On a fabulously springlike day in February, Trail Guy tempted me away from painting: easy to do when there are wildflowers and it isn’t hot and I don’t have a tight deadline. First, I noticed all the chemtrails. Yeah, yeah, I know, “contrails”, but I still think there are way more than we have passenger […]
March Forth on March Fourth
This pencil drawing was done from several photos taken in the campground Sequoia RV Ranch up North Fork Drive in Three Rivers. Like the other drawings used in the 2026 calendar, the original is on a piece of 11×14” archival paper. It is for sale. $375 (plus tax if you live in California) or make […]
Just Some Stuff
These three topics are rattling around in my skull. ONE It rained and hailed rather ferociously while I was painting that indoor oak tree at my church; two days later I took this photo. Check out the first daffodils in bloom, in spite of the recent heavy cold storm. TWO The elephant was buried in […]
Day Three of Growing an Indoor Tree
I shoved the couch to the right, covered it with the tarp, and tackled the remaining branches. I forgot to take photos for a few hours, after shoving the couch back to the far left side. The next goal was to show depth where the new branches overlapped. This keeps the tree from looking like […]
The Indoor Oak Tree Grows
As I work on the tree, it feels as if I am making no progress. I finally figured out why: it is because I am painting the same stuff over and over and over. Branch, twig, twig, twig, branch, twig, twig, twig, twig… It also looks insignificant when seen with the entire wall, so the […]
Other Indoor Oak Trees
I’ve painted oak trees inside three other places. The first one was 3 stories high in someone’s living room. This was the first time such an idea was put forth to me, and it opened a new chapter in my muralizing life. The second one was painted in an empty house as the owners were […]
Growing an Indoor Oak Tree
My church* hired a new pastor, and things are rockin’ and rollin’ (not literally). Many changes are taking place, for which I am grateful, excited to be part of, and will tell you about the ones that are relevant to this blog. This room is called the “multipurpose room”. For quite a few years, it […]
Exploding Head
Not literally. Figuratively. There is a difference in these two terms despite the language butchering (figurative, not literal) that is commonplace. Using a template to convert a book from Word to InDesign is supposed to be easy. Sure, if everything works. When does that happen?? Converting the InDesign file to a PDF for proofreading is […]
Finally Painting Sequoias Again
After a couple of weeks of messing around, I finally planted my feet in front of the easels to complete these three Sequoia paintings. First, I dabbled on this one day, and then said, “Never mind, I’d rather [walk] [pull weeds] [go to the library] [anything else]”. I girded my loins, and returned to the […]
February Around Here
This is the page for February in my 2026 calendar. I drew this in pencil (duh) from several photos taken a short distance up North Fork Drive in Three Rivers. The original is on a piece of 11×14” archival paper. It is for sale. $375 (plus tax if you live in California) or make me […]