In the Spring of 2021, whilst the pandemic raged, I designed and painted a mural for the newly rennovated St. Edwards Seminary, which was in the process of becoming “The Lodge at St. Edwards State Park”; a destination hotel with an arts and historical preservation focus. Kamela Daniels hired me for the job and worked with me to get the design right. She also curates the multiple art display areas in the building.

Intended to be remeniscent of a WPA mural syle, the mural is a historical depiction of the settling of Kenmore: Featuring the McMaster Shingle mill on Lake Washington, the dugout canoes used by the Sammamish people, the Steamboats that crisscrossed the Lake, the fleet of Kenmore Air Seaplanes, The Red Brick road that was part of the historic Pacific Hwy that ran through Kenmore, the logging industry, and the building of the St. Edwards Seminary itself.

I have worked at Digipen School of Technology for ten years. And over that time there have been a lot of meetings, which I made good use of,…. by drawing the people present.

When I first started working there, i would see other artists do this….which I thought was maybe like, Not paying attention. But I later learned that many of these artists had worked at Disney, and it was actually expected that the artists draw at meetings while there. So I continued that tradition. Not sure I remember much from the meetings though.

Names withheld to protect the innocent.

Our Air BnB, Casa Joe! Looking north down the beach with the “don’t swim here!” flag up, Our back yard with bougainvilleas blooming. The view from Choco Banana in Sayulita.

This is the second time that my family and I have been to Sayulita, Mexico. A beautiful surf town on the west coast, just north of Puerto Vallarta, about an hour by car. When it is cold and rainy in Seattle, and the hype of the holidays are in full swing, there is nothing better than escaping to sun, warm surf, relaxed people and the bougainvilleas in full bloom.

For this trip I was thinking of bringing my oil paints, but international plane travel makes transport of supplies a bit more dicey, so I opted for water colors, which I have not used for……decades? They are their own animal, and I felt a bit clumsy at first, but they seemed suited to capturing the lushness, color and warmth of our surroundings.

Literally thousands of people passed by as I painted this. Choco Banana (the restaurant where I was sitting) is right near the town plaza on the busiest street at the busiest time of year, of an already busy tourist town. At any moment I could have taken a picture and had 25 people in the shot, but illustrating crowds was not my goal, so I picked a few people and illustrated them, quickly, because they just keep moving around. When you paint plein air, your realize how much movement is in the world. Even when doing a scene with no people…..the shadows change, light shifts, weather shifts…you are always playing catch up. Speed is an integral part of capturing life, because life is speedy. Unless you are painting a STILL life, in artificial light….where you can freeze time.

A woman commented that she had no idea how I could paint while there was so much activity about. It’s weird, when I am focusing on drawing or painting, I don’t notice it as a distraction. I’m the eye of the storm. The calm at the center of it all. Not to get grandiose, but it does kind of work that way.

-Compressed charcoal on paper-

Sculptor and Gage Academy teacher, Mike Magrath, https://magrathsculpture.com/ has hosted a Monday night figure drawing session for years at his lovely studio on Vashon Island. This has built a warm community of island artists of all levels that truly have a great time hanging out for three hours, gabbing, drawing, and admiring one another’s work. Pam Ingals will break out her oil paints. Ted Kutscher will do a study for a larger painting. Paula Hendricks goes big and expressive. Even Bruce Morser makes an appearance on occasion. Mike has figure sculptures and figure drawings all over the studio. A cat may walk in and join the model on the stand. The models are all pros. It’s one of the most wholesome activities I know. The above drawings are of Francis, from last night’s session. I am not trying to keep the model anonymous…..the gallery formating did the head lopping!

I had been drawing the figure mostly with Graphite pencil (Palomino Blackwing) but tonight I used compressed charcoal, which loosened me up a little, and allowed me to work in darks quicker.

Here is a commision for a new Smoothie & Breakfast Food Truck on Vashon Island. The owner, Steven Brewer, wanted the Tortoise and the Hare to be the icons of the new business, so he created a mock-up in photoshop…..this painting is not too far off from the final result. It was a great collab, with a nice result. Oil on Canvas. 24”x36”

And here are the logos I designed that go on the cups. Done in Photoshop. The Tortoise was tricky!

Studies for the Painting. Photoshop

This is a digital painting I did over a photo of the location of what is to be the new Zen Center Garden. I made it up, so it may not look like this when finished, but here’s how i imagine it to be. Much of the foliage remains from the original photo, but most everything below that is digital. It seems like cheating, but the result is so pleasing.

https://pszc.org/

This is the original photo

I am planning a trip to Europe this Summer, and plan on painting and drawing everyday while I am traveling. I’ll be posting here, and would love it if you could take the journey with me.