People
Please click on the painting to enlarge for viewing.
Winnie
I had no sooner finished that jungle and stream painting than our youngest granddaughter, Winnie, now 15, asked me to consider doing one based on a photo of herself at Isla Grande. The negotiated commission for this painting was 100 hugs payable over a period of three months. Canvas is 14 x 18".
Emberá girls
A pair of teenage sisters one more modest than the other, posing for the camera of a tourist in the Province of Darien. Done on commission. Approximately 24x30 inches.
Pakistani Jeep Driver
I did this one back in the 1960's and entered it in a show in Virginia Beach where I declined to sell it to a woman visiting from New York. Subsequently, the woman's husband called me and commissioned a painting of "any tough looking guy smoking a cigarette" which I then did and mailed to the couple in the Bronx. Approximately 12x14 inches.
Behind the Wire
Basically, a small study in light and shadow. Approximately 5x7 inches.
Granddaughter Linda Nicole at 17
Throughout her childhood and adolescence, Linda posed for many photos which I then used as reference for paintings. You'll see more of her as you browse this site. Approximately 10x12 inches.
Gwen Wong
A Citadel classmate and close friend asked for my assistance in preparing for our Russian History final exam in the spring of 1963. When he aced the test (A+), he rewarded me with a year's subscription to Playboy magazine. Where I ran across Miss Wong. Approximately 18x24 inches.
Goddaughter Amy
This was a quick character study of my dear goddaughter, now grown, successful banker and mother of 2 boys. Approximately 14x18 inches.
Guna Girls in Boat
I did this one for a friend here in Panama who had photographed these two girls selling lobsters from a boat in the San Blas Islands. I especially like the way the swirling currents of water turned out. Approximately 15x30 inches.
Granddaughter Hannah at Christmas
Hannah was about 6 when I did this one. I absolutely love her hair and that smile of high expectations that children get on the Night Before Christmas. Approximately 16x20 inches.
Hannah on Horseback
Hannah, at this writing a second-year student at the University of Virginia, gave me a 4x6 black and white photo of herself at a riding academy and asked me to use it as reference for a painting. I found images online of the mountains around Charlottesville which I used as reference for the background and called upon my imagination for the middle and foreground. Lots of detail here and quite 3-dimensional. Most importantly, Hannah loves the painting. Approximately 16x32 inches.
Hibiscus Girls
Two small Emberá girls posing in a bohillo in the Darién. Private collection. Approximately 24x30 inches.
Iguanas for Sale
Another friend of mine took the amazing photo on which this painting is based while visiting the San Blas Islands. The only thing I added was the veranera. Lots of detail and striking color contrasts here. Approximately 24x36 inches.
Girl Dressing at Window
Based loosely on a black and white newspaper clipping, this small painting won First Prize at a juried art show in Panama. Approximately 10x14 inches.
Haitian Girl at Breakfast
This young girl reflects for a moment before taking advantage of a meal provided by missionaries in Port Au Prince. I think the girl's eyes and her hand holding the oversized spoon are quite striking. Approximately 15x30 inches.
Granddaughter Winnie Surfing
There is absolutely nothing that this youngest of our 10 grandchildren is afraid to try. Here she is at age 6 riding the waves at Punta Prieta here in Coronado. Her bathing suit is not getting washed off, but it may be moving forward just a tad slower than is Winnie. Approximately 9x12 inches.
Cathy Brown, a portrait
This is a portrait that my cousin Chris commissioned of his wife, Cathy. Approximate size 16x20 inches.
Granddaughter Sydney at the Beach Club
Living the good life, here's Sydney, then about age 10, catching a few rays while enjoying her Coke at poolside at the Coronado Beach Club. Approximately 14x18 inches.
Girls at Cabin Window
"This 16x32 inch purports to show Johnny's three girls, as they looked about a decade ago, in the second-story window of an A-frame in Cerro Punta, RP. What intrigued me about the photo on which the painting is based was the open window (sash?) which I thought I could make very three-dimensional, and I think I succeeded there. I was also happy to hear from the three sirens--as they now call themselves--that I had captured their likenesses in these 2-inch portraits to perfection. They did actually consult on an almost daily basis with suggestions and comments. We decided to add the boulder and three branches of veranera to aid in the composition."
Sydney at the Beach
A much younger Sydney, reflecting on life as she sits surfside in the early morning. Approximately 16x20 inches.
Linda Nicole at 20
Here she is again, this time squinting into the late afternoon sun here in Coronado. Approximately 11x14 inches.
Man in Beret
Early painting, again back in the 1960's. Just a study in lights and shadows, but that eye kinda grabs you. Approximately 8x10 inches.
Granddaughter Isabella Victoria (IV) on Halloween
Here is a 4-year-old IV dressed as a Guna Indian lass striking a pose on the seawall of the family home in Veracruz, Panama. Approximately 24x30 inches.
Available Light
This Peruvian woman posed for a photo as she was leaning back against a parked car on Central Avenue. For the painting, I moved her inside, out of the sun. Approximately 18x30 inches.
In on the Grass at First
This is our son, Raul at about age 11 playing first base for the Mutual of Omaha Farm League team in Balboa, CZ. Raul, who became an excellent baseball player, insisted from the start on wearing a full-size professional glove. And I'll tell you this: Not much got by him. Approximately 15x30 inches.
Sydney, Sol y Sombra
Here's Sydney again, this time about to go out of our kitchen door into the early-morning sun. I thought the shadows were striking and made her stop for a photo. Approximately 14x18 inches.
Cousins at Christmas
Here are grandsons Cesar Augusto and Rafael Armando opening a Christmas gift together, as seen from outside, looking in. I made up the window and the plants, etc., and even the nosey lizard. Approximately 14x18 inches.
Atardecer
This is Grandson Cesar Augusto sitting in the hammock in our bohillo late one Sunday afternoon, trying to finish his homework before his mom takes him back home to Panama City. Pretty much detail in that hammock and shadows. Approximately 20x30 inches.
Migrant Worker on Beach
I did this painting back in 1961 of a migrant worker in Virginia as he is identifying the body of his friend who drowned on a day off at the beach. I worked an entire day on his bandaged left foot and when I thought it was perfect, I called my dad in to see it. His immediate response was, "Why did you give him 6 toes?" I couldn't believe it, but sure enough, I had given him an extra toe! Took me another whole day to fix it. I had the last laugh, though, because this painting won Best in Show in a US Navy sponsored art show.
Girl at Orange Festival
This festival is held annually in the hills behind the town of Penonomé. The little girl shown here was tending the booth her father had set up. Approximately 18x24 inches.
Esther in Sunglasses
Here sits my lovely wife relaxing in a lawn chair at my folks' house in Virginia Beach during one of home leaves back in the 1980's. Approximately 12x18 inches.
Waterborne Student
A preteen in a remote part of the interior of Panama sets off for school, wearing her uniform. Her backpack has been carefully positioned to keep her modest craft on an even keel. Approximately 18x30 inches.
IV after the Storm
Granddaughter IV posed for the photograph on which this small painting was based in my art studio. We agreed, though, that we should have a more dramatic background. Approximately 9x12 inches.
Irish Girl Dead on Street
Based on black and white newspaper clipping during 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland. Approximately 9x12 inches.
Syd with Humming Bird
Two small beings checking each other out. Approximately 10x14 inches.
IV with Hibiscus
Posing in her Abuela's tropical gardens here in Coronado. Approximately 10x14 inches.
Carne en Palito, San Felipe
I photographed this father-and-son operation at some feria and then, for the painting, moved them into the far more picturesque San Felipe area of the city.
In Memoriam
This is a family portrait featuring Esther's prima hermana, Eneida, together with her mother and sister (with cigarette) and, in the background, one of her daughters. Eneida succumbed to cancer several years ago. Esther was able to visit her twice in her final weeks and during one of those visits ran across the old photograph upon which the painting is based.
Keith and Susana on Wedding Day
This couple, she from Panama and he from Canada, went to Hong Kong for their wedding. Approximately 18x24 inches.
Susana on Wedding Day
On this follow-up painting, I spent a lot of time on the detail of the jewelry which the bride is wearing. Approximately 18x24 inches.
Linda Nicole with Butterflies and Mosquito
This was in the wooded area behind our quarters on Ancon Hill in the Canal Zone. Despite the pesky mosquito, Linda was fascinated with the butterflies which swarm there. Approximately 24x 36 inches.
Linda Nicole with Veranera
I took the photo of Linda in our front yard in the Canal Zone, but she looked so bored and grouchy, I moved her to the window of an imaginary casa de quincha on a sweltering day during Semana Santa. The veranera is pretty 3-dimensional. Approximately 24x36 inches.
Quail Hunting in South Carolina
This painting was done for my Citadel roommate and best friend, Hugh Graham who resides in Columbia, SC. A better fellow you will never meet. Approximately 16x24 inches.
Sydney in Peril
Granddaughter Sydney, then 15, called me one day and asked me to do a painting of her trying to escape an erupting volcano and a charging elephant and a roaring lion and a huge poisonous snake while an evil pilot shot rockets at her, all as she was trying to finish her morning coffee. When I came to, I resisted for a while but, as you can see, ultimately caved in. Approximately 15x30 inches.
Annie At Rest
Granddaughter Annie, now grown and a teacher in private schools in such exotic places as Nigeria and Thailand, sent me the photograph of herself as a small child, saying it was her all-time favorite, and asked me to do a painting of it. I added the Vermeer-style curtain in the foreground and did her a small landscape for the wall behind her. The large Chinese vase Esther had found in an antique shop here some years before, and it seems right at home in the painting. Approximately 18x24 inches.
Young Student Reciting in Class
Pen and ink drawing of young (and exultant) Chinese student in school.
Young War Zone Resident
Done on a piece of slate, instead of canvas, just to see how that would work. Based on a magazine photo. Approximately 9x12 inches
Be Careful, you are not Alone
If you enlarge this small exercise in painting the texture of old wood, you may discover that someone is looking right back at you. Approximately 8x10 inches
Jacob at Play
A young boy immersed in the colored balls of a local McDonalds play area. Done on commission for the parents. Approximately 12x14 inches.
Grandson Cesar Augusto Bathing in the Interior
And loving every minute of it. Hard to believe that he is now grown, married and with two handsome sons of his own. Approximately 18x24 inches.
Mischievous Peruvian Girl with Father's Shotgun
Painted back in the 1960's based on a photo in National Geographic. Approximately 15x30 inches.
Laundry Day
Young girl carrying the laundry back upstairs. Approximately 24x24 inches.
Christine
Christine Keeler was an English model born 3 months after I was. Before she was 21, while I was still making my way through college, she had had simultaneous amorous affairs with the British Secretary of War and the Russian Naval Attaché in London, a feat which ultimately brought down the Conservative government there. I thought that deserved a portrait; this one based on a photo of her in Life Magazine. I sold the painting almost immediately at an art show in Virginia Beach. Many years later, I painted her again, using the same magazine photo as reference. Approximately 14x18 inches.
American Football Player
This painting hung in our house in the Canal Zone for many years, and still today friends of our kids who visit here tell me they remember that bead of sweat above the obviously fatigued player's right eye. If you enlarge the photo, maybe you can see it.
Black Sunday
Port au Prince some years back when terrorist gang Tonton Macoute derailed presidential elections. This boy peers through bullet-ridden front window of his party's election headquarters. Approximately 30x40 inches.
Old Man and Cat
This old fellow used to haunt the San Felipe area of the city, walking the narrow streets without shoes. Here he takes a short breather in a doorway. I imagined a cat walking past him as he rests. This was a prize winner in a juried show in Panama. Approximately 30x40 inches.
Hanging out in the Canal Zone
Grandchildren Natasha and Cesar Augusto spending a quiet afternoon in our neighborhood in the Canal Zone. Approximately 24x36 inches
The Black-Eyed Kid
And here is Winnie again who begged me to do a portrait of her lying on the kitchen floor sporting a black eye and a broken pinkie that she had recently acquired as a result of some hairbrained endeavor. She's quite a girl...and she loves the painting! The words on the hoodie say it all. Approximately 14x18 inches.
Butterfly Girl
A small girl sitting in the woods is inspected by a curious butterfly. This painting is in a private collection in the United States and has always been one of my favorites. Approximately 18x24 inches.
Gorgona Fishermen
Shortly after we settled in Coronado, I took my camera to the beach at the nearby townsite of Nueva Gorgona where there are nearly always fishermen coming in or going out. The ones there that day were very friendly and invited me to take as many photos of them as I wanted. This painting is based on a combination of several of those shots. Although you cannot see it from this angle, the fellow in the foreground was working with an open bottle of Balboa beer in his hip pocket. Approximately 30x40 inches.
Ngabe Buglé Girl with Pottery
A dreamlike scene near an imaginary forest in Panama. Approximately 24x36 inches.
Granddaughter Natasha at 15
Hard for me to believe that Nata is now an attorney, married with a beautiful daughter and living just outside Madrid, Spain. This portrait came out quite well, and you will note that I spent a lot of time on the dress and the jewelry. Approximately 16x24 inches.
Sea Dog
A crusty old fisherman squints into the rain from the bow of his tuna boat. Approximately 10x12 inches.
Guna Boy with Bird
This complicated painting was done on commission for a friend of mine who took the photograph on which it is based. The Guna boy was running an informal, outdoor shop where everything from handmade dresses to molas to his shark-tooth necklace and, yes, to the toucan on his finger, was for sale. Approximate size 30x40 inches.
Ngabe Buglé Woman in the Sun
Young Indian woman squints into the afternoon sun in the mountains of her comarca. Approximately 12x16 inches.
Interior Schoolgirl
Imagine that you had to walk 3 hours to school, without shoes and missing a button from your uniform shirt and tell me if you would be as excited and eager to learn as this young girl in her gloomy, unairconditioned classroom appears to be. Approximately 18x24 inches.
View from a Tree
Here is granddaughter Linda again, this time looking for the squirrel who has interrupted her reading. And the squirrel is looking back at her. Approximately 30x40 inches.
Stephany - In Memoriam
This is Stephany, beloved daughter and granddaughter of dear friends of ours who passed away when she was a beautiful, talented, vivacious and loving teenager. I did this portrait for her parents shortly after her death. Approximately 18x24 inches.
Annie Taking Notes
Here is the young Annie again, this time concentrating mightily on whatever it is she is writing down. I made up the Vermeer type curtain in the foreground and the suggestion of a painting on the wall behind her. That's another of Esther's Chinese pots by the chair. Approximately 18x24 inches.
Gabriel at the Window
Grandson Gabriel takes a moment from birdwatching to grin at us from behind his telescope at the window of their house in Virginia Beach. Again, with a nod to the Vermeer in the foreground. Approximately 18x24 inches.