On The Road To Santa Cruz

On my road trips to Santa Cruz to surf, I pass by this wind break of Eucalyptus trees that always reminds me of the sentinels that stand guard outside a castle. But then, I have an active imagination. I did a smaller version that I published on the blog about a month ago and this is the final version.
Oil on stretched canvas 16"x20" $425.00 + $10 S&H

Chinese Kite Flying

During the Korean war my stepfather was in the Navy and stationed on Guam. That was from 1952 until 1955. Just before we left for home my mom took a weekend shopping trip to Hong Kong. While she was there she bought several Chinese paintings on silk from a little shop. I still have four of them and enjoy the simplicity and subtle colors. This little watercolor is in homage to those Chinese silk paintings. SOLD

"Now Hear This"

On this strange day they call "Black Friday" I ran across this, the strangest Chuck Jones cartoon I've ever seen. Chuck was the originator of the Pepe LePew and Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons, but this doesn't quite fit that mold, (or any mold). This looks like some of the animation we did at Chouinard Art Institute. Chuck used to come and view the films during the end of year Film Arts showings at Chouinard so he must have stolen some of our ideas.(?) Actually he graduated from Chouinard in the early 1930's and after washing cells for Ub Iwerks was hired by Leon Schlesinger (Warner Bros.) in 1933 as an assistant animator. Two years later he was made animator and was assigned to work with director Tex Avery. So, I guess that kinda' explains his nuttyness. He must have inherited some from "Tex".

Gracie and Buster

The Airdale Terrier is sometimes called the "King of Terriers" because it is the largest of the terrier breeds, 50 to 100 pounds. The breed has also been called the Waterside Terrier, because it was bred originally to hunt otters. Originating in the Airedale area of Yorkshire, England.
Also called "Bingly Terrier".

Pet Portrait oil painting on stretched canvas (commision) SOLD

Happy Birthday Mickey

Nov, 18,1928- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICKEY MOUSE- At the Colony Theater in New York Walt Disney’s cartoon "Steamboat Willie" debuted- The first major sound cartoon success and the official birth of Mickey Mouse. Two earlier silent Mickey's had been done, but they were held back when the sound experiment went ahead.

From Tashjin Ozgur in Istanbul yesterday: It was in 2005; the future of traditional, hand-drawn animation, the original "animated cartoon", seemed dark, with a diminishing number of die-hards trying to keep it alive, when some participants of a Turkish webforum on animation proposed a day to celebrate the art. The date chosen was November 18, in commemorationof the 1928 release of 'Steamboat Willie', the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to reach audiences.We hoped our idea would spread across borders and be taken up by all who consider the art of the hand-drawn animation to be something special and worth preserving. We here, at least, have observed and celebrated the day for the last two years, and are gearing up to do so again.So this year, on Novemeber 18th, take some time to watch an old fashioned cartoon, and appreciate it for what it is- drawings that seem to move. The heritage of the Renaissance that runs through the centuries has culminated at the tip of the animators' pencil. Happy Cartoon Animation Day!

(Thanks to tomsito.com)

The Old Red Barn

The barn has always been the main structure of the family farm. It housed the horses, wagons and other animals of the farmyard. The farmer of years ago built his barn first, before he built the farm house. Even today the rural barn presents a forceful image of community spirit.

This one is in the foothills of the Sierras, east of Sacramento,Ca.

8 1/2"x 11" acrylic on gessoed watercolor paper $195.00 + $5 S&H SOLD

Have A Daffy Day

I'm trying out a new feature of the blog, adding cartoons when I don't have time to post a new painting. Try it out and let me know what ya' tink. The cartoons marked BANNED were made during WWII and the censors didn't like them for one reason or another.

Alice and the Cheshire Cat

Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. "Come, it's pleased so far," thought Alice, and she went on. "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
`I don't much care where--' said Alice.
`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

In the original (1862-1864) manuscript, Alice was not the little blond girl we're used to seeing. She was patterned after a little dark haired child of a church colleague, for whom the Alice stories had been originally created. (Alice Pleasance Liddell)
The Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodson created the story on a 2-1/2 hour rowboat trip with a friend and his three daughters. The little girls loved the story so much, Alice begged him to write it down. It was originally titled 'Alice's Adventures Underground', later changed to 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland' and published under the nom de plume Lewis Carroll.

16"x20" oil on stretched canvas - commission - SOLD

Mountain Colors

Having lived in the Sierras for more than 20 years, scenes like this are commonplace and even taken for granted. We lived approximetly 20 miles outside of Nevada City, near the little town of North San Juan. The town has 2 small grocery stores, 1 gas station, 1 bar (The Brass Rail) and 1 restuarant (Toki's). Most of the town residents are either loggers, miners or hippies, and quite a colorful lot they are. I have many good memories of those people and times. Debi and I lived, and our kids grew up in the woods on our 6-1/2 acre parcel. We built a house, dug a well and planted a huge garden. (We were in the hippie group.) Chickens, turkeys, goats, ducks, Great Danes and cats romped all over the place. What a fun time in our lives. Then we moved to civilization and got civilized.......(sort of)....... but we still have the memories.

9"x12" watercolor on 120 lb. acid free paper $120.00 +$5 S&H

Autumn Leaves

Leaves changing colors, cooler weather, Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend, Sun. 11/4.
In 1784 Benjamin Franklin came up with the idea of setting our clocks ahead during the spring and summer and then setting them back during the winter. The reason was to save money on expensive lamp oil. Pretty good idea.

It's not the cooler weather that makes the leaves change colors, it's the lack of sunlight.
As the photosynthesis in the leaves slows down and the chlorophyll dissappears, the bright green in the leaves is replaced with the yellows, browns and reds that we see, from left over glucose. These different colors have always been there but the bright green chlorophyll covered it up. The brown colors in leaves from oaks and other trees is the left over waste. It's the combination of these things that make for the beautiful colors we see.

9"x12" watercolor on 120lb Arches paper. $125 + $5 S&H prints available $30 ea.