The Race is On

When I was asked to design a flyer of the Menlo Circus Club for our Community Dance Club, it got me thinking (and reminiscing).  Our granddaughter once competed as a teenager in horse competitions at the club.  I’ve always loved painting horses. So I thought that perhaps a small photo of her might tie in with the general theme of the club and dance theme.  I’ll keep you posted on the final cut.

One of the reasons I moved to the Internet was to showcase my large collection of Watercolors of San Francisco and Watercolors of California.  But I also had Watercolors of Flowers and Carousel Horses that had been popular at Gallery showings, and the Internet allowed me to showcase them.  And I became involved in Corporate Events that included the Napa Valley/Wine Country as well as Corporate Events in San Francisco.  So I included my Wine Country Gallery which has now become an online success (http://sanfranciscowatercolors.com/winegallery.html).

The Internet allowed me to evolve and grow as an artist, where I was not constrained by the physical boundaries and location of a Gallery.  My reach for lovers of Watercolors extended globally.  I also included my Pen and Ink Renderings, opening up my work to the major Realtors in the San Francisco Bay Area.  And finally I included comics that were done with my son.  The main character in the comic strip became the logo for a surf company called Born to Surf (www.borntosurf.com).

Over time I have moved just about everything to the Internet and my business has grown as a result. While I miss the interpersonal side of Gallery showings, I am enthused (and always elated) when customers contact me from around the world to discuss and purchase my artwork.

The World Wide Web truly brings us all a little closer through the love of art – and I feel blessed to be a part of it.

After being one of the first on the web to showcase an online art studio, I felt it was time to blog some of my thoughts. Today’s blog is an introduction. My passion for painting in watercolors is born out of the pure wonders of color and the magic of the medium. Add nature’s beauty and man-made creations and it becomes a daily visual fun-filled challenge and experience to paint

I couple this desire with my love of the City, San Francisco, where I was raised. The wonderment of beauty that surrounds me never lets me down. These visual records and my desire to paint also serve to remind me of the many cherished friendships that my wife Evie and I enjoy to this day.

Watercolors and Pen and Ink have long been my media of choice. Growing up, all my parents could afford were watercolors boxes of cake paint, pencils and dipped pen and ink. I didn’t need nor did I want any more. I could paint anything I wanted and pencil and pen drawings occupied my time and interests without end. Talent or giftedness was never in my vocabulary. Looking back, my work never measured up to the work of our children or grandchildren today. However, I will never regret whatever motivated me to keep drawing and painting in the first place. To a great degree I measured my work by how others perceived me. I lack patience in many ways but somehow patience finds itself in my desire to create. I will forever be grateful to my wife Evie, son Tarny and daughter Jeanne because without their tolerance, understanding and support I would have given it up long ago.

There is no doubt that my attraction to pencil pen and ink is drawn by the fascinating detail that prevails in our lives near and far. As a child, my fascination with caterpillars in a jar up close was as captivating as the glorious setting sun set under the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco. I place light forms over dark forms and dark forms over light forms for depth and picture interest just as I do watercolors. Somehow the infinite detail keeps pulling me in and I try to eliminate unfinished or as many “this doesn’t look right” things as I can see.

I like detail but any media can be expressed with quickness and spontaneity verses long and thoughtful deliberation, the detail often requires. How I marvel over contemporary pens and supplies. One of my last experiences involved spilling a new large bottle of ink on a brand new carpet in an apartment Evie and I had just rented in San Francisco fresh after marriage. It happened late in the evening giving me little rest to commute to my art teaching position in Petaluma the next day.

How would I ever have guessed that I would have an Army career in Art, working with Leonard Nimoy; that I’d be creating watercolors and watercolor demonstrations for corporations as gifts for Japan and Italy; or that I’d represent the Sister City of SF as a Watercolor Artist; that I’d give watercolor demonstrations at the Moscone Center for 5 days in SF and WC demonstrations in the Garden Palace at the Palace Hotel in SF. How fortunate I felt to exhibit in over 50 galleries including the office of Congressman Tom Lantos. I also was honored to judge high school student art work for display in the Congressman’s Office in San Mateo. And I feel that a major part of my development has been donating thousands of hours for nonprofit foundations.

My desperate need for acceptance as an artist always outweighed any monetary worth that I might enjoy. My loss of thousands of dollars due me by galleries having difficulty surviving testifies to this.