Artwork

October Groundswell

Rising and falling like the tideAnd yet they are surprised when their stocks don’t rise and rise and rise
One October they fellA negative low-tide
The panic that followed scorched a thousand cigarettesAnd left ‘em where they lie
While their shaking hands still burned with fearWe tip-toed past the madness as the tide slowly filled back in


Surf Check Daydream

The first art teacher I ever had used to always tell us that all art is a lie. I never really understood what he meant by that, but it sounded pretty neat and quite teacherly. Generally, I gravitate toward truth-telling with my art and most inaccuracies in my paintings are accidents of omission. I’m just not one to paint every single blade of grass and individual leaves on every tree. There’s an ancient text that repeats the theme that all men are like grass, referring to the brevity and fleeting nature of our lives on the face of the earth. More often than not, I treat humans in the land…

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Waxing Moon

My favorite story about this one isn’t my story at all. It’s something a Patagonia employee said the first time they saw this piece in the back of my van in their HQ parking lot in Ventura, California. It went something like this:
“This is heavy, no way, check it out, when you look to the right it’s what’s already happened, the wave has gone by, that’s the past, you don’t want to live there. But then when you look to the left that’s future, what’s to come, something to look forward to, but that’s not where you want to live either. When you look at the center that’s the present moment, that’s where you want to be.”
I’ve always remembered that, even though I’ve forgotten his name and have lost all touch with the fellow who uttered that wisdom off the cuff like only a barefoot surfer in a parking lot in southern California could muster…


Afternoon Mourning

She loved it here beneath these colder mountainsBut now she is gone

And even now, after all this timeI’m still struggling to say goodbye


Overlook

A landscape painting of the Lost Coast near Shelter Cove on the Humboldt county coast of northern California
Some things are easy to overlook⠀Others take a little more work⠀Natural beauty⠀Simple love⠀So often get left where they lie⠀While the headlines print bold⠀On our aching flesh⠀These haunts where our demons lurk⠀⠀Crashing stocks upon the shore⠀Homes condemned to their blight⠀The need to eat⠀A will to survive⠀We’ll do what we must to get by⠀Sell our daylight for leprechaun’s gold⠀That will vanish⠀In the dark of the night⠀⠀We wake to a frozen sunrise⠀Empty and cold and ruined⠀It’s easily missed⠀But always there⠀The lift in our hearts at the sight�…

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Daybreak

A fine lineDivides the pursuitOf overwhelming joyFrom sheerAnd loathsomeIrresponsibility
The high tide lineDividesThe rest
Consider us dividedAndConquered
Even the SpaniardsOn the tall shipsKnow…
Both victoryAnd defeatTaste betterWith a dash of saltAnd lime


Afternoon on the Coast Route

This is one of the first paintings I painted of this location. I’d go on to paint many more over the years, but none quite as refined as this one painted over ten years ago. It waspainted at home in the quietness of my studio. This is as good a time as any to point out what I love about painting on location in “plein air” instead of in the studio- real stuff happens out there. You never know what you’ll see when you post up for a few hours in a single spot and simply observe the world around you. The last time I recall painting here on location with a friend, as we stood at our easels …

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