Rob Ray is an illustrator and gallery artist based in Rhode Island who I last wrote about in 2010. Since then, he has continued to fill his portfolio with more of his wonderfully painterly oils, and garner awards and mentions in both fields.
His painting Ukulele Day Dream (images above, top), in particular, took Best of Show in the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society’s 2013 Best of America competition, and was featured in the December issue of the Artist’s magazine.
You can find some of his available small paintings on the Daily Paintworks site.