Here is a glimpse of what goes into making some of my pieces. Course sandpaper works well when it is painted to create sandy textures and grassy areas and textured tiles. I also like to use painted cloth to make curtains and wall coverings as you will see in the last two images the slide show here.
Another page from the sketchbook dated 3 November 1988—21 July 89.
Sometimes I would write about a drawing without paying much attention to the thought. I would just let the thought flow spontaneously.
Page 726 | Graphite, glue, pastels
Here is what I wrote below the drawing. It could be considered a very long title.
“Oh yes. I was most delightful. I was just walking along and couldn’t help but make a left turn.” Said Jack. “Yes. Yes.” said Mibbs. “It’s just what I’ve been telling you. They look at you just so and then you just turn right on in.” So they just stood there out of the picture and talked about it all till the spit quit dropping.
This is from a page 672 in the sketchbook dated 3 November 1988—21 July 89. That was back when I was having fun and more carefree. I didn’t worry what anyone would think of it.
Untitled | Graphite, glue, and pastel
I took my Radrunner 2 bike for a ride to the Utah Cultural Celebration Center to see the fiber arts show sponsored by the Salt Lake weavers guild. Over half the ride took place along the Jordan River Parkway Trail which is paved. There is a variety of things to see along the way and is an easy ride. It was almost a 15 mile round trip. Here are a few highlights.
The entrance is to the left in the shadows.
The trail started out with a scene like this. Then. . .
. . .you come upon stuff like this.now and then.
The route I took. The crooked part is along the Jordan River Parkway Trail which follows along the Jordan River. Just in case you're not from Salt Lake City we do have a river that connects a fresh water lake (a not very clean lake) and a very salty lake (dead sea).
Here is a look at digital and acrylic versions of the same painting.
Cayucos No. 11 | 2020 | 3000 x 3000 px | Infinite Painter 6 | Galaxy Tab S7 tablet
Cayucos No. 11 | Acrylic on cradle wood panel | 16.5 x 16.5 inches (42 x 42 cm) | February 2021
This is a “happening art installation” where anyone can participate. This is Bubblegum Alley in San Luis Obispo, California. If you happen to find yourself in San Luis Obispo be sure to pay a visit to this place and make a contribution.
This is the first of two flying sculptures I made a few years ago. The shapes for the one shown here were hand cut using a scroll saw. It currently hangs from the ceiling in a corner of the studio.
The other flying sculpture no longer exists. I dismantled it and used some of the parts in another work.
Flat Iron Manifest 1 | 1/8-inch MDF, red, yellow, blue, and white acrylic paint, metal angle brackets | 2012
The signature, date, and title are at the bottom of the white side.
I regret to say that I have discontinued my artistic affiliation with the Gallery at Marina Square in Morro Bay, California but not the friendships I made with Jane and Greg who run the gallery. It has been a wonderful experience showing my work and selling some of it there. For now it is expedient that I take a break for financial reasons. It's a trim back and simplify thing.
This past weekend Barbara and I took a quick trip to Morro Bay to load the car up with all the art at the gallery and bring it home. We left Friday afternoon at 15:00 and drove as far as Mesquite, Nevada. Saturday morning we hit the road at 4:00 in the morning and rolled into Morro Bay by 12:00. We went straight to the gallery and loaded the car with art works. After exchanging farewells with Greg we spent the rest of the day getting cookies and visiting Moonstone Beach in Cambria and a few other things before going to dinner at the Sea Shanty in Cayucos. After dinner we took our only walk on the beach with Wesley our dog. We were up before 3:30 Sunday morning and on the road by 4:00. After a long day of driving and riding we rolled home by 19:00 MST. The roads were clear the whole way.
Now I will figure out what to do with all this artwork. Some of it I can squeeze into spaces on the studio walls and around the home.
The car loaded up with art.
Here is everything we hauled back home from Morro Bay, unpacked and ready to disperse around the home. Some of it may end up back in a box. Besides artworks there are postcard and greeting cards that hadn’t sold. None of the assemblage pieces I put in the show this past August sold. And I have not sold any of the framed print reproductions from the April show.
Time for some random publications I have come across.
I got this one from the local library.
I bought this book from Amazon but got rid of it because there were some pages missing.
I posted a comment on the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation Instagram account and these two nice catalogues were sent to me.
With a book about Richard Diebenkorn.
I have a number of these Taschen art books.
I got this book from the local library that explains Martin Luthers theses in a very understandable way.
This is an entry about me in a book about Utah artists. I crossed out information that is so incorrect. I don’t know where the writers got their information about me but they certainly didn’t contact me.
I picked up this magazine back in the 80s which contains short articles about artist who have chosen to live and work in California. I pull it out now and then when I get tired of hearing about what is going on back east.
Although not an art book this book helps me know my insulin pump that helps keep me alive so I can create art.
Here are a couple of drawings I created when I was first starting out using a tablet. They were created with a vector app called Adobe Ideas on a smaller version of the iPad both of which I used for less than a year. Adobe decided to discontinue the Ideas app and I decided to get rid of the iPad in favor of my Galaxy tablet to reduce and simplify.
Although I enjoyed the Ideas app I soon discovered Infinite Design as a replacement along with Infinite Painter, two excellent vector and painting apps by Infinite Studios.
During the pandemic I started working on some ideas for printed fabric to make face masks. The idea was to have the designs printed by Spoonflower but they never got past the concept stage. Here are a few design ideas.
Here are a few images of my very first and so far only printed art booklet. The contents is images of Cayucos drawings from the Small Studies collection. I believe I only had this one copy printed by Lulu the on demand printing company.
7.5 x 7.5 inches | 36 pages | full color | coated cover stock
Solid chunks of deep fry oil melting in a donut fryer because it reminded me of icebergs. I took this picture when when I worked at a grocery store bakery.
Here is a small portion of sea glass and interesting things including what I believe to be moonstones, that I have been collecting over the past decade+..I keep meaning to create something with the sea glass and polish the moonstones but haven't been able to bring myself to do anything. The collection in this image is from one trip.
This is what I saw last evening around 20:00 on my walk home from visiting some people from church with my buddy Sam. My camera does not do justice to what I really saw in these western skies. I always marvel at the majesty and wonder of God's creations.
I started this digital painting near the end of October 2020. I fiddled with it some more in 2021 and thought I was finished with it in 2021 and signed it. I had forgotten about it then rediscovered it in 2022 and decided to add some more detail to it. I decided to leave the signed date as 2021. I was poking around in some folders on my tablet recently and here it is.
Spooner’s Cove No. 01
Infinite Painter 7 | Galaxy Tab S7 tablet | 3000 x 3000 pixels
Spooner’s Cove is located in the Montana de Oro State Park on the California central coast, San Luis Obispo County.
Although there is a lot more to do I'm not so sure about this one and how much more I’m going to do with it. Anyway here is a peek at where it is so far.
Cayucos Morro Rock No. 13
A view of Morro Rock in the distance peeking around a rock formation on the beach at Cayucos, California.
Morro Rock and the three stacks of the decommissioned PG&E over plant
I started this digital painting some months ago of a scene looking south along the Point Buchon Trail on the California Central Coast and recently picked up on it again. I thought I would show the progression of changes from the first to the most recent version. I think It is just about finished. I wanted to try and achieve something of a paint by number feel so I haven’t added textures in the flat colors like I have in other paintings.
The Point Buchon Trail is located on PG&E land in San Luis Obispo County and is an easy and beautiful hike. It is easy to check in at the gate and doesn’t cost anything. Besides the stunning coast line you will see California poppies and other flowers as well as cattle grazing. The trail ends before you come to the nuclear power plant. The day I made the hike I was only able to go a little over half way and I hope to do it again and go the whole way. There was hardly anyone out that sunny day.
Infinite Painter 7 | Galaxy Tab S7 tablet
I’m at a stand still with this one and can’t seem to make up my mind what to do next.
