The Lab's 'anti-mall' descriptor is soooo spot on. Their website describes this indoor/outdoor cluster of unique shops as "a place where thoughts run free, art and culture are king. A destination full of small businesses, art and funkiness".
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Recently while camping on the beach in Morro Bay, CA, we drove over the hills to neighboring city Paso Robles to see the phenomenal, immersive art exhibition Sensorio. First off, the place is one huge exhibit - spreading out over 300 plus acres (formerly vineyards). Second, the installation is flat-out, jaw-dropping stunning! Christo'esque in scale and aptly billed as the 'intersection of art, technology and nature'.
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Carol and I are indeed fortunate that the Southern Oregon Coast is soooo accessible. 5.5 hours on Hwy 101 to the Oregon Border...and you don't hit a single signal until Eureka, CA (220 miles in, four hours north). This particular camping run (over the years) has been more prolific even than our beloved Hyw 395 in Southern Caifornia's Sierras. Visually the two highways are as different as night and day, but conversely they're both front-loaded with dramatic landscapes...that seemingly just keep on coming!
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‘Punk’s Not Dead’
Oil and cold wax on canvas, 30” x 40”

This is #3 in a series of five paintings based on some WWI military bunkers I photographed last year near Port Townsend, WA. I’ve been working on this “Bunker Series’ concurrently, bouncing back and forth between all five paintings which keeps things interesting…and the motivation going. I've finished up a three month ‘stoppage’ of painting overseeing our kitchen/living remodel…but that’s done and I'm all over ‘em now!

Vintage Refrigerator - Archival Inkjet Print 22" x 17"

When I fist noticed ‘this gem’ at a friend/sculptor’s workshop, I immediately read it as a sculptural fusion of Pop art + abstraction. The front's delicately layered sawdust, wipe marks plus a touch of grime blending with the retro logo plate/decorative trim was pure. It still worked up to 2018-19. How does a late 60s, early 70s fridge keep operating while new ones are lucky to make 10 years? I think we all know the answer to that one. I casually mentioned on one of my regular visits to his workshop/studio that (if the fridge was mine) I’d find a way to apply a heavy, clear coating to preserve ‘the art’. Plus the two doors could be easily removed as well - creating a natural, wall learning sculpture. I’m pretty sure he thought I was kidding as I was mortified a few years back when I learned he had hauled it to the recycling dump. Noooooooo !!!

Burning IKEA Truck, Digital illustration-2024
To this day, artist Ed Ruscha's various Standard Gas Station paintings still resonate - classic Pop Art that easily earned it's relevant and lasting art power. The iconic IKEA warehouses seemed to be a natural fit to spoof and pay homage. I loved all Ruscha's various renditions of his iconic Standard Series but Burning Gas Station, 1965 stands alone for it's originality, humor, artistic execution and perhaps a subtle statement that's seemingly becomes more relevant over time.

Rubber Bands
On this day, 2/4/18 I staged a shot of 'rubber bands' and utilized a dash of ICM (Intentional Camera Movement). I kinda miss doing those setups and 'round the same time did some 'studies' of push pins, paper clips and clothes pins.

New Painting: Bunker - Showers, 2023
40” x 30” x 2”, Oils, Cold Wax and Beach Sand on Canvas

Back in late August, Carol and I spent 5 nights up in Port Townsend, WA and a highlight was visiting the nearby Fort Flagler State Historic Park. I’ve been chasing these WWI bunkers along Washington State’s Peugeot Sound and western coast for years due to their photogenic qualities. These at Fort Flagler were among the most visually interesting ones I’ve seen. First the painting scheme was very graphic with each room painted with the bottom third black and the top two thirds a grungy white/grey. It brought a consistency or sorts to the numerous rooms which were varied in size, configuration, some with graffiti, old cast iron and steel props, vintage electrical connections, etc. I found them quite abstract and several had a typographical element that added to the overall ‘graphicness’. Names like ’Showers’, ‘Mess Hall’, ‘Powder Hoist’, ‘Fuse Room’, ‘Shell Room ‘Latrine’ to name a few.

This first painting (‘Showers’) is what I hope will become part of a series (5 or 6 maybe). Time will tell if my enthusiasm for the project can be maintained. Well see ; )

I've nicknamed our recent road trip 'The Central California Loop'. It's a run we've made many times over the years, yet one that seemingly never gets old...at least to Carol and I.
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It’s never a good sign…eerrr, when a painting’s ‘scrap/scratch board’ starts to look more interesting than the in-progress painting itself. I dunno...kinda a nice dry-brush (zen thingy) starting to happen.

Port Townsend is located at the northeastern tip of Washington's Olympic Peninsula and was developed around 1850. It was a strategically placed, well-sheltered, deep-harbor port at the junction of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Admiralty Inlet which provided access to Puget Sound. Historically well-preserved, it's a maritime wonderland for boaters, rowers, kyackers....and of course, run-of-the-mill tourists like Carol and I.
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Recently Carol and I took a quick flight down to Orange County, CA to visit my Dad - where (among other things) the three of us committed a ruthless slaughtering and overdose of raw oysters at the fab Santa Monica Seafood Market in Costa Mesa. Over the course of three nights and four days we squeezed in a few others stops as well. First up was (finally) a visit to the recently opened OCMA, aka The Orange County Museum of Art that now iconically anchors the Segrestrom Center for the Arts campus.
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We're back from a 6 night camping run down the Central California coast along with a few notes and pics here.
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Vintage Radiator (core)
152cm x 102cm (60" x 40") Diptych
As a test I had two 30" x 40" prints made at a Staples Print Center and then 'tacked' them to two 30" x 40" x 2.5" stretched canvas panels. For cheap inkjet prints ($75 for both) they held up pretty well (sharpness-wise). The 1:1 (large) digital files I provided certainly helped. What the piece is asking for though, are two, high-gloss, high-quality metal prints.

Carol and I were married March 20, 1976. Doesn’t exactly sound like the dark ages...does it? OK, don’t answer that! Anyway, we celebrated our 47th a couple hours up the coast in Mendocino, CA for a few days recently.
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Last month’s ‘atmospheric rivers’ in Northern, CA that brought us 19” of rain also dumped record breaking snow in the Eastern Sierra Mountains. As of this writing, the snowpack stands at 204% of normal and in some areas, deeper snow than California has seen in four decades.
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BlowOut - 2023, 41” x 29”
acrylic, graphite pencil and powder, charcoal stick on paper

I seemingly can’t go too long without doing a graphite drawing of some kind. I started this one the day before the ‘atmospheric rivers’ began here in Northern, CA, A relatively quick piece, I gnawed at it here and there...and finished it a couple days ago. It’s done but the rain ain’t. Perhaps a premonition of ‘something wicked this way comes’.