Kelp Mandala happening.

Mounds of kelp. Sometimes found on Ocean Beach, they are the inspiration behind this artwork in progress. As I paint this third variation I get lost in the labyrinth which, of course, is where I want to be.

...the magic cave.

Pears & Plums...

Two new paintings close to leaving the studio: Taijitu Pears and Two Plums in Tissue.

...fragments from a remembered dream.

...fragments from an unremembered dream.

...doing lines.

...the transmigration of souls.

Usually I get the year wrong not the month.

First Sketch of 2012

I'm beginning to think that sketching is a way for me to express my own contradictions. Ambiguity, contrast and paradox are the names of the wise men who speak to me lately.

Last Sketch of 2011

What a beautiful day today in San Francisco. Both sunrise and sunset were melting layers of an orange sherbet push-up popsicle and a Cherry Garcia ice cream wedge. In between each display people spilled outdoors to embrace the day; a crisp and vibrant year-end gift. The above scribble-fest is this year's last. I titled it there's no here without there.

Holiday Season Hours

With a few days remaining why not consider making artwork a gift? A painting or drawing has the true potential to become a family heirloom. It's a gift born from imagination. Not only that of the artist but also the insight and vision of the gift-giver. Art feeds the soul and stimulates the intangibles within. It's made by hand and grown locally in my case. So give it some thought if you're facing creative block while looking for that unique present.
My studio hours:
Friday 12p-7p
Saturday11a-3p
Actually I'm there all day this week except for Thursday so....

Chubby.

I can't help myself. Donuts are fun to paint. Especially the sculptural ones found at 18th and Mission. The frame is a vintage egg and dart I found in Santa Barbara. I decided they belong together. Classic and whimsical at the same time.

Art Studio

Random studio snapshots are useful for personal archives. They help me to recall what was happening and what I was making. Photos assist with chronology and tell a story that may not show up in my journals or sketchbooks. I'm not trying to secure every detail of my life but I'm still trying to grow. So keeping a record helps to insure that complacency and stagnation don't take hold. And if those two fears seep through under my door then maybe this record keeping is all I need to check myself.

Ocean Beach Donut

Art Show In Santa Barbara!

Hey! When in Santa Barbara please visit Sullivan Goss/An American Art Gallery. This month is the 100 Grand Art Exhibit featuring a vast array of artworks, all for prices specifically designed as a holiday gift to patrons. I'm grateful to participate with the above two 12" x 12" paintings in the show from my Beach Wall series.

SGTV Presents 100 GRAND (100 works of art for $1,000 or less)

Persimmons

I've been eating Fuyu persimmons like apples this year. They are the best! The Hachiya made an appearance in the persimmon pumpkin pie I baked last week. Incredible! For painting purposes I believe the Hachiya has a sweeter elegance. I began trying to capture that today in acrylic. The frame it's in here has been waiting for a painting to wrap itself around. By the time I'm done maybe they will be a team.

...plums happen.

An oil study of Santa Rosa plums happens. Floating simply on a field of dark negative space, I feel only positive about how much power two plums have to inspire.

Field Photos

Wendell Berry: "Soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all."

Labor Art

This study titled Our Daily Bread is from the current exhibit at 555 California Street. Here the workers populate the field like a repeat pattern on a chunk of fabric. Generally overlooked and dismissed, these laborers are the backbone of American agriculture.

Quick Rough Sketches

One of my favorite spots for sketching is about forty miles south on the coast near Pescadero. Rows of strawberries stretch out toward the Pacific Ocean. There's something about this spot that feels right. I go there expecting to find the answer and return with questions. The sketches exist in between.

555 California Concourse Exhibit

The paintings in this exhibit are each 12" X 24" acrylic on wood panels. This one is titled Fruit of Thy Womb.

New Exhibit @ 555 California Street!

This is a series of acrylic studies for a larger, more extensive body of work. Agricultural labor was the career of both my grandfathers. Each owned a farm: one in Nebraska and the other in Puerto Rico. I was raised in California and these paintings represent my extension of that legacy. Actually, everyone is related to agriculture since we all eat, but as small farms continue to disappear, we are becoming increasingly oblivious to the process by which food gets to our tables.

A drive in any direction from San Francisco ultimately features a landscape dotted with laborers in fields of one crop or another. What I find underneath the ruffling blanket of its politics is a beauty and clarity defined by the act of working the land. Stooped for hours in the sun, field labor is connected to the earth in an arduous and robust way that very few Americans experience. It's real and tangible. It's a ceaseless effort of gritty physicality. It's familiar and timeless, like the soil itself. It's everywhere and always. Right now, there are hands reaching, pulling and fully extending themselves for a necessary purpose. Bodies of all ages perform a backbreaking dance that can only be done by hand. We are all of the earth and dependent upon it, just as we are dependent upon those human hands that work it.