2001-2007

"The Tree"

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2001
Graphite on Paper
11 x 7 1/4 in.
Collection of the Artist

, art, painting, dead, bark, trunk, limbs

"Flow"

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2006
Acrylic on Canvas
20 x 24 in.

; award, art, painting, waterfalls, stone, building, water, mist

Martin Maddox Prize for Imaginative Realist Painting, 2006, Kalamazoo Area Show, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; Kalamazoo, Michigan

"Falling"

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2005
Acrylic on Canvas
10 x 8 in.
Private Collection: Kalamazoo, Michigan

art, painting, leaf, fall, autumn, leaves, spider, still life, clouds, sky, seasons, cycle of life, mortality

"Someday"

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2005
Acrylic on Hardboard
3 15/16 x 5 15/16 in.
Private Collection: Kalamazoo, Michigan

, art, painting, landscape, water, dusk, twilight

"Verge"

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2005
Acrylic on Panel
5 7/8 x 14 in.

, art, painting, mist, fog, trees, monk, robed, solitary, solitude

"Standing Alone"

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2001
Acrylic on Hardboard
12 x 10 in.

art, painting, landscape, man, solitary, solitude, dead, tree, field, clouds

detail – click to enlarge

“In the woods we return to reason and faith.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Summer Taking Her Leave"

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2001
Acrylic on Canvas
25 x 20 in.
Private Collection:
Unknown Collector

art, painting, woman, forest, woods, water, stream, autumn, fall, trees, mist, fog, figures, solitary, solitude, alone, change, changing, seasons

"Summer Taking Her Leave" (detail), 2001, Acrylics on Canvas, by David Jay Spyker

detail – click to enlarge

"The Glass House"

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2001
Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Hardboard
9 7/8 x 8 3/8 in.

, art, painting, moon, still life, sky, night, stars

"The Tower"

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2001
Acrylic on Hardboard
5 1/2 x 7 15/16 in.
Private Collection: Chicago, Illinois

, art, painting, ruins, ruined, trees, stormy, dark, sky

"Conspirators"

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2002
Acrylic on Hardboard
9 x 10 in.

, art, painting, monks, robed figures, beach, shore, water, fire, night

"In Transition"

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2001 – 2002
Acrylic on Paper Mounted on Hardboard
12 x 9 in.

art, painting, portrait, man, old, head, beard, mortality, death, ageing

Click for this painting’s graphite pre-study.

"Watchers"

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2002
Acrylic on Panel
5 7/8 x 14 in.

art, painting, winter, snow, storm, monks, robed

"Relocation"

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2004
Acrylic on Canvas
5 x 7 in.

, art, painting, flying, houses, landscape, storms, tornadoes

"The Voyage"

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2002
Acrylic on Hardboard
7 1/2 x 10 in.
Private Collection: Saugatuck, Michigan

, art, painting, ships, boats, sails, tallship, rain, storms, seascapes, water, lightning

"Three Islands"

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2002
Acrylic on Hardboard
3 11/16 x 13 in.
Private Collection: Gobles, Michigan

, art, painting, islands, solitary figures, solitude, alone, trees, boats, rowboats, water

"A Late Winter’s Night"

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2005
Acrylic on Canvas Framed in Shadow Box with Twig Segment
8 1/8 x 6 1/8 in. overall

; art, painting, night, winter, snow, moon, lone, solitary, figure

(detail of painting)
Acrylic on Canvas
5 x 4 in.

detail – click to enlarge

"Waiting for the Light"

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2001
Acrylic on Canvas
14 x 10 in. overall
Private Collection: Saugatuck, Michigan

, art, painting, landscape, sea, woman, figure, beach, rocks, torch, fire, dawn, morning, shore, water, islands, solitary, solitude, alone

Limited edition prints of this painting are available. Contact the artist for details.

detail – click to enlarge

"Suspended"

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2001
Acrylic on Hardboard
12 x 9 in.
Collection of the Artist

art, painting, red, apples, hanging, string, tied, dangling, darkness, still life

"Adrift"

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2001
Acrylic on Canvas
14 x 24 in.
Private Collection: Saugatuck, Michigan

art, painting, houses, water, rain, storms, seascape, mortality, power of nature, man in nature’s thrall

“‘Adrift’, for instance, depicts a house at the mercy of a sea squall, and the building somehow appears more vulnerable to ruin than a human victim might. ‘ A person has the power to swim’, the artist reflects. ‘It’s not usual to see a house floating in the water. You wonder, how’d it get out there? I like to take a structure out of context, to put it where it doesn’t belong.’ This incongruity prompts the viewer to consider what the house might represent: A person? An idea or belief? A community? All life on Earth (think of Noah’s Ark)? Spyker prefers to leave that question open.”

– Julie York Coppens, from “What Dreams May Come”,
a review of the artist’s solo show
at the South Bend Museum of Art, published on Sunday,
December 21, 2003 in the South Bend Tribune