Video: Locke Boathouse Jam L-R: Charlie, Raphael, George, Noah

just off my easel

our music jam last night in my studio was FUN!

and here's a quick video of it:



and a little longer video:


Open Music & Art Jams on most Thursday nights in Locke 7 - 9 p.m. Call ahead to make sure it's on. (916)776-1000.

3 years ago since maynard's passing ... still so sad he's gone...

Locke makes a great backdrop for wedding photos ...

My Wilbur Hot Springs August 2009 art workshop participants

L-R:Cynthia, Dan, Elizabeth, Ana (model), Nancy; below: Angela, Martha (me)

charlie, my talented son, at age 17

Cute kids on my front porch

a boat without a name is bad luck, so... i named it...


for my own little mary...



now it's a landmark on google earth!
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=p&utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-sk-gm&utm_term=delta%20map

Two biker dudes with the watercolor sketches I painted of their respective bikes:

Jim Reeves' article about the Delta, Locke, (and my shop, "The Tourist Trap" )

How NOT to park parallell in Locke, California

My car is the red victim.

Hey, look, we're famous! Mary and I made it in the Sacramento Bee Pear Fair video...

i'm doing the watercolor of the cowboy and mary is the closest cheerleader to the camera (about halfway through). steve and autumn, thanks for sending me the link.

my kids are braver than me.

charlie, 17, (has arms up), and mary, 15, sitting on railing, just before she jumped off the walnut grove bridge last week.

me, in my swimsuit with my kids - two weeks ago

How I spent Memorial Day

pics from my May 2009 Wilbur Art Workshop

Turn your head sideways to view this...

I just stumbled upon one of my son, Charlie's drawings he created two years ago at age 15. He calls it, "Vertical Village." Here it is:

In my painting studio

>My painting of our model, Yumi.

This is How Dogs Parrallel Park in Locke

I shot this photo yesterday in front of Strange Cargo, here in Locke, Ca.

My first artist workshop at Wilbur Hot Springs

On Saturday morning, we began with a still life watercolor painting lesson and my two participants, Rebecca and Sai did quite skilled jobs on their preliminary thumbnail sketches, then their watercolor paintings. Both saw the antique vase quite accurately and successfully left some of the white of the page for the reflections on it. They also mixed a close matching green and layered it to achieve the three or four shades we determined was on the object in addition to the reflective whites.

Here's Rebecca behind her painting. My painting is on the right. (BTW, Rebecca might return to model for us! Isn't she beautiful?!):



Here's Sai's painting. Sai has an Avionics Engineering degree - surprisingly not an Art degree:




On Sunday morning, I led a lesson in small, "plein air" (open air and light)watercolor sketching done "alla prima" style (all at once), and included a few impressionistic figures by the pool. We began each small color sketch with a sand hourglass egg timer for a 2-3 min light and loose pencil sketch, then 6 - 9 min water coloring with two to three turns of the egg timer. Our 90 lb. watercolor paper measures 9 x 12" and the individual color sketches on them are 3 x 5" and 4 x 5". Here's mine:



Todd is an Engineer by trade, and these are his first-ever watercolor paintings. He did a great job! I liked his bright colors and especially his Van Gogh-styled texturing on the last two. He also did well with another first for him - sketching and painting a human figure. His model was one of the sun bathers who was sitting about thirty feet away.


My next of eight Artist Workshops I'll be hosting at Wilbur Hot Springs is scheduled for Friday through Sunday, May 22 - 24, 2009. I'll be giving a watercolor lesson on Saturday morning. On Sunday, I'll demonstrate a small landscape in oils, using a palette knife. If we get at least five participants who wish to have a friendly competition with the paintings they produce, we'll have a cash pot split for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. $5 entry fee per painting, no size or medium restrictions, no limit to the number of painting entries per artist, although one prize limit per artist. Judging will be done by one vote per every Wilbur guest we can find to cast a vote for their favorite three paintings. Please come join us for the fun if you're able.

Cris Anderson took this pic of my latest painting in progress of the old 1930's Foon Hops Grocery sign with my "Tourist Trap" store and home in the background, up the hill on the right.

My 14 year old daughter in front of her paintings at the 50-50 show in Sacramento

My son in front of my paintings of Locke at the 50-50 show

How should I have felt? Please take my survey.

click here

Locke is Going to the Dogs

When I finish painting this copy of the famous painting, "A Friend in Need" I'm going to cut flaps in two of the dog's faces, just like I did with my Mona Lisa painting, so the men tourists can stick their heads in them for a photo.





And if you haven't seen it, here's my Mona painting...


...and my son, Charlie with TV reporter, Kelly Chapman as Mona (taken in 2007)...

The view from my front window last Saturday

Some of the paintings of Locke scenes I did for the "50 - 50 Show"