PATTERNS AND TONES

"The 3rd Annual Bob Baker Day No. 1" 2017 It was a pleasure to attend the 3rd annual celebration of Puppet Master Bob Baker in front of his Marionette theater last month. His 50+ years of entertaining children of all ages with his amazing hand crafted marionettes continues to delight and capture the imaginations of those who watch them perform. The celebration saw many marionettes wandering around interacting with the crowd as well as street performances, games and a very intuitive fortune teller! I had the honor to meet Mr. Baker several times before he passed away in 2014 and blogged about his many, many wonderful anecdotes and stories he shared of Hollywood and puppetry throughout his career in " Bob Baker and His Magical Marionettes " and got a peep into his puppet warehouse in " Bob Baker: The Making of His Magical Marionettes ".  I spoke with Theater Director Alex Evans during the celebration and was happy to hear that th...

"TRUMP-IT" 2017 I've hit saturation level and it's coming out of me in a very cathartic way. Day after day there is something that The Donald and his minions stir up, insinuate, display or pontificate about that is truly unbelievable. His every word makes me cringe. He should be selling used cars in Atlantic City not running the United States of America! My mind cannot wrap around the fact that he is in fact the leader of our country. It doesn't compute... The Donald's unpresidential behavior creates a very uneasy contrast with reality. I grapple with the fact that this baboon is running the country and very well could possibly run it right into the ground. I'm usullly not a pessimist but it's gets harder each day to fathom how we as a country will survive 4 years of his ineffectual and harmful decisions. Yet I soldier on each day creating a new image to express and expel my frustrations and utter amazement...

"THIN LIPS SINK SHIPS - THE DONALD" 2017 Last week I was hit by a lighting bolt of inspiration during the middle of the night. For three hours straight images of The Donald flowed into my subconscious. I saw repetitive text scrawled across his face much like words on a chalkboard. The visuals were coming so fast no sooner would I write the ideas down, another batch of five images would bubble up waiting for me to sketch out and jot down in my notebook. In the morning I was tired but I was also determined to turn this waterfall of images into reality. "Thin Lips Sink Ships" are the 1st of 25 inspirations I was give during the night. My subconscious was obviously trying to work out my feelings about the political climate we find ourselves in today and had hit saturation level. This is new territory for me. I always subtly imbue my work with social commentary but this is blatant and bold. I am grateful to have tapped into my emergency valve to release the an...

"Big Sur No.1" from The Detritus Series Here are a few new portraits of nature for my Detrius Series . These forms crafted from the ocean to the desert were set in plaster against a light absorbing flat black duvateen. The contrast elevated these stunning structures to artistic forms that I feel help highlight their natural structures. In Big Sur I found  Sea Oak with their pod shaped "air bladders" curled into a natural form. The salt that remained clung to the seaweed echoed the sand covered shapes I found out in Twentynine Palms. Grasses and fallen redwood fronds rounded out the natural flora I found to and from the sea. The more extreme environment found out in the low desert of Twentynine Palms was reflected in the gnarled and spiky sticks and yucca bark I chose to photograph. Twisted and sharp, these pieces looked like they had been dried from the inside out creating exaggerated natural patterns and forms that were in high contrast to the smooth plas...