Path to Butler Pond, Adirondacks

9x12 Oil on canvas. Plein air.

Early Autumn, Upper Hudson River

A calm day by the river. Still some summer clouds around. A mountain stream comes in from the the right, forming a small cove.

Early Autumn, Upper Hudson River. 9x12 Oil on canvas.

Portrait Drawing

Spring Morning Adirondacks

Spring Morning Adirondacks, palette knife painting, 8x10 Oil

Part of an exhibition at the Riverside Gallery, Warrensburg, NY.

Collapsed Garden Shed

Collapsed Garden Shed, 9x12 Oil

En Plein Air: Painting on site is the best way to capture an impression.

Junkyard Ambulance

This is a 1944 Dodge Army Ambulance that was cut up and converted to a junkyard tow vehicle. The junkyard was ordered to be cleaned up by New York State, and this rusted worker is all that remains.

It sits by the roadside in Hudson Falls, NY.

Here's what the junkyard ambulance looked like new, on the beaches of Normandy.

The 060 Locomotive, Kokosing Gap Trail, Ohio

Circa 1924 060 Switcher Locomotive on the Kokosing Gap Trail-
a window into the past, preserved for us today.

My wife and I, on a visit to central Ohio in early July, were taken to visit the 060 by friends. At one time I was a marine steam engineer, and am drawn to these engines.

But the big steam locomotives terrified me when I was a little kid: alive with smoke and hissing and chuffing. When they spun their wheels getting underway, the ground shook for miles around.

The thunder of trains brings me back to those warm, midsummer days in the Midwest of my childhood.

October 22, 1758 Sinking of the Radeau

This painting of the sinking of the Radeau "Land Tortoise" was commissioned by the Lake George Historical Association and hangs in a room dedicated to the Radeau in the Lake George Museum, Lake George, N.Y. It is the oldest intact wooden warship in North America. I used eye witness observations from period journals in illustrating the event.

October 22, 1758 Sinking of the Radeau

Due to the unique 7 sided shape of the vessel, a model was made for me to pose in the sinking attitude, for the depiction in the painting.

Model of the Radeau by John  Farrell

My painting of the Radeau "Invincible" shows
what a radeau would look like sailing and rowing on Lake George.

The Radeau "Invincible" Lake George, NY 1759

For more information on the Radeau: a trailer for the documentory film
"The Lost Radeau".

Political Cartooning

Commissioned & published by The Chronicle, a popular free weekly of news and local interest, when it was announced that President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Turkey Shoot

A demonstration of how to fix bad art, involving two oil paintings, a flintlock, and a sharpes rifle.

Crummy Art + Guns= Turkey Shoot

These still images were taken before and after filming "The Turkey Shoot", a little video of what happens when art has been bad.

New Painting: Schroon Spring

Schroon River, Adirondacks, in Spring