Waterway
oil on Arches paper
22" x 30"
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"Awakening from the stupefying effects of the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury, they (the people; mankind) are trying as best they can to mix and enrich their own little ongoings with those of nature, and to get rid of rust and disease."

Those words written over a hundred years ago by John Muir in his essay, The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West, still ring true today. We still need wilderness in our lives, more now than ever before. It's kind of funny to think Muir felt the encroachment of man over wilderness back in his day- if he could only see our situation now. With our population in California bursting and development churning away at our precious and limited areas of open space , it's even more critical that we keep a keen and wary eye on the remaining wilderness around us.

It is with great honor to be a part of the land preservation movement by serving on the Board of Directors of the Seaborg Open Space Fund. The mission of the Seaborg Fund (Formed by David Seaborg in honor of his father, Glenn Seaborg, UC Chancellor and discoverer of Plutonium), is simply to bring together people and organizations with the desire to preserve open space in California and to educate the public on relative matters.

As an artist who finds inspiration in the beauty of natural California, I encourage you to visit the Seaborg Fund website and hopefully get inspired yourself.

Big Bowl O' Big Lemons
oil on Arches paper
22" x 30"

Today is a beautiful day on the California coast so I thought I'd post this older painting of mine in celebration of sunshine.

Last weekend I installed these atelier shelves above my workbench. I was inspired by fellow blogger and artist Silvina Day who's husband so graciously built a similar system in her Southern California studio. They're a great way to display work as you can rotate paintings easily without having to put a million holes in the wall. (On a side note, it's interesting meeting fellow artists all over the world, you just never know what kind of connection you might have. It turns out Silvina and I attended the same junior high and high school in Chatsworth, CA.)



Another view of my studio on the opposite side. The ink drawing of the ship is a study of a sculpture I plan on building this year. Here's a close up:

New Ark
ink on paper
36" x 64"

Studio music this week:
Iggy Pop- Brick By Brick

I'm back in the studio today. I started back on the flower painting and after a while, decided to do a quick value study of a leather chair that was in the home in Carmel where we stayed this last weekend. I was particularly struck by the way the light hit the chair and made a few sketches and took a reference photo. When this dries in a day or two, I'll add color and refine the painting.

This is fun...when do I get to do this full time?!

I just finished a big job in SF yesterday, so I haven't painted much since Monday. Instead of an update on my work, I want to show the world the dragon sculpture Emily made on spring break. We also painted our funky piano but I'll post those photos later. For now, April and I are headed for Carmel for the weekend.

Flowers for April
(work in progress)

This is my challenge for the week, to move forward on this painting for April. She brings home fresh cut flowers every week, so I thought I'd return the favor and paint the flowers we so much enjoy in our home. Full circle right? We'll see how far I get, I've got a busy week in San Francisco finishing a project, but my design class is on spring break, so no teaching on Thursday. I feel I've got so much catching up to do with my art...I should be a lot further along at age 50 than I am.