Crow Has a New Shadow

I did this oil painting a few years ago but it still needed something.  Art teacher extraordinaire Chester Arnold helped me see where to put Crow's shadow.  Now the bird is more grounded (always a good thing!).

Pelican Flying Over North Beach

It was beautiful at the beach yesterday.  No wind.  Clear sunny sky.  Big waves.  Heaven!

Bird Tree Shadows

Birds create their own personal yoga tree.

Chicken in San Francisco Bay

Well this chicken is doing my first ever Marin Open Studios Saturday May 7th and Sunday May 8th from 11Am to 6PM.  More info available at the Marin Arts Council website.

Crows in Death Valley

Most recent oil on canvas (20"x16") painted in Chester Arnold's class at the College of Marin.  I combined a photo of Death Valley taken on a camping trip in 1982 with a recent photo of a great looking green truck in my neighborhood.  Then I added some crows from the book "The American Crow and the Common Raven" by Lawrence Kilham and a sky from a painting by the phenomenal Caspar David Friedrich.

Backyard Blue Jay Contemplating the Garden

while thinking about, wishing for and singing about PEANUTS!

Reading Christopher Hitchens' exquisite memoir in between taking photos of my favorite things outside in 77 degree weather. 

The perfect Sunday!

Finch on Exhibit at Falkirk Cultural Center in San Rafael

My 10" x 10" oil on canvas "Finch" painting will be in Falkirk's 2010 Bi-Annual Juried Exhibition from 9/10/10 through 11/13/10.  Opening reception is Friday, September 10th from 5:30 to 7:30PM.  More on the show can be found here:

California Blue Jay Map Art

I've become very fond of the blue jays in my backyard.  The other day I set up my camera and took a series of photos of them at the bird feeder.  When I heard about a new contest at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts on "The Map as Art," I used one of my bird photos as a pattern and digitally repainted it with the bay area section of the map of California.  I wanted to try some map art since buying the book by Katharine Harmon on contemporary artists who explore cartography.  One of my favorite pieces in the book is a map collage titled "Swimming" by Brazilian artist Joao Machado.

Paros Bird

As Benjamin Franklin observed: "fish and guests stink after three days."  Having worn out our welcome in the hills of Paros, it was time to head to the beach.  This wild-eyed bird painting was done with a blank box waiting for just the right words for the occasion.

Speaking of fish, check out the new post at "What to Love."   Although the food and wine were great in Greece - for variety and organics there is no place like home.

Pelican Lake

The Cat Who Loved (to eat) Birds

Composite of Oscar the cat and various birds with a recent scan of a 4x5 B&W negative shot by E.A. Autrey in Santa Barbara,1977

Scarlet Ibis in Paradise

Just finished! Oil painting 40" wide x 30" h. Scarlet Ibis teaching the baby Egrets to fish

Contained Crows

These crows are all contained in boxes for illustration friday's word "contained."

Bird Thoughts

"Birds without heads aren't much company. But that's just my opinion."

Bird thoughts for illustration Friday's word "Opinion"

Wise Owl

Wise owl for Illustration Friday word "wise."
Watercolor owl composite with pen & ink & marker fish in digital fish bowl on digital stool. Framed rat on the wall (Owl's favorite food) is a china painted ceramic tile by J.L. Autrey.

Brown Booby Philosophy

Fate loves to invent patterns and designs. Its difficulty lies in complexity. But life itself is difficult because of its simplicity.

A birdism from Rilke

Crow is Soaring Over the Red Poppies

Digital composite for Illustration Friday's weekly subject SOAR.

Poppies were an original pen & ink & marker illustration which was then scanned and printed at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley on rice paper. Crow was added later.

Check out Kala's website for great classes at http://www.kala.org/mission.html