Artists Reception ~ Art at the Aztec

Consider this your invitation to the Artists reception 10/28/06 at the Historic Aztec Hotel here in Monrovia from 5-8 PM. No invitation needed, no RSVP needed. Just show up and enjoy an evening of art, munchies and cocktails with us at the Aztec. You can't miss the gallery as it is right on Foothill Boulevard about 3 blocks west of Myrtle Avenue. For you mapquest fiends the actual address is
Aztec Hotel
311 West Foothill Boulevard
Monrovia, CA 91016

I'll be there as I have pieces in the gallery as well as displayed on the sidewalk that evening as part of the event. It will be here that the newest piece from the Bodie series will be unveiled. It will be a large piece (20X30 image in a 24X36 frame). It is one I had a lot of fun working on.

The teaser thumb of "Bodie Blue Window" is attached for your viewing pleasure.

I was framed I tell ya!

Pun intended. The show last weekend was terrific. Not often you get to see first hand someone's reaction to your work first hand and non stop.

I was very excited that a lot of my newer works were hitting home and stopping people in their tracks, drawing them into my space for closer inspection. All told by the end of the weekend I know that the meandering path of exploring styles and exploiting the digital image is working for someone besides me. That kind of feedback is priceless. Very motivating when you have that kind of feedback.

Why so long to write in here again? Well I picked up 3 commissions for larger images of what I was showing. The first is framed and ready for delivery to the Balder family in Temecula. It is a large sized print (just under 24X36 inches) of one of my favorite images. It struck a cord with them as they both grew up in Arizona and it reminded them of where they came from. The piece is "Mt Charleston Storm" and it was posted here earlier this summer. A piece I am most pleased with and certainly gains a lot in a very large format print.

Enjoy...watch for some new stuff very soon as I was invited by the director of Graphics and Printing at Santa Anita Racetrack to go in and just shoot to my hearts content, the horses and the art deco structure at the place. She saw my work at the show and liked it enough to extend the invitation. Wahoo...does it get better than this?

Stay tuned as soon as I finish up the commissions I am out shooting again!

Art from the Heart

As sappy as it may be but I firmly believe that sharing your art is as important as making a buck. Its about giving back to the community.

This weekend is the Monrovia Art Festival Association's biggest event and fund raiser. MAFA is a non-profit that donates its proceeds every year towards art education in the public schools. I firmly believe that art is a communication tool that children need as much as any other tool they are given in school. With art being cut from the elementary schools in California I am very proud to be a part of the group that earns money to give these kids this important tool. (MAFA has given nearly 100K to fund art education over the last several years).

So....this year I am donating "Old Rose" from my watercolors collection for the auction at the "Celebrate the Arts" taking place this weekend, October 7 - 8, in Library Park in "Old Town Monrovia".


"Old Rose" started as a digital image. I pulled out the rose, worked it out to soften lines and create a painterly effect, changed the background to make the rose pop better, reassembled the image and printed it on soaking wet watercolors paper. The final image is different than what you see here as the inks do float, bleed when printed giving a very painterly effect.

Enjoy the image, if you are in the park this weekend look me up!

silly camera...serious imagery

Back in the day, specifically my SIU-C years there were 2 camps in the photo department. The fine-art group and the commercial group. I walked the fence on both though technically my focus at the time was the commercial side. Getting a BS sounded better was the logic at the time.

There was a movement way back then to use a camera called the "Diana" which took horribly crude photo's. The fine art group ran with it and did some really amazing things with it. Flash forward some 25 years and I found its replacement the"Che-ez" by Snap. Horrible color rendition, horrible contrast, poorly fixed focus on a plastic lens but it never leaves my belt loop. Always on the ready for what strikes my fancy as I meander through life.

It really suits my impressionistic exploration in some ways better than the EOS 20D I usually use on my shoots.

Today I happened by a local landmark, actually a pretty slick icon from Route 66's hey day getting rehabbed. Much of the building is getting painted its original colors...the sign, neon of course, is still untouched. Add in a few clouds and the whole man vs nature thing is up there to explore. Since I always have the Che-ez on my belt loop I snapped of a few frames.

Enjoy "hotel"...worked over images from the Che-ez.




P.S....stay tuned as I have still not decided which image will be donated for the silent auction this week to benefit art education the Monrovia Schools. Will post here once I decide.