Good art satisfies on several levels.
In my body, I feel it – viscerally.
Then, over time, as I live with these objects, day to day, new ideas open up.
My aim is to make and live with visual poetry.
It’s a sad day, in a fragile world.
Civilization seems to be a very thin crust over a massive molten earth.
This painting has changed a lot over time - I’ve added three figures since 2013 - (this is a closeup) - It’s been with me through sickness, sad family deaths and miraculous births... good travel and lots of books.🪔There’s a good chance I’ll finish it this year - (no hurry). #ArtistLife #LivingWithArt
A nice, long evening walk in the desert with my favorite girl💃This time we ran across this desert tortoise - an extremely rare find - since they are almost invisible from six feet away!
I tied them myself. #WoodcutWednesday
Lucky for me, my favorite travel partner is also my favorite person to have adventures with at home💥This was taken at the Tate Modern in London - can’t wait to go back! #TravelTuesday
My studio is layered with drawings, sketchbooks, ideas for artwork - all waiting...
I’ll pull out something, from even decades ago - they’re like old friends... we talk things over, and make a painting out of the conversation. 👉 (That cool knife in the picture was handmade by my son @raininkhelmets who also loves to invent - check him out). #MasterpieceMonday
These fish bones I collected, while wandering a deserted island off the Mexican mainland. I’ve kept them for years, because they always bring me right back there - like a porthole in time... I feel the blistering sun and taste the salty sea. #talisman #cabinfever #ThrowBackThursday
At first, this quarantine seems pretty good for the animals - It’s quieter now - less planes, cars, hikers - less smog!🌈 I wonder if they’ve noticed... do animals think those thoughts?🌈🌈What happens to the wild lands during a depression?... When jobs are scarce, homeless camps grow and crimes increase?🦌 Just like my own body, sometimes, so strong and resilient, other times so very fragile. #fragilebalance
Can you imagine being stuck in a place, governed like China,
Where the ruling elite are building a “Perfect Society”?
Independent thinking - unsanctioned art making and writing, is not allowed there.
Spiritual practices are punished there. (Think like Xi Jinping, or don’t think at all). Like them, we have an ever-growing surveillance state - built to “keep us safe”.
Are we building our own cage?
Woodcut - in response to Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei saying that The Chinese Communist Party is at the root of this deadly worldwide pandemic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1iI_cNVcJo
Pandemic woodcut #ArtUpClose
#TroubleInMind
Detail from a painting, where Jesus is beaten by the authorities. #daybeforeeaster
Last night, Barb asked me if I’d be “the one who buys her flowers”, then she offered me a small military tank. I said, “I will - I can do that.” - (This was in a dream). It spoke out my acceptance that we’re in this together, come what may - good or bad. #quarantinestories
Now and then, while taking walks out here, we run across a scattering of shards left by some stone-age tool maker, from who knows how long in the past 🗿 It’s usually next to a rock for sitting, always in the middle of nowhere... it looks like they were just wandering through, maybe on their way down to the river 🛶... when they’d pick up the right kind of stone, sit down and chip off parts for scrapers and arrowheads💥 No one cleaned up after them - the shards stayed where they lay, for centuries. That’s one of the things I like about this place - a certain timelessness 🏜 It’s easy now a days to imagine someone a hundred years from now, walking down this same path, puzzling over the trash we left behind. 📀📼📺 #ThrowbackThursday
Detail of a woodcut that I really like - hand painted, so each one is unique. What’s amusing to me is that I made it in California, before I even thought of moving to the desert - The entire time I’ve lived here, I’ve made no art with cactus in it, instead, it’s been forests... always dreaming of the next place. #WoodcutWednesday
I think it’s going to get darker before it gets lighter.
Last year, we watched an Italian film “La Grande Bellezza” (“The Great Beauty”) - Just like favorite music albums, the first viewing was good, but we were unsure, while the second time around, was rich and moving. 🕯Last night, we kept the lights low as we moved about, cooking, reading... our sound track was from the movie, (found on YouTube). It was perfect👌
Got up before the sun to shop for supplies and found half the town already there! Kind of makes me nervous, buying groceries in a crowd... (many wearing masks and gloves). We’ll find out in a couple weeks if we caught any sickness while there... by then, we’ll have to go back for more food!😷 Fortunately, our home is packed with art - art to make, art to look at... art to listen to or read - #ArtHeals #ArtIsMedicine - So... Take your medicine - that’s what it’s there for.
Like most people, we’re staying around home... listening to music and wondering what life will look like a year from now. #thetimestheyareachangin
What ever happens, I’m ready for it!💥 In our small town, it’s pretty quiet, there’s still food on the shelves... funny how popular TP is though - that’s all gone. #TwistedTuesday
Every snowflake unique, every train wreck a surprise. We roam a world of change.
#BuckleUp
Just back from a walk in the desert - it’s spring here and the Lily’s are out. More rain is expected. #calmbeforethestorm
We fell asleep, then woke to the soothing sound of rain... two more wet days are on the way - it’s sublime. 🌧💦#NothingBetter ( @barbaraschuppe in Lake Mohave)
Looks like a good evening ahead - rainy and blue outside, candle light and music within.
We may be moving to the high mountains, but I always dream of long swims in the deep blue sea - #BlueMonday #MermaidMonday
What a beautiful weekend... for catching up on my bookkeeping. (Detail from the painting: "Jail House") #WorkHardPlayHard
Late in the night, Barb whispered something funny in my ear. And I recognized the moment from a poem about the secret life of couples... fleeting moments of immeasurable value, making up life’s richness. #LifeIsPoetry
Good life, (reflected in our Rocket Espresso maker) - trying out my birthday present/three-shot portafilter, with Barb... mmm! #EspressoArt @rocketespresso_usa
This last year, while wandering through the desert, I found this interesting rock with an unusual “X” marking on it🏝🗺... thinking of Pirate Treasure👑, I memorized the spot so I could come back and dig - I didn’t expect anything, but - why not? Today, I went back... no gold, no bodies - Oh well - but I did find this cool black rock, with one blood-red spot! #RichLife
We woke to a cold North wind... and a mysterious, sad surprise. In our front yard, lay this beautiful rabbit, no longer alive. Hit by a car on our lonely dirt road?... maybe. #mystery
#ArtistLife #MarriedToTheMuse #LoveWhatYouLove #LoveOfMyLife #ArtSaves
Keep your eyes open, things are not as they seem.
#SketchbookSunday... (while in Paris)
Now that I think about it, coyotes have always played a part in our lives, from an early age - lost cats, other worldly yelping in the night, a shadow caught in the corner of your eye, they’ve always been there.
🔭Luis Castro, where are you?📣
It was in the late 60’s, When I was maybe 12 yrs old, wandering around the back hills of Encinitas with one of my all time favorite friends - Luis Castro and his dog. 🐕I can’t quite remember his dog’s name, but if you yelled like Tarzan, he’d always return from where ever he had roamed... that day, we were “bushwhacking” 🍃- forging tunnels through the chaparral and underbrush with his dad’s machetes ⚔️- (Huge fun!), climbing trees, hacking off branches... on the walk home, we ran across a coyote, hit by a car - luckily, we had those machetes! 🐺I cut off his head and we boiled it over a camp fire in Luis’s yard, then scraped off the flesh.🔥That skull joined the other treasures around our treehouse and I still have it now. But I’ve lost track of Luis. I think he had three sisters and a brother - “Rosa” and “Esther” are the only names I recall... #trailblazers 💥(that’s me with my dog, in the center, Luis on the left, Mark View - another great friend, on the right)
More treasure boxes, headed for storage📦#ArtSupplies
It’s a sad day, in a fragile world.
Civilization seems to be a very thin crust over a massive molten earth.
This painting has changed a lot over time - I’ve added three figures since 2013 - (this is a closeup) - It’s been with me through sickness, sad family deaths and miraculous births... good travel and lots of books.🪔There’s a good chance I’ll finish it this year - (no hurry). #ArtistLife #LivingWithArt
A nice, long evening walk in the desert with my favorite girl💃This time we ran across this desert tortoise - an extremely rare find - since they are almost invisible from six feet away!
I tied them myself. #WoodcutWednesday
Lucky for me, my favorite travel partner is also my favorite person to have adventures with at home💥This was taken at the Tate Modern in London - can’t wait to go back! #TravelTuesday
My studio is layered with drawings, sketchbooks, ideas for artwork - all waiting...
I’ll pull out something, from even decades ago - they’re like old friends... we talk things over, and make a painting out of the conversation. 👉 (That cool knife in the picture was handmade by my son @raininkhelmets who also loves to invent - check him out). #MasterpieceMonday
These fish bones I collected, while wandering a deserted island off the Mexican mainland. I’ve kept them for years, because they always bring me right back there - like a porthole in time... I feel the blistering sun and taste the salty sea. #talisman #cabinfever #ThrowBackThursday
At first, this quarantine seems pretty good for the animals - It’s quieter now - less planes, cars, hikers - less smog!🌈 I wonder if they’ve noticed... do animals think those thoughts?🌈🌈What happens to the wild lands during a depression?... When jobs are scarce, homeless camps grow and crimes increase?🦌 Just like my own body, sometimes, so strong and resilient, other times so very fragile. #fragilebalance
Can you imagine being stuck in a place, governed like China,
Where the ruling elite are building a “Perfect Society”?
Independent thinking - unsanctioned art making and writing, is not allowed there.
Spiritual practices are punished there. (Think like Xi Jinping, or don’t think at all). Like them, we have an ever-growing surveillance state - built to “keep us safe”.
Are we building our own cage?
Woodcut - in response to Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei saying that The Chinese Communist Party is at the root of this deadly worldwide pandemic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1iI_cNVcJo
Pandemic woodcut #ArtUpClose
#TroubleInMind
Detail from a painting, where Jesus is beaten by the authorities. #daybeforeeaster
Last night, Barb asked me if I’d be “the one who buys her flowers”, then she offered me a small military tank. I said, “I will - I can do that.” - (This was in a dream). It spoke out my acceptance that we’re in this together, come what may - good or bad. #quarantinestories
Now and then, while taking walks out here, we run across a scattering of shards left by some stone-age tool maker, from who knows how long in the past 🗿 It’s usually next to a rock for sitting, always in the middle of nowhere... it looks like they were just wandering through, maybe on their way down to the river 🛶... when they’d pick up the right kind of stone, sit down and chip off parts for scrapers and arrowheads💥 No one cleaned up after them - the shards stayed where they lay, for centuries. That’s one of the things I like about this place - a certain timelessness 🏜 It’s easy now a days to imagine someone a hundred years from now, walking down this same path, puzzling over the trash we left behind. 📀📼📺 #ThrowbackThursday
Detail of a woodcut that I really like - hand painted, so each one is unique. What’s amusing to me is that I made it in California, before I even thought of moving to the desert - The entire time I’ve lived here, I’ve made no art with cactus in it, instead, it’s been forests... always dreaming of the next place. #WoodcutWednesday
I think it’s going to get darker before it gets lighter.
Last year, we watched an Italian film “La Grande Bellezza” (“The Great Beauty”) - Just like favorite music albums, the first viewing was good, but we were unsure, while the second time around, was rich and moving. 🕯Last night, we kept the lights low as we moved about, cooking, reading... our sound track was from the movie, (found on YouTube). It was perfect👌
Got up before the sun to shop for supplies and found half the town already there! Kind of makes me nervous, buying groceries in a crowd... (many wearing masks and gloves). We’ll find out in a couple weeks if we caught any sickness while there... by then, we’ll have to go back for more food!😷 Fortunately, our home is packed with art - art to make, art to look at... art to listen to or read - #ArtHeals #ArtIsMedicine - So... Take your medicine - that’s what it’s there for.
Like most people, we’re staying around home... listening to music and wondering what life will look like a year from now. #thetimestheyareachangin
What ever happens, I’m ready for it!💥 In our small town, it’s pretty quiet, there’s still food on the shelves... funny how popular TP is though - that’s all gone. #TwistedTuesday
Every snowflake unique, every train wreck a surprise. We roam a world of change.
#BuckleUp
Just back from a walk in the desert - it’s spring here and the Lily’s are out. More rain is expected. #calmbeforethestorm
We fell asleep, then woke to the soothing sound of rain... two more wet days are on the way - it’s sublime. 🌧💦#NothingBetter ( @barbaraschuppe in Lake Mohave)
Looks like a good evening ahead - rainy and blue outside, candle light and music within.
We may be moving to the high mountains, but I always dream of long swims in the deep blue sea - #BlueMonday #MermaidMonday
What a beautiful weekend... for catching up on my bookkeeping. (Detail from the painting: "Jail House") #WorkHardPlayHard
Late in the night, Barb whispered something funny in my ear. And I recognized the moment from a poem about the secret life of couples... fleeting moments of immeasurable value, making up life’s richness. #LifeIsPoetry
Good life, (reflected in our Rocket Espresso maker) - trying out my birthday present/three-shot portafilter, with Barb... mmm! #EspressoArt @rocketespresso_usa
This last year, while wandering through the desert, I found this interesting rock with an unusual “X” marking on it🏝🗺... thinking of Pirate Treasure👑, I memorized the spot so I could come back and dig - I didn’t expect anything, but - why not? Today, I went back... no gold, no bodies - Oh well - but I did find this cool black rock, with one blood-red spot! #RichLife
We woke to a cold North wind... and a mysterious, sad surprise. In our front yard, lay this beautiful rabbit, no longer alive. Hit by a car on our lonely dirt road?... maybe. #mystery
#ArtistLife #MarriedToTheMuse #LoveWhatYouLove #LoveOfMyLife #ArtSaves
Keep your eyes open, things are not as they seem.
#SketchbookSunday... (while in Paris)
Now that I think about it, coyotes have always played a part in our lives, from an early age - lost cats, other worldly yelping in the night, a shadow caught in the corner of your eye, they’ve always been there.
🔭Luis Castro, where are you?📣
It was in the late 60’s, When I was maybe 12 yrs old, wandering around the back hills of Encinitas with one of my all time favorite friends - Luis Castro and his dog. 🐕I can’t quite remember his dog’s name, but if you yelled like Tarzan, he’d always return from where ever he had roamed... that day, we were “bushwhacking” 🍃- forging tunnels through the chaparral and underbrush with his dad’s machetes ⚔️- (Huge fun!), climbing trees, hacking off branches... on the walk home, we ran across a coyote, hit by a car - luckily, we had those machetes! 🐺I cut off his head and we boiled it over a camp fire in Luis’s yard, then scraped off the flesh.🔥That skull joined the other treasures around our treehouse and I still have it now. But I’ve lost track of Luis. I think he had three sisters and a brother - “Rosa” and “Esther” are the only names I recall... #trailblazers 💥(that’s me with my dog, in the center, Luis on the left, Mark View - another great friend, on the right)
More treasure boxes, headed for storage📦#ArtSupplies