Welcome to my website!

 Hunt around and you will find art, an info/sales portal  for my Cuckoo comics and play, essays, a commissioned childrens’ book, and of course, pie! Scroll down for updates:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to tech goblins or other demons, no matter what/whose computer I try, artwork can sometimes be displayed at itsy bitsy size. Sometimes. Then weeks later I can fix it. Or the artwork doesn’t show up at all. Some pictures get flipped around. Then they go right side up. Then they flip again.  ARGLE ARG!!  Please go to STREET ART and ART for  possibly better views!

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Two quick aurora portraits! They’re very mysterious because the computer overlords are deigning to upload them upon whim and not request. I love this one:

And I’m experimenting with paper.

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Daly City Chalkfest was a tour of all the kinds of foggy drizzle…but what other chalkfest do you get to see a crew use a heat lance (? I think ) aka FIRE, to dry the pavement?! Equally unique, I made a portrait of Lady Bird, homage to a doggie extraordinaire;

That’s her real tongue!! Nothing is exaggerated, if anything, she’s more furry than this picture. And to see how damp it was, check out Sharyn Chan’s fine shot, taken maybe 30 minutes later:

Chalking in a windbreaker suits me! Protects from fog drizzle, slobber drizzle, and I’d rather be chilly than hot. Bring it, Daly City!

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For this portrait, the photographer – aka The Bomb Diggity – did WAY more work than I did! All she had to do was drive 250 miles to the ONLY HOLE IN THE CLOUDS IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF ALASKA, set up shop w/her camera, and then drive 250 miles back to our point of origin. I was there! The lot of us were hooting and hollering at the reds and purples and shapes. What a night!

Not shown is the road and our bundled-up caffeinated selves. But that green light was real !

The Bomb Diggity also bought the original! How cool is that. Here’s her photo:

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Version 1 of this Swirly Aurora. Imagine seeing this in person! Wee bitty lighthouse and other goofy editing not included in the source photo and were my own bright idea ( TERRIBLE PUN )

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Oofda, it’s been too long! Due to Stuff Going On I haven’t been able to focus on chalk festivals and pastel art at home. Then I remembered aurora portraits;  they’re pretty quick! I can pop in and out! They don’t need polish, and Auroras send me to my happy place. So I set up an Aurora Portrait Station and ‘travel’ there when I can. Here’s two portraits so far;

Yes it’s rough and unfinished, but I love the Vibe.

 I want to live here, seriously!

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Luna Park Chalk Art Festival! This was in San Jose , California, within sight of Lick Observatory. So I figured it was time to bust out this:

If you know, you know. One day homage to Lick Observatory’s laser guide star system, and other universal facts. ‘Death Star Snail!’ shouted passersby. Also shoutout to Premiere One, a sponsor cool enough to endorse space snails.

And great live music to be seen and heard along our ‘Inspiring Artists’ row. I’ll be back!

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The beautiful ‘Thephalapod’ at Palo Alto Festival of the Arts!

It took about an Octopus’ amount of arms to pull this off; Octo-reference thanks to Jeanne Villepreux-Power, photo by Sharyn R. Chan , sponsorship from City National Bank, yummy food and drinks galore from Ada’s Cafe, Volunteers from the local Rotary Club, night time security, and Ukulele tunes via Sean Carter. And then there’s this;

Green messy fun!

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Public service announcement; This is NOT a BEE! What is it then? A praying mantis? A jumbo moth? I appreciate the love of bees, attentive people walking by, but no no no, it’s….

 It’s a firefly holding a lantern! The theme of Daly City’s Chalkfest was optimistically titled, ‘ Here Comes the Sun.’Great one day event with a loaded lineup of primo chalk artists, seriously. And pastries galore!  Super shoutout again to Sharyn R. Chan ( check out her art! ) for the photo!

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Rattlesnakes are all over Lick Observatory/Mt. Hamilton, so it was overdue to pay Homage to Rattlesnake. Since my Great Grandfather and family lived up there for 29 years, I wondered if any rattlesnake I see up there has had its ancestors encounter my ancestors….

The ‘black hole’ on the left is via a sun image from Great Grandfather’s 1922 Wallal eclipse expedition in Western Australia. That expedition was the final proof of Einstein’s theory of relativity. The  image in the middle is the sun taken with ultraviolet light, and the moon on the upper right was drawn from a moon picture taken at Lick.

In theory I’d have drawn allll the scales of Rattlesnake, but in that direction lies madness, so I settled for wee galaxy-style scales and bean-style scales instead. The entire layout was also drawn with extra-lighting speed; I’ve often wondered why I didn’t get the handy dandy ADHD hyperfocus, punted out Homage to Rattlesnake  layout in one morning, then realized EVERY early chalk morning is a hyperfocused  event ahhhh hahahahaha

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Beloved Spice

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Our district – aka D4 – had a very contentious supervisor election which entailed all of us making a blarg choice one way or the other. At the last minute a godsend stepped up and announced his candidacy via my driveway. Into the breach storms a hero….LUCKY CAT!

Okay not my finest work due to weather and other factors. But Lucky Cat was drawn during a huge event out front and virtually EVERYBODY agreed that Lucky Cat was the best possible choice for our neighborhood. He is absolutely everywhere out here. In businesses. In homes. In our hearts.

Unity at last!

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At Fremont’s 1 day Chalkfest I finally gave in to The Force and featured a giant donut. All day chalking in front of Krispy Kreme – might as well surrender. Sea Dragon, however, put up a fight;

Of course every chalker bought donuts this day. Special thanks to Clif Gold for the good photo!

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Palo Alto Festival of the Arts has returned! I pulled out the composition I was going to do in 2020; Sister Wendy in/as a Gustav Klimt painting;

This photo was taken by Sharyn R. Chan , who is a stupendous artist! And photos from above were a theme this year. Here’s a bird view thanks to Wayne Renshaw ( I think this link is his & Cheryl’s website, they are amazing )

My favorite audience comment came from a kid who walked by and quipped to his Dad, ” That’s creepy, but it’s pretty. ” Honestly that’s the coolest art critique I’ve ever had. Goal achieved! Thanks kid!

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Now I know what it’s like to chalk in a wind tunnel! Lick Observatory’s 2022 mural’s theme was the resurgence of Mt Hamilton’s wildlife after the 2020 SCU fire. There was so much I wanted to add; mountain lions, the infamous squirrels, rattlesnakes! But realistically I had to pare down the design choices. Bonus: red color  ( but not Ladybug ) and undercoat were made by 100 year old bricks home-made on site at Lick! Those bricks are festooned all over up there. Photo references via Laurie Hatch and Sean Carter:

With cosmic kindness the wind blew parallel to the sky trails, so it really was a collaboration. What can ya do but go with it! That said there were times when it was heating up and I was scrubbing the concrete with bricks that I questioned my life choices.

The lightning orb was from a photo Sean took of the storm that set off the CSU fire

Thanks to Lick Observatory for indulging me! Additional sponsorship thanks must go to Sean’s Rancho Relaxo, Ibuprofen, and Einstøk Porter.

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If I’m depressed I’m going to chalk mural Snoopy in a public place, because apparently Snoopy is a cosmic magnet for happiness. All ages and all walks of life came by and chatted the entire time I was at Daly City Chalkfest. This introvert had the best conversations – who knew!   I thought that almost nobody would ‘get’ it, the opposite was true. Here are two of my favorite things;

Check out this kid’s pants!

Proud to say we get paid for these shenanigans

Here is a more professional shot, it’s amazing the difference between angles and cameras;

Is four pics of Snoopy overkill? Yes. Do I care? No! Auroras and Snoopy make my day. You can’t have enough. And once again the hero of the hour is Bjørn Jorgensen’s photo reference.

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Another Night Owl! I can’t get enough of this theme. Adorable owl photo reference via Lynn Leiterman!

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The Sun vintaged the Chalkfather portrait perfectly and thus a true icon was born:

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Living in California as an aurora addict can be tough. So can living in the modern world with tech problems. I’m bypassing both by posting two bad photos of good aurora portraits. Here’s two photo versions of the same painting. A difference in lighting changes so much!

 

 

I am using super duper secret techniques to try to replicate these beauties. Here is another unjustified crap photo of a lovely aurora:

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I met my soulful doppelgänger and she loves chasing owls. Woot!

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Chalkfather; Don of Our Chalk, Icon of Grooviness. Currently blessing all passersby via my driveway.

Holy Icon painting  blessing my driveway via master Fyodor Zubov!

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I’m not sure exactly what Frog is saying, but I’m sure it’s a marvelous story

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Vesterålen, my favorite place in the world! Not so happy with the clouds and the random rainbow glory colors, but hey the ‘hytte’ is finally on paper!

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Did you know that Great White Sharks spy hop?! Sharktoberfest ’21 was virtual this year, so here is how I festooned my back yard:

To view Sharktoberfest ’21, and to hear the true story of a shark encounter and more on this mural, click on any link I’ve marked in this sentence! To see me & and an eminent biologist give David Attenborough a run for his money, go to 2.27.30 for five minutes of TRUTH.

Extra special thanks to Hooligan for helping create this piece!

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If I’m legacy remembered for anything, it’ll unfortunately probably be immortalization as the Muppet Chalker. But dang it they have anatomy you can make up, which makes them ideal for  hurried chalk muraling . Daly City Chalk and Art Fest ’21 was my first post/sorta-post plague festival, and they did such a great job. Here is Gonzo in the, err, classical style;

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Another aurora portrait! This one truly had ‘happy little trees’ as I sorta panicked and mucked around with texturing. Squint and it works! ( Or do I need more powerful glasses )

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The time came around to make this one

 

Bjørn Jørgensen aurora photo reference again! I’m really grateful he gave me permission to use his pictures.

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Chance is really really really really good looking. That said, this picture is overwrought on purpose ( learning exercise ), but finally I painted fur that doesn’t look like sticks or scratchy hay.

 

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Kristian Birkeland, with my imagination of his muses Huginn and Munnin. Of course the muses didn’t turn out so well on this one, but the aurora and portrait are okay!

He was sitting in my backyard, staring right into my neighbor’s house. I wonder what they thought of the stare-off. Meanwhile, here’s the best version of the aurora colors! :

Photo references via Bjørn Jørgensen and Norwegian currency!

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No Exit; Living by the ocean in a wildfire climate change state. More fantastic photo references thanks to Andrea Izzotti and Noah Berger.

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Earth turns to ash and water turns to air and the ground goes around. Pastel on paper, photo references from Elizabeth Vermilyea and Andrea Izzotti.

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Meet Jake! He and his partner Ms. Jones are the resident Super Ravens of Lick Observatory. This rainbow photo was taken by Sean Carter from the Observatory’s Main Building. To add to the universal mystery; shortly after I finished this piece, a tremendous wildfire tore all around and THROUGH the Observatory grounds. Jake and Ms. Jones fled, the Observatory buildings were miraculously saved, but all else is literal scorched earth. We thought Jake and Ms. Jones had fled for good.

To our delight, once the inferno had passed, the Super Ravens returned! This mountaintop scene will never look exactly the same once it grows back, when I look at this picture I wonder how much more Jake and Ms. Jones know than us.

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 2020 Vision for America; Make Great Cookies Again

This is how Cookie Monster’s ( ‘Me President!’ ) cabinet would fill out. Not pictured is Gonzo – he’s head of Secret Service. The wind was blasting the entire time I filled this campaign promise in my driveway, so it’s pretty slapdash. Still, I feel that Kermit aka Chief of Staff expresses the 2020 Zeitgeist perfectly:

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Huginn & Munnin, Thought & Memory. I didn’t think Huginn would turn out so well, so these ravens are pastel fiddly on non-pastel paper. Sorry Huginn, I didn’t mean to cut your tail off!

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Kick covid a**! This piece was done for the virtual Denver Chalkfest:

Little known fact; I am the same height and weight as Bruce Lee. Beyond that there is, surprise, virtually NO resemblance. I think about this fact often while I’m squatting for hours on concrete and making ‘OOF!’ noises when I stand up. If Bruce Lee could do what he did…

I also like his outline version better than the final, so here it is!

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*AAAAAAAAA…* Angels singing:

Apparently the way I deal with current events is to spend hours and hours  chalking rice-a-’rooni’ on my driveway. Two birds flew overhead after I finished, and didn’t poop on it, which I’ll take as a sign that they approve. Or at least don’t disapprove.

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My driveway has been proud to host this campaign announcement. 2020 VISION FOR AMERICA; MAKE GREAT COOKIES AGAIN:

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Feeding the addiction…Special thanks again  to Bjørn Jørgensen @ arcticphoto.no for the photo reference!

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Probably a bad idea to post art I’ve made with mountains in the foreground. Apparently that is not the way to go with me. But I like how the aurora turned out and yes it is from an actual photo reference!

I solemnly swear to never draw mountains in the foreground again…but do promise more auroras!

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Aurora portraits! These were quick(ish)ly done, hence no super photo. But tah-dah:

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Sharktoberfest ’19 was a blustery blast, here we have a spiny dogshark and filetail catshark swimming around a basking shark.

It was so windy my gear was like an air foil unless I had 4 large rocks, two feet, and one hand on the easel at all times. Fortunately the wind was blowing towards me, it was kind of like eating chalk.

Once I got my stuff nailed down I managed a photo with the head honcho:

Why is this photo sideways?? Is it trying to swim? I’ll just claim we’re trying to play it cool like the dog and cat sharks. And here’s to next year’s Sharktoberfest!

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Here’s this year’s Palo Alto Festival of the Arts chalk piece. This lovely lass is an Akashinga Ranger, an all female anti-poaching unit based in Zimbabwe. The original image is by photographer Adrian Steirn, courtesy of IAPF and Akashinga, The Brave Ones.  For more information, please check out www.iapf.org/akashinga/

 

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Another chalk mural at Lick Observatory; The Hammer vs. The Feather / W.W. Campbell vs. Percival Lowell. They disagreed on whether there was water on Mars, so I put part of Lowell’s drawing of ‘canals’ and one of Lick’s Mars images in the center:

Lowell is upside-down because he was wrong! His style of science was more, hrm, imaginative and writerly, hence the feather. Campbell – my great grandfather – on the other hand, would gather LOTS of infallible data and then bludgeon his point ( correctly! ) home, hence the hammer. Turns out there was only a likelihood  of an insignificant amount water vapor on Mars.

To Lowell’s credit, he did create Lowell Observatory and postulate the existence of a planet behind Neptune. Turned out to be Pluto!

Drawing Great Grandfather in his place of employ for many years was intimidating to say the least. Here he is with the Mt. Whitney hut which he merely designed and made happen to collect data on Mars water vapor. No lengths too great to prove a point:

And here’s another explanation:

Thank you Lick Observatory for this great opportunity!

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The name of my Denver Chalkfest piece is called, ‘The Rainmaker’, because, you know…

Pavement was probably too dry for Frog. After the FIRST rainstorm, I started taking a bazillion photos to document …anything. Here’s one with a fresh background and re-chalked-still-faded Froggie:

Okay let’s try to finish before the next storm and get a good photo:

Turns out that’s as good as it gets, on Sunday we got Thor’s Hammer again which turned all our work into phantoms:

Frogs need water, that much is clear. Even this little frog, though we met between the squalls. We got our leaping practice on:

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Pacific Common’s Fremont Chalk Festival was awesome;  perfect weather, amazing artists, and a fun audience who totally ‘got’ why Kamali Moorthy here is capable of creating constellations:

If only I could be half as cool as this fab kid! Fortunately the smell of Krispy Kreme donuts wafting over my chalk site helped me draw her face. I was really nervous not to blow it:

By cosmic coincidence my chalk pants matched Kamali’s skateboard. Thanks for the photo, Wayne!

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” Draw something ocean-themed “, Oxnard’s Festival of the Whales instructed. And ‘lo, that’s how I discovered the rapidly evolving Anglerfish:

I shoulda left the background as is, but decided to follow my plan to the letter. Wrong idea! But I still want to eat a giant glazed donut.

Shoutout to Barbara and the festival planners – these Ventura & Oxnard events at the harbors are sweeeeet!

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Here’s a salmon shark a la the legendary Sharktoberfest in San Francisco!

Turns out that bright red is a magnet for little kids. One girl even held my umbrella while we chatted and she helped me pick out colors. Adorable! There’s a lot of wee shark fans out there.

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What if Beaker was an audiologist and spoke into the microphone for the beep-tone portion of the hearing test?

Yup, it would look something like this. Thanks to Nashville Chalkfest and my sponsors for not minding two years in a row of giant Muppet art!

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Most underreported news story of ’18, right here:

To Mars! Are We Prepared? Special thanks to Ventura Art Festival and the laughing audience walking by, this event was a hoot!

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First off, excuse the MESS this page may be, as the evil software gods are deciding to muck up my layout no matter what the bleeping hell I try. ARG!

Secondly, and more important, I discovered the Flying Spaghetti Monster was also the muse and original model for Gauguin’s masterpiece. Here is my rendering, with deep thanks to the Palo Alto Arts Festival for sponsoring these shenanigans:

Where Do We Come From? ( the kitchen ) What Are We? ( hongry ) Where Are We Going? ( to eat the pasta)

Extra bonus, turns out there’s a duck in the middle of this painting:

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Another Lick Observatory triptych! This year’s theme was past/present/future, which I was going to represent as 3 linear panels, but then opted for this instead:

The excuse being that space-time isn’t linear…plus I feared it’d look like a brochure if I did it straight-forwardish. Additional rambling philosophical explanations for this composition are best discussed over a beer.

The other theme was heat/wind/smoke, due to an inversion layer, fires, and 25 knot winds all night every night. But no matter! I’m amazed ANYTHING stayed down, especially my secret crush James Keeler.

He was the director of Lick Observatory from 1898-1900. More info on him and Lick Observatory can be read in Eye on the Sky, a fascinating book.

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San Rafael’s street painting festival’s theme this year was, ‘ the wonders of space and time’, so I chalked another portrait of my great grandparents. William Wallace Campbell and Elizabeth Ballard Thompson-Campbell lived on top of Mt Hamilton where he was head of the Lick Observatory from 1900-1929. They’re standing in front of an abstracted Orion’s Belt Nebula and a copy of a print of the solar eclipse from their 1922 Wallal expedition. The flower Great Grandmother is handing Great Grandfather is a blaze star which grows on Mt. Hamilton.

William Wallace Campbell was nominated for a Nobel prize in 1900, but it was won by Wilhelm Rontgen who discovered X-rays. Fair enough!

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Apologies to my Denver Chalkfest neighbors who had to hear someone yell, ” SNAILS!!!” every 30 seconds.

 

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Pies of the West has not been idle! We’ve been running aboot volcanos and discovering pie goddesses and angels. More essential info at the Pies Site.

 

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Der Svedish Chef vas dat de Nashyviller Chalky Festerval, og taught de peeper hvow to makee der bester chocklikee chippee cookies. 

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The Ventura Arts Festival was a fabulous event, despite this epic battle in the midst of that happy scene:

Initially I was going to draw that gorgeous octopus, ( Thanks to Mark Laita for the photo reference ) but something seemed to be missing. Then I attended a lecture by an octopus scientist who declared octopuses were like aliens, and I thought, ” That’s IT!”

Despite an informal poll, there was no agreement whether the Enterprise or the Octopus wins the battle.

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Thanks to a video still from Sylvia Toy St Louis, ( all I added was a wee Earth ), this space tourist made an appearance at the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts. I know it’s a faux aux to put faces near the tops of large pieces – photo pinheads!!! – but some people are too much fun not to draw in full character. The umbrella just flays me. And a handbag?!! Bwah hahaha!

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From July 27-29 I had the great pleasure of creating a chalk mural at Mt. Hamilton’s Lick Observatory! Astronomer Elinor Gates put this event together and also recorded the making of the mural via time-lapse cam:

CLICK HERE FOR THE LICK OBSERVATORY MURAL 

Yes I look like a speedy frog. 

This triptych montage featured my Great Grandparents, William Wallace Campbell and Elizabeth Ballard Thompson, who lived on the mountain while Great Grandfather was the observatory director from 1901-1930. All photo references are from Laurie Hatch, UCSC digital archives, and a bird picture via Gary Kramer.  Here’s my favorite panel:

By cosmic miracle, I found ONE piece of chalk, origins unknown, that matched the Lick laser color almost exactly. Better save it for future laser art!

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Here are Mildred and Richard Loving at the San Rafael Italian Street Painting Festival. The theme was the ‘summer of love’! This year also is the 50th anniversary of Loving vs. Virginia, the Supreme Court Case that the Lovings won which made interracial marriages legal in all states. I love how the festival theme and this anniversary coincided!

This photo reference for this piece was a B & W photo, it was a hoot  to colorize it. And simplify their shirts, oh my goodness. 

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 An owl swoops in on the Denver Chalk Festival! And he’s really happy it didn’t deluge this year.

 

Owl photo thanks to Ben Hall, Owl Nebula reference via Magnus Gafålk. I have to add that after chalking my sponsor’s name, the festival organizer  pointed out that it was spelled wrong! Hey who says ‘Apple’ HAS to have an ‘e’?!

This also happened:

He’s zapping me because I can’t spell. Okay, I like this owl so much I have to add another picture.

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 PIES OF THE WEST has a new look! Translation: the internet ate the original site so I transposed the ENTIRE THING, word by word, over to a new ‘dotcom’. Here’s to paranoiacally printing out hard copies of work sent up to the ghosty-net!

 After too much time debating a newer, slick style, I stuck with Chalkboard – the most unsophisticated, silliest design available. Random people keep telling me this website super duper suits me, so I figured, hell,  admit defeat and OWN the silliness…

 In addition to the transposed pie entries, there are new ones too! Here is my friend William about to go to town with a chicken pot pie:

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*G.O.T.F.M.S.V.S.* ( Couldn’t resist funning the huge name ) put on another fantastic Sharktoberfest, with shark science, exhibitions, costume contest, lectures, music, and art via me!  I also can’t resist slapping auroras EVERYWHERE, so here is this year’s effort:

* That’s, ‘ Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center’ *, which hosted this event in the location below. Not a bad work station!

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Hearing test words never, ever seem to change, so for the Nashville Chalkfest some of these words manifested literally. It was time to rebel! Thanks to Oticon Medical and Co-designer/Co-Rebel Alexis Kur!

I also think all pilots would be much happier with ice cream:

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Botticelli’s secret Birth of Venus under-painting - REVEALED!!!!

This incredible discovery was gifted unto me via…errr… divine inspiration. Look closely at the angels and hand in the close-up below. Clearly, the angels are eating spaghetti, and the hand is grabbing spaghetti.

Super thanks to Botticelli, the original Flying Spaghetti Monster artist, Palo Alto Festival of the Arts, and my tolerant sponsors TNT Inc., CPA’s.

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Galileo made an appearance at the San Rafael Italian Street Painting Festival! 10′/10′ and yes I did decide at the last second to ‘dye’ his hair. Thanks to Bank of Marin and all my bday well wishers!

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Goats in Space! Goats in Space! Why? Because…umm…let’s just say this is a roschach test for the audience. 8′/8′ at the Fremont Chalk Festival – everyone had to do an 8′ square in only one day! Coincidentally it was also National Astronomy Day ( May 14, ’16. )

Here’s a closeup of their faces, they look a bit psycho – maybe because I was chalking all day in front of Krispy Kreme.

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I bit the dust so badly on the reindeer I almost didn’t share this, but since the aurora came out to dance  I’ll overstep my heebie-jeebies. This was at the one-day-only La Strada Dell’ Arte at Napa’s New Tech High. Aurora reference once again via Bjørn Jørgensen.

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Thanks to Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and Spaceweatherlive.com for the image references, here is my pastel on paper of Frogolar; filament eruption/frog.

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  Why is this pastel named Mosecho? Because ‘mose’ in Norwegian means moss – at least according to internet auto-translate! –  and to create the aurora composition I flipped the lower landscape upside down. Original gorgeous photo by Mari Fjellanger!

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 The annual event! During Feb 5-7 I will be in Orlando Florida at the Infinite Mind conference, once again  throwing chocolate ( and eating it ) during my presentation. This year’s title is,  ’ I Just Eat Pie; Literal Advice in an Age of Metaphorical Platitudes. ‘ Actual quality of advice not guaranteed, but the quality of chocolate is excellent! Pushups and car karaoke might also make a daring educational appearance.

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Pachydermulous will be part of an elephant project featuring a ton of other artists. For now this one is solo. Pastel on paper, 30 cm/30 cm, Elephant Trunk Nebula photo reference via J.C.Canonne.

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Tiger Shark Royalty at the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Visitor’s Center ( that’s a mouthful ) Sharktoberfest. Shark science, music, costume contest, food & beer truck, crafts, and art! This piece is chalk on roofing paper, 70 cm / 100 cm . I don’t know the tiger shark and hibiscus photographers’ names, but they took gorgeous photos. 

 

 I also had a co-operative model:

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Lemon is a 21 (?!!) year old cockatiel who belongs to Justin & Victoria of Victoria’s Last Resort. Victoria mosaics EVERYTHING, so a gigantic Lemon  munching  on a mosaic star made perfect sense at San Luis Obispo’s Via Dei Colori chalk festival. Thanks to The Sign Place for sponsoring me! 

I took a zillion pictures but no single one really capture the whole image. Here is Lemon’s head…

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Aurora Factory! Pastel on paper, 60 cm/ 90 cm ( 2′/ 3′), redo of a chalk piece. Title and image cobbled together entirely from Bjørn Jørgensen’s work.

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 On August 22-23, the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts was visited by the Ghost Ship. 6′ / 8′ , chalk on pavement. Super shoutout to the Renshaws ( incredible chalk artists! ) for sponsoring my square, and also to the two photographers who took the aurora and ship pictures. I didn’t get the photographers’ names, so this really is a ghost ship in its own way. 

 

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 Here is the latest work – meet Ovis Astroalis! Pastel on paper, 60 cm/ 60cm. 

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Here’s my attempt at the San Rafael chalk art festival. It was  humbling working at this event because the artists there were REALLLLLY amazing.  Physicist Kristian Birkeland with an Aurora, 305 cm/ 305 cm aka 10′/10′. Photo references; portrait via Asta Nøregaard, aurora background via excellent source Bjørn Jørgensen. Once again I almost didn’t finish! On day two I woke up with a raging migraine  -  shoutout to  miracle pill Maxalt for giving me 2 hours of work time.  Still, you’ll see I didn’t manage to put Birkeland’s glasses on. Ironic having an Aura while DRAWING the Aurora…

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This one almost didn’t happen! Here is an 8’8 from the Denver Chalk Arts Festival in early June; Ashol Pan, eagle huntress and cutest kid on the planet. More info and credit go to  photographers Asher Svidensky for the portrait, and Bjørn Jørgensen for the aurora.  Kudos to Renaissance Downtown Denver City Center  Hotel for sponsoring this  out-of-towner. And extra shoutout to Thor, God of Thunder, for the apocalyptic thunder cells! Everyone at this festival had to redo their work 3-4 times!

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On May 2nd, Napa’s New Tech High held its annual La Strada Dell’ Arte festival and fundraiser. Thanks to Heidi Spitzig’s fantastic photo, this year I drew a smiling space turtle!

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The Nashville Chalkfest was a blast! Special thanks to the organizers and my sponsors, Audiology Online and SpeechPathology.com   Below is my first 12′ /12′ chalk mural; the percussionist Evelyn Glennie making music on some gigantic drums:

 It’s so freaking large I couldn’t get a good straight shot! But here’s one anyway, you can kind of see I added some stars after the last photo was taken:

 

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  Below is a variation on a theme, ‘Invitation Too ‘. My first aurora created on paper is also FOR SALE.  Contact me for pricing, there are options!

  My wish is to make GIGANTIC pastels on paper that could be well preserved, alas at the moment I am at least happily pushing the size limit. 

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APPEARANCE ALERT! The inaugural Nashville Chalk Art Festival will be April 11-12, and I am thrilled to announce that I will be a guest artist! This event benefits the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, a subject close to my heart as I happen to sport a hearing impairment. If you are in the area, stop by my square to see me blazing out my first 12′/12′ chalk mural! Also pick up some free pony beads to decorate your hearing aids, I am bringing a variety of colors and sparkles .

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APPEARANCE ALERT! This Jan 31-Feb 1 I will once again be attending and presenting at the Infinite Mind conference in Orlando, Florida! 2015 marks year FIVE of putting my own stamp on public speaking at this event. I’ve stocked up on the throwing chocolate and will stay limbered up so I can jump up and down while delivering my speech. For those of  you attending, keep your minds limbered up too as I have a wee assignment during my hour of power! Honestly you guys, it’s  such  useful and informative conference, and amazingly, it can be FUN too! Thank you, Infinite Mind, for hosting me again this year! 

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  Wahooooo! Horsehead Nebula; pastel on paper, 46/48 cm. Despite previous delusional thinking,  I will definitely NOT be trying to punt this one out  on 10′/10′ pavement anytime soon! 

 

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 Another chalk/pastel work with credit going to Bjørn Jørgensen for the aurora and scenery! ‘Visitation’ ( or, ‘Visitasjon’, your preference. ) Chalk on slippery painted board, 60/122 cm.

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New chalk art! Once again this is a composite from Tromsø photographer Bjørn Jørgensen,  a la www.arcticphoto.no   Aurora Liten Hytte, chalk on cheap-ass chalkboard, 54 cm/85 cm. It was rather challenging to work at this small size on this surface without making the aurora look….hairy. 

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On October 11 ’15, I was lucky to be part of Sharktoberfest ; a festival put on by the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Visitors’ Center. Music, shark experts, shark art projects, costume contest, and here is a 300 cm/ 180 cm ( 10ft / 6 ft ) aka life size great white shark:

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 With permission from photographer Bjørn Jørgensen, here is a replica of one of his hard-won aurora pictures. Chalk on cardboard, 60cm / 90cm.  Check out more of his work at http://www.arcticphoto.no/ 

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   Introducing Fraugora; Frog creating the aurora borealis, 6′/8′ chalk on pavement at the 2014 Palo Alto Arts Festival. Super thanks to the coolest sponsor ever, Shinnyo-en! They are a Buddhist community, and to quote from their main website:

   “The Buddhist term shinnyo denotes both buddhahood (spiritual awakening) and the nature of reality; enrefers to a boundless garden or open space….Shinnyo Buddhists promote the values of peaceful coexistence and cooperation through the works of philanthropic foundations, and place great value on the contributions that each individual can make toward life on our planet.”

 How fitting is THAT!?! Many blessings to you, Shinnyo-en!

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 A new chalk mural, 7′/7′ dedicated with much respect and gratitude to Hawaii. It is not as detailed from the design as I hoped,  the work was done over a longer period of time and under a LOT of falling leaves, twigs, and dirt! The water, earth, air, and people – Duke Kahanamoku and Eddie Aikau, blend together, self contained as one.

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 Pies of the West has changed stylistically, here’s a sample of the new work. Thanks to Stacey Marie for the cooking lesson!

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   Presenting  THE NIGHT OWL, courtesy of La Strada dell’ Arte Festival! This was a fun event, I hope to be there in 2015!

I wish I could have taken this little guy home with me!

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       APPEARANCE ALERT! On May 3, I’ll be in Napa at the La Strada dell’ Arte Festival whipping out a large chalk drawing in just one day! Eep! It’s a day of art and food and 100% of all proceeds go towards New Tech High, they’re a successful and innovative high school program. I’ve vowed to draw my first owl, check back for results!

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 If you haven’t checked out Pies of the West, now is a good time to start. My 2014 new year’s vow was to add 1 Pie entry per month and I’m already one month behind! I likewise hope that your goals are as lofty as mine. Below is the art from the latest entry, note that my dog has chased all the customers away:

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APPEARANCE ALERT! 

The weekend of February 8-9 I will be at The Infinite Mind Conference in Orlando, Florida! This con specializes in Dissociative Identity Disorder education and is a MUST if you are a professional, student, survivor, or support person involved in this corner of trauma treatment. If that sounds too heavy for you, fear not, for my presentation fills the Loose Cannon niche at the end of the second day. And I throw chocolate. You heard me right; I. Throw. Chocolate. At the audience. High quality stuff, to boot. If you’ve never seen a presenter wearing flip flops, throwing papers and chocolate, and talking with their mouth full, then now is the time to strike! 

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  Here’s the next pet portrait that takes it all. The way.  This is what happens when a cartoonist picks up colored chalks;

 Chalk on converted canvas, 24″/30″

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Yes, I know it looks like, ‘ Pacifica Massage and SWELLness, ‘ but  do forgive this surfing artist as the commission was slapped together in whirlwind  speed.  I was called in to do a mini murellete for Pacifica Massage and Wellness at Rockaway Beach on October 26th –  with less than one day to plan and prep  the entire piece!  I couldn’t say no as this was a merchant sponsored Halloween festival and the funnest event to work at, ever. I hope I go back! Below is Pacifica Massage and Wellness’ Elephant logo posing as The Great Pumpkin:

 

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Big Plans in store for the next large street painting, a heartfelt homage to Hawaii. I’m doing studies to prepare; here is a chalk portrait of Eddie Aikau. Can’t wait to be ready for the final piece.  [ The surface was quite smooth and could not absorb the material, hence the blowing chalk ]

 

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New work! This is what happens when 1) Lauren from Sunset Pet Supply snaps a great photo of my dog Hooligan, and then 2)  the poor guy busts his doggie acl and gets surgery.

Hot Diety Dawg! Chalk on chalkboard, 3 ft / 4 ft.

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June 29-30 was the [Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk]  San Rafael Italian Street Painting Festival, which had some AMAZING artists and where I completed my first public street mural! In Italian tradition I went Tahitian, and copied  Gauguin’s Piti Teina. 6′/8′ and the borders are an invented design that incorporated flowers from other Gauguin paintings.  Apologies for the wonky camera angle, I didn’t have a proper ladder to take the shot. 

 

 

Super thanks to my teacher Genna Panzarella and my sponsors the Baumert Family!

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 CUCKOO THE PLAY IS UP FOR SALE!! 

And I’m adding a special bonus; from now until August first, every CUCKOO play order will also include 2 CUCKOO single issue comics, no extra charge!

CUCKOO the play owes its life to the  inimitable Nena St. Louis. All she did was start a theatre company, decide to turn Cuckoo comics into a play, teach me how to write for stage – literally, I had NO experience – produce workshop performances, dramaturg the entire script, and produce the full length performance. Oh, and she crash-coursed me in acting, too.

The result is the first play – as far as I know – about Dissociative Identity Disorder, written by somebody who actually had it.  This is also quite possibly the only play written in its entirety on a kitchen floor. I sat next to the dog bowls.

This Behemoth was a behemoth team effort, especially by set designer/jack-of-all-trades Michael Lewis, Director Rebecca Longworth, and print designer and guru Tyler Cohen. But this page is dedicated to Nena, who truly pioneered new ground.

NENA ST. LOUIS is the most brilliant artist and teacher I know.  Nena, you are a superstar!!!

 

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Order the Cuckoo Play Here! 

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 Click here and here for Nena St. Louis’ links.

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