Panels for my objects of desire.

I got my 50 panels today and have started to prepare them. This time I'm applying canvas to each panel for a little more "paint grab". Last year I simply primed my panels with gesso, but the problem with that is the oil paint tends to slide around too much. (Notice I'm using April's rolling pin...don't tell her!)

Like last year, you will be able to reserve a painting as it appears on this blog. Leave a comment or email me to reserve a particular painting. First painting will be posted Monday. Yow!

Raven (Swallows the World)
oil on panel
6" x 6"
private collection
From 50/50 2009

50/50 Again!

I am pleased to announce that I have been juried into this year's 50/50 Show at the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica, CA. Starting Monday, May 17th I will be posting a new painting everyday, for 50 days. My theme this year will be Objects of Desire.

This blog was started a year ago to post my 50 birds and at that time I decided to keep blogging for a year to see what would happen. Well needless to say, it has put me in touch with artist friends all over the world and has kept me on my toes in terms of staying on top of my game. How great is that? I look forward to another year (at least) and if you haven't done so already, please find me on Facebook.

And be sure to check in everyday, if you can, on this 50 day journey.

A Succulent Cluster
4" x 7"
photographic print

Today I found myself back in the darkroom after thirty years. I spent the day with my friend Modesto, who teaches at the Exploratorium, a world-class science museum in San Francisco. Now usually when I get together with Moe, we build high-end stereo speakers from scratch. However, this time we made cameras out of paint cans. Yes, paint cans. Welcome to the world of pin hole photography where just about anything can be transformed into a camera. Cameras have been made out of sardine cans, luggage, cowboy boots, automobiles, even empty rooms. The images are almost always dream-like and wonderfully mysterious.

The photo above was take with my "camera" of a succulent plant in Moe's backyard onto photography paper with a 50 second exposure. Later, after development, it was printed contact style, using a contrast filter onto a second sheet of paper to get the positive image.

My new camera, it costs way less than my Nikon digital SLR.

The camera is a 1 quart paint can with a pin hole through a thin copper sheet for the lens. The shutter is the black plastic sheet, which is raised to expose the print paper inside. Some pin holes use regular 35mm or 120mm film, but others like this one use photography paper which is inside, flush against the opposite side of the can. To remove the paper a paint can opener is used to pop off the lid. So much fun!

Waterway
oil on Arches paper
22" x 30"
Sold

"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?!