challenge, (as well as a novel idea) to paint with sumi-e brush and ink on rice paper in plein air. This is such a painting done when visiting my folks that summer in 1976, visiting a place I used to hang out at often during high school.