Hiking to Arch Rock

Bear Valley Collagescape, mixed media on board, 6”x6”

One of the best ways to spend the day with a group of friends is to head up to Point Reyes and do the long hike (9 miles roundtrip) on the trail to Arch Rock through Bear Valley.  I always sleep well after that long haul to the coast and back.  I often come back ready to paint.  This time a collagescape that includes the shock of pink as the naked ladies make their annual appearance when they bloom late every summer.  

Fort Funston

Fort Funston, acrylic on paper, 16”x20” and Fort Funston Collagescape, mixed media on canvas 4”x4”

The painting of San Francisco’s Fort Funston goes back to 2000.  Of course I did not cut it up, but if I did, and made it into a collagescape, it would end up something like the new piece above.  After reviewing my photos and earlier paintings, I then paint big fields of color onto paper that I cut up for each collagescape.  

Tennessee Valley

Tennessee Valley Collagescape, mixed media on board, 6”x6”

Tennessee Valley is one of the best parts of San Francisco.  Okay, technically it’s Marin County, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  But it’s all of 10-15 minutes by car from the Golden Gate Bridge to the trailhead.  It’s a long valley where you easily can lose any sense of being close to the City and a leisurely two-mile hike to the beach.  So “remote” that we once even saw a mountain lion strolling up on one of the ridges.  Wildflowers are best in spring, but the fog keeps it moist enough that some color pops out of the grass year round.  It was inevitable that my Collagescape Series would have at least one Tennessee Valley piece.

Six Little Pieces

Six Little Pieces, made from hundreds of smaller pieces, some of the smaller works from the new Collagescapes Series.  These are all 4”x4” each.

Today's art pun....

I am lichen where this is going.  Working on a Pinnacles National Park Collagescape. 

tofuart.com - updated

Every few years it’s time to give my website a good “spring” cleaning, update the site, edit out the work I show, etc.  One of the best reasons to do this is always for me to rediscover older work that I forgot about.  This particular Death Valley painting is a bit uncharacteristic for my work, but it also makes me want to get the red paint out and do more.

Zabriskie Point, acrylic on paper, 24”x19”, 2002

See more at tofuart.com

Joshua Tree Palette

Joshua Tree Collagescape, mixed media on board, 8”x10”

This is the latest collagescape piece.  This one based on one of my favorite places on the planet.  It’s where I go to clear my head and be inspired.  I have painted Joshua Tree National Park many times.  This time I went for an afternoon palette, but I need to plan for a few more collagescapes capturing Joshua Tree at different times of the day as well as springtime after a wet winter when everything blooms.

Prints and other accessories of some of the images from this new series are available from Society 6.  Contact me directly regarding the originals.  

Art or Candy?

Two small little Collagescapes, 4”x4” each, made with colorful bits of California landscapes.

Death Valley Collagescape

Death Valley Collagescape, mixed media on board, 8”x10”

This is another collagescape piece based on a place I know well and visit almost every year.  This is more of an overview of Death Valley and eventually I hope to make a few more pieces capturing the varied and distinct palettes of different spots in the park, for example Badwater, Mosaic Canyon, Zabriskie Point, etc.

Prints and other accessories of some of the images from this new series are available from Society 6.  Contact me directly regarding the originals.  

Muir Woods

Collage + Landscape = Collagescape

Muir Woods Collagescape, mixed media on board, 6”x6”

The next in the series of collagescapes with a California-Inspired palette, this one based on Muir Woods with a few “dashes” of spring wildflowers.  Each collagescape begins with a review of older paintings based as well as photos from visits I have made to the place.  The next step is to paint the fields of color that, when dry, are cut up and reassembled into a collagescape.

Prints and other accessories of some of the images from this new series are available from Society 6.  Contact me directly regarding the originals.  

Two Views of Point Reyes

Tomales Point Collagescape, mixed media on board, 8”x10”

One of the best parts of living in San Francisco is having the Point Reyes National Seashore in our backyard.  It’s one of my favorite places to runaway too.  I have photographed it and painted it many times. 

My two latest pieces in my new series, Collagescapes, are both of Point Reyes.  The first is Tomales Point at the north end of the peninsula.  It’s the color of November, the elk, the grass, the lichens on fence posts and the old dairy farm, Pierce Point Ranch.  The second piece is Point Reyes, the actual point at the south end of the bay that protects Drakes Bay to the east with the lighthouse at the point.  The red is the color I call Coast Guard Red, the color of the roofs mixed in with the rust, the lichens and the rocks.  Then there are the bright greens that emerge in February after the rains help usher in the California Coast’s early Spring.

Point Reyes Collagescape, mixed media on board, 8”x10”

Prints and other accessories of some of the images from this new series are available from Society 6.  Contact me directly regarding the originals. 

Butano State Park

Butano Collagescape, mixed media on board, 8”x10”

This is another collagescape piece based on a place that I love.  The redwood forest at Butano State Park is one of my favorite city escapes.  It’s quiet and off the radar for most tourists and even locals, it often feels like my personal state park.  It’s also prime banana slug habitat.  Note the streaks of yellow added to the palette.  Like the others, this colleagscape began with a review of my earlier paintings based on Butano as well as photos from visits I have made there.  The next step is to paint the fields of color that, when dry, are cut up and reassembled into a collagescape.

Prints and other accessories of some of the images from this new series are available from Society 6.  Contact me directly regarding the originals.  

Keep Tahoe Blue

Lake Tahoe Collagescape, mixed media on board, 8”x10”

It’s the bluest place in California but the trick is to try to capture all the different shades of blue and the colors of the forests and rocks along the shore.  This is another collagescape piece based on specific places that I love, have photographed and painted often.  Each colleagscape begins with a review of my earlier paintings based on the place as well as photos from visits I have made there.  The next step is to paint the fields of color that, when dry, are cut up and reassembled into a collagescape.

Prints and other accessories of some of the images from this new series are available from Society 6.  Contact me directly regarding the originals. 

The image below shows that this series of pieces are layered and not truly flat.

Last week’s mail

My P.O. Box had some treats (not tricks) waiting for me last week.

The list of mail art includes:

1. A Halloween Coconut from Robert Rios.
2. A new print from Meral Agar.
3. Sally Wassink’s “How to Draw the Human Figure.”
4. And some swell little booklets from Serse Luigetti.

A Little Piece of Mexico in San Francisco

As someone who typically cuts up old postcards to make art (to the horror of some serious postcard collectors), I am bemused but reminded some things are too good to cut up by the current show at San Francisco’s Main Library.  A Little Piece of Mexico - The Postcards of Guillermo Kahlo and His Contemporaries is on view in the library’s Jewett Gallery through December 29^th.   The exhibit features hundreds of postcards of Mexico circa 1900 by various photographers including the German-born, Mexican photographer Guillermo Kahlo – the father of Frida Kahlo.  Some are displayed on black felt, Aztec-inspired pyramids in glass cases – a nice curatorial touch.  I have to look a little more closely at my old postcards before I cut them up, I could have some Guillermo Kahlos in that box.

Collagescapes – Phase 2

Collage + Landscape = Collagescape

Mono Lake Collagescape, mixed media on board, 6”x6”

After making some prototypes and initial pieces using a more general, California-Inspired palette I have started to make pieces based on specific places that I love, have photographed and painted often.  Each piece begins with a review of my previous work based on the place as well as photos from visits I have made there.  The next step is to paint the fields of color that, when dry, are cut up and reassembled into a collagescape.

As much as I love Yosemite, for me, my favorite part might be the places on the other side like Bodie and Mono Lake. 

Prints and other accessories of some of the images from this new series are available from Society 6.  Contact me directly regarding the originals.  

The dead have a story to tell, you need to listen.

Mail art received from Amy Irwen just in time for Día de los Muertos. 

This project still isn’t finished

The starter pieces for the Millennia Mail Art Project were mailed out in June 2012. This week another piece (#42) came back completed.  It’s the first one to come back since April.  I wonder how many are still out there with some layers completed waiting to be finished and returned.

It’s never too late, so finish them up and mail them back…