Personal Best - My Favorite Paintings of 2012

So I have not done as many paintings as I would like. However I have done more this year then I did in the last five years. I think that is a really sad state of things. My New Year's resolutions this year is to do more paintings.

I find a lot of inspiration in the children I work with, but because of legal reasons, I really cannot talk about them very much here. I respect their privacy and honor their families. We travel together with aloha.

Above is my favorite painting of the year. It has such a good feel to it. There is a softness of the reflected light that comes into the room I captured here. There is so much to be happy with in this paintings.

Above is another of the students in my class.

I really like his oxygen tank to the right. There is a neat reflection I rendered here. The few brush strokes render so much information. The bit of blue as his shirt and the dark as his chair.

This painting makes me smile. I managed to capture his smile in this. I had to work from a photo in this painting. With the others I worked from sketches and supplemented with photos. I really couldn't capture his smile any other way. While I can tell that I used a photo, I am really happy with it.

Above is an acrylic landscape I did after a watercolor I did earlier. The watercolor made my list of my favorite watercolors.

I tried to make this more then a pretty landscape. My main focus was on the surface of the painting. I took to heart the lessons of my art professors at the University of Hawaii and really wanted to have a dynamic paint surface. I layered the phases of color and staggered them to obfuscate the paint order. I wanted to make play with the shapes like an abstract expressionist, but still create a figurative image

I think this painting works. So much so I think I will do a few more like it. Let's see what I can come up with.

This is another painting of a student-- it's really rough to not talk about them directly. Their hearts are so much a part of what I try to capture here. Hopefully it comes through to you.

I really tried to capture his stature and the way he carries himself. That is one of the strengths of this piece. I spent a lot of time on the sight word wall in the background, I think it adds a lot to the piece and the way it is laid out.

Above is a portrait of Brandon's uncle, Glen, the owner of The Armchair Adventurer.

Armchair is the local Model, designer board Game, and Role Playing Game store.  He is my merchant of dorky delights. 

His store is like a hoarder nightmare, claustrophobic and stacked to the ceiling with merchandise. Walking through his store is often precarious; a misstep could leave you buried in a heap of Osprey Books. However his store is also where I often enjoy great conversations with my friends over a bottle of wine and a great game.

He had a heart attack earlier this year so I did this painting for him. He is surrounded by his true love, his store and all his precious artifacts.

"There is a marvelous story of a man who once stood before God, his heart breaking from the pain and injustice in the world. 
'Dear God,' he cried out. 'Look at all the suffering, the anguish, and distress in your world. Why don't you send help?' God responded, 'I did send help. I sent YOU.'"

 ~ David J. Wolfe