Ed Cashman

This posthumous portrait was a collaboration with Ed's wife and widow, Sue. From conversations with Mrs. Cashman and also with other relatives, it was clear that Ed Cashman was a man of great integrity, a witty sense of humor, and a loving, compassionate heart. His children and grandchildren tell of his sweetness. As with all portraits, knowing my subject's character and a little bit of their background results in a greater depth of passion in each stroke I paint. Ed is a man I would have liked to have known personally. Thank you, Sue, for the privelige of getting to know both you and your husband.

It is amazing how many good painters there are out there. I try and keep up to date with what my peers are doing via various art magazines (my favorites are American Art Collector and Fine Art Connoisseur). The June 2008 issue of American Art Collector featured Jeremy Lipking. The detail of his painting "Skylar" that was featured on the cover and shown here reveals what a marvelous touch Jeremy has. One thing that Jeremy does that separates him from most good artists today is his ability to paint edges so wonderfully. He knows how to see and use the soft edges to truly achieve a sense of space. This ability also holds his paintings together so well. Many artists' paintings today lack the overall compositional strength that Jeremy's have because they have all kinds of hard edges throughout their paintings. This creates an unnatural sense because our eyes don't see hard edges except upon what we're truly focusing on. All else belongs to the periphery, and thus have soft edges.

Jeremy paints from life and thus he knows how edges truly are. Many artists rely on photographs, and without the awareness of edges in nature, create paintings that lack "life" since they don't move past the mechanical recording of a camera. How refreshing it is to see Jeremy's beautiful work!

Caden's Sitting

I just returned from a sitting in Denver with a new young friend of mine- Caden. Caden's parents, Mark and Alden, have selected me to paint their oldest son, and we are off to a great start. True to Alden's promise, Caden was full of energy, never a dull moment (or a still one, for that matter!). Fortunately, cameras only need a fraction of a second (1/6oth in this case) to capture a scene, and that was enough for us to come away with a number of great options for Caden's painting. He is a very sweet boy, ready to make a game out of anything (golf, baseball, bowling- all were part of the in-between-photos time yesterday). I really loved how Caden greeted me when we first met: he and his dad Mark were coming in their house where I and his mom Alden had been waiting, and without missing a beat, Caden says with a big welcoming grin "Hey Mr. Tim!" It was like he had known me his whole life; no doubt I felt instantly welcomed and we hit it off great. I can't wait to get started on his portrait. Here are a few more candid pictures from our sitting: