Artwork Notes

These paintings contain notes, thoughts, and written scribblings for those inclined to read…

Free Range #28: For Those Who Have Gone Before Us

Odometer: 1296.1 miles
There’s a lot of history here. Native history, Spanish colonial history, surfing history, and countless other threads entwine around this focal point of the coast. As I painted this one I chatted with a local who a long time friend of a fellow coastal artist who passed away not too long ago. Hearing his stories and backstories to those stories really brought home the reality to me that this life is too short not to live fully. He lived a much different life than I, but born to another time and place it could have been me that was gone and him just now hearing tales of my days here. Hug the ones you love.


Free Range #27: Jeepers Creepers

Odometer: 1274.8 miles
Ok. I know I can seem a little creepy to some folks all hovelled up in my van dwelling, but sometimes even I get creeped out by the local humans. This was an empty stretch of road but it produced some odd characters in fairly rapid succession. I’m glad I wasn’t abducted. I like my van just fine, thanks, no need to see the inside of yours…


Free Range #26: Morning Funk

Odometer: 1209.7 miles
In order to make the most of the daylight hours and paint as much as time and geography allow, I’ve been flying under the radar and sleeping in the van in random offbeat commercial locations. Wake up early and move on daily. Some mornings are rougher than others and our good old coastal marine layer has fairly well mimicked the physical feelings of general funk arising from car sleeping and a questionable road diet that are most prominent in the morning hours. By the time the clouds burn off I’m usually feeling a lot better. This one is about working through the funk and pressing on even when nothing in me felt like doing so at the moment. In the morning mental haze I even forgot a critical piece of my outdoor easel, the bottom ledge for clamping the canvas on. Didn’t realize it till I’d already walked the 20 minute hike from the parking lot and around the point. Improvise, adapt, and move on, it’s all good. I’m just stoked to be here.


Free Range #25: Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows

Odometer: 1,151.9 miles Tonight was a victory for the mobile studio van. I often paint from the back of the van for protection from sun/ wind/rain, etc… But this particular evening the wind was howling so strong down these coastal canyons that it was hard to paint in the van even with all windows up and only one back door open for the view. I do believe it would have been impossible without the shelter the van provided. But even so, the van was shaking so much the brush never seemed to land where I thought it would so this one is a little loose around the edges. But without the van this …

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Free Range #24: The Spirit Not the Letter

Odometer: 1,120.9 miles Driving out to check this place, I could tell the wind was coming up fast and early, so I figured I’d skip the surf and just get right into painting. I had the easy spots in mind, simple views right off the shoulder of the road as it wound over the bluffs above the beach. It had been awhile since I’d passed this, way so I didn’t recall all the no parking signs lining the entire length of road. Large, wide, safe shoulders everywhere with amazing views up the coast and someone got a wild hair to keep anyone from stopping there. With the wind blowing as i…

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Free Range #23: Location, Location, Location

Odometer: unknown, the numbers kept spinning, I’ll have to get it checked out, must be busted or something…Plein air12 x 12 One of the most enjoyable parts of this trip has been having the time to explore some dog legs off the main roads that I’ve wondered about for years and peer around a few corners on nothing but a whim and a bleeping internal surf radar. On one remote stretch of coast where I stood looking out at the glassy lines I was surprised by the sound of the crunching dirt road gravel very close by. Looking around for who or what was nearby, I realized it was just …

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Free Range #22: Third Try

Odometer: 1038.8 miles
Sometimes it takes a lot of driving around spot-checking before settling on a spot to paint. The morning light was fading quickly to noon day brightness, so I jumped on this one after scouting two other locations. Any one if them would have worked, not sure why I was so hesitant, but at least I didn’t go back to the first one and then second guess that before heading to a fourth spot. That happens too. I’ll call this a win.


Free Range #21: The Beginning of the End

Odometer: 1030.2 miles
Every trip comes to an end sometime, and this one ends in southern California. Although I still have many miles to travel in the next few days, with the live music and party vibe emanating from the pier while I painted, this was my first tastes of the end of the line. Tastes kinda like country music.


Free Range #20: Overwhelmed

Odometer: 935.8 miles
The coast of California is not fair. For every spot surfed or vista painted there’s a multitude of others that will have to wait for another day. Been enjoying this paint tour, but my heart breaks for all that I’ve seen and haven’t had time to stop for. It doesn’t matter how many times one makes this trip, many a stone will always be left unturned. So do not weep for me, not that you would, but weep for us all and all of the hidden beauty around each bend that this fleeting life is too short to take in. Yes, weep, but not in sorrow, weep for joy! For there is always more out there and none of us will ever be able to say sadly say that we’ve seen it all. We haven’t come close.

Silver and goldI do not haveWait… goldI have thatAnd you’re welcome to itYou only have to lookAround.


Free Range #19: Like a Bridge Over Troubled Womp

Odometer: 887.8 miles
Well, not really. I’m sure the womp down there is perfectly content to be left alone and only viewed from above. The only troubled ones would be the prospective wompees passing by hankering for some all-time scenic & historical womp. Access down there isn’t easy. This one is for all my boardless wave sliding friends. May your goat trails always be passable.

Separated at birthAn islandAdriftFrom the motherlandShe always dreamed of the dayThe cartographersWould comeAnd make things rightThe AltaAnd the BajaSo closeBut a world awayUntil the bridgeSpanned the final distanceAt lastReunitedThe map has been redrawn


Free Range #18: Punk Rocks

Odometer: 862.3 miles Beautiful coast here. Almost too beautiful for painting as it draws throngs of visitors from all over the world in a constant stream of selfie sticks, bored kids on family vacation that will not be impressed by anything analog, and well, bearded painters too I suppose (though I was the only one out there on this day). The trouble with all this activity is the constant stream of nice folks who want to know if I’m making a living from art. I’m not sure why that is the question most often asked these days, but it is. In a crazy busy place like this one I get tire…

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Free Range #17: Oh the Humanity

Odometer: 800.1 miles This town is nuts. Lineups crawling with surfers of all skill levels. Surfed one wave about 3 feet from the cliff with 2 other surfers in front of me on a soft top and a stand up paddle board. I don’t think they even knew I was there. Watched soft top’s board get washed into a hole in the cliff and disappear a few waves later. Never saw if he was able to retrieve it or not. Hopefully it want a rental. And possibly on the best wave of my trip so far, took a high line to gain speed to drop around a long section, getting excited for the wall stretching out ahead …

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Free Range #15: Morning Drive

Odometer: 755.7 miles
Our fatherKept us movingEven thoughWe stopped a bit too oftenTo read the signsAnd ponderTheir meanings
When it was time to move onWe would oftenHave to push with all of our might
BarefootOn the rough pavement
Our fatherDrove a Volkswagon


Free Range #16: Sweet Cherries for Sale

Odometer: 766.8 miles I was digging this roadside view on the coast beside a nearby produce stand’s sign announcing “Sweet Cherries for Sale” and had just gotten set upwhen the cherry slinger walked up and told me I’d have to move. He said I was blocking his Sweet Cherries sign. I wasn’t, but I could see how from over at his stand it might look that way. I began to tell him about my road trip and how far I’d traveled to paint this spot, which he seemed to immediately take as a challenge andinterrupted to inform me bluntly that he’d driven all the way from Mode…

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Free Range #9: Angles

Odometer: 389.1 miles
The fog bank stuck around all day, threatening to shut down my art operations at any moment. When I rounded a point that marks a significant change in the angle the coast faces, from northwest to southwest, I figured the little micro climate created in the lee of the point would be my best bet for some stable sunshine. This place wasn’t on my list to paint, but I was concerned about heading any further and back into the fog. Just like a surf trip, the main rule is to never pass up a decent setup, enjoy what is there in the moment. Epic days happen when they happen, but you can drive around all day looking for them and not find them at all.

The beauty affects youRight awayThe oak, howeverCan take a week or two


Free Range #11: Come and Go

Odometer: 533.1 miles
The fog was relentless here. Spent a lot of time noodling around with the foreground waiting for the whiteout to lift from this epic hilltop vantage point.


Free Range #8: Disappearance

Odometer: 346.4 miles
The rough and callousedFingers of landJoin handsWith the soft and nimbleFingers of fogIn aDisplay ofQuiet unity


Free Range #6: Roadside Blues

Odometer: 213.5 miles
Sometimes we all needa soft shoulder to cry onBut other times all we need isA wide shoulder to park on


Free Range #4: Entrance

Odometer: 179.8 mi
Last one from my home territory. Hitting the road tomorrow a.m. Huge thanks to everyone that has made suggestions, requests, and commitments for the pieces I’ll be painting each day of this trip. You have all helped make this trip possible and you have my gratitude. I’ll try not to blow it.