I paint Elvis a lot, more than any other human; and I’m not sure why! I was attracted to this particular one because I felt this photo captured him at an important time in his career. Elvis loved live performance more than any of the other things that make up his career. Though he is remembered as the king of rock and roll, his ability to put over a ballad is his greatest quality, in my opinion. If you listen to most any of his ballads, you will distinctly hear his emotional presence that are clearly a part of his vocal performance. You can actually see his heart felt expressions on his face as he sings these chosen tunes; that’s why I chose this photograph to paint.

This image comes from the late sixties in the early stages of his return to live performance in Las Vegas. It was during this relatively short period of time where Elvis was truly great in person. It wouldn’t be long before the emotional impact of these early performances would fade, giving way to sequined jumpsuits and capes, where his shows were little more than spectacle, an overblown display of the man that was once a king, now no longer capable of wearing its crown.

As my first offering, I am sharing my painting of a Thomas Kincaid original. Kincaid is well known as the “painter of light.” I specifically decided to copy some of his work to learn more about landscapes and the way he uses light to make the painting “pop.” These types of paintings require a great deal of time invested since you paint from the back, forward, meaning you have to let the paint dry completely before continuing. This one took all of three months to complete, but the feeling of accomplishment for me was quite strong.

I chose this painting because of the pathway. It’s clear that it had just rained in this scene based on the clearing skies and I wanted to try and replicate this “wet path look,” though I didn’t initially know how he accomplished this. This is one of my favorite examples of stuff I’ve done.