Mark Twain Hotel

Oil on wood 16x24

I'm going out of painting order with this post as I'm enjoying pushing toward a loose gritty impressionism and wanted to share. This is the Hotel Mark Twain off a side by Hollywood Boulevard. I've always remembered it being pink and thought what an ugly choice of color, now I've come full circle and have embraced the Pink.
Something about the combination of run down Hollywood sleaze, Mark Twain and Pink that make for and absurdly potent combination. I remember the Hotel from when I went to Hollywood as a child to visit the bookstores on Hollywood blvd and later as a young man to work out at the YMCA nearby.
I've had photo's of this place for years, but was finally steered into action by recent PA visit to Hollywood and a friendly sense of competition by my old painting pal Tony Peters who lately painted the same subject for his latest show.

Old House, La Verne

oil on wood 18x24

Riding around near the Pomona Raceway in La Verne, we came across this spooky old house that looked closed up. I tried a different approach painting wise, blowing out as much detail as possible with thin paint in the shadows mostly with rags, thicker with brush in the lights. I then put it away for a month and came back and reworked into it, ignoring the referance trying to merge it into the background even more. I'm hoping a varnish coat will crisp it up a bit.

New Gallery!

Chantry Flats 8x10 oil on Linen

I’m please to announce that I’ve sent some new small paintings (including these two) to a new Gallery I’m in. The Vault Gallery located in Cambria California is not to be confused with (the Vault Gallery in Sonora.) Cambria is one of my favorite little California towns and I’m pleased as punch to be there. Visit their Web site located under my links. -->>>>>>>>>>



Red and Grey 8x10 oil on linen

Old Church, Bodie

Oil on linen 16x20

I have different themed painting from the same trip as the last blog Entry. Above Mammoth Lakes is one of the largest Ghost Towns in California, despite the majority of it burning down in the early sixties. It’s part of the park system and well worth a visit if you’re in the area. I’ve been working on getting enough “Western Themed" paintings to try and enter the annual Western show they have at the Autry Museum. I have two trains done and am working on some buildings. Here is the first one done with traditional Broken color Impressionism in mind.

Below Bartlett

I couldn't help myself and added some green in the forground to extend the background pattern further.



Oil 12x16 on Linen


On the 395 to Mammoth Lakes south of the tiny town of Bartlett there is an old soda ash plant situated on the edge of a salt mash. It’s been closed awhile, but never torn down. A really sweet woman by the name of Katy and her son keep an eye on the place. Katy let us look inside and all around the plant that had barn owls I frightened off just as Sharon was going to photograph one. One thing you don’t see abandoned to often was a Jaguar parked right in the middle of the factory floor.
The place was a treasure trove of cool views of the kind of worn out subject I like. As much as I liked the factory I was drawn to a line of old trailers, mini cars and RV’s parked around the back of the plant. I plan on doing a big painting of the whole line and the factory. Before we left we left we visited with Katy and her finch collection. I’ve always liked Finches as there colorful but quiet, unlike another bird I know. There was one stunted half eaten finch in his own tiny cage. He had to be separated from the flock as that was picking on him to the point of death. Birds can be as mean to each other as humans can be.

Here is a small warm up painting of one of the trailers and an abstracted corner of the plant. This is the first painting I’ve done for awhile that showed me the future of where I hope to go as far as contrasting paint and texture, abstraction and shapes/patterns that flow thou a painting, even if they were not in the reference.

Red Jet

Oil on linen 16x20

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 "Fishbed"
( thanks Cathy)


On the way to a friends condo in Mammoth during the off season a few weeks back we went thru the town of Mojave off the 138. Driving around we found a cool abandoned motel, but more interesting was the Mojave air and Spaceport. Still an aerospace testing ground, ironically they call the place the Bone yard as it has Carcasses of many out-of-use one airliners one of the largest resting places for retired airplanes in America. I’m going to try and get access to the place, but this time around I contented myself with taking reference pictures thru fences. This is the first in a series of Jet paintings.