Portraiture Blog
What’s In Your Universe?
Art as a Metaphor for Life Have you ever thought of a painting (fill in your respective creative poison here) as a metaphor for your life? We all struggle with the desire to control our universe, our circle of influence, and to accept those things we cannot change....
A Rant on Values
Sometimes Having Strong Values Means More Than Just Being a Nice Guy* Sometimes a value that appears to be correct in a painting is anything but. You've got to know and understand how light works on form if you want to make your paintings look lifelike. Excellent...
Drawing for the Ages
Drawing for the ages Ridge came to my studio for a quick sketch this morning. He was a delightful model and his mom really liked the drawing. Ridge was a very patient model for a 5 year old! I really enjoy sketching from life and as I always tell my students, life...
No More Smooshing Paint Around
Getting it Right the First Time Rather than getting the wrong value on your brush and then working it into the painting, try getting the right value on your palette and painting directly onto the canvas, without apology. Smooshing the paint around only weakens the...
Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
Joe Maniscalco Returns Fom the hey-day of illustration Here's one of the vintage Joe Maniscalco illustrations I have re-purposed. I wonder what they were used for originally. They are masterfully painted in the hey-day of illustration. I was thinking of other...
Joe Maniscalco Illustrations
Joe Maniscalco Retrofitted I've really been enjoying excavating my father's legacy by digging out these vintage illustrations and re-captioning them. I am re-purposing and compiling images of his and my work, along with witty and not-so-witty aphorisms into a coffee...
Fold in the Light
This is from an art lesson yesterday in class. Want to express folds in drapery or in skin? You must understand how forms behave in the light. Here is a fold depicted in light, side view and top view. There is a hard cast shadow on the left side. And there is a soft...
Aspire to Happiness
This life therefore is not righteousness but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing not being but becoming, not rest, exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it. The process is not yet finished but it is going on. This is not...
Golf Portrait
Look dad, I did it! As my very first friend once told me, "Rob, there are two kinds of people: boaters and golfers." Well here are a couple golfers. This was a particularly meaningful portrait for me, as it expresses a father's love for his son. I enjoy a bit of...
Beauty
As I approach the first anniversary of y marriage to Cate (June 1), I am re-sharing the poem I wrote soon after we reconnected. In that moment, I realized I'd found the love of my life. I pray for all who long for love to know it's waiting for you too, if you are...
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The figures in "A Walk in the Park" are the inner cast you carry everywhere—the fool who leaps, the doubter who drags his feet, the dreamer who stares past the horizon, the judge with crossed arms, the child who still believes. They bicker, whisper, revolt and reconcile, but together they make the one you call “I.” We are all onstage at once, caught in the thin light between meaning and emptiness—a reminder that your chaos is not a flaw, but the chorus through which your true voice finally emerges. ... See MoreSee Less
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted."Identity and Self"
Opening Reception and Exhibition at
Park Circle Art Gallery
4820 Jenkins Ave.
North Charleston, SC 29405
The Exhibition runs through April 26
Gallery Hours: W-F 10:30-5:30, Sat 12-4
The collection will center on how identity interferes with our true self, our true freedom, which is a central value for an artist, as well as any self-actualized individual. For instance, when I draw my idea of a thing, rather than opening myself up to the full potential contained in the thing itself, I am limiting my creative potential.
So, who are we at our core, after we strip away the names we call ourselves, the parties with whom we affiliate, the causes for which we are fighting? After all, these are all inventions of the ego, which separate us from God and the infinite. Existence consists of light on form. Light is my medium as an artist. I am a painter of the self. I am looking always for something deeper than the surface representations in my subjects. It is the true self I am looking for when I paint, whether it is an orange, a sky or a judge. ... See MoreSee Less
“The Fantasy” oil on canvas 36" x 48", invites you into that lucid dream space where imagination feels more vivid than reality. In this oil painting, a solitary figure drifts through a dreamlike landscape of softened edges and impossible light. But the story is not fixed—you’re handed a doorway.
This piece lives in the uncertainty between escape and awakening. At first glance, it feels like a beautiful dream: rich color, fluid forms, and a sense of effortless drift. But stay with it, and you begin to notice the undercurrent—a quiet question about what we run toward, and what we’re trying to leave behind.
For the thoughtful collector, “The Fantasy” becomes a mirror for their own inner world. It speaks to anyone who has ever built a private refuge in their mind: the daydreamer, the creative, the survivor, the seeker who knows that fantasies can be both sanctuary and trap. The painting doesn’t judge that impulse; it honors it, and gently asks what new possibilities might emerge when we begin to bring those inner visions into the light of our real lives.
Hung in a living room, bedroom, or reading space, “The Fantasy” doesn’t just decorate a wall—it opens a conversation. With its layered symbolism and emotional depth, it’s the kind of work people return to, again and again, discovering new details and meanings as their own story evolves. ... See MoreSee Less
"Three Little Buds" is a framed #oilpainting looking for a new home. “Three Little Buds” captures a tender moment of becoming: three rosebuds held in that brief, luminous stage before they open. The dew on their petals hints at fresh beginnings and quiet resilience after the rain. This piece speaks to anyone who feels on the edge of a new chapter—honoring both the vulnerability and the promise of what is about to bloom.
“Three Little Buds" is about beginnings and the quiet power of what hasn’t fully unfolded yet. I painted them at that in-between moment—still closed, but clearly full of life and color, with the dew clinging to them after a fresh start.
For me, the three buds might suggest three children / three important relationships / three versions of ourselves at different times, held together in the same space of light and nurtured by potential energy. The droplets are a reminder that renewal often comes right after the storm; there’s a softness and resilience there.
It’s a painting for someone who connects with the idea of growth, protection, and the beauty of what’s just about to bloom or has bloomed in their own life. ... See MoreSee Less
Here's the entire portrait. I love judicial portraits. What do you think of this portrait? Know anyone who wants a portrait legacy created? A portrait is how people know us when we're gone. ... See MoreSee Less