house for sale

Originally published 9/27/11

I'm sewing up loose ends on this one and adding a 'for sale' sign. There might be more additions, and there's always the chance of fire breaking out, but at the moment I think less says more. I'm sure there's meaning in the history of this painting. I started a series of these tract homes in 2004 when very few people were foreseeing that we'd end up where we are now, so I think it's appropriate to find these unfinished works, in the middle of an economic meltdown caused in large part by bad business practices in mortgages and housing, and paint 'for sale' signs on the lawn. Bank owned. Forclosure. Here's a close-up shot.

occupy Los Angeles

Originally published 10/2/11

Yesterday was the start of Occupy Los Angeles, a protest in sympathy with Occupy Wall Street in New York. It was peaceful and I was blown away by the attendance which was well over 1500 people! I was by this morning dropping off supplies for a friend who was camping and there was a huge hard core group there still! wow. I plan to keep visiting, maybe even camp myself? It could be a Hive gallery excursion! I am still blown away. I have more videos and photos so I will keep updating this post. In the meantime here are some photos and a short video uploaded from my phone.

lets protest!

money is the root of all evill. originally published 7/1/11

lovers and haters

lovers and haters

Original post January 29, 2011

I'm in a group show themed "lovers and haters" at the Hive gallery opening February. So this is my entry. I found a picturesque spot downtown and started with a life drawing in my sketchbook. I took that home and started a painting very expressionistically in acrylic. I moved the painting closer to the line drawing and then painted on it back at location for better color. It might have been fun to do bigger, but for the group show I'm probably already pushing the size limit... oil on canvas, 24 by 18

riot

12/23/10 originally published

I did this painting cooped inside during the recent rains we've had in LA. My studio is under a tent outside so when it rains, it really limits my painting options! Recently online I saw some images of rioting in Europe that moved me to paint them. I want to do it bigger but I was working in my tiny apartment so I did this 12 by 24 'study' or whatever it is, first stab at it. I think the bigger the better for this one! I scratched in the bank logo because frankly aren't they the cause of these riots? call it the blowback from their illegal activities. It's funny, put the logo there and it almost makes it look like an advertisement!

teton idyll

originally published 7/10

Coming back from the amazing beauty of Wyoming, I was inspired to revisit this painting and try to recover from the previous disaster. I did most of this on Painting the Town yesterday but the show wasn't able to stream live, I think they'll post the replay of the show soon... This is a painting of a sliver of paradise, an arcadian idyll, hope for recovery. oil on canvas, 24 by 36

happy trees and oil spills

originally published 5/29/10

I paid homage and poked fun at my first fascination with painting, Bob Ross! The show starts slow, then some music kicks in which is a little loud and the painting progressing nicely, the music stops at the 38 minute mark and we get some serious painting in, but then at 47 minutes all hell breaks loose and a volcano goes off, there's a major oil spill, and a Starbucks moves in to spoil the arcadian idyll of Bob Ross's beautiful place! you can fast forward to any point in the video!