Choose Your Weapon

Enflamed, photograph
“If Velasquez were born today, he would be a photographer and not a painter.”
- George Bernard Shaw
I wonder whether painters from long ago would have chosen different, not-then-available art mediums. It’s curious to contemplate what kind of photographs Rembrandt or Vermeer might have taken had the camera rather than the brush been their chosen [...]

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Visiting Old Friends

Shadowed, photograph
“No story is the same to us after a lapse of time; or rather we who read it are no longer the same interpreters.”
- George Eliot
I’m very aware of this statement with regard to literature – books I found compelling, even life changing, 30 years ago when I first read them can seem curiously [...]

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Old School…

Crop Rows, Photograph
We just finished our first of two weekends of the Sonoma County Open Studio event, ARTrails – overall it was an interesting, rewarding and exhausting time! Above is one of the pieces I sold over the weekend, printed large on canvas. I was happy to see that my new “textured” work was well [...]

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All Too Familiar

Apochrypha, photograph
“Art is not to be found by touring to Egypt, China, or Peru; if you cannot find it at your own door, you will never find it.”
- Emerson
Well, that’s a relief, given that it’s unlikely that I’ll go to any of those places.
You see, I don’t like to travel, hate getting on planes, can’t [...]

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Feeling is Believing

Dead Soldiers, photograph
“Art that wants to be felt does not have the need to be admired.”
- Darby Bannard
This is part of a new series I’ve been working on this year titled “tactility” (yes, I know that’s not a real word). It is my photographic exploration of textures. I will be exhibiting a number of these [...]

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It’s Showtime!

Veiled Remarks
“I know I’ve grown as an artist when even though I think the damn car is just an O.K. shout, since everyone likes it, I’ve included it in the show”.
- Stu Jenks
I’m getting ready for a large show next month and am in the throws of the typical artist dilemma – what to include??? [...]

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Making the Invisible Visible

“If you are not willing to see more than is visible, you won’t see anything.”
- Ruth Bernhard
When I look at some things, I see just what is visible. I see enough to know what they are and how to interact with them – these are the everyday things in life.
But when I look at something [...]

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Beyond the Landscape

“I’m not just interested in the pictorial aspects of the landscape – see a pretty place and try to paint it – but in some way to manage it, manipulate it, or see what I can turn it into.”
- Wayne Thiebaud
No one would criticize a painter for making such a statement – in fact, we’d [...]

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Be Careful if You Pull Over…

“It is difficult to steer a parked car, so get moving.”
- Henrietta Mears
I love the sentiment and humor behind this statement and I thought this photograph would be apropos.
When we feel directionless, there can be a tendency to stop our activity, to try to get our bearings. While this may be fine for a short [...]

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Do You See Me?

Oakland Bay Bridge
“I believe that a spectacular photo of something ordinary is more interesting than an ordinary photo of something spectacular. The latter is about something else, the former is something else.”
- Jim Coe
My photography as evolved over the years toward more ordinary subjects. Initially I sought out spectacular sunsets, unusual places, unique landscapes. But [...]

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