Woo hoo!

The new & improved website

is up & running!

To paint, or not to paint?

Art in the new millennium.

I find myself in a strange place & time these days. It’s like the beginning of rock & roll for the visual arts. I went to school, learned the basics of my craft, & then history was rewritten. 

Now we’ve got so many tools available that it’s tough to decide where to start. We’ve all plugged in, & who knows who could be the next Jimi Hendrix…..or Peter Frampton. Where’s my wah-wah pedal!? How much distortion is just enough? 

Should I work on painting like a photographer or Photoshopping like a graffiti artist today? Or maybe I should collect debris from the beach & hammer it together in the garage, that might be more environmental…..then again, perhaps it would be better to document the debris on the beach & blog about it. I could go back to basics & draw…..or should I use Illustrator?

The possibilities seem endless. I probably need to work on focusing. I’m going to yoga now.

Water & Wood

The new year 
brought torrential downpours to California
which carried lots of wood to the beach

which inspired impromptu architecture

& sculpture.

Now it's sunny & warm

& the beach

seems more inviting 

than ever.

Art & Garden Links

My last year of college I had an assignment to research artists that had inspired me. I had a great time delving into the library & pulling all that inspiration together helped me to focus.

Collecting links for this blog was similar, though things have changed somewhat over the years. I found that while there are a tremendous amount of images & information available on line, there is not always one link that represents an artist well. For example, William Morris, whose amazing work is very well represented in his coffee table books, & has inspired me for years has retired, & his website doesn’t do his work justice. I couldn’t find a site for John McQueen either, but did include the links that I could find for both these artists.

Other searches led to new discoveries. While searching for a good link to Constantin Brancusi’s work, I discovered But Does It Float, a site dangerously full of inspiration where I could easily become lost for quite awhile.

Others have become more accessible over time. Years ago I discovered the designer Andree Putman while rooting about in the ASU architecture library, & have since found that her books are hard to come by. I was pleasantly surprised to find her fittingly elegant website.

More links on the right. Enjoy!

Mixed Media Mini Surfboard Sculptures

I've been working with the surfboard form for several years now. I love tools, the simpler the better, & surfboards are about as clean & simple as they come. With no moving parts, they are functional & come in beautiful forms & colors.


This series was fun to work on. At least 1/2 of each board is made of wood. I used a tiny hand plane to do a fair amount of the shaping. Then  started adding ceramics, glass, wire, & found objects until things jelled. 


More of the mixed media board series here.


I like that the forms remind me of spear & shield forms from various cultures & time periods.

I find it refreshing & fascinating that in these complicated, computer dominated days the way a surfboard functions can be altered through slight variations in form by a skilled shaper.