TORSO STUDY

11" x 14"
Mixed Media in ProArt sketchbook

VEGAS ANGEL

11" x 14"
MIXED MEDIA in ProArt sketchbook

EMPEROR NORTON

11" x 14"
MIXED MEDIA IN ProArt sketchbook
Joshua Abraham Norton (b.1815) made a $$$ fortune during the California gold rush in 1849. If that happened to you would you be happy with a fortune? Yeah, well Norton wasn't, so "in 1853 he gamboled a quarter of a million dollars on an effort to corner the rice market in San Francisco, buying and stockpiling all the available supply, and thereby artificially inflating the price. However, just as he was about to cash in, several ships laden with rice sailed into the Bay, glutting the market. Prices plummeted, and Norton went bust."
He lost everything then realized that he had an empire to rule!
Completely realized, he began telling everyone that he was Norton the First, Emperor of California. For the next 21 years he patrolled the streets of San Francisco on bicycle and foot making sure that things ran well and the vibe was happy.
Norton wore a military uniform with officer's golden epaulettes, a "tall plumed beaver hat, a sword, and a rosette."
He issued edicts, printed his own money in five and fifty cent denominations which were "accepted freely in most shops and restaurants in San Francisco." He dissolved both the Democratic and Republican parties because their existence caused "dissensions". Emperor Norton was well loved by everyone. He died in 1880 and thirty thousand loyal subjects attended his graveside service.
Some people claim he was crazy. But he freely chose to live the way he wanted to. He certainly wasn't neurotic because "simply put, neurotics are miserable because they think they are not as good as everyone else, while eccentrics know they are different and glory in it." (Source Eccentrics Dr David Weeks and Jamie James)

TO BE YOURSELF

5" x 16"
Uniball pen and watercolor
I'm not a phone person mostly because I don't have much to say and I'm not interested in complaints or robocall sales pitches. Fortunately I have friends who will do all the talking when they call. I keep a sketchbook just for drawing while I'm listening. It's fun to always be drawing. Here's a recent 45 minute doodle.
The quote is by Emerson: "To be yourself in a world that's constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment".

PORTRAIT OF MARSHALL ARISMAN

11" x 14"
Mixed media in ProArt sketchbook
A while back Jonathan Twingley turned me on to Marshall's work and I have been studying it and learning a lot from it. Both Heaven Departed and Postcard from Lilydale are fantastic books of his. I'm just now getting into using mixed media and different tools other than just a brush thanks to his very instructive DVD. It really is a fun and freeing approach to making art. Anyone who is takes his class at SVA is very lucky indeed!

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE

8 1/2" x 23"
Mixed media in Moleskine sketchbook

When I was a kid there was a woman who lived in my apartment building that everybody said was a witch.  Her name was Gloria. The laundry room of this building was in the basement and Gloria  had all of the dryers full of her clothing.  I wanted to get our laundry done and noticed that one dryer was finished,  so I emptied her clothes into a basket and carried them up to her apartment .  Her door was open and she was in the living room folding laundry, casting spells while singing along with Tito Puente music turned up full blast on the radio.

 When I looked in I saw things flying around and bizarre beings were making strange sounds.  The place was a vortex!  I heard her say "You see this too, right"?

 Before I could muster up a response everything  stopped swirling and the room returned to normal. "It's ok, cabron" she laughed.  "I know what I'm doing".

One of many woo-woo moments in my life.  

GALERIE MOKUM AMSTERDAM

8 1'2" x 23"
Watercolor and ink in Moleskine sketchbook

CITY BRIDGE

18" x 24"
Mixed media on paper

SMILE

11" x 14"
Uniball pen, Pentel brush pen and acrylic in Pro Art sketchbook

Soft footbed sandals are super comfortable and I wear socks with them.  My sandals are not a political statement, I just know that if I take care of my feet the rest of me feels great too.  Wearing the socks prevents dirty feet. Socks are a barrier between the feet and the icky stuff on the streets. For some reason wearing socks and sandals causes people to smile when they see them.  Even grouchy people who schlep along with eyes cast down have smiled or at lest rolled their eyes when they see my socked sandals.

I'm happy to provide smiles to the world but will someone please tell me what the deal is?  

COMPASSION

30" x 22"
Ink and Acrylic on Arches paper

Terry murdered Patty over money or drugs, it doesn't matter which.  Stabbed her twenty seven times.  Cause of death was exsanguination.  She once appeared to me in a dream sitting on the edge of the bed staring directly at me.  At the time I thought it was real, that she was there in the room with me.  But it must have been a dream, right?

Terry died in prison doing a life bit with a ten year tab.  Heroin overdose.  This week I dreamed that when they met in the spirit world she understood and forgave him.  He was suspicious and wondered why? She explained that compassion was they only way to end their endless cycle of suffering.  There was an angel comforting them as I woke.

UMATILLA REZ, OREGON

8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Uniball pen and watercolor in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

JORDAAN

8 1/2" x 11"
Uniball pen, watercolor and Faber-Castell brushes in Canson sketchbook

DEAD BATTERY

11" x 17"
Uniball pen, Faber-Castell brushes and Kuretake Zig ink in Canson sketchbook

KEY BEND

8 1/2" x 23"
Uniball pen, watercolor and ink in Moleskine sketchbook

Eugene, Oregon has had a very active vaudeville community for many years. Lots of jugglers, fire eaters, magicians and sword swallowers. And then there is the Reverend Chumleigh. He's a bearded long haired original hippie day glo dude that performs the key bend trick. Or is it a trick?

At the show I attended he asked for a volunteer who had any keys in their pocket to step up onto the stage. I knew I wasn't a shill so up I went. He told me to take any key out of my pocket and hold it between my palms. I wisely chose the mailbox key instead of the car key and held it as instructed. He never touched the key and I was not hypnotized. He had the audience chant "Bend, Bend Bend" in unison for about 30 seconds. Lo and behold I had a bent key in my hands!

I'm told energy and physics can explain this.

OK, tell me how he did it

HAPPY HOUR

11 1/2" x 8 1/2"
Uniball pen and watercolor in Moleskine sketchbook
Several years ago Julie and I were sitting at a table in a restaurant across from the bar awaiting our food order. Several people were seated at the bar watching a sporting event on a television screen at the far end.
I was banging on about something or other when I noticed that Julie wasn't hearing me and had a strange look on her face. It was a look somewhere between humor and horror.
"What, I asked'?
"Over at the bar," she said.
I scanned the bar but didn't see what she was talking about
"The shirt".
When I turned and looked again I saw a man sitting there smoking a cigarette wearing a tee shirt two sizes too small. Hairy beer gut protruded from underneath the too small shirt. On the front of his shirt was posed the question: You Want Some Of This?
I wonder if it worked for him?

SUNFLOWER SELFIE

11" x 17"
Uniball pen, Faber-Castell brush pens and watercolor in Canson sketchbook

SUN DANCE VISION

11" x 17"
Mixed Media in Canson sketchbook

SACRED PIPE

11" x 17"
Pentel brush pen, watercolor and florescent acrylic in Canson sketchbook

BALDWIN SALOON, THE DALLES, OREGON

10" x 8 "
Uniball pen and watercolor in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

CHIEF YOUNG JOSEPH

10" x 8"
Uniball pen and Watercolor in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT JOSEPH, OREGON

10" x 8 "
Watercolor, Uniball pen and white China marker in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook
from Austin Barton sculpture

OLD CHIEF JOSEPH GRAVESITE, JOSEPH OREGON

8" x 10"
Watercolor and Uniball pen in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook
"In 1926 2,500 people lined up to see the remains of tıwi·teq̉ıs or Old Chief Joseph interned at a new gravesite at the base of Lake Wallowa, overlooking the lands he once called home. Located in northeastern Oregon in the Nimiipuu or Nez Perce homeland, tıwi·teq̉ıs is the father of Chief Joseph, a leader during the conflict of 1877.
Ttıwi·teq̉ıs was born between 1785 and 1790 and grew to be a leader of the groups of Nimiipuu living in the Wallowa's. He signed the Treaty of 1855 but refused to put his mark to the Treaty of 1863. He died in 1870 but not before compelling his son to hold fast and defend his home land and people, "My son, never forget my dying words, This country holds your father's body. Never sell the bones of your father and mother." Unfortunately, under the threat of being evicted by the US Army, Young Joseph left the Wallowas in the spring of 1877 for the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. When tıwi·teq̉ıs died, he was buried further down the valley but his grave was desecrated.
After the Nimiipuu left the valley in 1877, the land was settled and several prominent community leaders lobbied for tıwi·teq̉ıs to be reburied. In 1926 that happened. While the Nez Perce have been gone for over a century, the grave is a tangible link to a place that is still special to the Nez Perce."
National Park Service

Mascall Formation John Day Fossil Beds, Oregon

8" x 10"
Watercolor and Uniball pen in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

KAM WAH CHUNG & CO MUSEUM JOHN DAY OREGON

8" x 10"
Pentel brush pen in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

PAINTED HILLS JOHN DAY FOSSIL BEDS

8" x 10"
Watercolor in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

PAINTED HILLS JOHN DAY OREGON

8" x 10"
Watercolor in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

FIGURE STUDY RED

14" x 11"
Watercolor and ink in Strathmore sketchbook

PORTRAIT OF SITTING BULL

18" x 24"
Ink and florescent acrylic on Bristol paper

FIGURE STUDY JAUNE

14" x 11"
Watercolor in Strathmore sketchbook

BROKEN BRIDGE

11" x 17"
Pentel brush pen, Kuretake Fude brush and Faber-Castel brushes in Canson sketchbook

MTA (after John Wentz)

11" x 17"
Fude brush and Faber-Castell brushes in Canson sketchbook

WAVY GRAVY ON THE FLOOR

11" x 17"
Uniball pen, Faber-Castell brushes and florescent acrylic in Canson sketchbook

Hugh Romney was laying down on the stage at a concert in Texas when he heard the PA announcement that B.B. King was there and was going to play for free.  Suddenly he looked up and there was King standing over him.

"You Wavy Gravy ?"
"Yes Sir"
"Well you be Wavy Gravy on the floor and I'll work around you".

From that day on Romney became Wavy and went on to entertain and raise money for many charitable causes including the Seva Foundation which to date has funded over 3 million successful cataract operations in poor countries around the world.

EMPRESS OF THE BLUES

19" x 25"
Mixed Media on Canson paper

PRELIMINARY STUDY

18" x 24"
Watercolor and ink on Canson paper

OUR GARDEN

11" x 17"
Ink, Faber-Castell brushes and florescent acrylic in Canson Sketchbook

WHERE'D I PARK?

11" x 17"
Ink and Faber-Castell brushes in Canson sketchbook

GABRIEL

11" x 8 1/2"
Ink and fluorescent acrylic in Canson sketchbook

THE COWGIRL THOUGHT WHEN PIGS FLY

8 1'2" x 11"

Faber-Castell brushes in Canson sketchbook

TWISTED SUNFLOWERS

24" x 30"
Acrylic on canvas

INSANITY OF THE CITY

11" x 17"
Ink and acrylic in Canson sketchbook

NYE BEACH

11" x 8 1/2"
Ink and florescent acrylic in Canson sketchbook

THE JORDAAN

11" x 17"
Ink and watercolor in Canson sketchbook

PRELIMINARY SKETCH SUNFLOWERS

18" x 24"
Watercolor on paper

SUNFLOWER DANCERS

14" x 22"
Watercolor, Ink and Acrylic in Strathmore sketchbook

Painted in honor of John Imber using my non-dominant left hand as he did after ALS destroyed the use of his right hand.

JURY DUTY

11" x 17"
Faber-Castell brushes in Canson sketchbook

PORTRAIT IN FRONT OF PORTRAIT

11" x 17"
Pentel brush pen, Faber-Castell brushes, Dr. Ph Martin Bombay India ink and China marker in Canson sketchbook

MARSH VILLAGE BAR

11" x 17"
Pentel brush pen, Faber-Castell brushes in Canson sketchbook

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

11" x 17"
Mixed Media in Canson sketchbook

LEFT HOOK

18" x 24"
#2B pencil, Dr. Ph Martin Bombay India ink, Kuretake Fude brush, Faber-Castell brushes and Winsor Newton Series 7 #3 brush on Strathmore 400 Bristol paper

WHITE HORSE

18" x 24"
Acrylic on paper