Trying to paint realistically after a life of flinging paint around is a fun challenge, but it’s also a nice way to focus on things that put me in a good mood. These are some of the more realistic paintings I’ve done. The dogs and portraits were mostly for friends and family.

I made these after going to Art Palm Beach, a contemporary art fair in my area. I hadn’t seen art with a capital a in a while and it made me feel like going home and making some huge paintings for old time’s sake.

Cresswind Lakewood Ranch hired me to do a painting of their clubhouse on location during its grand opening – it had a border for all the members to sign. I made a practice painting at home and also some fruit paintings to sell. It was a marathon, but I finished on time and everyone was happy with the result.

I’m a little foggy on when I painted this stuff. A couple of them were gifts for friends who helped me install a hot tub. One of them was for a benefit auction supporting Save The Manatee Club. I remember they were mostly acrylic on canvas around 18″x24″ in size, maybe bigger?

Kolter Homes invited me to do an art show in conjunction with a model park opening at their Artistry community in Sarasota, Florida. I was still painting and showing under the name ‘Matt Birdwin’. The work varied in size from 11″x14″ to 30″x40″, but most of it was painted with acrylic on canvas.