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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This year at Fremont Chalkfest I had to honor to chalk Arnie! And to tell people all about this 20?? yr old super mutt.

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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: