Artwork Notes
These paintings contain notes, thoughts, and written scribblings for those inclined to read…
There is a stage every painting I create goes through at the very beginning that I fall in love with almost every time. It’s not the polished end-game, it’s the initial quick sketch with the first few thin washes of color applied. There is something about that first reaction to the scene before me that […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Kansas City Star
This was a lot of fun to paint, and waaaay out of my comfort zone. If you know my work, you know what I mean. I’m a lot more comfortable painting rocks and trees inaccurately than I am doing the same injustices to the human form, but there they were, pouring themselves into their music […]… ► CONTINUE READING
The President
Two things happened recently. First, I spent a week exploring and painting along one of mainland California’s most remote and mysterious coastlines. Missile launch silos. American flags. Chain of command and all that. But this painting isn’t about that trip at all except for one detail. One morning on the beach, miles from the nearest […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Who Are You?
Let’s meet for tacos. I drag an art pal along and we meet up with a lawyer friend who has collected both of our works. The tacos are delicious but they are giant burgers and these beers are absolutely perfect. Another lawyer pal of the first lawyer shows up and another round ensues. We leave […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Not Exactly No
It was bright green And there wasn’t very much of it Still dripping with saltwater Across her goosebumped flesh I knew she was an artist Because as I fought to keep my focus Safely on the twin circles Of her eyes I could see they were dark And curious She saw me setting up on […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Into the Sunset
Will this be your first? That was my stupid question for them I’m not very good at this They were really quite beautiful together A perfect young couple Watching another southern California sunset From the edge of crumbling cliff Over the mirror of the sea Clearly expecting A green flash I’d just finished painting the […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Where It Wishes
The Brighter Side of Widowhood
As I was nearly finished with painting this scene I watched a woman descend the narrow path To this small cove With her child They were beautiful And complete As they were She didn’t need a husband down there Checking his phone Drinking too many beers Zoning out when his daughter called for him Showing […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Thermal Windows
This private beach club cove once hosted a thriving whaling community. If one could activate time layers to run simultaneously we’d see grandmas playing smashball over bloody whale carcasses being carved away on the beach. But today is a quiet weekday and I see neither. I only see the quiet scene blurred through my sweating […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Mine… Or Maybe Yours
We met when we were older, when we had more swagger, and we stood a little closer to the throne. But we had a falling out between us, we’re artists, and we’re awkward, this is widely known. The fault was all mine, that’s what I’ve been told, but it could have been yours and yours […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Proof of Concept
Painted this one en route to a lighthouse at California’s greatest turning point. I was originally going to paint the beach park about 5 miles north of this point, just around that first bend in the distance of this painting. After walking about 30 feet north to seek a nearby view, not even getting out […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Say Nothing
The land that lay directly behind me as I painted this distant view from one of California’s more central coasts belongs to none other than Neil Young, and having learned this I couldn't help but recall him singing the old Woody Guthrie tune This Land is Your Land: As I was walkin', I saw a […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Pale Blue Eyes
Something Not So Easy
Something Easy
The Whole Wide World
This was a commissioned piece for a couple who was married on the bluff beneath those trees in the distance. It had me thinking of marriage and a song I’d been enjoying by Bill Callahan called Pigeons where he sings: when you are dating, you only see each other And the rest of us can […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Ether
Nowhere Else to Go
Sometimes there’s just nowhere else to go. You might be the raindrop drifting freely from a cloud, your flight abruptly ending in earth. You might be the stream gathered from many mountains rushing down the valley locking into every twist and turn, hypnotized like a teenage race car driver, your mad dash halted by the […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Sorry Not Sorry
So this was different. There's a really great beach park 6 miles north of here that I hadn't painted for awhile. I was on my way through the area and thought it would be fun to return and see what I could do with it after a few years of pushing my art process a […]… ► CONTINUE READING
The Sea is for “California”
Cottage Industry
Hot exhaust fumes hardening into tar deposits hanging in the air over the snow cone machines where the tourist buses come to die and pour out their guts just short of the hospital where elderly cottages are kept on life support by the steady IV drip of short-term rental vacation deposits. This place is bought […]
Jacob’s Ladder
This pier is condemned. Structurally damaged. And the scene here beneath the shadow of its condemnation is… interesting to say the least. Police patrols. Dealers. All manner of today’s American riff raff squaring off against the sunny California dream. Let’s call this man by the stairs Jacob. In the biblical narrative, Jacob was a deceptive […]… ► CONTINUE READING
No Van is an Island
Another view from the roof of my van. This was the next morning and only about 600 feet south of my last post. To be honest I pretty much just painted here because the prime parking spot had just opened up in this lot. It was a busy morning on a summerishly spring day and […]… ► CONTINUE READING
Just Before Sunset
One of those summer evenings that make you just feel like life could always be this way. It can’t. But in the moment, maybe it sorta can. I painted this while watching one particular section of reef where wave after wave peeled across in perfection. I couldn’t finish this quick enough. I caught one gem […]… ► CONTINUE READING