Pam and I are driving up the coast tomorrow, heading for Portland, OR for Art in the Pearl.  We’ll be taking our time and driving along the coast on Hwy 1 with frequent stops to see the sights…   I’m looking forward to the crisp breeze along the seashore. I love the friggin ocean.

We’ll be staying with friends, Charlie and Drew.  Charlie is a truly gifted abstract painter who I met at a show several years ago.

And I am commited to getting a good Alley shot while I’m there. I spent some time this year scoping out locations in Portland, and I found some interesting areas, but I don’t have an image from there. Portland is an old gritty city… It’ll be like fishing in a barrel.

This is the side of an old church in Detroit, shot a few years ago.

I had a commercial photography career before becoming a full-time artist - in fact it paid for all the money I was losing as an artist. The vast majority of my jobs were, coincidentally, architectural. I would shoot interiors and exteriors for design and architectural firms and for decor magazines. During the day I would shoot expensive and beautiful architecture, and at night I’d walk through the backs of these buildings looking for the exact opposite. 

Here’s one of my interiors.

Some great views from the penthouse…

working on a new image (St Louis)

I’m back in my second home: the airport. McCain has seven homes, I have two… The one where I have a fridge, and the one where I sit and wait.  I have 6 or 7 or 8 shows left, so I’m starting to see the light and what a glorious light!

I’m off to Chicago for Port Clinton and I’ll be back Monday… I’m learning to pack quickly (when I’m not carrying artwork). I think it took me 5 minutes today…

An exhibit of my work opened today at the LH Horton Jr Gallery in Stockton, CA. On display are seven 32×40’s. All of them of my teeth… err, no … all are alley images.

This is an image I’ve never shown, and will probably never print. It just never struck the right chord. It was shot in Boston in 2005. Its titled My Teeth.

I’ve just learned my work will be used as the backdrop for a benefit concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC on November 8th.  The concert is a fundraiser for Shepherd’s Table, a nonprofit organization that helps people who are homeless or in need of basic services. 

Portulaca flower, shot in 2003

I went to Lake Del Valle with Pam on Saturday… there’s nothing like lake swimming.

The area was not what I’m accustomed to in the East. Grass here grows naturally in the winter, for 2 months, then dries to a crisp for the rest of the year. This huge man-made lake (its actually a reservoir that provides water to the Bay Area) is surrounded by all this arid, dead grass. It was beautiful to look at, but not so comfortable to lie on, but that didn’t stop us from taking a nice nap on it…

A little girl playing by the lake

The afternoon sun

I just checked my schedule. This is the first weekend I have off in 12 weeks. No wonder I’ve felt so burned out. So Pam and I are going to a lake today… I can’t remember the name of it, but I know there’s water and I can jump in and swim!!! I might even take a few pictures.

My whacked schedule has gotten me way behind on orders. If I owe you some artwork, please know I’m working on it… been working on it for a few days…

I was interviewed last week by Gary Singh at Metro Silicon Valley (Silicon Valley’s weekly newspaper). The article is available on-line…

And I’m off to deliver art work to the LH Horton Jr Gallery in Stockton, CA. Its a good gallery within San Joaquin Delta College. The show runs from Aug 21 to Sept 18.

The Metro article refers to my early days shooting alleys… Here’s one of my first, from 1983… (I can’t find the very first, which I shot with my brother Charlie, also in 1983)