Jabberwocky

Pixels

2012-03-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

Protea Beauty

Treeful of blooms

Deep in the wormhole

Some Random Bits!

2012-03-04T20:42:00.003-08:00

At first I thought this beauty was dead. I reached down to lift her up with a finger and as soon as I touched her legs it must have knocked the sand loose and she flew! It gave me a great feeling. An uplift.

Cats

Made Mandalas

Natural ones!

Squares are the death of circles

Plant Intelligence

2012-02-23T20:15:00.001-08:00

Orange Sunshine

Delicate Power

Natural Fractal Greeting

Deep Inside Purple

Speechless

People go on and on about human intelligence. It really is something. We can build nano-sized computer components, send people and probes in space, design and implant working artificial organs, write Pop song and paint masterpieces. However it's days like today with its' perfected, golden light that I can see clearly the mineral and plant intelligences surrounding us. They inform and enrich us with their colors and symmetries. I love to peer deep into the face of a flower and just look. In the repeated patterns I find mirrors to hold up to life. These reflections give me space and time and perspective.

Mandala Studies II

2012-02-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

Holy Eye

Molecular

Tropes at symetry

MANDALA STUDIES

2012-02-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

Mandalas are everywhere. Nature forms them and we find ourselves within them. We make them. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. The vast omnipresent grid of Indra's web is made up of nodes of everything. Nothing exists but in relation to everything else. All cultures make mandalas. Some are for praying, others are for reflection. I think their beauty comes from their resonance. We respond to them and recognize them as our natural home. By making a mandala or witnessing one we see our life and its' trajectory laid plain. The eternal returns. The expansion and contraction. The repeated patterns. The cycles of the interior and their reflections in the exterior.

BLACK&WHITE~PEN&INK

2012-01-15T14:13:00.000-08:00

These are the first results from my experimenting with pen and ink. I love the quality and emotional tone of the line produced by this method. I'm thinking of adding some colored ink and different nib shapes next.

MIND ON FIRE

ORACLE

OFFERING

artfromtheheartartfromtheheart

2012-01-15T14:04:00.000-08:00

Lady Macbeth is always there at your elbow, waiting

Japanese kite fantasy

An unfortunate statement concerning environment

An unfortunate statement concerning mindset

The possibility for rebirth is a saving grace

The endless cycle of intake and output

Watcher at the portal

Overcome

A time to watch

I like an untamed Jesus

We are made of stars

Compact Totem

PHOTOG

2012-01-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

PICTURES

Lobster Magic

Rainy day thoughts with Mali

Ancient Gods are everywhere!

Fleeting moment of bliss and wonder

Perfection

Elements of Surf

2011-12-23T09:54:00.000-08:00

Living near the ocean is a blessing that can become so ordinary that we run the risk of taking it as a mundane and unacknowledged miracle. Having daily contact with the sight, smell and feel of the Pacific is cleansing, renewing and enlightening. Among the various modalities of interface that exist between us and the water surfing, (along with the various permutations thereof; body-boards, mats, kayaks, etc), is one of the most intimate. California surf culture embodies a tradition of design, innovation, aesthetics, lifestyle and fun that informs aspects of life for surfers and non-surfers alike. While I am by no means a skilled participant, I am proud to participate at the level I do. In recent years I have been drawn to surf mats and body boarding and for much of the year I have at least weekly contact with that wonderful water. A friend once described surfing as being not so much about riding water as riding an energy wavelength THROUGH the water. I like and respond to this description. There are few more visceral kicks as when you feel the lift and push of the wave taking over. We experience fleeting moments of dolphin grace beyond what our clumsy land dwelling bodies normally allow for. Of course there is the whole territorial/violent aspect of surfing which is a drag no matter how you slice it. Pushing that aside I find that the history, characters and pure elements of design are engrossing and enriching. I was recently up in San Clemente and Dana Point and found the the Noll family (Greg Noll being one of the seminal and most influential figures in surf history) have a new shop/gallery. They graciously let me take some shots of the beautifully wrought wooden boards they make and some of what has come to be one of the newest aspects of customization and artistic expression in board making, the fin. If you are interested in our shared California life and mythology and want to develop a richer understanding of the elements that we interact with and are surrounded by, surfing is a great place to begin. There are many layers of depth to the phrase, "Catch a wave and you're sitting on top of the world".

Customization is crucial

The fin has become a mini-canvas open to creative expression

"Stained-Glass" cathedral

Wood

Surf Icon Greg Noll is a pioneer

MIXING OF THE ELEMENTS

2011-12-02T07:22:00.001-08:00

A shattered dome of air moves towards the light. We may live in the above world but our true home is below. The oceanic womb of us all calls to the salt in our blood. I never feel quite as much connection, wholeness and peace as when I'm moving through the water.

It's a colorful world

2011-11-25T17:50:00.001-08:00

Glowing Buddha-Head Glory

Ray of Light

Everything is Illuminated

Charles Dickens is my Home-Boy!

2011-11-11T14:39:00.001-08:00

My favorite author. He wrote some of the bravest and deepest explorations into all matters human that have ever been committed to paper. A champion of the under-dog. Always skeptical of the rich and powerful. A deep reserve of kindness for the oppressed and mountains of scorn to heap on the oppressors. I can revisit his books time and time again only to find new insights, laughs and wonder. A huge imagination of the first order. Charles Dickens is my Home-Boy!

Slings and Arrows...

2011-08-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

In this life there are blows so deep and strong they can send one reeling. This cold, iron world isn't always easy for anyone. Ultimately we are all brothers and sisters under the sky so it behooves us to show some compassion and kindness.

New Style

2011-08-17T11:47:00.001-07:00

It's amazing to me what switching materials can do to art. Sometimes just changing what we normally use can unlock different elements or aspects of one's approach.

And the HITS just keep on comin'!!!

2011-08-14T13:04:00.001-07:00

"Luchador Mascara"

"Peering into the Heart of the Matter"

"Watcher at the Threshold"

Lately this world has seemed so flimsy and crumble-prone. Polarization and sectarian chest thumping seem to be the order of the day. Maybe it's the gathering energies leading to some 2012, Mayan-Epoch shift. Maybe it's the End-Times. I won't lay a claim to any specific diagnosis but a glance in almost any direction (political, economic, environmental, social) puts me in the mind of the William Butler Yeats poem...

The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

I guess what I'm feeling lately is this same overriding sense of widespread entropy. It seems as though the vital winds and energies that churn up new ideas and melt others down have been depleted. We're left like isolated primates adrift on ice floes, gnashing our teeth at an empty and unfeeling sky. In the face of this I haven't given up. I try to meet people in the middle when I can. To listen more than rant and I'll assume I'm not the only one. Still, the loosened threads of this world are sticking out everywhere and the merest tug seems to make the whole fabric fall apart.

Late Summer Art Frenzy

2011-08-12T16:03:00.001-07:00

"Rituals of the Hand and Heart"

"Sacred Geometry"

"Sunburst"

"Leering into Infinity"

ART IS SOUL FOOD!

2011-07-31T12:16:00.000-07:00

RED FACED IMPRESSION

A sly one

Reaching for the sky

A History of The Blues in America pt.2 or something like that

The God of Ambergris

When it rains, it pours!

2011-07-31T12:09:00.001-07:00

MORE POURINGS FROM THE PEN!!

Finding fleeting joys amidst the tumult

Quietly

A History of The Blues in America or Just a Feeling.

From the Dream Time

Non-Specific Archetypes from the Universal Image Bank

SUMMERART 2011

2011-07-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

People from the mind

Watchers, waiting

Old Demons and New Gods

Mugshots of the lesser deities

Ink and Pen Blessings.

So, I've been drawing like a madman this summer. Maybe it's the combination of the AWESOME Tim Burton show at the LACMA or the Art In The Streets show at MOCA. Maybe it's an accumulation of psychic energy. Maybe it's just that it is good old summer time and the "living's easy"? Whatever it is I'm thankful to the Pearly Blue Muse of Inspiration!

Offerings

2011-07-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

High Mountain Tempel played our first show!

We had no intention to simply get up and play. We wanted magick, ritual, strangeness and color!

We were joined by a live painter, an incredible Kenneth Anger/Ira Cohen video collage, Deep and blissful throat singing by Toni Pope and there was lots of glitter!

It felt really great to get up and let the energy flow.

My friend Kristin took these incredible photos. She is an amazing artist with a great eye. Her pictures added another layer to the whole experience.

Here's hoping that everyone watching came away moved and refreshed.

On to the next adventure!

Real Food

2011-04-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

HOT BREAD...

CARLSBAD OYSTERS @ BULL TACO

REAL EGGS

So I guess it comes down to real food basically. Diet trends and fads come and go. Nutrition gurus cycle through waves of favor. Tastes change. But real food is always just REAL. The fewer steps away things are from their original form the better. The fewer the ingredients the better. Growing it yourself is incredible and satisfying. Here are a few real foods I have known.

Strange Life

2011-04-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

All of the small details of our days enlarge, grow distinct and become symbolic when we pay attention. We find that minute textures and miniature transitions become glorious and holy simply by SEEING them.

Somethings

2011-04-02T12:10:00.001-07:00

Gods of Commerce and Industry

Everyone is a Star

Radiant Hum

Beach Forts and Mushrooms and Everything

2011-03-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

First you see this. Suddenly you're all wet.

Dog love.

Local harvest....mmmmm.

Serious Beach Fort

Flowers on the cusp of Spring

2011-02-26T10:13:00.000-08:00

Lovely and somehow slightly sinister and sexy Angel Trumpets

SACRED PATTERNS

2011-01-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. There is not any part of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the sun on the surfaces of the water.

~ D.H. Lawrence

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. ~ John Muir

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~ Khalil Gibran

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. ~ Walt Whitman

More Buddhas for the New Year!

2011-01-23T15:30:00.001-08:00

NEW YEAR!

2011-01-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

Blessings and light to everyone for a healthful, inspired, energized, adventurous and loving NEW YEAR!

Dimensions and Extensions

2010-11-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

Patron Saint of The Sun and The Ocean

The Watcher

Intrusions from Everywhere

Balance, Alignment and Choices

Interior Petroglyph

Towards a Pen-Based Spirituality

2010-11-20T13:05:00.000-08:00

Toiling

A Jury of One's Peers?

Cloud-Head in The Morning

Africanized Honey God

RAINY DAY ART PARTY

2010-11-20T12:57:00.000-08:00

Krishna Petroglyph on a voyage through visionary Africa

The Endless Conversation

Every Man and Every Woman is a Star

Robotic Godling

Yes, We Live In The Desert

2010-11-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

Everyone is always going on and on about how, "If it wasn't for all of this water Southern California would be a desert.". They say this like it's a bad thing...Personally, I LOVE the desert. The desert is where things get stripped down and real. Earth forces are elemental. There are flash floods and huge blankets of stars. The plant life and animals are spiky and suited to the dry conditions. The desert meeting the ocean meeting the mountains meeting the city is what Southern California is all about.

ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS

2010-11-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

It had been awhile since my last ART ATTACK.

Then suddenly the muse took hold and the ink started to flow.

Watchful faces. Mystical visitors. Some wary, others simply being.

Stuttering God Faces emanating from the void. Africanoid Spirits; leering yet gleeful.

I'm so thankful to have found the pathway of visual expression. Art is an upliftment to the spirit and a blessing to the senses. In art (music, drawing, photography, cooking, baking, gardening) I find the truer aspects of life. It puts the REAL in real life. And along with love it's the only thing that matters.

Fall Light Magick in the Womb of the Pacific

2010-11-05T19:08:00.001-07:00

The Fall is a special time in California. You can have soaking rains that last for days and suddenly there'll be a scorching Santa Ana wind bearing down on you. We enter our time of serious fire danger and yet the chaparral in our local mountains is bursting with luscious, rusty color. One constant of the Fall though is the long, golden light of the sun. The cliffs glow with burnt orange intensity. Shadows stretch out forever and the very air is infused with a soft gold. The ocean is particularly lovely. Beaches are uncrowded. The water is just warm enough to still get in with a light wetsuit and in its texture, color and feel, is the essence of Magick...

Last of The Red Hot Muertos!

2010-10-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

One of the blessings of living in San Diego is the close proximity to Mexico.

Despite the recent years of drug cartel strife, Mexico remains a vibrant, vital and soulful place.

Art, music, cuisine, writing...Mexico is a hotbed for all of it.

Our co-mingled histories are fraught with miscues and misunderstandings. I guess any meeting place of culture and identity will always be a combination of potential and danger. Maybe the best path is to celebrate the differences and enjoy. There is so much to gain and nothing to lose.

Deliriously Solemn

2010-10-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Those that have departed return every year to remind us of

their love.

And only LOVE can save us.

What is death? It is the glass of life broken into a

thousand pieces, where the spirit disperses like

perfume from a flask, into the silence of the eternal

night.

Dias de Los Muertos is good for you!

October In The Railroad Earth

2010-10-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

It was a lovely day in San Diego
The early morning showers left everything clean and new
In the evening the sky blessed our eyes with bruised plum purple and Halloween orange

The Great Open-Mind Pacific Ocean pulled these colors to itself and made them dance

Sidewalk Mysticism

2010-10-17T20:28:00.001-07:00

"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls...and tenement halls"

Small and often overlooked fragments

Signs, Symbols, Signals

Messages hidden in plain view from the universe to

YOU

CALAVERAS!

2010-10-16T18:50:00.000-07:00

I love the Mexican celebration, Dias de Los Muertos!

The colors, the marigolds, the washing of graves and picnics next to family mausoleums.

But most of all the highly decorated sugar skulls or Calaveras.

This joyful remembrance of those we love who have passed on strikes me as a healthy relationship with death. Altars strewn with things the person enjoyed during their life time (books, music, cigars, foods, booze...everything qualifies). A joyous party like atmosphere and a coming together to show unity and love. Maybe the highlight being when you get to eat a sugary skull with your name written across the forehead. It's a pretty powerful gesture, eating sweet death, don't you think?

The Saint of Broken Things

2010-10-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

I am the Saint of Broken Things. I cherish them and hold them close to my heart.
I weep for the worn and forlorn. My tears don't make them new again but still stand in silent testimony that they existed.
Lay all cracked and fading objects at my feet. I do so love them. I am the Saint of Broken Things.

Fall Fruit and a Touch of the Strange

2010-10-09T19:30:00.001-07:00

I wonder who she was. I wonder what became of her hopes, dreams, fears, loves...
Patina
The impish spirit of Pan/Puck/Coyote/Loki finds you in the least expected moments.
A touch of the strange. Worn out paintings in thrift stores as windows into some past aspiration or obsession.
We went apple picking up in Julian today. The amount and quality of the fruit was INCREDIBLE! Along with picking we ate a bunch right off the tree. Jonathans, Fujis, Gold and Delicious and a few others. Such an amazing day!

I Need Your SKULL!

2010-10-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

I've always loved skulls. Ever since I was a kid any time I'd encounter one it would set my motor running. Hard to say what it was or is about them but it's most likely an accumulation of layers; biker-cool, pirates, The Grateful Dead, classic horror movies, The Misfits, Dias de Los Muertos. All of it and more really. I guess the fascination lies not only the amazing shapes, angles and planes but in what the thing actually is. The casing, seat, throne, etc. of the brain. The fact that this hard thing sits just inside the skin as well as moves through our lives and various machinations. I find a resonance with the laughing, colorful and sugary calaveras of the Mexican celebration The Day of The Dead. It's this playful interplay with death, the fact that death is represented as "sweet" and that the dead go about their business just like we do; singing songs, riding bikes, dressing up for dancing that in some weird way fills me with hope. There are similar comical images to be found in Buddhist art where skeletons dance in some never-ending cosmic rave in some Bardo or other. I don't mean to say that death isn't hard. I know first hand the intense impact it can have on one for years after the fact. But while death is intense and scary I've come around to the belief that what's even scarier is a life half lived. A life spent in fear of one thing after another. A life with no chances taken and nothing risked. That's a real death. A living death. People sometimes say that they'd like to live forever and while I get the impulses behind that wish I've come to realize that with out death life would have less meaning. It's the punctuation mark at the end of all of our sentences. So I celebrate the skull. I wear my skull ring and paint skulls on canvas. I honor the dead and even more so celebrate life.

Flores

2010-09-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

Remains of a Protea. It looks like a frozen moment of miniature fireworks.
Echinacea. Such Baroque grace.
I love the early morning dew on this bloom. Life fits together like a magical jigsaw puzzle. The systems at work in the world are remarkable in their ability to sustain, adapt and support. Flowers are just one of the more beautiful expressions of these systems.

Just a day

2010-09-12T19:14:00.001-07:00

"Just a day"...That being said I must add that when I really pay attention to the fabric and texture of ANY day, they are all miracles. The blessing of flowers as they push their colors and shapes into consciousness. The wonder of music. The dance of love. It's quite easy to take our days for granted but it pays not to.

MORE THINGS SEEN

2010-09-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

Gleanings from the daily peregrinations of the eyeball. A gathering of images like exotic birds inlaid with jewels and swirling over the head of Melquiades the gypsy.

STONE

2010-09-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

HOWL
Cyrano
Angelic Indifference
Some wonderfully creepy gargoyles and sculptural pieces. I love the idea of gargoyles hovering overhead and the potentially rich hidden life they lead when no one is looking.

Shapes and Textures

2010-08-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

Piles and stacks. All pieces and leftovers from a million lives. Spangled beauty and plastic newness eternal slowly fading into gone.

More Buddhas!

2010-08-21T18:11:00.001-07:00

There's something primal and Christ-like about this Buddha face. Jesus and Buddha are such brothers really. The parallels of their stories are remarkable. I think the most basic yet overarching similarity is an emphasis on compassion and love.
While taking this picture a lady came up to me and told me to stop. When I asked her why she didn't have an answer and sort of stumbled something out along the lines of, "It belongs to the artist!" I smiled, shook my head and took this picture. The Buddha belongs to no one.

Buddha Mind Everywhere

2010-08-21T18:01:00.001-07:00

It seems as though I find the Buddha everywhere I go. I'm always of two minds when I come across these emanations of the Dharma in public places. On the one hand they seem bereft. No one is leaving any offerings for them and they are exposed to all manner of degradation from bird poop to dog pee! But...on the other hand they offer up brief glimpses of peace and tranquil abiding. They stand in silent witness to every passing thing, taking it all in without question or comment. And, who knows maybe there will be one person who passes by in the midst of their busy lives looks at the face of one of these Buddhas and finds enlightenment. Stranger things have happened!

I love the decaying and crumbling patina. It's a Dharma lesson in and of itself.
The blue of this one really struck my eye.

Mali Girl

2010-08-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

This is my youngest girl Mali.

Preserving The Flavor of Summer

2010-08-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

A couple of shots showing the sweet Summery goodness!

Kim and I have been making all sorts of jam in recent months but I think this one might take the "prize". It's a peach, corn and bourbon mix that smells as beautiful as it looks.

On top of that we made it to a heart-warming music mix of awesome Country music. here's the mix:

1. Midnight Special - Louvin Brothers

2. Going To California - Bill Jorgenson

3. Blue Bayou - The Cox Family

4. Honky Tonk Man - Dwight Yoakum

5. I'll Go Stepping Too - Flatt and Scruggs

6. You Belong To Me - Patsy Cline

7. Mountain Dew - Ralph Stanley II

8. We'll Sweep Out The Ashes - Gram Parsons

9. San Antonio Rose - Bob Willis

10. Burn Your Playhouse Down - George Jones

Now that is SWEET music! I think it must be helping the jam set properly! How I ever came to LOVE classic Country so very, very, very much is beyond me. I'm just glad that the bug bit me a few decades ago. It rings some deep chord in my soul leaves me rocking back and forth with a smile.

Lidsville-KNIT AND DESTROY!

2010-08-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

A few close ups of some of my knitted hats.
I call this one, "The Dark Knight"
A view from the top.

Here's all 4 of the caps I have done right now. I'm working on a new one made of yarn composed from seaweed and silk!

I started knitting this summer as my wife was so into it. She seemed to really be enjoying the relaxing and meditative aspects of it so I thought I'd give it a try. Let's just say that art/craft addictions set in quickly! I'm so impressed with the quality and beauty of all of the hand-spun and dyed Yarn available. Although I'd like to try other projects I'm happy making caps right now. If you're interested in having one, let me know! If you'd like one you see or if you'd rather pick out your own yarn and have me make it, it's all good! KNIT AND DESTROY!!!!

The eye continues on the path...

2010-08-08T09:40:00.001-07:00

"Once in awhile you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right."
I love it when artist re-purpose images and bend them in new ways.

Urban Visual MASHUP! Ads give way to layers of brick and the criticism of paint splatters.

Knit CRAZY!!

2010-07-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

To start with this is a drawing of a chicken done by my daughter Mali. I love it! Both of my girls (Lily being the older sister) love to draw! I'm so happy that they are both taking to music and art.
So it's official; I've gone crazy for knitting! Sounds strange but I really dig it. Time floats by and you relax into this woven landscape of goodness. Here are two new hats. I am considering doing a little hat making business and calling it:

ACORN CAPS : handmade by a Tree-hugging dirt worshipper

I think I'll name each hat. The one above is called, "Hippie Berry"
I call this one "LIZARD THROAT BLUE". I'm envisioning a small hangtag made of recycled paper on a small piece of twine with a logo on it and on the inside the "name" of the hat. Knitting is really and truly a GREAT time. I'd highly recommend it!

Adventures in knitting

2010-07-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

This is my second hat project. I'd like to keep making these and spread them around to any interested friends so let me know if you'd like one. It's an odd sort of painful joy to knit these! Time folds like a "spice melange" space travel vision and suddenly you have another inch of knotted yarn under your needles.
I love the colors and patterns that emerge as the knitting progresses. I'd call this one "Fall Berry". I'm always drawn to earthy yet vibrant colors. I guess it's just another aspect of what I'd call my "Flamboyant-Hippie" aesthetic...maybe.
This beautiful duo was just acquired in Laguna Beach the other day. They come from this incredible Japanese yarn company called Noro. I've found that they and another company called Lion tend to always be my favorites as I paw through a wall of different skeins. See that, "skeins"...That's knitter-speak for a yarn ball. You can see how deep this is infecting my brain!

Chips from the chocolate fireball

2010-07-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

Striving upwards toward the stars. Yearning and still swimming in the wonder of it all.
True.
My first knitting project! A hat for my little one Mali. Currently working on number 2!
The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls....

The All Seeing Eye

2010-07-04T19:53:00.001-07:00

I tend to focus in on small details when I take pictures. Textures, shapes and colors tell these micro and non-specific stories about places. Whenever I show family and friends pictures from a trip they always wonder aloud where the snapshots are. Lamely, there usually aren't any. In a sense these are my version of that. These are the things that strike me about a place and catch my eye.

This is a wild one. I took it of Sharon Jones at her show at the Belly Up last week. The crazy thing was I didn't see this until I was taking a look at the shot on the computer. Sharon Jones was GREAT! Her energy was intense and full of life and fun so I guess it shouldn't surprise me too much to see this amazing African mask image emerge out of her! I think we all carry around the spiritual genetics of humanity in us. Photography is such a wonderful medium to work in. It can be as subjective and objective as the eye and hand behind the camera.

The Strata and Layers of San Francisco Street Detritus

2010-07-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

San Francisco is a special city. A walk down any street will show you its' hidden face. It's a city of hieroglyphics. As you walk you slowly submerge yourself in the accumulated strata and leftover energies of 60 plus years of underground culture. Shreds of paper reveal the accumulated paper trail of Beats, Hippies, Punks, Ravers, Hip-Hop Heads. Everywhere your eye wanders pieces of a vibrant and never-ending story unfold.

Ambiguous messages from the collective artistic impulses of thousands of souls. A name, a phrase, a bit of lettering. Some small and sacred reminders of lives lived and dreams dreamed.

Found, Seen and Extracted

2010-07-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

Blue Bottle Coffee milk and foam magick
Stone head expressing wisdom but saying nothing
California Aboriginal Sunlight Dreaming

Secrets of The Pyramids REVEALED!

2010-06-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

I always love looking at the titles of Occult or Esoteric books from the 30's-60's. The earlier books tend to have these very declamatory titles that promise direct knowledge of hidden mysteries. It's either that or they have inventive "Orientalist" names such as The Kybalion or The Book of Dzyan. The essence of so many of these books is that some little known but life-changing knowledge is about to come your way. I'd never presume to say that these were false promises. I'd like to think that waiting in some dusty bookstore or library there is a tome of soul-shaking wisdom to be discovered by each of us. The, for lack of a better phrase, sacred impulse seems to be hard-wired into humanity. We seek out experiences and engage in practices designed to both reveal and interact with forces larger than our lives. I'm all for this multiplicity of paths. I figure that as long as one isn't harming others and maintains their commitments in the more mundane world what's the harm? I'm deeply fascinated by the myriad spiritual paths people take. I also find that the artifacts (books, art, music,etc.) they leave on the path are vital expressions of the creative soul at work. While the true "secrets" of the pyramids might never be revealed, it's interesting to see people seeking them out.

Found Art: Miles on the street

2010-06-22T13:42:00.001-07:00

I saw this on a powerbox down by the beach. Good taste in Graf!

More Street Magic

2010-06-20T12:01:00.001-07:00

Phone booth Magick.
Urban Polar bears.
Signs and Hieroglyphics etched into the cityscape.

Inner/Outer

2010-06-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

These faces come to me again and again. They fall somewhere between african masks, androids and religious icons. I find them to be pleasantly asymmetrical and letting the color bleed over the line in big, blocky strokes is a fun way to work.
I have a couple of these long, rectangular sketchbooks and it's interesting to me how the shape and size seems to dictate the type of image that goes in them. I guess it's similar to what I've heard poets say about poetic forms, that there is some other discipline activated by working in a specific format. The rigor of the form forces you to realize your vision in a different way. I wish that in my case this tempering led to more dynamic works, but if nothing else they are always different than my usual and that keeps things interesting.
I guess what I am constantly working at in my drawings is somehow trying to convey the inner state as a symbolic outer form. I think of the pre-historic cave art found around the world (especially in France and Africa) where the elemental aspects of life are rendered in symbols. I lay no claims to that level of clarity and beauty, it's just my attempt to enter that slip-stream and partake of that energy.

Expressions of joy, anger and longing

2010-06-17T09:36:00.001-07:00

You are the crown of creation...A wonderful song by Jefferson Airplane and a magical thought. I think we've all either seen something or had experiences where the notion strikes us that a particular instant is a crowning moment. I can think of several; watching my girls being born, catching a wave, entering Yosemite Valley on a clear morning, deep in the heart of playing an amazing song with friends...
Hope and Fear and Anger and Joy and all of it in the fluttering wings of a bird in your chest.
"Angels in the architecture, spinning in infinity"
Breathe In, Breathe Out...Between those two poles is where everything is.

My picture on an album cover!

2010-06-05T17:47:00.001-07:00

So, this is the new Maquiladora album and what is exciting (in addition to the wonderful, powerful and adventurous music) is that yours truly took the picture for the album cover! It's always been a secret (okay not so secret!) dream of mine to have my art/photos on album covers. This came true awhile back in my work with Eric Nielsen on our High Mountain Tempel project. We take a VERY hands-on approach to the imagery on our discs and as we share many of the same visual aesthetics this has made for another wonderful layer of our collaboration. Eric's other long-term band is Maquiladora. This creative entity has been on an intermittent hiatus, but like a jeweled moth emerging from its chrysalis, they have a few new releases and they are touring Japan this summer with Acid Mother's Temple! Simply put Eric and Bruce are the two most creative people I know. Having had the good fortune to make music and art with both of them has been a real peak experience for me. Outside of that they are also dear, dear people and I'm proud to call them friends. So, when Eric surprised me by using this photo I'd taken I felt both honored and blessed. The picture was taken in the fount of all visionary cities, San Francisco. It's an amazing thing to have such good brothers in my life. Having the additional element of partaking in creative projects together pushes things into the sacred.

Sea Shell As Spiral Galaxy...

2010-05-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

A sea snail shell found this morning in Cardiff. As WIlliam Blake said, "...the universe in a grain of sand..."

More Icons

2010-05-23T11:03:00.001-07:00

There are all kinds of sacrifice. Some are things we do to help the greater good. Others are things we must give up and move beyond in order to find a way back home. While we should honor things of value in our lives we should also try to realize when they need to offered up as totems that no longer serve us.

Expressionism and Kafka

2010-05-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

SO, I'm always struck by the 1920's - 1930's German Expressionists. The nightmarish, interior as exterior landscapes are fertile grounds for contemplation. To my eye this is best represented by the films and woodcuts of the era. Movies such as "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari", "Metropolis" and "M" are filled with the intense shadows, exaggerated features and disorienting angles so indicative of Expressionism. The stark and high contrast woodblock prints are almost an emblem of the style. The desire to give staging to the inner world and its conflicts is what I try to pull out to use in my drawings. The piece above is called "The Jury". It's a response to that Kafka notion we all experience at one time or another of being persecuted. Judged as it were by an unthinking and deeply unsettling branch of some omnipresent bureaucracy.

Too much news lately...

2010-05-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

Everybody's talkin' 'bout this-ism, that-ism....

Bits and Pieces

2010-05-16T14:16:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when it's all too much I find it best to retreat within and re-connect with my rainbow and star powers!
This is my vision of Captain Beefheart in full flight-out in the desert shaking bones at the full moon!

Icons and Offerings

2010-05-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

I'm really attracted to religious art. Everything from the stained glass windows in Europe's cathedrals to Voudon altars in Haiti. The aspiration, longing and in particular sacrifice is emblematic of our shared humanity. Maybe what hits me most is the desire for transcendence. We are these Earth-bound beings with spirits that long to take to the sky. That feeling might not always be possible to obtain but through art we can get there every time.

New Ways

2010-05-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

A few new drawings. Trying to find new ways of depicting bodies. The bottom one is where I'm trying to head.

The Long Book

2010-05-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

I've been reading about insects lately. I know a lot of people have a bad reaction when they see any type of bug but me personally, I love them! They are EVERYWHERE! They are our constant companions. In good times we can celebrate their beauty. We can wonder at their profound ability to survive and thrive. In bad times we can eat them.
This is specifically an image of The Buddha and the reaction of his aesthetic companions when he had forsaken their ways. That being said it could be the image of anyone when they discover new and difficult truths. They are viewed with suspicion and fear. However if the vision is true and remains eventually the scoffers and nea-sayers come to understand.
This has been an overriding feeling lately...I listen to the NPR news on the way to work in the mornings and while maybe I shouldn't I like to know a touch of what is blowing in the wind. For the past several years it seems we've been in a steady slide towards a zero-sum, endgame situation of intractable opposites. There are mounting pressures from all sides; economic, racial, environmental, you name it...It feels oppressive at times. This is a drawing off my mind trying to push out a little space amongst this soul-crush and breathe...maybe even think. I never used to think that was too much to ask but these days it's almost expecting a miracle. Hopefully something will give and people can find a touch of common ground but I'm not holding my breath mind you!

2010-05-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

The elemental female, the war-monger's fall-out and the prophet of peace.

TRASH ALCHEMY

2010-05-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

So the best stuff is almost always old. It's the stuff that's all patinated and lived on and almost used up but not quite. Life has left its' mark on it and although it has been perhaps discarded when you look at it JUST SO, it shows you something. I can't tell you what that something is. It'll be different for you...you'll just have to trust me on that.

EYEBALL FISHING

2010-05-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

Oceanside-Coast Highway...In all of its technicolored, bulbous glory!

Colores, colores, colores! I think the bottom one is my favorite but the top one tells the truth.

2010-05-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

Henry Miller and The Layers of The Real

2010-05-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

The bottom is my take on Henry Miller. Last year I finally got down to actually reading him. What I found there blew my mind. I mean there is the sex of course. But what really got me were the deep 2-3 page long descriptions of things. Long passages about his childhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with wondrously intense details of the river water at night. The layers of the real I guess you could call it. Henry Miller gives you what is there and what is thought and what is felt and what moves in Heaven all at once in glorious words, words, words. It's a deepness that understandable drives many away. I've visited the place he lived in at Big Sur many times and no matter what I can always catch a hit off of what he was about there. That cabin with his art and the ocean and a few artists hanging around...I wish I was there right now.

2010-05-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

Our first group of shiitake mushrooms! These beauties grew on a sawdust patch inoculated with mycelium. The top picture is my favorite. A whole fungal world awaits!

Magick in the streets wherever you look

2010-05-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

In my daily peregrinations from here to there I'm constantly struck by the visionary banquet that surrounds us. One need only tune in their dial so to speak and random collections of debris and detritus will unfold before your eyes. The street is full of Magick. Watch for the signs. Watch the skies!

2010-05-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

Swami's Garden of Earthly and Celestial Delights

2010-05-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

More bodies than faces in this batch! The top however is my attempt at a portrait of Robert Johnson. I first became aware of his music in the early 80's via The Rolling Stones. At first it was hard for me to really "hear" his music. It sounded so skeletal and muddy. His odd, nasally voice would grumble and then slip into falsetto in ways that my ears just weren't accustomed to. A few listens in however and I started to get it. The haunting and lonely lyrics. The skittering runs up and down the guitar neck. The hissing sound of the record actually being recorded...It all added up to a mysterious and haunting beauty. From opaque and impenetrable towards something more akin to a ghost reaching out of the past I was finally getting a glimpse of the power of Robert Johnson. The bottom drawing is my interpretation of Pere Ubu from the play UBU ROI. Along with "Waiting For Godot", "Ubu" is one of my favorites. In this age where celebrities and politicians become instant Kings and Queens of the media, Alfred Jarry's play makes more and more sense!

2010-05-01T07:05:00.000-07:00

The image on the bottom is one that comes up in my drawings frequently. When I was in college I used to wander the stacks of the library with my trusty Walkman on blasting everything from Screaming Jay Hawkins to John Coltrane to Bauhaus. I'd usually end up in the art section and spend hours peeking through books. Inevitably I'd settle down with either an African or Native American (in particular the North and South West tribes) art book and get thoroughly engrossed. One similarity I noticed between these two VERY different groups of people were these masks that had as a top piece an enormously long antennae-like piece. In the Hopi piece the ends were assembled in wild zig-zags and cross shapes. In the African masks the effect was that of a body reaching into the sky. Both were powerful images. They seemed to my eye to be methods of attuning or dialing in to the sky. They projected outwardly that universal desire of our Earth-bound humanity to lift off skyward. Whatever the true meaning of these pieces are didn't really matter to me. They held an internal dream-logic that has filtered down to being a reoccurring totem in my drawings.

2010-04-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

AFRICANISIMO A LA PICASSO A LA BASQUIAT A LA BOYD!

2010-04-27T21:28:00.001-07:00

The never ending quest for combinations of form and color. I find inspiration in the funerary arts of Tibet and Mexico. Dias de Los Muertos is a holiday that I find particularly beautiful and touching. I've visited a giant graveyard in Tijuana during this period and it's very potent and enlightening to see another culture responding to death. The forms of the artwork are striking and powerfully colorful. They give a lesson without saying a word.

2010-04-27T21:25:00.001-07:00

A couple PROTEA plants from the Self-Realization Fellowship garden in Encinitas. I can hardly believe myself that these things are real! The wonder and beauty of plant life, the intricate and logical unfolding of their energy is a gift to us all.

2010-04-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

A hodge podge of new and old drawings. Faces, faces, faces!

FLORES

2010-04-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

These photos were all taken at The Huntington Library. I have found that taking pictures while walking around and visiting places has become another way of understanding what I see. I've always tended to see things in terms of camera shots and angles. Years ago my Dad gave me his old Argus camera and since then it has been an ongoing love affair.

2010-04-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've really been enjoying drawing these crumpled and deconstructed figures lately. They feel contemplative or non-religion specific spiritual. Experimenting with line and over-coloring beyond the initial drawing has also been and interesting experiment.

2010-04-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

More scratchings

2010-04-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

So here are a couple more. I seem to be obsessed with primal faces. I guess this comes from a few "places". One is rooted in childhood memories of walks through museums like The Met in New York. The art work that always had the biggest impact on me was the tribal or ethnic pieces. Without being able to articulate or even understand the attraction, I still felt the immediacy and powerful presence of art from Africa and Oceania. The other would be my great love for the following artists: Pablo Picasso, Keith Haring and foremost, Jean-Michel Basquiat. Jean-Michel's art hit me early and powerfully. The line, color and intensity of his paintings seemed to seep into my soul and take root. Drawing is an automatic for me. By that I mean that it just is. How to explain that? I've never taken a single art class (obviously from my lack of technical ability!) and yet for many a year I have found myself filling sketchbooks with images weekly if not daily.

ARTWERKS

2010-04-25T10:54:00.000-07:00

These are two of my more recent drawings. I use all kinds of Japanese pens and have found that the Copic brand is my favorite.