Not just Apple Pie at the Marin County Fair in San Rafael

Three diverse pieces of my art were accepted into the Marin County Fair Fine Art Competition including one in the new Cow Art category.

Showing my art in my hometown

These two paintings are showing at the in2art Gallery in Oakville, Ontario, Canada...my hometown.

New Prints Available

These new giclees are scaleable variations of original collages. Both are available and affordably priced through Imagekind.

3 pieces in the Falkirk Show in San Rafael

The Falkirk Cultural Center in San Rafael is hosting their Annual Juried Exhibition from now till May 30. I have 3 pieces in the show, including this on on my fine art home page. The gala opening is this Friday night, March 27.

The Current State of the Art World

This is year of change. The art world is no exception. Expect shifts. I want to try an understand it but understanding art and art business is elusive. I recently traveled to Los Angeles for the LA Art Fair. I got that their still are collectors out there. I'm reading a wonderful book of essays by Sarah Thornton called Seven Days in the Art World Here's a great article by Arne Glimcher of Pace Galleries. You'd think he would know what's going on.

My New Prints Available from Imagekind

Check these new abstract giclees from Imagekind:

My Holiday Open Studio on Dec. 6 and 7

I and about 15 other artists will be opening up their studios (and hopefully selling art work) at our Smith Ranch Studios in San Rafael, California on December 6 and 7.

Holiday prints and cards here.
Smith Ranch Studios site for directions.

Dancing Skeleton

Just in time for Halloween, I created a new interactive virtual gift fro sale at Viximo.

Check it out on Facebooks Gifts soon!

Hypnotic Nights in the Desert

Here's a video from my adventures at Burning Man.

Two New Prints Available

Here are two new abstract collages I recently added to my ImageKind gallery:

My Tea Art

Recently The Republic of Tea released their new Unblended LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL RESERVE 2008 DARJEELING tea with a painting of mine on the label. Check it out!

San Francisco Open Studios

On Saturday and Sunday November 1 & 2, 2008 I'll be showing my paintings as part of San Francisco Open Studios. My studio is located at the Hunter's Point Shipyards, Bldg. 110, #206. Please drop by to see new work, have a glass of wine, buy a print or a greeting card. More information here.














I posted a new video at YouTube.

I also posted a few new prints for purchase at Imagekind.

A Week with the Burners

Just returned from Burning Man in the Nevada Desert. I managed to do drawings, posted here:

Process at Heart

The following is an account of my experience creating a heart sculpture for the Hearts-in-San Francisco project.

My participation began in April 2004 when I applied and was accepted to paint one of the 130 500-lb. five-foot tall heart sculptures that would be installed in San Francisco. This was an art and funding project similar to those found in other cities like the Cows of Chicago, the Moose of Toronto, and Lighthouses of Portland. The Hearts of San Francisco would be on view then auctioned live or on-line with proceeds going to the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation primarily to fund their Trauma Center. The heart seemed synonymous with San Francisco and the Tony Bennett song but the project began as the brainchild of designer Michael Osborne who uses hearts in much of his design work.

It was a monumental undertaking. The Hearts-in-SF non-profit corporation was set up. Finances and facilities for the artists were organized. A painting area was set up at the end of Pier 27. I committed five Sundays to the execution, in full view of the Bay Bridge.

It was important that I get my design right. It would be seen and photographed by thousands. A photo book was planned. With coworker Lance Jackson, photographs of our hearts would be featured in the SF Chronicle Datebook section in a column called Heart Monitor. The sculptures would be out in the rain, sun and wind. Each artist would receive a $1000 honorarium. Some hearts would have a sponsor. Someone would eventually own it, maybe even place it in his or her front yard. The pressure was on.

I wanted mine to be unique and provocative. My concept was to create a utilitarian object like a Greek vase. I liked how figures are designed into a frieze and wrapped around the three dimensional form. Greek vases tell us about Greek society circa 200 BC. I wanted the content of my design to include a contemporary Market street scene. The imagery on my heart references the Muni bus system, the Green (street-cleaning) Machine, shopping for T-shirts, street musicians, road repair and a clash of cultures. I wanted to believe that people would learn something about San Francisco circa 2004 when they dig up my heart sometime in 3004. I created a six-inch high maquette and used it as a guide. I prepped the fiberglass surface and painted it with several layers of gesso. I scaled the drawing up on a grid. I penciled and painted the figures and added some Greek design motifs. Every day as a reward, I helped myself to a delicious lunch of scallops in a light cream sauce at the Fog City Diner across the street from the pier.

At the end of the five weeks, I finished painting and sealing (in polyurethane) my heart sculpture. I actually kissed it good bye in an interview on live remote television for peppy morning reporter Liam Maychem from KRON-TV. After that it was up to the Hearts-in-SF committee to choose a location for placement. I thought the terra cotta color of the vase/heart would remind people of the color of the Golden Gate Bridge, which seemed like an ideal location, but they decided to locate it on Van Ness Ave. in front of the War Memorial Opera House. It would get a great opera intermission crowd … a money spot, perhaps. Nancy Bechtel, one of the organizers, placed a plaque on it with a sponsor's name, Dede Wilsey. She is a well-known patron of the local fine arts museums. I liked that the sponsor was an individual and not a corporation. There it stood for four months. At Theatro Zinzani on the Embarcadero, organizers threw an exciting reception for all patrons and artists to get together. Money and art are necessary partners.

Displaying public art in San Francisco has always been a controversial process. All public art must be granted and approved by the San Francisco Arts Commission, which trys to be sensitive to various political, corporate and community considerations. Somehow the Hearts-in-SF project would escape this committee, given its temporary nature.

Ultimately these hearts scattered around enriched the city. I felt proud to be part of it. The whole process for me was a rewarding one. It allowed me to work in a public sphere with creative control, albeit with some physical and material constraints. I was excited to work at a large scale. I received many responses from people, all positive but for the spit and pigeon crap I would occasionally have to clean off. I enjoyed meeting many of my fellow "heartists". On November 11, 2004, the project was complete when the last few chosen hearts were auctioned off at SBC Park. On November 7, my heart sculpture sold in an eBay on-line auction to a single bidder for $10,000. After the organization pays the bills for this enterprise, all donations are distributed to the hospital. The synergy worked. Artists, facilitators, private and corporate donors worked together for the public good. For once it worked.

Rockwell Kent : The Art of Empathy

Rockwell Kent was a proud man to the point of hubris. He also was cad and probably a communist, yet he had a singular vision: one of empowerment for the common man. He felt the transcendent and the humane in all people. Rockwell Kent-The Art of the Bookplate by Don Roberts ©2003, Fair Oaks Press/San Francisco, traces the life and career of this famous artist. The author catalogues and uncovers the stories behind the bookplates illustrated by Kent, and how each bookplate merged the owner's claim to the book with the owner's own personality and aspirations. Kent explains, "The theft of a book is more nearly homicide than larceny. Books are not things; they're people multiplied. The possession of a book is both the promise of a richer life and, in degree, the sign of its fulfillment."

Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) is best known for his illustrations for Moby Dick and his travels as artist-adventurer to Alaska, Greenland and Tierra del Fuego, where he painted, wrote and illustrated stories of the rogues he met and vistas he spied. His books, Voyaging and N by E were bestsellers. Ross' book chronicles the personal and creative vagaries of the artist's life in all its joy and tragedy. Kent ran through wives and houses, but the 160 bookplates he created were his most consistent art making. It was an art that kept him connected to people and not gallivanting about. Over time, his fame and desire for his art diminished. In 1929, he earned $500 for a bookplate commission. By 1965, he was lucky to receive $25. Many graphic artists may relate to the stories of Kent's creative process, the haggling over prices with clients, the diminishing prices, image theft and the sacrificing of life for art. We can feel the vitality and the contemporary in these stories In fact; nothing is really new anymore.

Especially poignant are Kent's endeavors to know deeply who the person is and put that in the bookplate. Often that person's psychology is symbolized in the image of a human figure against a dramatic and light-infused landscape. He empathized with the their life and passion for books. It's how I feel about the weekly Bay Folk drawings I did for the San Francisco Chronicle. When you draw someone and tell their story, it's a blessing you bestow on them.

One of my sketchbook profiles

Drawing of Susan Oak,
cabbie and knitter

One of my scratchboard illustrations

The Money Tree

One of my paintings

Palm Desert
40" by 40"
mixed media collage on masonite

Visit Often

This is my first official blog entry. I have a lot to talk about and a lot of pictures to show you. I will post often so keep coming back. Comments always appreciated.