Imminent Domain
Artwork Notes
These paintings contain notes, thoughts, and written scribblings for those inclined to read…
Number 9
Time Rolls Slowly Uphill
The Light on the Knoll
Commission from recent road trip. One of the more challenging commissions I’ve had in awhile. Mainly because there were incredibly fun lefts peeling over the reefs all morning just down the hill to the right. Left to my own ways I don’t think there is ever a time I’d choose to paint up the hill […]
So Close, But So Far Away
Long walk to get here, hot day, no way to get down this cliff and into the water. Not complaining, just stating facts… in a complainey sorta way. On another topic, Southern California was fun in April/May, caught the tail end of the Bloom and these yellow flowers were seemingly everywhere.
The Writing on the Wall
March of History
Keep the Loonies on the Path
Started this one a bit later in the afternoon than I typically would, after traversing the madness of the L.A. freeway complex, so I was part exhausted, part fired up to be out of the madness, and still in a rush to race the daylight. Turned out to be a very enjoyable paint session, in […]
All of the Above
The name of this spot is translated in the native Indian tribe’s dialect as “Above”, referring to their settlements location above the floodwaters of this creek. Given it’s proximity to the Metropolis in the distance, it’s definitely a place where one sees anything and everything at times. It was also very hard to find parking […]
Sea of Gold
Back when I began doing a lot of plein air work over 15 years ago, this was an early destination one spring while I was living in Southern California for a short time. I would spend the subsequent years developing my approach and focusing my art on the coastline (basically after a realization that painting […]
Chromatic Water Theory VII: Chunk
Much can be said of beautiful harmonies, but there is also a place in music for the discord, the feedback, the reverb, the chunks of rawness strewn about from a creative process that values expression above technical perfection. Even the ugly shorepound is beautiful to the bodysurfers. Oceanic mosh pits. Every song has its roots […]
Chromatic Water Theory VI: Platinum
Chromatic Water Theory IV: String Theory
Stringed instruments often contain a dizzying array of mathematical geometries; the length and/or thickness of strings, the placement of frets, the bodies themselves. All of it designed to produce the harmonic frequencies we hear as notes and chords arising from vibrating strings. But what is vibration, if not a wave? Reduce a wave, or for […]
Chromatic Water Theory III: Strum
Sound upon sound, wave upon wave, a simple strum of a stringed instrument produces a series of notes that can combine to produce a harmonious chord. Sound is a wave after all, and every wave forms from smaller waves, ripples even, joining each other in a synergy of moving water, liquid chords in the key […]
Chromatic Water Theory II: Resonate
Many instruments have within their design a method of capturing, redirecting, focusing, and amplifying the otherwise not-quite-so-extraordinary sounds produced by whichever simple vibrating element they employ. When those vibrations bounce off chambers, refract around curving elements, they refract, combine, and grow to a beautiful pitch, much like a wave as it approaches shallow waters. Canyons, […]
Chromatic Water Theory I: Percussion
Percussion, it’s the foundation of music. It’s been here all along, discernible all around and within us, from water’s rhythmic waves to our own heartbeats pumping our saltwater life force through our bodies. From the basic repetition emerges increasing complexities, and with a human intellect at the helm becomes the very structure upon which song […]
After a Long Dark Winter
Watch Your Step
I had tried to paint from this spot recently but couldn’t because of the wind. Even with a better light wind forecast it was still a bit dicey out here at times. Wind funnel slot canyon on a north facing cliff in spring in Humboldt. Yep. Translation: windy, even on a calm day. Took a […]
Off in the Distance
Natural Defenses
Last one from a recent trip to Orange County, and my first plein air from this historically significant plein air zone. I’m sure there are literally thousands of paintings out there from this vantage point, but until now none of them were mine. I haven’t been avoiding it intentionally, it’s just a nightmare to find […]
House of Romance, 1963: I Was Almost Never Born Here
Rainy Day Melody
Another recent one from the Orange County coast. With all the weather and rain, I kept feeling like I was painting up north somewhere. Not the typical Socal Blues anyway…
While Lovely Rita Was Sleeping
Plein air capturing the early morning marine layer view of the Orange County coast. Couldn’t see much out there in all that wet gray, so I pulled up on the side of the Coast Highway, and set up inside the van to paint the one thing I could see all too well. Since I blocked […]
Salt Haze
This was a rough one. The coast fog was super thick when I rolled up to paint here, but the sky was blue behind me on the hills looking inland and being only late morning when I was setting up, and with a nice forecast to look forward to, I’d reckoned things would likely clear […]
The Light Contagious
One of the best things about plein air painting all over the California coast is that it requires me to post up and really watch the waves for several hours. By the time I wrapped this one up at sunset, I knew I’d be back the next morning, and where I’d sit in the line […]