Work from 2019. I’ve been working in a few major areas, so these pieces are grouped accordingly.
I am spending the first quarter of 2020 moving halfway across the continent and all that entails. I should have new work on this page by April.
2020 was full of surprise and difficulty and sent me for a loop. For the moment, please refer to this blog post for the very latest work and news.
In the summer of 2018, I was commissioned to create a temporary mural over 45 feet long (over 14 meters) on the new $1B Transbay Transit Center (above). Below, the concept sketch is above a photo paste-up of the finished mural. I used the rhythm of the architecture (the stainless steel verticals) to establish a repeating field, consisting of a large circle within each bay and a band of color overlapping each vertical, tying the bays together.
In 2019, I have continued that series in several sizes, described below.
This piece is acrylic and oil on canvas 15 x 45 in (38 x 114 cm) and is one of three pieces continuing the mural’s theme in a linear fashion. See below for the completed Bar 1 and incomplete Bars 2 & 3.
I also created a series of six small pieces in this series (8x8 in / 20x20 cm each). As you can see in the two above and four below, each also incorporates hand stitching (a kind of intentionally coarse embroidery). The overlapping bands of color allow all six to be arranged in any order and yet maintain the logic of the original mural.
The small, embroidered Unfolding paintings are available framed, singly or en masse, for $100 each.
I also continued the series in this large piece (40 in / 102 cm square). It features a mix of 2D and 3D textures, vertical streaks in metallic silver, and a variety of drawing and painting techniques in both acrylic and oil paint.
Something was in the air early in the summer of 2019, and I kept encountering references to ancient petroglyphs and pictographs (types of rock art) both in the new world and in Europe. While those artists often could see and depict animals as complete, distinct and objective things, the artist herself is represented synecdochically, as the hand alone stands for the whole human.
These pieces are bits of autobiography, but are not intended to add up to a self-portrait.
The large piece above (4 ft/1.2 m square) is still unnamed, but incorporated a great deal of layered textures, drawing, and includes an old paint palette and the manuscript of a small musical composition of mine as collaged elements. ALong with the handprint, there is a partial tracing of my outline.
Over a collage base of choral sheet music, this piece implies meanings through the use of numerals, profiles, and symbols, but remains mute (24 in/61 cm square).
In a private collection in San Francisco
This piece may not be finished, but includes my birth year along with my handprint and a variety of acrylic and oil textures and elements. (30 in/76 cm square)
Few of my pieces come about because I knew exactly what I was going to do, and this is not one of them. I’m sure I flatter myself to see a little Saul Bass in this smaller drawing-like canvas (24x18 in/61x46 cm).
Although heavily influenced by the Bay Area Figurative artists (in particular Joan Brown), I feel pretty good about this piece as an honest and authentic work from this point in my career. But it’s probably not finished. (acrylic 30in / 76cm square)
This is very much a crossover piece between this Handprint series and some more general experimental pieces (below). It combines oxidized iron paint (rust), collaged printed sheet music, cold wax oil, and acrylic paints. (30in/76cm square)
In a private collection in San Francisco
A rare-for-me drawing-like painting. Collage, crayon, graphite, and acrylic. (30x24 inches/76x61 cm)
I spent a good chunk of the summer months trying all kinds of different materials and processes. The photo above shows a combination of built-up 3D textures in modeling paste and a rust finish achieved by applying an acrylic paint full of iron filings, then accelerating the oxidization (rust) process.
An early experiment with modeling paste letters in two directions finished with iron oxide paint (8 in/20 cm square canvas)
A small series of six 8 in/20 cm textured rust pieces on board, finished with cold-wax oil (see below) and framed in pine. $100 each.
I got intrigued by the nature of the canvas base as a fabric thing and bought some upholstery needles and twine and went to town doing coarse, highly-textured stitching on a number of canvases (see also the Unfolding series at the top of this page). 20 in/50 cm square
Cold wax is a relatively new additive for oil paint that achieves some of the lustrousness and depth of ancient encaustic techniques without the requirement to work with paint and wax at high temperatures (hence “cold” wax). The piece above (12 in/30 cm square) is silver oil paint in cold wax medium over a textured base of modeling paste.
A key feature of working with cold wax medium is the ability to scratch through and reveal prior layers of color. DMZ (12 in/30cm square)
In a private collection in San Francisco
I call this one Alcea (oil, acrylic, and wax on board, 16x10 in / 41x25 cm). Below, you can see the texture in raking light.
A larger piece in oil and cold wax, called We Don’t Need Alabaster. (30in / 76cm square)
Occasionally paintings come easy. Not this one.
Parde. (oil and wax on canvas, 36in / 91cm square)
In a collection in San Francisco
The timelines of my various experiments overlapped, so I sometimes used more than one new technique on a piece, like the one above (Metal Landscape, 12 in/30cm square).
The pieces with physical texture are typically made with a special acrylic material called modeling paste that doesn’t flow much, which allows it to retain shapes. I have developed a variety of unconventional tools and stencils to help develop the textures.
This piece, called Kirin, was inspired by a beautiful photograph taken by a longtime friend. Above, the raking light emphasizes the incised texture, and below, studio light shows the color. (12 in/30cm square)
Frontier (12 in/30 cm square) is shown here in raking light with a shadow at top right.
The texture for the black base derives from the mesh bag holding a bunch of Mandarin oranges, and it telegraphs through the layers of oil paint and cold wax. Cuties (12 in/30 cm square).
These final pieces are examples of one-off paintings I did this year that don’t fit within a specific series.
Above is Augury, which is collage, metal leaf, mica, acrylic, oil, wax, and solvent (a.k.a. mixed media) on board (16” / 41cm square). It’s now in a private collection in San Francisco.
And sometimes I go back to drawing. Circles and parabolas. Acrylic, crayon, and mica on board (16” / 40cm square).
Or some proportioning. (acrylic and crayon on canvas, 30x24 in / 76x61 cm)
Or an obscure reference to college days in Paris. château des rentiers, a smallish mixed-media piece on board (12” / 30cm square).
Above and below are the front and back of the “tabletop” heart sculpture I painted for the upcoming Hearts In SF fundraiser for the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. The heart is 16 inches high by 17 inches wide by 8 inches thick (41cm x 43cm x 20cm) plus the steel base.
The review panel asked me to do a version of some urban views I’ve done before, and i have to admit it was a bigger challenge than I anticipated. I’m pleased with the result and I hope it helps the Foundation in their excellent work.
A short video showing the piece in 360 degrees can be found on Instagram at this link.
My "abstract" work emanates from a desire to make pure paintings. While a formal or color concept is present at the start of each piece, it is merely a jumping-off point for an intuitive process that guides the work. I give each piece a title to honor it, but the names follow the completed piece; the works are non-narrative and do not derive from the titles. The most recent paintings are at the top (see the Latest Work gallery, too).
A threshold. A between-place. A becoming.
The piece is ready to hang from attached D rings and comes with black-finished edges.
Currently available to collectors within 50 miles of San Francisco for $1,000, including delivery.
Acrylic and ink on canvas 72"/183cm square (2017)
This large piece was inspired by the story of the singer-poet Orpheus, stricken with grief, descending to the netherworld belonging to Hades to reclaim his beloved wife, Eurydice, from the land of the dead.
The piece is ready to hang from attached D rings and comes with black-finished edges.
Currently available to collectors within 50 miles of San Francisco for $1,000, including delivery.
Oil and acrylic on canvas 72"/180cm square (2017)
This large piece arose from witnessing from a short distance the devastating fires that burned for two weeks in Northern California in October 2017. As the smoke filled the air across the region, lives, livelihoods, and two hundred years of agricultural history were in peril. Against a stylized background of the Northern Coast Ranges, parallel scrapes, drips, and marks recall the agricultural activities within this semi-wild, semi-urbanized locale.
The piece is ready to hang from attached D rings and comes with black-finished edges.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 41.5" x 71.5" (2017)
This large piece resisted resolution for a long time, and so may have more layers than any of my paintings, incorporating various media including enamel, acrylic, oil, charcoal, graphite, and crayon.
Mixed media on canvas 72" x 72" / 183cm x 183 cm (2017)
In a private collection in Surrey, UK
Oil and acrylic on stretched canvas 72" x 72" (2016)
In a private collection in Healdsburg
Both consciously and unconsciously, I have been consuming a lot of stories of Paris in the 1920s lately, whether histories or novels, songs or ballets, essays or films. Milhaud's ballet score which gave its name to the famous boîte seemed as good and irrelevant a title as any for this piece.
Winner of the Juror's Prize in a group show at the GearBox Gallery
Oil on canvas 36x24 in / 91x61 cm (2017)
In a private collection in Miami.
Oil on canvas 24x36 in/61x91 cm
An evocation of a hillside city.
Oil on canvas (36" x 36")
Oil on stretched canvas 36" x 36" (2016)
Oil on stretched canvas 36" x 36" (2016)
In a private collection in Tokyo, Japan
Oil on canvas (36" x 36")
Oil on canvas 30" x 30" (2016)
Oil on canvas 36" x 36" (2016)
In a private collection in Vallejo
Oil on canvas (36" x 36")
This piece is an abstract meditation on my post-secondary education.
Oil on canvas 30x30 in / 76x76 cm (2017)
In a private collection in San Francisco
Oil on canvas (36" x 36")
In a private collection in San Francisco
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 30x24 in/76x51 cm
In a private collection in San Francisco
Oil on canvas 36" x 36" (2016)
In a private collection in San Francisco
Oil on canvas 36" x 36", 2016
In a private collection in San Francisco
Oil on canvas (12" x 16") 2016
oil, acrylic, enamel, ink and chalk on canvas 48x70 in/123x178 cm
This painting evolved slowly and intuitively over quite a while, taking on many layers of different media. In many places, earlier marks remain legible under later layers, lending great depth and subtlety to the piece.
In a private collection in England
oil on canvas, 9x12 in/23x30 cm
A sketch
oil on canvas, 9x12 in/23x30 cm
A sketch
In a private collection in California.
Oil and acrylic on stretched canvas 16" x 20" (2015)
Built up of many translucent layers over many painting sessions, this piece is intentionally a smaller cousin to my large piece titled "Gerald" (6x6 feet / 1.8x1.8 m).
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20" (2017)
In a private collection in Healdsburg
Built up of many translucent layers over many painting sessions, this piece is intentionally a smaller cousin to my large piece titled "Gerald" (6x6 feet / 1.8x1.8 m).
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 20"/51cm square (2017)
In a private collection in San Francisco
A nearly-monochromatic abstract piece. In addition to form and value (light and dark), I introduced a bit of warm color to create contrasts and gradations of warm and cool within the narrow range of hues. Thanks to the specific acrylic used, the painting is matte in finish.
Acrylic on canvas, 20in/51cm square (2017)
"Blueberry" (in French), this piece takes its title from a group show in Oakland where I won the Juror's Award (see Boeuf sur le Toit). Other than berry-like shades of blue, the piece is pure abstraction in my mind.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 20in/51cm square (2017)
in a private collection in San Francisco
This piece began as a pure, non-objective painting. As it developed, I found myself thinking in terms of the far and near shores, and so it became a sort of landscape.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 30"/76 cm square (2017)
In a private collection in San Francisco
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36" x 24" (2017)
Acrylic on canvas 30 in / 76 cm square
In a private collection in San Francisco
Acrylic on canvas 30 in / 76 cm square
In a collection in San Francisco
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40x30 in/102x76 cm (2018)
These pieces that take off from language arise from several sources. Most are a kind of meditation on a concept that feels at risk (Peace, Truth, Justice, Equality, Fragile, Joy), accompanied by the term in many world languages. The Hope series explores a range of ways Hope is present or absent in our lives. Fuck You manifests anger and speechlessness that sometimes boil over. Each of these pieces, like so much of my work, develops intuitively on the canvas, not according to a predetermined plan.
Rise Up is (so far) the only designed painting in this gallery, meaning the only one for which I had a complete plan of composition, palette, and paint application before I began.
As I wrote at the time (December 2016), "I don't have a solution, but what we're doing isn't working. Starting a new piece based on 'peace' in many languages, in hope of peace in every land."
Languages include English, Arabic, Hindi Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, German, Māori, Zulu, and Turkish.
Acrylic and oil on canvas 36x36 in / 91x91 cm (2016)
In an institutional collection in San Francisco
Oil and ink on canvas 36 in/91 cm square
Inspired by Black Lives Matter and the musical Hamilton, this piece is the hopeful, activist antidote to "Fuck You" (also in this gallery).
In a private collection in San Francisco
Like Peace (below) and my Hope series, this is a meditation on a concept that feels lacking in our civic and social discussions. The text TRUTH is shown in English, French, German, Hindi, Sesotho, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Greek, Somali, Croatian, Latin. Languages that do not use a Roman alphabet have been transliterated.
Oil on canvas 36x36 inches/91x91 cm (2017)
In a private collection in Manhattan
Oil and ink on canvas 36x36 in/91x91 cm
A meditation on fragility, including text in English, Norwegian, Hindi, Filipino, Chinese, Polish, German, Arabic, Bosnian, Russian, Somali, and Uzbek.
In a private collection in Petaluma
My country (and the whole world) seems to be as polarized as it's ever been during my lifetime. This series of meditation on HOPE served as my re-rentry to painting after the winter holidays in January 2017. Each piece is 16" x 10" (40cm x 25cm).
My country (and the whole world) seems to be as polarized as it's ever been during my lifetime. This series of meditation on HOPE served as my re-rentry to painting after the winter holidays in January 2017. Each piece is 16" x 10" (40cm x 25cm).
My country (and the whole world) seems to be as polarized as it's ever been during my lifetime. This series of meditation on HOPE served as my re-rentry to painting after the winter holidays in January 2017. Each piece is 16" x 10" (40cm x 25cm).
My country (and the whole world) seems to be as polarized as it's ever been during my lifetime. This series of meditation on HOPE served as my re-rentry to painting after the winter holidays in January 2017. Each piece is 16" x 10" (40cm x 25cm).
In a private collection in San Francisco
My country (and the whole world) seems to be as polarized as it's ever been during my lifetime. This series of meditation on HOPE served as my re-rentry to painting after the winter holidays in January 2017. Each piece is 16" x 10" (40cm x 25cm).
My country (and the whole world) seems to be as polarized as it's ever been during my lifetime. This series of meditation on HOPE served as my re-rentry to painting after the winter holidays in January 2017. Each piece is 16" x 10" (40cm x 25cm).
In a private collection in San Francisco
Oil and ink on canvas 36x24 in/91x61 cm
Sometimes my personal journey intersects my professional one. I've had a lot of justifiable anger lately and decided to put it to work.
A meditation. The underpainting includes the word Justice in many languages (transliterated as required): English, Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Swahili, Cantonese, Hindi, Welsh, Arabic, Albanian, Slovenian, and Māori.
Oil on canvas 36x36 inches/91x91 cm (2017)
In a private collection
oil and acrylic on canvas 30x48 in/76x122 cm
A meditation on the concept, including the term in English, Italian, Mandarin, Arabic, Swahili, Javanese, Russian, Swedish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Uzbek, and Spanish (transliterated as necessary).
In a private collection in San Francisco
oil, acrylic, and ink on canvas - 18x24 in/46x61 cm
The text is in English, Filipino, German, Yoruba, French, Italian, Finnish, and Basque.
In a private collection in San Francisco
Most of my work is finish in oil paint, even if it starts with other media. This is a test for an acrylic mural commission I'll be completing in August 2017.
Most of my work is finish in oil paint, even if it starts with other media. This is a test for an acrylic mural commission I'll be completing in August 2017.
oil, acrylic, and India ink on canvas 16x20 in/41x51 cm
The first half of 2017 has felt particularly unsettled, and this is a meditation on it. The title is taken from the lyrics of Hamilton, the smash Broadway musical written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
One of four paintings in the Seasons suite. Includes the word Winter in English, Arabic, Italian, Māori, Chinese, Russian, Finnish, Filipino, Hindi, Czech, Polish, Swahili, Latin, and Irish.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36 in/91 cm square (2018)
In a private collection in San Rafael
One of four paintings in the Seasons suite. Includes the word Spring in English, Hindi, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Zulu, Arabic, French, Māori, Japanese, German, Hebrew, and Filipino.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36 in/91 cm square (2018)
In a private collection in San Rafael
One of four paintings in the Seasons suite. Includes the word Summer in English, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Swahili, Arabic, Filipino, French, Greek, Slovenian, Hindi, Igbo, Māori, and Spanish.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36 in/91 cm square (2018)
In a private collection in San Rafael
One of four paintings in the Seasons suite. Includes the word Summer in English, Filipino, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Hindi, Swahili, Romanian, Japanese, Maori, Croatian, Chinese, Turkish, German and Hebrew.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36 in/91 cm square (2018)
In a private collection in San Rafael
In a private collection in San Rafael
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40x30 in/102x76 cm (2018)
In a private collection in San Francisco
A meditation on dreaming. Text in French, Japanese, Russian, Swahili, Chinese, Arabic, Igbo, Spanish, Yoruba, Danish, German, Romanian, Thai, Hindi, Turkish, Hebrew, Italian, and English.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40x30 in/102x76 cm (2018)
No longer available
A meditation on humanity. Includes the word Person in English, Swahili, Chinese, German, Hindi, Uyghur, Polish, Indonesian, Japanese, Zulu, Russian, and Spanish.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36 in/91 cm square (2018)
English, French, Russian, Hawaiian, Spanish, German, Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, Basque, Estonian, Maori, Somali, Welsh and Finnish.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40x30 in/102x76 cm (2018)
Text in English, German, Vietnamese, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Swahili, Indonesian, Hindi, Spanish, Igbo, Irish, Persian, Hebrew, and Navajo.
acrylic and oil on canvas, 30x48 in / 76x102 cm
Text in English, Russian, Swahili, Navajo, Chinese, Filipino, Hindi, Arabic, German, French, Welsh, Urdu, Zulu, and Spanish, Japanese, Icelandic, and Italian.
acrylic on canvas, 40x30 in / 102x76 cm
English, Chinese, Swahili, French, Hindi, Russian, German, Arabic, Spanish, Turkish, Japanese, Italian, and Tajik.
oil and acrylic on canvas, 40x30 in / 102x76 cm
In a collection in San Francisco
A lifetime of Christmases spills into my work. After a nativity by Ernst Deger
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 30" / 76cm square (2018)
Paintings of places such as San Francisco, Oakland, New York, San Antonio, Venice, Istanbul, New Delhi, and others
A view up California Street in San Francisco featuring the intersection with Grant Avenue in Chinatown.
Oil on canvas, 30x24 in / 76x61 cm, 2018
In a private collection in San Francisco
A view of Jones Street in San Francisco’s Nob Hill.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40x30 in/102x76 cm, 2018
In a private collection in San Francisco
San Francisco has many distinct features. Some are obvious, like the steep hills and the Golden Gate Bridge. Others are a little more subtle, like the way certain streets feel like canyons, since they are narrower, lined with tall buildings, and lead up steep slopes; or the way overhead electrical cables for trolleybuses slice randomly across the sky.
In a private collection in Virginia.
Oil on stretched canvas 24" x 30" (2015)
A view on a gray day over the Inner Richmond district of San Francisco, looking north towards the Presidio.
In a private collection in California
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 24" x 48", 2017
A view along St Mary's street in San Antonio, my hometown, towards the unique and beautiful Tower Life Building, a local landmark.
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36" x 24" (2015-2017)
Modeled on an industrial area near my studio, I am intrigued by the arrangement of large, blocky forms and surprisingly strong colors contrasted against the spaghetti-like array of overhead cables. Like much of my work, it is a unique part of my favorite city (San Francisco).
Oil on stretched canvas 24" x 30" (2015)
A view from my balcony in San Francisco's Mission District, full of the accretions of cities: streetlights, power lines, transit equipment, traffic signals, newspaper racks, restaurants, garbage cans, street trees, and, of course, buildings.
Watercolor 8" x 8" (2015)
In a private collection in San Francisco
San Francisco's northern waterfront, looking towards the Golden Gate (the naturally-occurring landform framing the opening between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay), is one of my very favorite places on earth. This dramatic triptych view encapsulates its storied past.
The Ohlone inhabited these lands as early as 4000 BCE. The Spanish first fortified the Presidio (in the left background) in 1776. Fort Mason, in the foreground, was established during the US Civil War in 1864. The Marina District (landfill of the middle ground on the left) was constructed following the 1906 earthquake and fire as the site fro the 1915 Pan-Pacific International Exposition, a world's fair celebrating San Francisco's recovery from the 1906 devastation. The Golden Gate Bridge did not open until 1937. Almost everything within this view is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, one of the largest urban parks in the world, more than 2.5 times the size of the entirety of San Francisco.
The triptych's title comes from the title song to the 1936 film, "San Francisco":
San Francisco, open your golden gate
You let no stranger wait outside your door
San Francisco, here is your wanderin' one
Saying I'll wander no more
In a private collection in San Francisco.
Oil on stretched canvases (in three parts 18" x 18" each) 54" x 18" (2015)
I have spent decades looking at cities and trying to identify the essential elements of my favorite places. This Urban Views series of paintings is part of that exploration, and Jones Street on the south face of Nob Hill in San Francisco is one of those places.
San Francisco has many distinct features. Some are obvious, like the steep hills and the Golden Gate Bridge. Others are a little more subtle, like the nearly-ubiquitous bay windows hanging over the sidewalks and bracketing fire escapes in older parts of town, or the wide variety of building colors that nevertheless give an overall sense of a city made up of very pale structures.
In a private collection in Virginia.
Oil on stretched canvas 24" x 30" (2015)
A popular view along a San Francisco street as it rises and dips. Most of the city is plagued with overhead power lines, but they do have their own character.
In a private collection in Honolulu.
Oil on stretched canvas 30" x 24" (2015)
In addition to being a painter, I am an architect and urban designer, and unique places intrigue me. Sacramento Street in San Francisco is uncommonly narrow (49 feet/15 meters), uncommonly steep (it rises 378 feet/115 meters in about 5 blocks), and lined with tall buildings. The title is taken from the height of the rise (of Nob Hill) in Spanish vara, the land measurement system used in San Francisco's early days.
Oil on stretched canvas 24" x 30", 2015
In a private collection in California
A view of the West 4 subway station in New York City. I lived on the A subway line for five years (both in Brooklyn and in Manhattan) and found myself in this spot often.
Oil on stretched canvas 16" x 12" (2015)
In a private collection in Marin County.
The Fox Theater in Oakland, California is a 1920s movie house extravaganza, replete with an elaborate neon sign and over-the-top architecture of no specific style, but evocative of many. Influences ranging from India to Persia to the Maya give flavor to the exotic fantasy palace. After decades of neglect, the theater and commercial spaces were recently reborn as a 2,800-seat concert hall and home of the Oakland School of the Arts. It has a showier exterior than its more famous neighbor, the Art Deco masterpiece Paramount Theater.
Oil on stretched canvas 20" x 16" (2015)
In a private collection in West Hollywood
A street scene in San Francisco's Financial District, featuring the Ralph Stackpole sculptures "Industry" and "Bountiful Earth" at the former Pacific Stock Exchange.
Watercolor 8" x 8" (2015)
In a private collection in California
A sketch of the Oakland Tribune tower.
In a private collection in Oakland.
Oil on canvas panel 9" x 12" (2015)
My first five years in San Francisco, I lived on Nob Hill. Each morning, I would board the California Street cable car to go to work. At the foot of the street stands the Southern Pacific building, and on the horizon you can see the Bay Bridge and Oakland beyond.
In a private collection in Connecticut.
Oil on stretched canvas 24" x 42" (2014)
I have spent decades looking at cities and trying to identify the essential elements of my favorite places. This Urban Views series of paintings is part of that exploration, and Sansome street in San Francisco's Financial District is one of those places.
San Francisco has many distinct features. Some are obvious, like the steep hills and the Golden Gate Bridge. Others are a little more subtle, like the way certain streets feel like canyons, since they are narrower, lined with tall buildings; or the way sodium vapor streetlights and fog conspire to produce an otherworldly golden glow.
In a private collection in California
Oil on stretched canvas 24" x 30" (2015)
I have had the distinct pleasure of three trips to Venice, perhaps the most magical city on Earth. So many artists have approached its beauty in so many ways, I wondered what I could add. Inspired by the East-meets-West history of the Venetian Empire, I thought of Japanese paintings, Byzantine ikons, and the gold mosaic glory of Basilica San Marco and created this painting.
Oil on metal leaf on prepared birch plywood 24" x 12" (2015)
Istanbul (aka Constantinople, aka Byzantium) is a magical place. This view, from the European neighborhood of Ortaköy looks past an Ottoman mosque across the Bosphorus to Asia, connected by a modern suspension bridge.
Oil on canvas board 11" x 14" (2015)
In a private collection
San Francisco has many distinct features. Some are obvious, like the steep hills and the Golden Gate Bridge. Others are a little more subtle, like the way certain streets have a honky-tonk vibe of hole-in-the-wall businesses with busy, cluttered signs; unexpected places where cars or pedestrians wander overhead on bridges; or where streets are stacked.
In the days of horse-drawn omnibuses (precursors to modern city buses), Nob Hill was just too steep to get goods, foodstuffs, and commuters from Fisherman's Wharf to the employment and retail centers around Union Square. (Before the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, scores of thousands commuted daily by ferries across San Francisco Bay, and nearly all shipping arrived via water.) So a tunnel was created underneath the steepest three blocks, connecting Union Square and Chinatown via a gentle grade, leaving businesses, apartment buildings, and hotels with sunlit sidewalk addresses above.
In a private collection in Palo Alto.
Oil and acrylic on stretched canvas 24" x 30" (2015)
San Francisco has many distinct features. Some are obvious, like the steep hills and the Golden Gate Bridge. Others are a little more subtle, like the colliding street grid in different neighborhoods, the particular mix of old and new, and the roofscape (is it spiky with lots of variation or is it a more continuous contour?). The spire of St. Patrick's church and all the homes on distant Potrero Hill survived the 1906 earthquake and fire, but most of the buildings in the Yerba Buena area were built since 1980.
In a private collection in Tiburon.
Oil on stretched canvas 24" x 30" (2015)
In a city of hills, sometimes the sidewalk is so steep it becomes stairs.
In a private collection in Albany, California.
Oil on stretched canvas 24" x 30" (2015)
The view from my balcony.
Watercolor 5" x 7" (2016)
**After the first three, few of these are fully labeled right now. Please contact me if you are interested. Thanks!**
Although my home and studio are in an entirely built or paved urban environment, colors and combinations of flowers knock my socks off. Several friends of mine are floral designers while others run a website and social media feed called Bouquet of the Day (BOTD), and their work inspires a particular strain of my work, samples of which are shown here.
Oil on gessoed paper 18" x 24" (2016)
Oil on gessoed paper 18" x 12" (2016)
Oil on gessoed paper 18" x 24" (2016)
In a private collection.
In a private collection.
Oil on gessoed paper 18" x 20" (2016)
Oil on gessoed paper 18" x 24" (2016)
In a private collection in South San Francisco
Oil on gessoed paper 18" x 24" (2016)
In a private collection in California
In a private collection.
Oil on gessoed paper 18" x 24" (2016)
Oil on gessoed paper 18" x 24" (2016)
