Yosemite Falls

 Yosemite Falls inspired my latest hand-carved rubber stamps for a new mail art series to celebrate the holidays.   

Tuolumne Meadows

Tuolumne Meadows, mixed media, acrylic on paper, 9”x7”, 2014

One of my favorite places, I used this image for this year’s holiday card.  Below is the message form the back of the card:

Over 200 miles to the east, 8600 feet high up in Yosemite’s Tioga Pass, is an amazing place called Tuolumne Meadows.  Every winter it fills with snow.  When the snow melts, it makes its way to our faucets in San Francisco.  It’s a magical place and the source of the water that sustains us.  Let it snow…

And now, it’s happening, as we wait for the big storm to roll in.

Happy Birthday Yosemite!

Late Afternoon Light, acrylic on paper, 16”x20”

Yosemite National Park is 123 years old today.

Oh my Gosh!

Map of California’s Gold, mixed media on canvas, 20”x20”

Let’s say you want to prospect for gold in California.  Well, you’ll need a map.  I started  with a big pile of California maps that would include pages from old atlases, road maps, topographic maps and ones I picked up at visits to state parks.  Try cutting them all up and putting them back together to see what happens.  I did and I ended up with a portrait of Huell Howser! 

For those of you who are Californians, you know that our Huell is world famous.  I’ve been to countless places featured on his show California’s Gold and even discovered a few places courtesy of Huell.  Without him I might never have found Glass Beach in Fort Bragg.  That road trip lead to a whole series of beach glass paintings a few years back.  Huell Howser’s is one of the most likeable people in California and his enthusiasm for this wonderful place we live is truly infectious.  And, after watching something grim on the evening news, nothing is a better antidote than a bit of California’s Gold.