Server/Site Images Problem

I am experiencing a problem with the server where all my images reside. Apparently it is a selective thing, since all the images on the blog appear fine on my computer, but I'm told by many others that all the images have disappeared from the site when they view the blog. Thanks to all who have alerted me. We're working to resolve it.

Blue Wheelbarrow Watercolor on archival paper, 4 1/2" x 7 3/8" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD I'm back from my virtual Southwest vacation--for the time being at least. On occasion I'll probably keep throwing in some landscapes from warmer climes, warmer times, just for a change of pace. For today, I was struck by the beautiful blue of this wheelbarrow in our back yard.

Easy Riders Oil on board, 6.5" x 5.75" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD Two ravens riding thermals at the Grand Canyon. There's something a little absurd about depicting the Grand Canyon in a tiny painting, isn't there? I kind of like it.

Kanab Country Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. Since I was already rattling around the Paria River in southern Utah, I decided to drive the virtual RV a little farther north, to the small town of Kanab, Utah. There are some beautiful red-rock formations around Kanab that rival Sedona's, but today I was captivated by this unassuming little canyon, set aglow by the late afternoon sun.

From the studio wall

I read a book by John Brockman years ago with the irresistable title Einstein, Gertrude Stein, Wittgenstein and Frankenstein. Brockman wrote entertainingly about what were then cutting-edge discoveries in science across a broad spectrum, from microbiology to astrophysics.

Brockman has gone on to found Edge, a non-profit organization with the stated goal to "arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves." The following quote is from a conversation between British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and geneticist Craig Venter. Dawkins described genetic information in a way I had never thought about:

"It’s more than just saying you can pick up a chromosome and put it in somewhere else. It is pure information. You could put it into a printed book. You could send it over the Internet. You could store it on a magnetic disk for a thousand years, and then in a thousand years’ time, with the technology that they’ll have then, it would be possible to reconstruct whatever living organism was here now. What has happened is that genetics has become a branch of information technology. It is pure information; it’s digital information; it’s precisely the kind of information that can be translated digit-for-digit, byte-for-byte into any other kind of information. "

Balance Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD How sheltered a life have I led? Let me put it this way: before I visited the Southwest I thought balancing rocks only existed in Road Runner cartoons. I'm no geologist, so if I have this wrong someone straighten me out, but it's my understanding that these are remnants of a layer of sandstone that once covered much softer underlayers of ash or other sediments. As the forces of erosion broke through the hard shell, the softer underlayer began eroding away at a faster rate, leaving these rocks sitting high and dry. I read somewhere that while many of them look like they're ready to slide off their platforms, they rarely do. The underlayer compresses more on the tilted side, hardening it so it erodes more slowly. Meanwhile the side with less weight erodes away faster, and the rock tilts back the other way, keeping it balanced. In other words, they are giant teeter totters!

Dry Wash Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. 10 below the other night in eastern Oregon but lucky me, I'm still "virtual snowbirding" around the Southwest. Today I packed up the virtual RV and drove up to southern Utah, to hike through the colorful canyons that flank the Paria River. Sudden flash floods can bring a wall of water and debris eight feet deep roaring through this valley, but much of the time the "river" is a small trickle. The heat of the day parches moisture out of the wet mud of the riverbed, cracking it into countless fissures, their fragile edges curling upward like little clay bowls. They crunch and crackle loudly as I walk across them, disintegrating in puffs of fine dry powder.

Before Sedona Oil on board, 4 7/8" x 10 3/8" SOLD If this scene were true to present-day Sedona, there would be rooftops of houses peeking through the trees in the middle distance. I chose to edit them out. This is me imagining Sedona before there was a town. I'm sure it must be phenomenal to live in such an amazing place and watch the sun rise and set on those incredible mountains. But the truth is, I've always felt no one should be living there at all. It should have been made a National Park long, long ago. OK, now I've made everybody in Sedona mad!

Eroding Slope Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. Over eons, successive layers of volcanic ash were laid down on vast plains of the southwestern desert. The soft surfaces erode away over time, exposing these spectacular striped patterns.

Wukoki Tower Watercolor on archival paper, 7" x 5" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. I loved exploring the high plateau country of northern Arizona. Wukoki Ruin is about 30 miles north of Flagstaff. It is settled amidst a vast, undulating plain cut by meandering dry washes. Built sometime in the 12th century by ancestral Puebloan people, the stone and mud walls look more grown than constructed-rising up out of a base of huge natural sandstone boulders. What an amazing place.

Skydoor Watercolor on archival paper, 7" x 5" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD Shades of Georgia O'Keefe, I guess, but I actually saw this view years ago at the ancient Indian ruin of Wupatki, near Flagstaff. I always intended to paint it and here I am, finally getting around to it.

Two Tone Stone Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. I'm still "virtual snow-birding" around Sedona. Heard it snowed today up in Oregon.

Artists of Note

From time to time I'd like to feature some other artists I admire who have either blogs or websites. The internet has been a revelation to me in many ways, not least of which is discovering the phenomenal number of high-quality artists that are out there doing their thing. Sometimes I feel completely intimidated and humbled by the sheer level of quality and accomplishment I see, but mostly I have to say the experience has been hugely inspiring. Most artists love a broad range of art, not just what they do--here are a few of the many artists who interest me:

Yesterday I was fortunate to come across the work of a talented and interesting artist named Susan Beauchemin. Susan paints beautiful watercolor studies. There are a couple of richly expressive self-portraits, as well as fantasy collaborations with her three year old granddaughter and objects and scenes from daily life, elevated by her personal touch.

Marc Roder does enigmatic, large-scale, expressionistic oils in a style that I guess might be termed neo-primitive. They are heavily textured works painted with passion and intelligence. Marc's paintings are often funny, frightening and thoroughly intriguing, all at once.

I don't know what it is about Jeremiah Palacek, a young painter from Prague, but I love his stuff. These are decidedly funky paintings with a deadpan, retro palette. He often paints "stills" from video and computer games. Other subjects include dashing plumbers with plungers, suburban gangstas, and a panhandling Darth Vader.

I'm blown away by David Malan's work. He is a brilliant draftsman, illustrator, caricaturist and fine artist, all rolled into one. He is fluent with traditional as well as digital media techniques.

Timothy Horn is another new (to me) discovery. Timothy is a Bay Area painter who does wonderful plein air paintings and studio work that has the feel of being painted on location. His paintings are direct and painterly, with a terrific feel for color and design.

Canyon Glow Watercolor on archival paper, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD No hurry to get back from Arizona, is there? In the canyons of red rock country the most intense color is found in the shadows, which glow with ambient light.

Escape to Sedona Watercolor on archival paper, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. I decided to hop down to Sedona, Arizona yesterday for a quick escape from the snow. Well...only in my dreams. But that's what's great about being an artist, right? With memory, imagination, sketches or photos, we can transport ourselves wherever we wish to be on a daily basis. I was shuffling through some of the many Arizona photos I took when we lived in Flagstaff. Back then we really could escape the snow fast. When the white stuff got too thick for us in Flag (and believe me, it DOES snow in Flagstaff--sometimes two or three feet in one snowfall,) we'd hop in the car and drive right out of it in a half-hour, down the Oak Creek Canyon switchbacks to the relative warmth of Sedona, where it was nearly always sunny and mild. Now that's escapism!

Cottonwood and Fir Watercolor on archival paper, 7" x 5" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US.

Below Cove Oil on board, 11.5" x 20" NFS I'm continuing work on a commission today, so will post another daily tomorrow. Today's post is another commissioned painting I recently completed. Click the image for a larger view.

I'm working on some commissioned pieces today and plan to post another daily tomorrow. Meanwhile, from the studio wall:

The great American dancer/choreographer Twyla Tharp has written a wonderful book called The Creative Habit. In these excerpts she speaks of strategies for maintaining creative continuity from one day to the next:

"The only bad thing about having a good creative day is that it ends, and there's no guarantee we can repeat it tomorrow...Earnest Hemingway had the nifty trick of always calling it a day at a point when he knew what came next. He built himself a bridge to the next day...A savvy stand-up comedian always knows to leave the audience begging for more. You should do the same with your work. Don't drive yourself to the point of being totally spent. Try to stop while you have a few drops left in the tank, and use that fuel to build a bridge to the next day."

Forked Horn Watercolor on archival paper, 5.25" x 7" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD A young Mule Deer buck moves warily through the underbrush after a fresh snowfall.

Mountain Stream Watercolor on archival paper, 6.5" x 5.25" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD Click the image for a magnified view.

Dark Water Watercolor on archival paper 5" x 7" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD Back to landscape today. I took a drive and then a walk along Catherine Creek yesterday--such a beautiful little stream. In the early evening light the water against the stark snow looked like iridescent black ink. Clicking the image will bring up a larger-than-life view.

Float 3 Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD This is probably the last of the brush series for awhile; I'm feeling the itch to get back to some landscapes, or...who knows? My fellow artist/blogger friend Silvina Day suggested I allow greater enlargement for the paintings. Given the low resolution of computer monitors maybe a larger-than-life image helps give a better "feel" for the actual paint surface. It also makes me cringe, since it makes all my mistakes larger-than-life as well! Anyway, I'll give it a try. Let me know if you find it useful. Click to enlarge.

Float 2 Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD

Float 1 Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD

New and Used 3 Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD Since I'm in a confessional mode lately, all the talk about how I love my brushes--here's the truth of how they're treated: I left the brush in the foreground standing in buckets of water for such prolonged periods that the wooden handle swelled, then shrank away from the metal ferrule. The whole thing got floppy, ready to fall apart. I wrapped picture wire around it in a desperate attempt to hold it together. It was a lot of trouble but I didn't mind, because I really love this brush. You know how the old song goes: "You always hurt the ones you love."

Brush Shadows Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD On an earlier post I mentioned how I can't bring myself to throw a paintbrush away. Not entirely true. During the "what to take and what to throw-away" cycle that preceeded our move to Oregon, I did manage to toss about 100 completely worn-out brushes. But I had to do it really fast and not look at them for long, or I would have lovingly placed them back in their coffee cans. I'm pretty well over it now, but I still have pangs of guilt.

New and Used 2 Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD

French Couple Oil on board, 6" x 6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD Ready for a little irony? Yesterday I posted "Quiet Evening" and went on about how still it was. Well, that morning one of the strongest windstorms of the season hit the valley. Brenda nearly blew off the road driving to work; the freeway was closed for 150 miles due to high winds and zero visibility; power lines went down all over the place; I even heard the county was declared a disaster area! Time for a change of pace. Today's painting continues the off and on brush series that began in the early weeks of my blog.

Quiet Evening Watercolor on archival paper, 5" x 8 1/8" $140.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD Around these parts in winter the joke is that if we had a still day we'd all fall over, since we're so used to leaning into the wind. I walked outside the other evening to the most beautiful stillness, perfectly clear and cold. The sun's shadow swept across the valley floor, then crept quietly up the eastern slopes.

Waiting for Breakfast Watercolor on archival paper, 7"x5" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD

Long Limb Sequel Watercolor on archival paper, 7"x5" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD See my December 21st post for "the rest of the story."

Happy New Year!

I'll post something tomorrow; meanwhile, some New Year's
quotes from the studio wall:

A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.

~Author Unknown


New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.

~Mark Twain


I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the year's.

~Henry Moore