Mixed Media - Winner of Best in Show in the ‘Century of Suffrage’ exhibit at the MACC in 2020. Check out my blog from November 2020 about this piece.

I designed 10 metal figures for Rancho Cordova Arts ‘Porch Party’ display at Rancho Cordova’s 2020 Holiday Lights drive-through event. Several figures also showed at the MACC in the 3-D show in February 2021. (A bunny and a plein air painter with easel didn’t get into this photo.) Each was made from 1/2” squarestock steel, painted black. They were designed to utilize 5 meter lengths of LED ‘neon’, zip tied to the frame. Fabricated by local metal artists John Schuck & Marsh Wildman.

Acrylic on canvas showed in Rancho Cordova City Hall ‘Abstraction’ juried art exhibit, Summer 2021. This is about the energy of love we carry with us. I used some new stamps I carved to imprint paint on top of the brushwork.

This piece was inspired by an artwork in the international watercolor show that comes to Sacramento Fine Arts every two years. After completing my piece, I peaked at the show’s catalog to see if my creation looked anything like its inspiration. Not really! It’s interesting to me how these artworks take on a life of their own - every time.

This abstract is painted in acrylic on canvas, 24” x 36”. I was inspired by an abstract painting by a local artist at a group critique, and bought my canvas for the purpose of creating something similar.

Then the painting took over [as it always does]. I decided to go for a 'Farm-to-Fork' theme, and this is what emerged. The background started out in taupe, then black, then red, then this gradation of blue-violet. The cross-hatching is the symbol widely used to denote soil on landscape construction detail elevation drawings.

Two months after first sighting, I had the opportunity to see the same local artist's painting in a gallery, and was shocked! Shocked! to see how different this painting had become from its inspiration.

Mixed Media - Acrylic & collage, 24” x 36”. All the background text is from magazines and newspapers about lies and conspiracies from our country’s history into the present. This piece was shown in the Typography exhibit at the MACC (Mills Station Arts & Culture Center).

This piece is made entirely of chocolate candy wrappers. I figured I better make some art with the box full of pretty foils, sorted by color, in a big box. I painted this in acrylic later.

Oil on canvas. 11” X 14”. An ironic title, given it is made with only black, white, and cadmium yellow light pigments. Shown in the ‘Black and White plus One’ juried show at Rancho Cordova City Hall, spring 2021.

The sun was shining bright and low over the high valleys of the Rockies as we drove to an overnight stay along the Uncompahgre River in Ouray, Colorado.  I've seen this in the mountains before - how the sun comes in low under clouds, leaving the plains lit up and the background in shade - very dramatic.

I used a triad of secondary colors (violet, green, orange) for this sunset scene.  This watercolor is painted on Arches cold press paper, measuring 15" X 22",  matted and framed.

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on purchasing this or other artworks.

Watercolor - from the American River Parkway. You can see this piece in public -on Beaudry Drive, the entry road to River Bend Park in Rancho Cordova, California. It’s printed on a vinyl art wrap on a SMUD utility box. 2021.

I wanted to celebrate the lushness of being deep inside a vineyard. 

I painted a base coat of yellow and orange acrylic on the canvas, then poured watercolor over it (first yellow, then red, then blue).  I picked up the canvas and tilted it this way and that to make the tangle of vines you see on the edges. (Very messy!)  To 'find' the grapes, I removed the watercolor to reveal the bright acrylic underneath.  Shadings and details were added in watercolor and acrylic.  It's protected by UV Varnish.  

This image is out in the public on Rod Beaudry Drive, the entrance to River Bend Park on the American River. It’s been printed on a vinyl wrap on a SMUD utility box.

The 'Old Vines' original measures 24" X 30" on canvas, in a floating black wood frame. 

I have a series of ten (10) professional giclees on stretched canvas (1.5" profile) in a larger and more dramatic 32" X 40".  Original signature, numbered, with a Certificate of Authenticity.

I also have a series of twenty (20) smaller 16" X 20" professional giclees on Somerset Velvet paper. Original signature, numbered, with a Certificate of Authenticity.

This painting was inspired by a visiting relative, who was surprised that California wasn’t just all city - like what she’d seen of Los Angeles. So this is about the countryside AND the city. and the interface between the two.

This image is out in the public along Rod Beaudry Drive, the entry road to River Bend Park on the American River. It’s wrapped around a SMUD utility box on the west side of the road.

These colorful fishing net floats, hanging from an upturned wooden boat, really caught my eye.  This watercolor is painted on 18" X 24" Arches cold press paper.   It is under glass and framed in black.

I love how the morning light illuminates the rock layers in these eroded cliffs.  This is painted in watercolor on a 12" X 12" canvas.  It's varnished with a UV protectant, and framed in a black floating frame.

I couldn't help loving these two water birds - a gull and a pelican - over on Bodega Bay, sharing the top of the pier pilings. 

This watercolor is painted on 16" X 20" Arches paper, matted and framed under glass in a walnut frame.  This painting hung at Rancho Cordova City Hall in its juried 'Fall Show' 2014.

Please call me at 916-852-0432 for more information about purchasing this or other artworks.

Okay, this really happened.  This couple was out on Lake Meridian on fourth of July a few years back.  They were out before the annual boat parade, and she was doing all the rowing.

Watercolor on Arches cold press paper, 11" X 13", matted and framed under glass.

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on this or other paintings.

This watercolor, on Arches cold press paper,  measures 18" x 24", double-matted and framed in wood to 24" x 30".   It hung in Rancho Cordova City Hall's "Critters: Aardvark to Zebra" juried show April-July 2016.

One of the most extraordinary experiences I've had snorkeling was when a school of over 140 Blue Tang swarmed through Gallows Point in Belize in 2015.  I knew they were grazing algae that little damselfish had farmed on the reef.  The damselfish are territorial about protecting their 'farms', but when outnumbered by so many, they backed off entirely.

Blue Tang have quite a range of color - the adult bodies range from pale blue to dark blue and purple, and most of the tails I saw on this day were yellow.  I placed a baby Blue Tang in the foreground, partly to show how the babies start out bright yellow.

The school of tang was led by a Schoolmaster (and suddenly, I knew why these bright silver and yellow fishies are called schoolmasters!)

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on purchasing this or other artworks

The coolest guy on the snorkel boat! Watercolor on Arches hot press paper.

The pandemic brought such longing for connection… I call her my ‘sad girl’. She stands with encircled arms, holding no one. Shown at the MACC in the ‘3-Dimensional’ juried show, February 2021.

Watercolor - I was trying to capture a moment of uncertainty - will the Other show up?

A beautiful dalmation show dog brought her owner into our holiday art gallery, and I used her as the model for this unreal watercolor.  The dog's black spots are running off in the rain, revealing the real spots of blue and teal.

The painting measures 20" X 30" and is framed under glass in natural wood.  It hung in Rancho Cordova, California City Hall January through March 2016 in the 'Unreal and Imagined' show.

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on purchasing this or other artworks.

What can I say?  Buster likes to go places!  (So do I.) 

Buster was shown in Rancho Cordova City Hall April-July 2016 in the 'Critters: From Aardvark to Zebra' juried show.

This 11 X 14 watercolor is painted on 300 lb. rough paper.  Buster is framed under glass in a 1-1/4" black frame.

One pre-pandemic winter, the airboat stopped at a small flock of purple gallinules on the Everglades near Fort Lauderdale.  I couldn't help but love their exaggerated, cartoony feet when they picked their way over the rough terrain of reeds.   This is acrylic on board, 8" X 8".

I painted this busy octopus watercolor on Arches paper for an exhibit at a local steampunk - themed tea shop.   Yes!  Every arm is engaged in making and serving high tea.  Autobiographical?

It is framed consistent with the industrial Victorian-era fantasy theme and is matted and under glass.  It's showing until Friday, January 15, 2016 in Rancho Cordova City Hall juried 'Fall Show'. 

Please call me at 916-852-0432 for information on purchasing this or other artwork.

This is a big, lush, punch of color.  Watercolor on oversized Arches paper.  Framed under glass.  Measures 32 X 34 inches.   It hung as the juror's piece in the "Zoom In" art show at Rancho Cordova, California City Hall from January into April 2017.

We grow a couple of kinds of hops out on the back yard pergola.  The papery blossoms - the part that flavors and preserves our home brews - are beautiful.  These are from our summer 2016 crop.

This is the second watercolor I painted of our 2016 hop crop.  We grow a couple of cultivars of hops out on the back yard pergola.  The papery blossoms - the part that flavors and preserves our home brews - are beautiful!  People used to grow lots of hops commercially in this part of northern California - we don't see many fields of the distinctive long poles and wire guides anymore.

Recently, my girlfriend from 1st grade showed me this wasp nest from her yard in our home town in the Pacific Northwest.  I was stunned by its intricate beauty, and painted it for the Rancho Cordova 'Farm to Fork' juried show at City Hall, July-October 2016.

This 18" X 24" watercolor is painted on Arches cold press paper, matted and framed under glass to 22" X 28".

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on this or other paintings.

Enjoying my cousins' hospitality at their cabin in a remote canyon inspired this starry campfire scene.  This watercolor is painted on 18" X 24" Arches cold press paper, framed under glass in an espresso-finished frame.

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on purchasing this or other artworks.

This is a plein air (outdoors, in person) painting from the Kilgore pioneer cemetery in Rancho Cordova, California.  A group of us had a windy morning in October to capture the spirit of this historic place.  

Shades of Kilgore hung in the plein air paintings show at City Hall.   The image measures 12" X 16", is matted under glass and framed.

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on purchasing this or other artworks.

After many years working in transportation, I couldn't resist a whimsical 'take' on the daily commute - complete with a population of rats in the offices, cars, bikes and a Regional Transit bus.

I painted this watercolor on a 20" X 30" Fabriano Hot Press Board. This fun piece is matted and framed under glass. It hung at Rancho Cordova City Hall in the spring 2015 juried 'Wheels' show.

Every day in summer my sweetheart brings me a bouquet from our garden.  Why not start to paint them?

I started this painting by making a big, beautiful mess of texture and color, mostly using my fingers.  Then I 'found' the flowers by painting around them (negative painting) - something like a sculptor, removing the stone that isn't part of the sculpture.  Acrylic on canvas, 16" X 20".

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on this or other paintings.

The high deserts of Arizona and Utah leave an extraordinary impression, and the processes by which these monuments were formed are fascinating.  Each of these three acrylic on canvas pieces measures 8" X 8" X 2".  It hung in Rancho Cordova City Hall for the 2015 juried 'Elements' (Earth Air Fire Water) show.

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on purchasing this or other artworks.

These little gems (5" X 7" X 1" deep) just sort of happened when I wanted to do something small and bright and special in acrylic.  They are painted on canvas board, adhered to a wood panel.  The sides are painted with the background color.

This is a continuing series...

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on purchasing this or other artworks.

These little gems (5" X 7" X 1" deep) just sort of happened when I wanted to do something small and bright and special in acrylic.  They are painted on canvas board, adhered to a wood panel.  The sides are painted with the background color.

This is a continuing series...

Call me at 916-852-0432 for information on purchasing this or other artworks.