Artwork

Drink Up

A plein air landscape painiting from the Lost Coast Trail at Sea Lion Gulch on the Humboldt coast of California

The final panting of this trip. To keep our packs as light as we could (since I was carrying an entire studio) we carried little water with us- just enough to get to our next destination point and keeping our eyes out for water sources along the way. We brought a small filter and there’s […]


Punctuation Marks

A plein air landscape from the Lost Coast Trail overlooking Punta Gorda on the Humboldt coast of northern California

As we hiked our way down the coast yesterday, I made a lot of mental notes for today’s paintings. Yesterday was for reconnaissance and smaller, quicker paintings. Today was time to get to work on some larger vistas. This was a scene that really struck me the day before. A sweeping view, punctuated by triple […]


Anything But Silent

Plein air nocturne painting of Cooskie Creek on the Lost Coast Trail on the Humboldt Coast of Northern California

As my wife slept in the shadows by the creek beside this headland, I stood and faced the moonlight and attempted to sort out mixing colors by headlamp. Due to the timing of the tides we’d have to leave first thing in the morning so even though I’d rather have been sleeping myself, this was […]


Carry My Body

A plein air painting of a broken down hunting cabin on the Lost Coast Trail in Northern California's Humboldt County
Not quite a proper backstory, and not quite a poem, this one took a rare detour into something else… either way, hope you enjoy the tale. Food running low. The hunter prays for a kill as he reaches into the dusty cabinet for his last handful of oats before the sun sends the shadows scattering […]…

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Out of the Lighthouse and Into the Light

A plein air painting of the view from inside the Punta Gorda Lighthouse on the Lost Coast Trail in Humboldt, California

Just a reminder to never abandon your light.You will wind up empty, forlorn.Graffiti on your walls, occasionally funny, sometimes crude.But mostly just the illegible names of spirits brought in by the wind.And the markings of lovers whose bodies were dragged in by the tide.Your doorway darkened by the ghost of a travelling painter.Stealing your light.Haunted.


Motel California

Plein air painting overlooking the north end of Pismo Beach on the San Luis Obispo county coast of Central California
I know you guys think my job is super easy. Just cruise around and paint pictures between coffee and beers and donuts and tacos. Go for a surf if the waves look fun. Hike around in beautiful remote places on the edges of the world. Hmmm… My job is pretty easy, come to think of […]…

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Hallowed Ground

Plein air painting of Hollister Peak inspired by William Wendt in San Luis Obisbo County in Central California
William Wendt was a master of California Impressionism, a distinct school of impressionist art forged in the California landscape back in the early 1900’s. One of Wendt’s most iconic paintings is called Where Nature’s God Hath Wrought and features a boldly centralized view of this very peak. Look it up if you need to, it’s […]…

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Grounded

Plein air painting of a shiprwreck near Cayucos on the San Luis Obispo County coast of central California
I painted this boat a few years ago, grounded hopelessly on the rocks in a small cove on the Central Coast. I had just learned that it had previously belonged to a friend’s family for years. It was even named after her brother, the “Craig G” until it was sold and the new owner renamed […]…

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Meet Me in St. Louis

Plein air painting of kayaks on the beach at Port San Luis on the central California coast
A little further than the road will take you, this little cove is accessed mainly by kayak or paddleboard which means getting out here to paint while armed with just a van and a backpack is a tricky matter of… logistics! Oh, how I love logistics. And also my friends, like my good art pal, […]…

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A Pier Then Disappear

Plein air painting of an old dairy farm building at Cayucos on the central California coast of San Luis Obispo County
Ok, let’s circle back to the Italian dairy farms that took root here in 1860’s… I painted this small dairy farm building one afternoon from beside an old ranch house where a not-so-Italian* friend of Wade’s was living. Another not-so-Italian* fellow had long ago purchased this land and set up operations here all the way […]…

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Red and Gold

Landscape plein air painting of California poppies growing near Point Buchon on the San Luis Obispo County coast of California
Corralina, it’s the Italian word for coral, and though no coral is found in this cold water, there is a red seaweed with a hard calcareous surface named corralina that does grow in these rugged tidepools. There’s also gold poppies that bloom in the spring here. I’m a sucker for poppies. I had a strict […]…

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La Meccanica in un Momento de Pace

Plein air painting of the Borradori Garage near Cayucos on the central coast of California in San Luis Obispo county
High tariffs in the newfound Kingdom of Italy in 1865 led to a large number of dairy farming Swiss-Italians to come to the US and eventually settle around this town. This coincided with the massive droughts that had just collapsed the large cattle ranches that dominated the California coastal landscape until that point.  After the drought, […]…

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Everything She Needs

My wife rocking out on guitar by a campfire on a cattle ranch
Several years ago I was invited by the Save The Waves Coalition to be a part of their Redgate Ranch Music Festival, to create event artwork and paint live at the event itself while enjoying live music from some great bands on the event’s single stage.⠀⠀My first night there, after the music finally ended, and […]…

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The Devil at My Heels

Landscape plein air painting near Point Buchon and Diablo Canyon on the San Luis Obispo county coast of California
The devil that was at my heels this day, wasn’t really a devil at all. But he worked for one, or at least a nuclear power plant that has taken the devil for its name. I’d hiked 3 or 4 miles out on this windy day to see the furthest reach of this coast that […]…

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Sir Francis Drake Was a Pirate

Plein air painting of Pirate's cove and Cave Landing near Avila Beach on the San Luis Obispo county coast of central California
It’s true, he was a full on sea-sailing, ship-boarding, plunder-stealing, off-with-yer-head-if-you cross him pirate. The Spanish navy hated the guy and he had a personal beef with them as well. He even sailed clear past all of Spanish-settled California and claimed all of northern California for England in 1579. It didn’t stick, but it was […]…

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Ebb and Flow

Plein air painting of Ebb Tide Park near Shell Beach on the central California coast of San Luis Obispo County
There is nothing like painting in the cool shade on a warm summer day, with a good art pal like Wade Koniakowsky humming around painting here, painting there, disappearing for awhile and returning with snacks and cold beers. It reminded me of those days of my youth, before we could drive, and we’d take turns […]…

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The Back Road

Plein air artwork of a ranch road leading up to Hollister peak near San Luis Obispo on the central California coast
 As it happens, on this morning all of my plans were thwarted by that mother of all disruptions… No, not the pandemic, this was 2019- way before all of that. No, this diabolical mocker of all my good designs for spending a day under the sun will be with us long after this covid stuff […]…

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A Dissonant End

Plein air artwork from the end of the Harmony Headlands trail on the San Luis Obispo county coast of Central California
 I’ve got no ear for harmonies, seriously. I might not be tone-deaf, but I am certainly tone-dumb. But I have heard that in the language of jazz, the end of a song is often concluded with what is called a dissonant chord. I couldn’t really pick a dissonant chord out of a crowd, but I […]…

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Harmonic Convergence

Plein air artwork of the coastal trail at Harmony headlands on the San Luis Obispo county coast of central California

 Every little canyon has its own song I don’t have much ear for music Painting is how I listen And also how I play along 


She Loves the River

A plein air artwork painted beside the Smith River in Northern California
Painted on location, 2.5 miles from the road. A challenging back-country hike with all my gear to paint this one-day late birthday gift for my wife last year…⠀It’s true, she loves the river⠀And it’s steady constant force⠀The ocean is just leftovers⠀And she prefers the source⠀⠀She leads me through the briars⠀Stinging nettle, oak, and sorrow⠀Some pain […]…

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Down by the Bay

A plein air artwork painting of house and barn beside Humboldt Bay on the Northern California coast

It’s not always hard to reach edge-of-the-earth places. My long time goal of painting the entire California coast means that some days I’m just down at the end of the street painting a quick commission for some friends that are moving out of their cozy little home by the bay.


Dance of Days

A plein air artwork painting of Moonstone Beach on the Trinidad coast of Humboldt County in northern California
I have some playlists of music that take me back to my school days- 80’s punk mostly with a slant toward anything connected to the D.C. bands that followed and evolved from Minor Threat and got caught up in the Dischord Records slipstream. One of these must have been playing when I painted and I […]…

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Late Arrival

There’s something about immersing myself in the places where I paint that is hard to describe. It’s not the art studio, it’s a wild world out there and it always has been. The past emerges and mingles with the present. Undercurrents of metaphor and meaning rise to the surface and sometimes I try to venture […]…

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