Stories, etc.

Here are some shots of artwork I did based on photos I took and ideas I had while day-tripping to Point Reyes in October 2013: Here you can see that I initially put a little sky-wash in the background and made some horizon lines, too.  I am also making use of the masking out process to help the foreground grasses form. I wanted to see what kind patterns I could get to almost make the same upright blade action of the real grass that was there. Additionally, I used the masking tape to protect some of the finer lines I wanted to preserve along the side of the boat and the cabin. Things were getting a little out of control. The boat was dilapidated in real life. The body of the boat was challenging to paint because the boat itself was 'done up' in a chipping, old, white paint. It was also turning an orange-brown, like the color you see above.  This is a photo of the finished version. I messed with the grass in the front, darkened the cabin of the boat to a light

Point Reyes, California One autumnal, late October weekend of this very year, I went to Point Reyes, California. One of the objectives was to reach within the depths of my energy reserves and execute a painting or two.  In the northern bits of Marin County I ventured, 'to the lighthouse', and was met with fog galore. The last sunny spot before I reached the vicinity of Point Reyes was a town called Inverness. It consisted of a few cafes and restaurants, and an accommodating grocery/general store. All the residents and people I interacted with were kindly. One particular cafe I went to was called Blackbird . The gentleman who ran the cash register and kitchen crafted a BLT that comes within inches of being the best BLT I ever consumed. You can see the fog encroaching its way over a hill.  The road that I took to get there was highway one, visibly apparent on this map. A shape of land that appears so cut and dry, though when I journeyed onto the road, it was anything

BODIE, CALIFORNIA- Gold-Mining Ghost Town.          "This is Bodie, or rather the remains of Bodie. Only about five percent of the buildings it contained during its 1880s heydey still remain. Today, it stands just as time, fire and the elements have left it - a genuine California gold mining ghost town. Designated a state historic park in 1962, it is now maintained in a state of "arrested decay." "Bodie was named after Waterman S. Body (also known as William S. Body), who discovered gold here in 1859. The change in spelling of the town's name has often been attributed to an illiterate sign painter, but it was a deliberate change by the citizenry to ensure proper pronunciation. "The town of Bodie rose to prominence with the decline of mining along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Prospectors crossing the eastern slopes in 1859 to "see the elephant"-- that is, to search for gold- made a rich discovery at Virginia City. Th

Waste Band                   My friend and bandmate, Erika Pipkin, and I have been writing/developing songs under the band name "Waste Band" for the past few years.  I played guitar and participated vocally.  We recorded the work at OwlSight Recorders and got it mastered by the talented and wonderful Adam Myatt of Sharkbite Studios in Oakland. We released the album on September 30th, 2013 and it is comprised of 10 songs.  If you need some new music to accompany your autumn, give it a  listen.

Postcard watercolors              I really enjoy painting watercolors. Here are a few I have done.

Having grown up in the greater Bangor, Maine area and choosing to go to college near my parent's house, I felt the need to get out and explore another part of the world in my junior year of advanced education; therefore, when I was 21, I traveled to northern England to study abroad in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne / Sunderland area of Durham county. It's supposedly the area from which George Washington's relatives emigrated.  I do not know why I chose that area in particular, something about being in northern England sounded unknown to me. I wanted to know more about the world, and I had enjoyed England when I visited the country and our relatives there with my parents four years prior. This is a photo I took near a lighthouse on the shores of the North Sea. It is really close to the border of Sunderland (to the south) and Newcastle (to the north). Sunderland is on the east coast of Britain, and is awakened by cold gusts that blow in from Scandinavia via this body of water