"I understand how scarlet can differ from crimson.... because I know that the smell of an orange is not the smell of a grapefruit.  I can also conceive that colors have shades and guess what shades are.  In smell and taste there are varieties not broad enough to be fundamental; so I call them shades... the force of association drives me to say that white is exalted and pure, green is exuberant, red suggests love or shame or strength.  Without the color or its equivalent, life to me would be dark, barren, a vast blackness."

Helen Keller

My second cousin eighth removed????

I just say to people - I wasn't in the will.

I'm the little chubby one in the front.  Eventually there is an even dozen.  We use to flash our hands at strangers at gas stations when they would look into our van and try counting.  Just give them the two high fives.  We were raised in the great San Jauquin Valley but our favorite stomping grounds were in Humbolt County - north among the big trees and the Trinity River.  Everyone scattered in adulthood.  All the grandchildren hardly know each other.  I would not want to grow up without this treasured sense of belonging somewhere.  These are my people and they are all fascinating stories in themselves.

I am fascinated with earth drawings.  These two fellas are out in the desert just below Jacumba which is in my county.  There age is anywhere from 450 to 2000 years.  It is speculated they were sites for sacred rituals and tribal dancing.  This is something we need to bring back in our society.  Burning Man (which is happening right now) comes close.  A gathering of the tribes.  Imagine a day of ceremonial dressing, drumming and a long night of dancing under the stars.  That has got to be cathartic.  We have little that is sacred in our lives outside of christenings, weddings, funerals and coronations.   

I was part of a tribe once.  It's a heathy experience to flow as one unit, create habits that become universal to your life.  Rhythms of meals and play.  Yeah that's it - I want more play time.  Let's go build something. 

Here's Natasia lying down maybe contemplating what I'm doing.  It's coffee break / I mean tea time in England right now.  Cheerio!

Harlequin Cabinet

Painting furniture has not been a lucrative venture.

I get easily sidetracked from what I love to do most.

In the book Art & Fear it states that artists of our time are not shored up like in the days of the Renaissance when the church commissioned mass amounts of work from frescos to sculptures to plaza mosaics.  The National Endowment wants cutting edge head trip art.  Van Gogh had his brother, Christo has his Jeanne Claude.  If I mass produced a popular widget I could get on with the business of painting.  Just like in music a painter needs a front man.  Work on their press packet, stylize their hair, make them appear unusual.  Keep stockpiles of quality wines and fruit to instill an atmosphere of abundance and confidence.  Intercept clients who want a discount.  Tell people I'm utterly busy even if I'm sitting on my hands.  

It's nearly time for the bars to close - a way of measuring time.  It's interesting to think that just about everybody is lying down right now all across America.  A suspended state that's over in the blink of an eye.  The night is a commonality that's hardly ever talked about.  Sleep is a zone of absolute faith in that you really have to trust that somebody is looking out for you while you check out for hours.  I have a friend who sleeps in prison.  He probably relishes his dreams - the views are infinitely more varied and colorful.  If a person has no imagination he can still dream.  Does a blind person still see sparks of color when the eyes are rubbed?

Goodnight all you sleeping peoples.

A pretty skirt gladly displayed.

Whip Cream Contemplated at 1:01 am.

One house, one summer's amazing mosaic extravaganza!

As seen in the 7 page spread of the August 2008 issue of San Diego Home & Garden.

Broken dishes, glass beads and Omni Grip - gallons of it.

Alcazar Gardens in Balboa Park - elixir for the eyes.

What's a portfolio without a sunset.

The Gloria was particularly spectacular as the crew performs a choreography of songs bringing in the sails.  There is a magic to arrival in ports.  Gulfito, Coasta Rica was particularly nice as early dawn and dense morning fog shrouded the jungle that came subtly into view.  The shift in the propeller rhythm woke me from my birth and overnight I was transformed into an altered consciousness.  Panama was pink with silent flattened lightening lacing across the sky.  An earthly understanding that the sun sets at close to 5:00 all times of the year.  Only the north and south experience the drastic shifts of elongated nights and days of the seasons.  OH!

Once a year SD hosts a Tall Ships Festival and the harbor front fills with vintage boats.  It's a huge jumble of people and vendors but I cannot resist the desire to paint them.  Setting up my plein air easel in all that hullabaloo seems inconducive to proper concentration but those old timbers are like a visitation from a whale.  It takes my breath. 

Vision of Ghost Ship Four Days Into Hurricane

No food and no sleep brings on strange visions.  Can't open cupboards or refrigerators that toss contents like an agitator.   35' swells and constant motion - everything comes unattached including ones psyche.  It was so beautiful out there.  A boiling, writhing force of energy, graceful and rude.  I was christened into an ancient seafaring log of survivors and a victory meal played out over and over tainted with knee jerk hysteria and delayed tears.

Maritime Paintings

This yacht was once owned by Al Capone and was a rum runner in the Great Lakes.

I was aboard four days in a hurricane off the coast of Nicaragua (1987).

That experience completely cured my intimidation of decorators. 

This is a typical scene in San Diego shot while camping aboard a friends boat.  I hope I never have to live too far from the coast - any coast.  And just a stones throw from deserts, mountains and Mexico.  

Here is an on time arrival in the heart of our city.

Big Painting

That's me in front of a Renaissance style painting I copied and recently installed at the Kraus/Barragon Residence.  The gentleman on the right was kind enough to assist me with scaffold erection and stretcher bar building.  A good man is always nice to have around.

I am a painter/muralist and this huge agave was done plein air or on site.  It lives at my friend

 Amadeos house.  The painting was sold this summer at my liquidation sale as I'm on the verge of loosing my house.  I'm soliciting roommates like the good ol days of The Frog Pond while going to art school.  These are dire times and I'll do what ever it takes to keep a healthy coarse.   

Here's the cool house.

I am a crop circle watcher.  This one appeared mid month in England and lasted about a day.  I have my ideas as to what they are all about.  I appreciate the grace of sacred geometry and so far all the really impressive ones are perfect in their proportions and designs.

Odd Time Of Year To Start A New Trend

Here goes.  August 25 a Tuesday and an impulse to share some favorites.  I am a flipper, a photoshop trickster.  This is an image from Agua Caliente Hot Springs in east county of SD.  It is a salt cedar lovely to sit under on a hot summers day.