This website is a joy for me to make.  I've always wanted to document my artwork and projects in one source, and at this point in my life, this seems to be the easiest way to do that.

 As you go through the images here click on any one of them to get the short synopsis of the artwork, or a little story that goes along with it.  Also check out the "Cool Stuff" category, it's a catchall for a lot of the stuff that I've made or repaired, or had an interest in in my life.  All of these artworks and projects are only a small proportion of the work that I have done, and it's going to be a long term project to get most of it in this website.  For numerous art and projects that I've done; I have no photographs or documentation whatsoever.

 If you're seeing this on a small screen (phone or whatever), click on the tiny "menu" icon at the top of site to see all the categories.  They show up on the bigger screens - iPads etc., but you have to click on "menu" otherwise.  I haven't quite figured out how to fix that yet...  ! ? 

See it all on the biggest screen you can, there's so much detail that is missed on small screens.  Also for more info about me, my thought processes, and philosophies of life see the two menu items “My Artists Signature” and “About”.

I currently live in Troy Michigan.  If interested in purchasing any of these works, or commissioning a work, or just commenting or saying Hi, contact me at:

email:   ronmaki99@gmail.com

Prices range from very small works about $100 to my largest work at about $1500, (everything in life is negotiable).

Oil on wood panel, 13x 18, Fall 2021

This is from an old black and white family photo. It depicts my Mom’s first cousins, the Kuopus kids. My Mom might be one of the girls on the hood I’m not sure. I originally did this image as a pencil drawing in 1988 and entered it in the Postal Life Magazine’s calendar contest for 1989. It won and was put in as the July image. I worked as a Postal clerk and Mail Processing Equipment Tech for 38 years.

Oil on wood panel, 10 3/4 x 18 3/4, December 2021

This is an old family photo, I don’t know who the kid is or whose dog it is, but the pic inspired me to paint this. Some Finnlander relative up in the U.P. of Michigan, just starting out….eighteen months old, the back of the pic said. Probably from the 1930’s.

I Will Remember You….

Oil on wood panel 18 x 24 October 2021

This is a painting from my imagination about me and my three brothers, Arnie ( Freddie ), Jerry, and Donnie. The location is in the UP at Grandpa Koykka’s farm in Elo Michigan.

Oil on Linen Panel, 14 x 11 , September 2021

A painting from an old black and white family photo. My three brothers and I in front of my Grandma’s sauna. Donnie, Jerry, Me, Freddie.

Oil on wood panel 24 x 15 November 2021

This is a painting from a black and white family photo. It depicts my Grandpa, Toivo Koykka, my mom Ruth, my Grandma Tillie, Toivo’s sister-in-law Esther, nephew Harold, and Toivo’s brother Charley.

I’ve been influenced by the great illustrator Bernie Fuchs and it’s influencing the look I want in my paintings.

Oil on linen, mounted on wood panel, 18 x 24, 2021

This is from a black and white family photo taken in 1940.

Left to right—My Mom, then Ruth Helen Koyyka when she was about 17 years old. My Grandpa, Toivo John Koykka, about 42 years old, and my Grandma, Tillie Emily Koykka, about 38 years old. The car is a 1939 Willy’s sedan. This was just north of the Tapiola Diner, which at that time was the Co-op store , I believe.

Oil on linen, mounted on wood panel 19 x 24, 2021

This is from a black and white family photo taken in the summer of 1956 at my cousin Clarence Koykka’s Phillip 66 gas station in Elo Michigan. The car is a 1951 Chevy. Left to right— My Mom, Ruth Helen (Koykka) Maki, older brother Arnie (Freddie) sitting on hood, brother Jerry below him, brother Donnie on hood. My Dad, Arnold Frederick Maki Sr., and me, Ron Maki.

Oil on linen, mounted on wood panel, 21x 21

This is from a family black and white photo. Left to right.. my older brother Arnie (Freddie) Maki, my Uncle Charlie’s well drilling partner, (forgot his name), Ron Maki (me), Uncle Charlie Koykka, My youngest brother Donnie, and my brother Jerry. Drilling a water well, somewhere near Calumet Michigan.

48 x 31 Mixed media, (oil, metal plates, copper corners) canvas panel paintings mounted on birch panel May 2019

This painting is an homage to my ancestors. Finn-Swedes who have been in this country since about 1900. They came here with nothing except self-confidence, resourcefulness, and hard work. They knew that it’s the little things in life that really are important. They had open eyes. I recently saw the movie Vanilla Skies with Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz, and I realized my paintings have mostly vanilla skies! I loved the philosophy in the movie. Ya gotta see it. Really, psychologically deep! See the second photo for the writing on the copper plate.

Oil on wood panel, 16 1/2 x 12 3/4, January 2022

This from an old black and white family photo. I believe it’s the first photo taken of my great grandfather’s family when they arrived in the U.S. from Oulu Finland about 1905. Pictured left to right: My great grandfather, Oskar Koykka, Charlie Koykka (on lap), Onni Koykka (in back), My grandfather Toivo Koykka, about 7 years old, and my great grandmother, Sanna Koykka.

Oil on Linen, mounted on wood panel, 21 x 21, 2021

I repainted this pic in the fall of 2021. I really loved the form but the color wasn’t quite right. I now believe it is a much more exciting painting color wise……This is another color and form work that came out quite well.

It was mostly from my imagination, using complimentary colors,( but changed in 2021 !)

21 x 26 Oil on Birch Panel, October 2019

I changed this painting in the summer of 2021. I cut the left side out and painted over the rest of it. A much better painting I believe!…. The following applies to the earlier version…..The writing around the painting’s border says: (top) “At Wit’s End — Enchantment or Illusion” (bottom) “Go Ask Alice, I Think She’ll Know” (right side) “We Are All Crazy Here” (left side) “Curiouser and Curiouser”

This was a fun painting out of my imagination. Ya gotta love Alice, her world was as crazy as ours is now in 2019. (Lies are Truth, Up is Down, etc. etc., though I don’t think Alice had to deal with greed, fear and corruption at the highest levels of politics and business!!!!)

We might need to find us some White Rabbits….or at least a rabbit hole to stick our heads into….

Oil on Linen, mounted on panel 11 x 16, 2021

This is from a black and white family photo. Left to right, Me (Ron Maki) in my Dad Arnold Maki’s lap. Donnie in my Mom Ruth’s lap, Jerry, and Freddie sitting on the arm of the couch. I changed the background to a buttery yellow a few months later. See second pic for old image.

Oil on linen, mounted on wood panel, 21 x21

This is a portrait of me, my son Jeff, and wife Kaye about 1989.

The image is from a black and white photo I put on our Christmas card that year.

22 1/2 x 28. Oil and Gold Leaf on birch panel, 2018

This is a painting with about seven different sources that inspired me. The original photo that I took is from a bar/restaurant near New Pfaltz New York, near the Hudson River. I've included 3 photos of my painting to show how it changes when light hits them at different angles. It astounds me how much they change! Also included is my original pencil sketch for this piece.

27x54.  Diptych.   Oil on birch panel.  2015

"Arrangement in Color and Form #3, Homage to Degas"

Degas is one of my favorite artists.  Almost more than anyone else he intensely studied movement in human form.  He spent a large part of his career painting at the ballet schools.  His work, to me, captures the natural  motion of the human body.  Which isn't easy to do.  In my paintings I try to capture moments of people unaware of posing,  that's when they are most interesting to depict in a painting or drawing.

Also this painting is a study of color and form; the warm gray, soft yellow, white and the intense red, to me, work wonderfully together, especially as large shapes of each color.

27 x27 Oil and gold, silver and copper leaf on birch panel.  2018

I believe this painting is finished! ( Nope! ) I changed it again in February of 2019! I completely cut out one of the girls. I think it’s a better painting now.  But ya never know, my paintings are never really finished until they're on someone else's wall!  I've included 6 pics of it because it just astounds me how it changes in different light!

18x24, Oil on canvas board, 2018

This is from a family black and white photograph taken about 1946 at the end of WW II. This picture is a real treasure to me because it captures the essence of my Grandfather, Toivo Koykka, before I was born.

Elo, Michigan was a very small rural town in the middle of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the U.P. of Michigan. It was surrounded by small 40 acre farms, mostly with families of Finnish descent. Every little bit of this painting brings back great memories to me.

Toivo was an amazing character - he drove a team of horses for a logging camp when he was 13 years old (1911). He was a farmer, a copper miner, a woodsman, a logger, a carpenter, a craftsman and a dead-nuts shot with a rifle or pistol. An old friend of his once told me that you always knew where Toivo was in the mine because he was loudly singing in Finnish. Also he was one of the few guys down in the mines that they could count on not to puke when someone had to come and scrape the remains of any miner into a pillowcase who was unlucky enough to be caught in a cave-in and be smashed flat. It was a very dangerous time to be a miner when the owners only cared about profit. (Not allowing enough time to shore up the mines with timbers). The smart miners only worked down there long enough to get enough money to buy forty acres, a cow and a few chickens.

21 x27 Oil on Birch Panel, September 2019

This is an image of the farm next to my Grandfather’s (Toivo Koykka) farm in Elo Michigan. Sam Maki sold it to my Father, Arnold Maki about 1947. My Dad sold it to Keith Maki about 2005. And later it sold again. When I was a kid it was a magical place. It was abandoned and my brothers and I used to play in there a lot. It also had an apple orchard of Transparent Apples which make the best apple pies ever — made by my Grandma Tillie Koykka. It also had huge bee’s nests and hornets nests. We messed with the hornets and they messed with us, nuff’ said!

The image is of my Grandfather looking across his 40 acres at the old farm. It is an image from my memories and my imagination.

It’s painted in a Van Gogh style. He’s one of my favorite painters.

11x14. Oil on canvas board , 2018

This is from a family black and white photo of my Mom, Ruth Helen Koykka and her first cousin, Harold Koykka. Taken in 1939 in the Keweenaw Peninsula of the U.P. It’s not quite done yet, but almost. My Mom would have been 16 in this photo.

14x11 oil on canvas board

Image from an old family photograph - the artist's  mother - top left.

Private collection:  Bloomfield Hills Michigan

20x16 oil on canvas board. 2013?  Handmade frame by Ron Maki

This is from a family photograph (black and white) that I just loved.  Sitting on a haystack in Elo Michigan, on their family's farm are my Grandmother Tillie Kuopus and her older sister Hilma, probably when they were about 17 years old.  They were two of my favorite people in the world, along with their husbands Toivo and Gus.

There are 3 versions of this painting.  One I sold, Maybe in 2014 (present whereabouts unknown.)  Approx. the same size and colors.

The third painting is actually the first one I did in 2005, in sepia acrylic, size approx. 33x24

Sisters, Tillie and Hilma, circa 1919, Version 1.    Approx. 33x24 acrylic on masonite. Painted in 2005.

This is from an old family photo, circa 1919.  They are sitting on a haystack on the family farm in Elo Michigan, right in the middle of the Keweenaw Peninsula, in Michigan's U.P.    Pictured are my Grandmother Tillie Kuopus and her older sister Hilma, when they were about 17. They were two of my favorite people in the world, along with their husbands Toivo Koykka and Gus Linja.

24x18.  Acrylic on canvas board.  2010

This is from a family black and white photo.  It pictures my mother Ruth Helen Koykka at approx. 2 years old with her parents Tillie and Toivo.  They lived in Michigan's U.P. on a farm in Elo Mi.  But I believe this pic was taken either in Detroit, or across the bridge in Windsor, Ontario Canada.

11x14.  Oil on canvas board.   2016

This painting has an interesting story.  It started out as a painting of the picket fence and orange day lilies near the corner of my garage, with a lady standing at the gate.  A few days later I saw a copy of Van Gogh's "Crows in the Wheatfields", and I loved the shapes and colors.  All that remains of my original painting is the lady and the orange day lilies.   I love this painting now, it also reminds me of my Grandfather's farm in Elo MI and his gently rolling oatfields with hawks flying low over them looking for mice.

20x16. Oil on canvas board.   2005

That's me on the right with my brothers, Freddie and Jerry.  The perch were from Otter Lake back in the days when they were plentiful. The image is from an old family photo.

9x12. Oil on canvas board.  This painting won the BBAC Education Award in a 2013 show at the BBAC.

 This is another painting from an old black and white family photo.  This is my Dad, Arnold F. Maki Sr. and my Mom, Ruth Helen Maki in Detroit around 1948.  Probably the first year of their move from the U.P. down to Detroit. Presently in the collection of my sister Janet in Hermansville Michigan.

Version 1 of this painting was sold, maybe in 2012?  Whereabouts unknown.

16x20.  Oil on canvas board.    2017

This is from an old family photo of my Mom and a friend about 1940 when she would have been  18 years old.  The location is somewhere in the U.P. of Michigan, I'm not sure where, probably in the Keweenaw Peninsula.

three paintings still in process, about music, one in top right is a portrait of my wife and son and me in 1989

20.5 X 20.5 inches, Oil on Linen, Mounted on Birch Panel, November 2019

I was experimenting with color in this painting using the CMY color wheel as opposed to the RGB color wheel. The RGB is the standard red, green, blue wheel that works best with pigment. The CMY wheel is cyan, magenta, yellow wheel that is used for blending light, not pigment. The theory is fairly complicated, but simply put, the CMY wheel is how your retina in your eye sees color. If you are a competent CMY “painter” then the colors will be more pleasing to your consciousness.

John Mellencamp is one of my favorite musicians and I just love the song “Cherry Bomb".” I love the video of it because of his violinist. My painting doesn’t represent her physically, but I believe it does emotionally.

12 x12 Oil on Canvas, Mounted on Birch Panel, November 2019

This was another experiment with color using the CMY color wheel. I’d say at this point in my development as a painter the paintings I enjoy most are paintings about Color and Form. Simple, mostly flat forms and shapes and usually only 2 or 3 colors using complement colors to good effect. The art on the wall is Edvard Munch’s “Loving Woman, also known as Madonna.”

The subject in this one is essentially music and art — guitars and paintings, and my relationships psychologically to that.

The things that fill my time these days are art and painting — music, learning to play the 4 string guitar (in ukukele tuning, GCEA, without reentrant tuning, gCEA) — and reading and learning.

All creative endeavors that keep me sane in an insane world. LOL!

31 x 16 Mixed Media (acrylic, map collage) on birch panel April 2019

This is a philosophical piece, inspired by what motivates me to create art. There are little clues throughout the painting — Especially in the names of the islands that I have added to the map. I’ve included three pictures of the process this painting went through, from the original sketch to the finished art.

Belle Isle, 28x14 Acrylic and gold leaf on birch panel. Dec. 2018

This is a poster-style painting I did for my son Jeff and his wife Claire who were married at the old Boat House on Belle Isle in Detroit on May 12, 2018.

It is a wonderful place for a wedding, it’s in the process of being restored to it’s original appearance. It has an amazing interior with wonderful woodwork, staircases and rooms done in an age when great wood and great craftsmen were plentiful. It was a superb wedding and reception!

This painting was a Christmas present to them Christmas 2018.

Also there is another copy of this….my original acrylic sketch, approx. 12x8.

24x18. Oil on birch panel. May 2018

This is a painting I’m currently working on, I’d say it’s about half done.

I love painting people in cool poses and this qualifies. I’m thinking of making the 2 people on the right, into my wife and I. I have a photo of us when we were younger that is similar to this pose and she had a pink dress on in that pic. I always liked that photo. It was part of the inspiration for this painting.

27 x 27 Oil on birch panel January 2019

An unfinished painting that I don’t really like. I will change it a lot, but just not sure how yet.

14 1/2 x 19   Oil and gold leaf and copper leaf on birch panel. 2018

Finally finished this painting, it went through a lot of changes but I'm very happy with the result!  I've included many photos of it to show how  light conditions change the image.

12x14.  Oil on birch panel.  2018. 

 One of the original oil sketches for the Lady of the Marshlands. 

I liked it so much I finished it as a complete painting by itself.

20x16, oil on canvas board.   2015?

A painting inspired by a trip to NYC.  We were leaving the Arcadia Gallery in Soho and walked north a bit and found this really cool bar at 203 Spring St. called the Soho Room.  We stopped in there for a very good and reasonably priced lunch.  The second pic I took with my camera and it eventually became this painting.  Our table was in the perfect spot, the person by the door in the striped shirt, (you can only see her arm, on the left side of the door), is my wife Kaye.  We basically had open windows on three sides of us. On a gorgeous NYC day!

27x27. Oil on birch panel. 2015

Used as the poster image for the BBAC 2016 student works show.  This painting originally started out as a small plein air painting at Cranbrook Oriental Garden.  I kept changing it in the studio and eventually made this larger version, which also went through many changes and repainting --- and I love the result.

Also shown at the Troy Design Center 2017.

Collection of the artist

16x16. Oil on canvas board.  2016

This was a rework of an older painting and when I was done I realized it reminded me of my son Jeff and his fiancé Claire.  I presented it to them as a gift in 2017 for their new co-op apartment in Brooklyn.

Private collection:  Brooklyn New York

27x27. oil on birch panel

Won First Prize BBAC -January show, 2015

Private collection:  Franklin, Michigan

9x12. Oil on canvas board  2011

This represents Idea development for a larger painting

12x12.   Oil and gold leaf on canvas panel     2017  Frame made by Ron Maki

This was a painting which I repainted three times and it still wasn't right.  I even threw paint at it which you can still see.  It didn't start to feel right until I put gold leaf on it.  My first gold leaf painting.  I think it came out great!  The second pic is of it framed. I made the frame from two separate frames and attached them together, and painted one of them. 

16x16.  Oil and gold leaf on birch panel. 2017. Frame made by Ron Maki

My second gold leaf painting. I saw this image of the girl with a hand over her face and thought it was a wonderful image.  Pondering how to use it in a painting I came up with Hope Grace Joy, Version 2.   (Version 1 is the 3 cats, see that painting in the category Pets and Animals).   To me those three words conjure up a lot of emotion and contemplation on the human condition.  I wanted the painting to do the same.  And like all my paintings, the interpretation is up to the individual viewer.  Enjoy and contemplate!  I have two pics of it here to show how this picture changes in varying light conditions.  Plus I have a pic of it framed.  I made this frame from scratch with birch panel and wood trim and gold paint.

15x15.  Oil and gold leaf on birch panel.     2017

My third gold leaf painting, I love working with this stuff!

To me, this painting is about the complications of human interaction.

16x20.  Oil on canvas board.    Frame made by Ron Maki.   2017

This is a painting, design and form, that came mostly out of my imagination.  It was inspired by Degas.

oil on canvas panel. 9x12

Private collection, Wolverine Lake Michigan

oil on panel

Private collection:  Bloomfield Hills Michigan

oil on canvas panel 12x12.   2015

Private collection:  Honolulu Hawaii

16x20 oil on canvas board. 2007

Collection: the artist

16x20 Oil on canvas board. 2014

9x12.  Oil on Raymar panel.    2013

This is the original small sketch for "The Lovely Brightness of Winter." My wife and I and our son Jeff had stopped in here for a drink on my birthday, November 27, after seeing a Toulouse Lautrec exhibit at the Flint Institute of Art - which was wonderful !  I loved the ambience in this place with a soft autumn light coming through the windows and making the creamy yellow walls glow.  (It was originally an old church, in downtown Clarkston).

27 x27 Oil on birch panel 2017

This is one of my favorite paintings. The subject is the artist Teresa Oaxaca. She is an amazing artist, her drawings are superb. (Pretty much all of my earliest work is pencil drawings, so I have enormous respect for artists that draw extremely well). And her paintings have a quirkiness to them that I love. On top of that she has her own unique style of dressing in clothes from a hundred years ago! All this talent in such a young person! I believe she’s only 31, check out her paintings and drawings on Google if you get a chance.

I saw a photo of her in this pose and had to make it the subject of a painting. In most of my latest work I paint people. What I am looking for in these paintings are unique poses — How people stand or sit when no one is looking and they are completely themselves.

The painting in the background is a painting in my own collection. I painted it initially in plein-air at Cranbrook. Then I made it into a studio painting with many changes. It’s titled, “The Artist in Red, (Cranbrook Oriental Garden).” The other figure sitting in the chair is an amalgamation of various sitting poses that I’ve seen.

Private collection:  Beverly Hills, Michigan

Oil on Linen, mounted on wood panel, 19 x 24, repainted on an older painting 2021

I just had to redo this painting, wasn’t happy with it. It’s a little better I think. See description on the older painting.

16x20.  Oil on canvas panel.  2017

This is the first version of this painting.  I'm not sure if I'm happy with the color or not.  I think I like Version 2 better.

27x27.  Oil on birch panel.     2017

There is not a photograph of my Dad, my brothers, and I together in one place as adults at the same time. So I created this painting.  My two sisters were 10 years younger than us boys so I included them in the painting on the wall with our mother.

Left to right, front to back;  Gerald, Arnold Sr.,  Donald,  Arnold Jr.  Ronald,  Jane,  Ruth,  Janet.

8x10.   Oil on canvas board.     2015 (?)

This is a painting from a photo of me and two of my best friends - (more like brothers really) - Bill, and Carl, and Carl's dog Lucy (A great fishing dog!).   The location is Elo Michigan on my property there. The little RV trailer behind us is one that I restored the year after I retired. (See story in Cool Stuff).  We've been going on dirt bike trips and fishing trips together forever.  Bill and I have known each other since grade school.  And I've known Carl since about 1970.  Both guys have great skills with making and building things themselves.  I think between the three of us we could build, repair or create anything. 

Private collection:   Clarkston Michigan

11x14. Oil on canvas board.   2016.  Frame by Ron Maki

This painting came from my imagination and a phrase I saw on a building in Santa Fe NM.  "Nuevo Suenos y Milagros". ( New dreams and miracles).

25 1/2 x 40.  Oil on birch panel.  2015

This painting is a concept painting about color and form.  Meaning that the shapes and forms, and the colors are what this painting is about. For example, the big flowing orange shape that encompasses all the dresses is one form.  Also the blue shape that surrounds the pics on the walls and continues as negative spaces between the dancers and their arms and bodies etc.

The second painting is the original color sketch for the large painting.  16 x 11 ? Oil on canvas panel.  It was presented as a gift to my lovely niece Bella who is also a dancer.

11x14.  Oil on raymar board?      2015?

There are 4 versions of this painting, all the same size, except one version has the name "The Half King" on the restaurant.  They are from an original photo I took in the middle of Manhattan when my son Jeff, and my wife Kaye, and I went here for dinner.  I was standing in the middle of the road when I took this.  

One version, (without the name) is in a private collection in Wolverine Lake Mi.  I have the other three, somewhere.

9 x 12, oil on canvas board

36 x 36 Oil on birch panel,  2016?

This painting is an homage to my Scandinavian ancestors (Finns and Swedes).  All the images and words have great meaning to me.

The second painting is an original sketch for the Viking ship,  16x16, oil on canvas panel.  Presented to my nephew Garrett as a gift.  A very intelligent young man who has inherited the Viking curiosity.

The first poem is one I wrote while pondering dreams and ancestors.

The second poem is by C.P.Cavafy, which one of my art instructors (Olga Constantine) at Wayne State University in Detroit  gave to all her students. It's especially appropriate for young artists setting out in life. My favorite lines are:  "Many be the summer mornings - When with what pleasure, with what delight - You enter harbors never seen before..."

The next image and short poem is representative  of the Zen mindset to me.  Misty cloudy, foggy, mystical landscape --which I love -- and a short Chinese poem:  "I asked the boy beneath the pines -- He said, 'The Master's gone alone -- Herb picking somewhere on the mount -- Cloud-hidden, whereabouts unknown'."  Poetry doesn't get any better than that!   It's by Chia Tao (777-841).    

The last image is of a larger painting that I did years ago called "Remembering" --since I was a child I've always had this feeling of lost connection, that somehow when you are born as a human you slowly begin to forget something extremely important.  It's hard to explain, but I guess that's why I call myself "An Independent Researcher Into Realms of Consciousness."  I've always been looking for that connection.

Oil on canvas panel, 2015

This was painted in the studio at the BBAC from a live model.

Presented to Rachel as a gift as she began her college education at the SAIC, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  

16x20. Oil on canvas board. 2014?

This is painting from a live model.  The second pic is a photo of that model in her pose.

11x14 ?  Oil on canvas board.

The painting on the wall is by one of my favorite artists, Robert Henri.

Private collection:  Royal Oak MI

20x16. Oil on canvas board. 2014 ?

From a live model, the man had an Indian headress he acquired from an Indian in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The second painting was done the same day 12x12

Oil on canvas panel.   11x14.   2015

This painting won an Honorable Mention ribbon in the Art At The Museum show (SOAA) in Royal Oak MI 2015.

Oil on canvas board.   10x16.  2008

A portrait of my son Jeff when he was 6 or 7, with his dog Buster (A Bichon Frise).

Private collection:  Jeff Maki.  Brooklyn NY

Approx. 37x24,  acrylic on masonite. 2004

This is from a family photo of my father - Staff Sergeant Arnold F. Maki Sr. at the end of World War ll in 1945.  He was with the 913th Field Artillery unit,  88th Division,  5th Army,  that went from Casablanca,  North Africa all the way through Italy to the Italian Alps and the Brenner Pass,  almost a full year in combat.  

Before that, while he was still in the States, he was with the 9th Division temporarily in 1942 for training in North Carolina. Then he was in Oklahoma in 1943 as part of the cadre of officers and NCO’s who were the key men who established and trained the new 88th Division.

In later life he worked for Chrysler Defense Engineering and General Dynamics.  He helped build prototypes for both companies such as the Redstone Missile, The Chrysler Turbine Car,  the plane to terminal transport machines at Dulles Airport, and the M1 Abrams Tank, among many others.

The second pic here is a memory box I made from his WWII things.  it hangs on the wall in my library.

16x20. Acrylic on canvas board.  2007

An early painting of mine depicting my first car.  A used 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500 given to me on my graduation from high school by my Grandfather Toivo Koyyka.  I painted the name and flag on it about 1972 or so.  I had lots of adventures in this car, running on Woodward Ave. with friends, working and cruising through McDonalds, etc.etc.  (By the way, the McDonalds sign in this painting is the exact same one in the Henry Ford Museum, it's from McDonalds in Madison Heights on John R., south of 12 Mile Rd.)  The police did not like this car, this was the end of the hippie era, and I was a hippie.  In the six months I had the car painted like this I got tickets amounting to 18 points and lost my license for one month.  The cops pulled me over for anything!  It got to where if I even saw a cop looking at me, I pulled over.  All kinds of trumped up charges.  I finally got a brain in my head and painted over the name and painted the flag black.  I did not get a single ticket for the next 32 years.  And I drove exactly the same.  Needless to say I lost a lot of respect for the police.  They had no sense of aesthetics and creativity!  And no sense of humor!        (See the category "Cool Stuff" for stories about other vehicles I owned and worked on.)

14x11. Oil on canvas board.   2016 ?

This was a rework of an older painting done from a live model.  I liked the model's pose but didn't care for the rest of the painting.  So I changed everything around her.  I added the Edward Hopper painting in the background  to add a little excitement and mystery.   He's always been one of my favorite artists.

16x12. Oil on canvas board.      2014.  Frame made by Ron Maki

This is a painting of my wife from a photo taken years ago when she was a bridesmaid at a cousin's wedding.  One of my nicknames for her is Kitra,  and our last name in Finnish means "hill."  Also the Kanji symbol inside the circle on my artist signature means "hill."  I am also a fan of the old religious icon paintings with gold leaf.  Thus. St. Kitra of the Hills.

12x12. Oil on canvas panel.    2016

This was a very quick painting, probably didn't even take 1/2 hour.  The idea came from a 2x2 inch sketch in my sketchbook.   See pic 2.  I'm always looking for interesting poses and this one fit the bill.

16x20.  Oil on canvas board.    2014

This painting was inspired by a trip my wife and I took to the wonderful ghost town of Jerome Arizona.  We had drinks at the Jerome Grand Hotel which was built as a hospital in the 1930's.  It closed in 1950 and was empty for 44 years.  It became a hotel in 1994. What a view from these windows!

 I took a selfie there and decided to make a painting.  How the "housecat" got in the painting, I'm not quite sure.   They say the place is one of the most haunted places in America...

16x20?    Oil on canvas board.  2014?  Private collection:  Rochester Hills Michigan

This painting was inspired by a trip to the Detroit Institute of Art.  I was very interested in the people watching a video artwork by Marina Abramovic, who's a well known performance artist in NYC.  The work was called "In the Kitchen 5, Carrying the Milk."  It was an endless loop of a woman (Marina?) standing in one spot not trying to spill a bowl of milk filled to the rim.  The only movement was in her hands which were slightly shaking.  It was like the observers were waiting to see if she spilt the milk -- she did not.  All this in a darkened room.  Very unique.

23x36.    Oil on birch panel.    2016.  Frame made by Ron Maki

This painting is from a photograph I have of friends and I in our dirt biking days. We rode from the early seventies to the mid-eighties - dirt bikes and street bikes.  During that time period I owned at least 10  different motorcycles at different times.  We all ended up eventually selling our bikes -- riding a motorcycle is a very dangerous endeavor.  We all "crashed and burned" at some point, or rather, -- many points!  The most memorable was up near Black Lake MI - we were riding in a misty rain and lots of mud - having a blast, when Mo's bike, going about 20 miles an hour,  went through a puddle of water that was really a hole.  His front end went straight down into the hole, and the bike stopped dead-- he flew over the handlebars doing a complete back flip, feet straight up in the air, and landed on his feet!!!  Totally amazing and awesome.        (See the category "Cool Stuff" for a lot more about the motorcycles I had.)

Pictured are Bill, Bruce, Mo, John, Me, Dennis, and Carl.  There is also a smaller sketch of this painting, quite similar  12 3/4 by 20, oil on canvas panel.

18x24.   Oil on canvas board.   2017

This painting is an homage to two of my favorite artists - Jean-Michel Basquiat and J.C Leyendecker.   Both of them had their personal battles. Basquiat died of a drug overdose at age 27.  Leyendecker lived to an old age but kept his private life private.  He was a gay man in an age, (the early twentieth century), when it was impossible to live such a life openly.  They both created the most wonderful art!

16x12.   Oil on canvas board.    2014

This is a plein air painting done at Cranbrook in July 2014.

14x11.    Oil on canvas board.     2016?

This a painting that went through many changes before I was happy with it.   See my gallery on drawings to see the original 2 inch sketch of this painting.

20x30. Oil on birch panel.      2015

The Robert Henri painting on the wall is titled "Jessica Penn in Black and White Plumes" (1908).  She was a Ziegfield Follies dancer and a favorite model of Robert Henri. (He liked redheads). That painting is in a private collection and hasn't been seen much.  I only knew about it because it sold at a Christies auction on May 19, 2004 for $3,600,000, a record price for a Henri painting.

The landscape painting on the right wall is by my painting instructor at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Tim Widener.  It's titled "Sunset on Gray Lake" (1990).  I made it larger than it is in real life, it's actual size is 10 x 16 1/2.  It's in my private collection.

 Robert Henri in his day, the early twentieth century, was not only a great painter, he was known as a superb teacher and was a member of the Ashcan School, which included the finest artists from the turn of the century America.

I'm especially fond of this painting because I consider my teacher Tim Widener to be the best teacher in any subject that I've ever had in my whole life.  The students he has at the BBAC have been with him for years and include many, many superb painters.

I have a  preliminary sketch of my painting  which measure 12x18 (included here).  I love the painting but I'm not fully satisfied with the background color. (After all this a color and form piece).  So in the next few months the color will be changed on the sketch first and then probably the larger painting.

20x16.  Oil on canvas panel.    2012

This was originally painted from a live model.   But I can't remember who because I changed this painting so much over a period of a few years that I don't remember it's origin.  It'll probably change again!

16x20.  Oil on canvas panel.   2011

This is a painting of my wife Kaye with our two cats when they were still kittens

16x20  oil on canvas (not mounted).    2015

This was painted from a costumed live model (Janet) and a fake monkey.  I painted her twice on the same canvas from two different poses she did that day.

16x20.  Oil on canvas. (not mounted).     2015

This was painted from a live costumed model.  (Richard)

20x16. Oil on canvas (unmounted).  2014

Painted from a live model.

20x16.  Oil on canvas board.      2012

Painted from a live model

14x11 ?   Oil on canvas board.  2016

Painted from a photo I took on the island of Maui 2015.

I liked how the stage light on the bottom right added a nice effect to this image.

20x16. Oil on unmounted canvas.   2015

Painted from a live model.

20 1/4 x 11 1/2   Oil on canvas panel. 2016

The top part of this painting was inspired by a plein air I did at Cranbrook Oriental Garden,  the bottom part is pure imagination.

32x22 1/2.  Oil on birch panel.    2015

This is version #2 of "the Garden of Good and Evil"

Frame made by Ron Maki

14x11.  Oil on canvas panel.  2016

This was a quick painting done from  photos I took on Oahu at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel - we stayed there in 2015.  My wife's Father stayed at this hotel when he was a young marine in World War ll.   He was originally a shipboard marine on the USS Pensacola, (heavy cruiser), and saw action in the Solomons where the Pensacola was torpedoed and almost sunk.  The ship made it back to Hawaii and my Father-In-Law was lucky enough to have been based in Hawaii for the rest of the war.

20x16.  Oil on unmounted canvas.      2015

Painted from a live model

17x14.  Oil on canvas panel.   2013

Originally painted in plein air at Cranbrook Oriental Gardens, later changed in the studio.

20x16.  Acrylic on canvas panel.     2007

An early self portrait with our two cats, Sugar and Spice.

20x16   Oil on canvas panel.   2013

20x16.    Oil on canvas panel.     2017

20x16.  Oil on canvas panel.    2015

This is from a real tin type that my wife and I had taken in the 1970's.  I always liked this image.