Open To the Wind

January Peach Blossoms

2012-01-27T07:36:00.000-08:00

and lots of bees pollinating...which means lots of peaches if the nights stay warm...mmm...

Rising Fragment

2012-01-25T15:55:00.000-08:00

RISING FRAGMENT oil on canvas 20" x 20"

RISING SHADOW 3

2012-01-21T23:32:00.001-08:00

RISING SHADOW 3

RISING SHADOW 2

2012-01-16T08:59:00.000-08:00

RISING SHADOW 2 oil on canvas 20" x 20"

RISING SHADOW

2012-01-12T07:44:00.000-08:00

RISING SHADOW oil on canvas 20" x 20"

Orange Grid

2012-01-04T08:46:00.000-08:00

ORANGE GRID oil on canvas 24" x 24"

SkyGrid with Half Circle

2011-12-31T06:47:00.000-08:00

SKY GRID with HALF CIRCLE oil on canvas 20" x 20"

Desert Grid

2011-12-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

DESERT GRID oil on canvas 24" x 24"

Evening Grid

2011-12-21T14:07:00.000-08:00

EVENING GRID oil on canvas 30" x 30"

Silver Grid (with pale green)

2011-12-20T07:37:00.000-08:00

SILVER GRID (with pale green)

oil on canvas 24" x 24"

Symbol

2011-12-16T07:15:00.001-08:00

SYMBOL oil on canvas 24" x 24"

Distant Tower

2011-12-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

DISTANT TOWER oil on canvas 24" x 24"

Selenehelion

2011-12-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

A selenehelion is an unusual and seemingly impossible event: for a few minutes tomorrow morning, given a clear sky, one will be able to see the sun rising as the same time as its shadow covers the setting full moon in the west. Sunrise over the mountains chez moi this morning was at 6:42. By this time tomorrow the total shadow on the moon will be lessening, I think. The middle of the total lunar eclipse should be sometime between 5:30 am and 6 am...

partial lunar eclipse, about 4:15 am June 26, 2010.

This time we will be seeing the eclipse in a blue sky, a first for me.

Winter Light

2011-12-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

WINTER LIGHT oil on canvas 40" x 30"

Indication

2011-12-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

...turned the triangle sideways...a Right turn?

INDICATION oil on canvas 12" x 12"

Kindling and Open Studio Times

2011-11-15T15:23:00.000-08:00

KINDLING oil on canvas 24" x 24"

NOTICE:

OPEN STUDIO ON DEMAND

call or email for directions and to arrange time

Introduction

2011-11-06T16:33:00.000-08:00

INTRODUCTION oil on canvas 20" x 20"

A Distant Bell

2011-11-02T09:37:00.001-07:00

A DISTANT BELL oil on canvas 12" x 12"

November Open Studio

2011-11-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

It was a delight to be in the company of everyone who came out to this open part of the desert for the 2011 Open Studio Tours.

Entry

However I have since heard from a number of people who were unable to make it and would like to visit. So, I am considering a weekend in November. If anyone has a preference for which weekend, please email me and let me know! And I welcome studio visits in the afternoons when I am here, which is most of the time... just email me when you would like to come and I will send clear directions. My studio is 15-20 minutes north of Joshua Tree.

View into studio
(with shafts of real sunlight across the landscape on the easel)

Jasmine Cone

2011-10-31T07:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the best day to do something amazing.

— Melissa Gorzelanczyk, Peace & Projects blog

JASMINE CONE oil on canvas 6" x 6"

Moon Cone

2011-10-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

How people treat you is their Karma. How you respond is yours. — Wayne Dyer
(submitted by Itala to Brian Vasily's blog Intense Experiences.)

MOON CONE oil on canvas 6" x 6"

Inclination

2011-10-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

INCLINATION oil on canvas 8" x 8"

OPEN STUDIO OCT 21, 22 & 23

2011-10-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

OPEN STUDIO TOURS 2011

HWY 62 / JOSHUA TREE

FIRST WEEKEND,

OCT 22 & 23, 9am to 5pm

also FRIDAY OCT 21, noon to 5pm

(Beat the crowds!)

Free programs with list of artists and samples of their work, as well as maps to all locations, are available from local merchants.

This information is also available on line at http://www.hwy62arttours.com

Little Caravan Cone

2011-10-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

LITTLE CARAVAN CONE oil on canvas 6" x 6"

Little Gray Cone

2011-10-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

LITTLE GRAY CONE oil on canvas 6" x 6"

Night Play

2011-10-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

NIGHT PLAY oil on canvas 8" x 8"

Excellence and Compass

2011-10-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

No wonder I love my Mac — it was made by a Pisces man (born Feb 24) who thinks like this:

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes ... the ones who see things differently ... they're not fond of rules.... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things ... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do.

We don't get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.

— Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011
All from Quotes of the Day.

His famous Stanford commencement speech is entitled "How to Live Before You Die."

To honor him and my own search for excellence, I post here a painting I have loved from the moment it appeared...I do not know if it is a "good" painting, I cannot know if anyone else will ever love it or purchase it, or even if I will ever want to sell it, and none of that matters...

COMPASS oil on canvas 30" x 30"

Entry

2011-10-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

ENTRY oil on canvas 20" x 20"

Sienna Compass

2011-10-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

SIENNA COMPASS oil on canvas 20" x 20"

desert rainbow — yesterday afternoon

Crown

2011-10-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

CROWN oil on canvas 20" x 20"

Changing Shapes

2011-10-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

from spires to cones to... the triangle:

WHAT CAN STAY HIDDEN?

oil on canvas 20" x 20"

(more triangles to come)

Little Yellow Pyramid

2011-08-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

LITTLE YELLOW PYRAMID oil on canvas 8" x 8"

"Next to Resistance, Rational Thought is the artist's worst enemy."

—Steven Pressfield

Storm Watching

2011-08-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

yesterday there were thunder clouds around with lots of blue sky, which happens a lot although it rarely rains...one cloud overhead gave a ten minute shower...and within 20 minutes the blue sky was gone...

huge raindrops hammered on the roof and pelted the windows...it let up for a a few minutes and then we had two hailstorms, one with pea-sized hail and the second with larger pieces as well

hailstones with 1967 quarter coin

rain poured off the roof...this went on for about an hour, the wind pushing the rain vertically, from one direction and then another...

afterwards our road looked like a wash

and 15 minutes later it had mostly all soaked into the sand...one small puddle reflects the sky...

Night Story Cone

2011-08-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

NIGHT STORY CONE oil on canvas 40" x 30"

Little Yellow Cone

2011-08-25T10:14:00.001-07:00

LITTLE YELLOW CONE

oil on canvas

6" x 6"

Mojave Green on the Patio

2011-08-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

I had been out to the patio earlier to water plants, and when I came out this time I was greeted by a wild hissy buzzy rattling and turned to see a 30" long rattlesnake looping itself over and out of an old one gallon paint can and flicking its jet black forked tongue at me...it came all the way out and coiled and continued to rattle. Quite an adrenalin rush.

I went inside and got my 8' bamboo pole and prodded it gently to try to encourage it to leave, while standing inside the door, read to slam the door fast if the snake came towards me. It did not come towards me, nor did it move away, it just keep sounding its warning, so I pushed it firmly off the patio slab onto the sand, while it rattled and hissed. Then I left it alone.

in this close up of its head, it looks as scared as I was

I came out several times to look at it and take pictures (from over 4 feet away on the other side of a very large flower pot) for the next 20 minutes and very quickly it no longer seemed threatened

it relaxed and headed into the garden

I watched it for a while from a good distance and it seemed like it knew I was not going to harm it, for it just went about its hunting as if I were not there.

I am treading very carefully around my house now; I do not want to surprise it again. My neighbor says the worse thing you can do is sneak up on a snake, because then they do not have time to warn you. After all, they would only be defending themselves, they know we are too big to eat...

Along The Way

2011-08-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

ALONG THE WAY oil on canvas 30" x 30"

Edge of Time

2011-08-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

EDGE OF TIME oil on canvas 24" x 24"

Cone Blue

2011-08-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

CONE BLUE oil on canvas 20" x 16"

Cone with White Cloud

2011-08-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

CONE with WHITE CLOUD oil on canvas 24" x 24"

Cone By A Green Well

2011-08-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

CONE BY A GREEN WELL oil on canvas 30" x 24"

Cones In Time

2011-08-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

CONES IN TIME oil on linen 72" x 96" (6' x 8')

Light Cone with Blue

2011-07-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

LIGHT CONE with BLUE oil on canvas 40" x 30"

...for me, something here about the soul...

JULY CONE

2011-07-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

JULY CONE oil on canvas 10" x 10"

Cone for Tom Robbins

2011-07-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

CONE FOR TOM ROBBINS

oil on canvas 40" x 30"

SOLD

A thank you to Tom Robbins and Quotes of the Day for these quotes:

Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it was sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious and immature.

In the haunted house of life, art is the only stair that doesn't creak.

:-)

Desert Markers

2011-07-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

DESERT MARKERS oil on canvas 12" x 12"

Desert Spring Landscape Painting

2011-07-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

GENTLE DESERT, SPRING MORNING, PURPLE CACTUS

oil on canvas 20" x 16"

Manila Cone

2011-07-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

MANILA CONE oil on canvas 10" x 10"

(a left-handed cone from a month ago)

Two Hands

2011-07-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

a painting to celebrate the return (almost, it is still a bit stiff) of my right hand/arm:

TWO HANDS oil on canvas 40" x 30"

and thank you, everyone, for your generous assistance, and for your encouragement and good wishes

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

A Comment Today

2011-07-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

thank you for your beautiful words...I was unable to publish this is the regular way, so I copied it here...my blog has been on hold as my hand heals, your comments inspire me to begin again....thank you whoever you are...

"Your magic allows my heart to soar and yearn. I truly love the desert. You weave a lovely picture of life there. The desert is so much more alive than most would know. You capture that secret beautifully."

By Anonymous on Rain Night in the Mojave at 2:32 PM

Blog Sabbatical

2011-05-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

I have temporarily lost the use of my right hand due to fractured bone...so no new posts for a while...

Rattlesnake Visits and Roadrunners Build Nest

2011-04-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

this is as much of a Mohave Rattlesnake, know as a "Mohave Green" around here, as I could see, and I was grateful to see it as I was just about to step where it was resting...its flat diamond-shaped head is at the lower right, partially hidden by a branch of the rosemary bush it was emerging from under...it has two venoms, one a "regular rattlesnake venom" and the other a cobra-like paralyzer...there are few reports of its bites, apparently mostly from people messing with them...this one did not seem threatened by me; when I quietly came back with my camera it did not coil or rattle, just stayed absolutely still...when I went out again to check on it 15 minutes later, it had disappeared...and I do not know if it went into the rosemary bush or departed...

...the other creature news of the day is that I discovered I now have TWO roadrunners roosting at night in the Caroline Jasmine vine, and I was able to get images of them just as they are about to go to roost, carrying little sticks...

2011-04-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

LEMON, LIME & GRAPE oil on canvas 20" x 16"

Mulberries are Delicious

2011-04-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

caught a flash of orange and black and white through the window this morning and expected to find it was an oriole...it turned out to be a Black-Headed Grosbeak (almost as big as a robin), seen here with a just-starting-to-ripen mulberry in its thick beak...

here it has eaten most of it

the slightly beige color of the mulberry shows the ability of the birds to find them just before they are ready for human eating....so these birds gave me the signal that it is time to do something...

most of the berries are small and green like these

then along came a mockingbird who brought its treasure down to the ground to eat...and I realized it was time to save some for me, unlike last year when they ate them all...

reading historical fiction gave me an idea of what people used to do, which was to drape cloth over fruit tree branches to protect from bird eaters...so I am trying this...because mulberries are so delicious when they are purple/black ripe...and the birds can have the other 85%...

2011-04-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

OPEN SPACES oil on canvas 24" x 24"

2011-04-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

A YELLOW SKY oil on canvas 8" x 8"

2011-04-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

INDIGO OCEAN oil on canvas 10" x 10"

2011-04-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

SOUTH DREAM oil on canvas 10" x 10"

2011-04-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

LITTLE SPRING oil on canvas 6" x 6"

Sunday Evening Moonrise

2011-04-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

You wonder what I am doing? Well, so do I, in truth. Days seem to dawn, suns to shine, evenings to follow, and then I sleep. What I have done, what I am doing, what I am going to do, puzzle and bewilder me. Have you ever been a leaf and fallen from your tree in autumn and been really puzzled about it? That's the feeling.

- T. E. Lawrence, 1888 - 1935 (from Quote of the Day)

April Morning Color

2011-04-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

male finch in full mating feathers

a new rose opens

2011-04-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

RED WAVE oil on canvas 16" x 16"

Blank Canvas

2011-04-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

spent most of the day yesterday stretching and priming canvas, and preparing some with a yellow-gold underpainting...

ready to jump in again to full-time studio after three weeks of studio visits, exploring galleries in Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area), delivering paintings, a far-away Opening, delightful spring chores of planting and pruning and fertilizing and putting up bird netting around my 2-tree orchard, re-organizing the packing/frame storeroom, and, finally, sending off the 2010 tax forms to Caesar with gratitude for the beautiful roads and spectacular parklands and maintenance of law and order...

End of a Soft Quiet Desert Day

2011-04-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

view to the south just after sunset...downtown Joshua Tree is just on the other side of the nearer hills, beyond are the mountains of Joshua Tree National Park...

White-crowned Sparrow, one of a flock of about 50 that have been delightfully singing around the house and studio all day for a few weeks, stops for a last drink as the sun disappears...

2011-04-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

Beavertail cactus starting to bloom, rich and full with buds...this cactus, inedible because of its many tiny spines, survives well out here among all these herbivores (cottontails, jackrabbits, antelope ground squirrels, little gophers, little kangaroo rats, mice)...it is the first to bloom...sheer delight to the winter eyes...

2011-04-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

GREEN WAVE oil on canvas 30" x 40"

2011-04-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

EARTH CURVE oil on canvas 18" x 24"

...listening to sitar and tablas...

2011-04-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

BLUE WAVE oil on canvas 11" x 14"

(abstract painting from 2007)

2011-04-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

PASSING HOUR oil on canvas 36" x 48"

2011-04-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

APRIL MIND oil on canvas 40" x 30"

2011-04-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

RAIN SONG oil on board 24" x 24"

For the Desert, A Lush Spring

2011-04-06T06:45:00.000-07:00

path around the east side of the studio

desert dandelions with budding beavertail...

still a lovely slow warming, today a huge high clouds cover the sky...

2011-04-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

VISION AT DAWN oil on canvas 40" x 30"

this painting was inspired by a small drawing I made a while back of two merged transparent cones that I imagined are made of light and a sort of permeable plasma...

Windblown

2011-04-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

after a long cool spring, the desert is warming up, accompanied by strong winds...the neighbor put this flag on their house a few months ago...it has already tattered, and its pole is no longer straight...and it still looks pretty, backlit in the late afternoon sun...

I tried to eat breakfast outside this morning and I had to give up when the wind started blowing the food off the fork before I could get it into my mouth...

2011-04-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

SEA CONE oil on canvas 8" x 8"

2011-04-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

LITTLE GREEN STORY CONE

oil on canvas 6" x 6"

2011-03-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

ON THE ROAD oil on canvas 8" x 8"

2011-03-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

ARIZONA oil on canvas 40" x 30"

Moon and Venus at Dawn This Week

2011-03-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

worth getting up to take a look at these gleaming beauties in the deep blue clear desert sky as the sun's glow turns the horizon red...from the Mojave, particularly striking about 10 minutes before 6am...

From Sky and Telescope

1964 Drawings

2011-03-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

rooftops, upper east side, Manhattan

felt marker and watercolor on paper

2011-03-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

RED HAT CONE oil on canvas 48" x 36"

2011-03-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

SPRING EQUINOX oil on canvas 30" x 24"

2011-03-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

HANGING SPIRES oil on canvas 60" x 44"

2011-03-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

SUNNY DAY CONE oil on canvas 30" x 24"

2011-03-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

VERMILLION CONE WITH BLACK AND GREEN

oil on canvas 16" x 16"

2011-03-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

PINK WINDOW oil on canvas 12" x 12"

2011-03-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

RED RIBBON oil on canvas 12" x 12"

2011-03-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

STORY CONE oil on canvas 40" x 30"

2011-03-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

RED VISOR oil on canvas 12" x 12"

"Spring Spires" — New Abstract Painting

2011-03-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

SPRING SPIRES oil on canvas 40" x 30"

New Abstract Painting: "Spires with Rocket"

2011-03-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

GREEN SPIRES WITH ROCKET

oil on canvas 40" x 30"

Spring Creatures

2011-03-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

loud happy twitterings drew me to a flock of white-crowned sparrows at the birdbath

here joined by a larger English sparrow

after all this I had to re-fill the bowl...

and a jack rabbit went by in the early sunlight...

"Festival Spires" Abstract Painting

2011-03-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

FESTIVAL SPIRES oil on canvas 10" x 10"

"Night Pool" on the Wall

2011-03-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

NIGHT POOL oil on canvas 48" x 36"

this is a painting made at the end of 2008, in situ in Los Angles

New Abstract Painting: "Four Little Spires"

2011-03-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

FOUR LITTLE SPIRES oil on canvas 8" x 8"

2011-03-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

out beyond ideas of right and wrong

THERE IS A FIELD oil on canvas 20" x 16"

this is a partial quote from one of my favorite Rumi poems:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I will meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about
language, ideas, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.

from The Essential Rumi (1995) translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne, A. J. Arberry and Reynold Nicholson

found in WikiQuote

Testing the River: New Abstract Painting

2011-03-10T07:57:00.000-08:00

TESTING THE RIVER oil on canvas 16" x 16"

Red Spire abstract painting

2011-03-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

RED SPIRE with TRANSPARENT CONES

oil on canvas 40" x 30"

New Abstract Painting: "Night Mind"

2011-03-08T06:56:00.000-08:00

NIGHT MIND oil on canvas 20" x 16"

Abstract Painting: "Night Dress"

2011-03-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

NIGHT DRESS oil on canvas 20" x 16"