A few high lights from the July trip to Morro Bay

Here are a few images from our recent trip to Morro Bay and the California Central Coast.

Cigar drift wood because that is the first thing that came to mind when I saw it on the strand near Morro Rock.

A dried out left over from all the water Morro Bay got this past winter. This is near some abandoned building along Atascadero Road down the road from the hotel we stayed at.

Always lots of color everywhere.

Taken somewhere along the main street in downtown Cambria.

I took a walk one morning along a trail strewn with eucalyptus leaves near the hotel we stayed at.

An interesting fence bordering an RV and camper park along Atascadero Road close to the sand dunes leading to the strand near Morro Rock.

A very cramped bathysphere at the Morro Bay Maritime Museum.

The Veterans building in Cayucos which was the Cass Warehouse in process of being restored. The warehouse was build in the 1800s. The structure was moved over to where you see it in this image so the new reinforced foundation can be constructed. When it is completed the building will be moved back over. This is next to the Cayucos pier, some of the railings of which you can see in the bottom right corner of the image.

August featured artist at the Gallery at Marina Square in Morro Bay, California

There are three featured artists displaying their work during the month of August at the Gallery at Marina Square in Morro Bay, California and I am one of them. I am being billed as the featured craft artist featuring my absurd reality assemblage work on display. If you live in Morro Bay or vicinity stop in and see my work. You might even become the proud owner of an original Dayton like some many have in Salt Lake City and beyond.

A number of pieces of my work on display in the upper gallery. They are hand constructed of wood, acrylic paint and other mixed media. You can read more about each one in the assemblages, new work, and sculpture galleries on this site.

The trip to Morro Bay

We took an all to short trip to Morro Bay to deliver some art to the gallery for the show I’m participating in for the month of August. I was also able to pick up some art that hasn’t sold at the gallery and bring it back. It was a nice break from the heat and Salt Lake City.

I took this nice shot of Morro Rock about an hour before the sun set the first day there.

Six of these hanging on the studio wall are pieces I brought back from the gallery at Morro Bay.

The three pieces on the left half of this image are also pieces brought back from the gallery in Morro Bay.

And finally these ten framed pictures from the April 2023 show that didn’t sell are now back with me.

Wire work

in

Back in 2010 I came up with this idea to use heavy electrical cable and wires I got from a local DIY store to make a design on a painted wood panel. The wood is 3/4 inch plywood. I made a template using Inkscape and attached it to the surface of the panel and used it to drill accurately placed holes for the red plastic coated wires to go through. The stick at the bottom and the pointed piece in the center of the spiral are made from twigs after the bark was removed and sanded smooth. The yellow, green, and blue paint is left over acrylic house paint I used for another project.

Retire Spiral

Acrylic paint on panel, wire, wood
19.75 x 14 x 1.5 inches (50 x 35.5 x 3.8 cm)
2010

Close up of the pointed end in the center of the spiral. I used small nails to attach it in place.

Detail showing how the stick transitions to the cable.

The stick transitioning from green to yellow.

The back of the piece showing the signature and how the wires on the front were attached.

Close up of the red wires that hold the thick cable on the front and the black wires that hold the stick in place.

Tools of the trade

in

Back in the late 70s, 1977 I believe, when I was attending Ricks College (now known as BYU Idaho), I bought this nice tackle box to use as an art tool box. 46 years later I still have and use it and it contains much of the original paraphernalia I put in it back in those days.

Untitled with three cloth tiles

I made this one on a whim. The panel is made from scrap wood and the painting is made up of three squares of painted cloth glued to the panel then varnished. Plastic cards were used to spread the paint.

Untitled

Acrylic painted cloth squares glued to a panel.
12 x 4 x 1.625 inches (30.5 x 10 x 4 cm)
2019

From Yesterday 26

shhh. wake my shadow at noon so we can eat that snack.

Wood, acrylic paint, nails, paper, graphite, pasted paper from an old book, color chalk, wire
10.25 x 6.75 x 2.75 inches (26 x 17 x 7 cm)

An assortment from the Small Studies Collection

Near the end of the summer of 2012 during an artistic block I decided I would do an exercise of taking some 5 x 7-inch pieces of Bristol paper I had stored away and each night draw and paint something without worrying about how each one would turn out and be successful or not. Sometimes I would create as much as three a night. I used pencil, watercolors, and mostly water-soluble crayons. By the end of the 2012 I had created 207 Small Studies with an additional 22 after 2013 rolled in. Here are a few samples.

Small Studies No. 3: Watercolor. I did this one out of my head making it up as I went.

Watercolor and graphite

Water-soluble crayon and graphite

Watercolor and graphite

Automatic spontaneous with watercolor paint

Automatic spontaneous with watercolor paint

From Yesterday 25

well come up and see my disposable dog house 2.

Wood, acrylic paint, plaster, glue, paper, graphite, color pencil, copper wire
9.5 x 6 inches (24 x 15 cm)
1990

From Yesterday 21

the vase sure is nice but we all came to see the oatmeal revue.

Wood, acrylic paint, paper, graphite, wire, plaster
6.25 x 10.75 x 2 inches (15.8 x 27.3 x 5 cm)
1991

From Yesterday 20

my own rock hard pad surrounded by these lovely gopher condos.

Wood, acrylic paint, rock hard plaster, graphite, color pencil, plexiglass cover
8 x 6 inches (20.3 x 15.2 cm)
1990

From Yesterday 18

The tile in the image is too faint and out of focus. If I can find a better image I will replace this one.

Wood, acrylic paint, appliqué on handwoven wool cloth (handwoven by the artist)

8-ball yo yo

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I had been reading about Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, and Kenneth Noland and wanted to see what would happen when I watered down some acrylic house paint and poured it over the surface of a small panel. I came up with this piece and decided to put some kind 8-ball in it and ended up with an 8-ball yo yo. The yo yo is made from two wooden wheels I got from the craft store. The 8 in the white circle is made using the paint transfer technique I often use with the titles.

It was a magical descent into the abyss of disposable 8-ball yo-yos.

Acrylic paint, wood, linen string
10 x 10 x 1.5 inches (25.4 x 25.4 x 3.8 cm)
July 2023

If I had the studio space I would consider this small piece a maquette and do a 100 x 100-inch version with a 20 x 20-inch 8-ball yo yo hanging from it. As the song says “It doesn't cost a dime to dream.”

The title pieces are printed backward. I will coat this printed side with paint and place it painted side down on the art. After the paint is completely dry I will put water on the paper to soften it so it can be rubbed off revealing the type underneath which is no right reading.

On the reverse side of the title bar I pencil in an arrow to mark the center of the title and make sure the title is not upside down when I stick it to the art.