Artwork

No Mere Maid

An imaginative painting of a coldwater mermaid with neoprene wetsuit skin on a rugged Nothern California coast
At last! This one was 7 years in the making- just a quick pencil sketch way back when, set it aside, and forgot about it until I got a call back in November asking me to paint a “slutty mermaid”. That wasn’t gonna happen. But it reminded me of this idea for a north coast […]…

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Better Places

Plein air painting of vans and a VW bus at Moonstone Beach carpark on the Humboldt coast of Northern California

Painted on location, well at first anyway, back in 2017. Then I never went back to finish it properly so about a year or two later I took it to a silent disco on the beach below and tried to finish it there, but got so distracted with silent disco-ing that I couldn’t think straight […]


This Machine Converts Money into Noise

A plein air painting of Atlas Vans workshop in Ventura
The pandemic didn’t slow me down, it was a combination of other things; my dad’s health was certainly a heavy weight to carry, but there was also a long overdue website overhaul that took far longer than I’d ever expected. ⠀⠀For a brief window back in mid-summer it seemed the covid restrictions were easing a […]…

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California Responding to a Global Crisis

A plein air landscape painting of a busy day at La Suens beach in San Clemente on the Orange county coast of southern California
Yeah, this is a big one we’re going through. But we’ve gone through others. This is how global crises look here on the southwestern edge of America. ⠀⠀I arrived to visit my father after a series of strokes left him housebound to the home where I was raised in Long Beach. It was decidedly un-edgy […]…

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Repeater

A plein air painting of the Fort Rosecrans military cemetery and the San Diego skyline on the coast of southern California
Repeating patterns everywhere you look. Some patterns we wish we could break. Some patterns break us instead. And some patterns touch the heavens as her clouds roll in on those darker days. Not this day. This day was bright like the eyes of a child whose father makes it home alive. The man in uniform […]…

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La Novena

A plein air painting of the Ventura Mission and aqueduct fountain on the Southern California coast
It’s good to have an exit plan. Sometimes it’s a quick exit out the backdoor. Sometimes it’s a longer game, like a sea captain who plants Norfolk pines wherever he lands should his ship’s mast be burnt by pirates or broken in a storm. And the exit isn’t always what we think. One exits a […]…

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Right Before Breakfast

An early morning landscape painting of deer grazing on a coastal meadow at sunrise on the Northern California coast

I’m not a “morning” person, I am however a “whatever-magic-is-in-the-light-in-this-particular-place-right-now” person so it worked itself out. Just the sight of these deer grazing along a beachside meadow beneath a rising sun aroused these dry bones from the body bag and back to life. It was such a moving scene, I was surprised whole whales weren’t […]


Slip and Slide

A plein air landscape painting of a trail crossing a landslide on a remote and rugged coast in northern California

I don’t know if anyone has ever painted from this vantage point, or ever will again. It’s over 10 miles from the nearest road. The logistics of getting here, along with all of one’s painting gear, are not easily solved. And once here, I imagine most would shy away from painting a barren rockslide, but […]


Right Before Lunch

A plein air landscape painting of a trail through a coastal meadow on the far northern coast of California

A view that never gets old. I actually painted from this exact vantage point 15 years ago. I titled that painting Right after Breakfast and figured that I should revisit that spot and see what happens, so that’s what I did… right before lunch.


Right Before Dinner

A plein air landscape painting of a rocky point on the far northern coast of California

Just after arrival, I snuck this one in just before setting up camp. And the voices chimed in as I painted. “I’m just a bump on a log” and “I’m just a bird on a rock”, and “I’m just a blade of grass in the wind”. Yeah, me too, I thought. But “I’m hungry” is […]


The Gamble of Art and Culture

A plein air painting of the Casino building at Avalon Harbor on Catalina island off the coast of southern California

They call it a casino, and yet aside from placing the riskiest bet known to man – betting on art and culture – no gambling has ever taken place in this building. When it was built, Vegas wasn’t much of a thing yet, and the word “casino” was still just an Italian word that means […]


Tower of Song

A plein air painting of the Chimes Tower overlooking Avalon Harbor on Catalina island off the coast of southern California

There’s a tower that watches over the city here and has been tolling its chimes on the quarter of the hour between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm since 1925. Unless Jani Eisenhut is feeling musical. I’ve heard that this lifetime local hops in and and plays whatever she wants on the organ’s chimes, whenever she […]


Idylls of the King

A plein air painting of the view over Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island off the coast of southern California

Did you know that King Arthur’s famed sword, the Excalibur, was forged here, and that this is the island where King Arthur himself passed away? Ok, that’s not true, but the little town tucked behind this little cove on this desert island was named after the island in that very legend, as recorded in the English poet […]


Houses of the Doves

A plein air painting from Hamilton Cove looking toward Avalon Harbor on Catalina island off the coast of southern California

The view from where we stayed (thanks mom-and-pops-in-law!). Sometimes I hike miles for a painting. Other times I stumble out the back door after a long slow morning and there it is.


Out of the Strong, Something Sweet

A plein air painting of a dirt road at Lyon's Ranch in the Bald Hills of Humboldt County, California

Out of the eater Comes something to eat And out of the reader Comes something to read… You may find me in town Or at home resting my feet We’ll discuss the numbers Of money, milk, and meat We’ll entertain the angels Without offering a seat We’ll speak of the devil Without feeling the heat […]


Twentytwenty

Painting of a dark storm and waves breaking off a beach in Northern California
Twentytwenty doesn’t need much introduction. We’ve all been caught in this storm. That’s what this painting is about. But there is a bit more backstory to it that some of you might not be aware of. This piece was started live on location at the Dunehouse in Manila, CA as a benefit for Friends of the […]…

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