Wild Rooster

Kauai is known as the garden isle.  After a typhoon many years ago it

became rooster island.  The typhoon spread chickens and roosters all

over the island.  Now when you drive around there are roosters everywhere.

You can always get a wake up call on Kauai.

Duck Pond

This is a plein air piece.  I was standing on a tiny bridge

crossing the creek that led into this pond.  Ducks

every where.  In the reeds, in the pads, quackers

all over.  I was drawn by the large tree in the back

ground acting as a dark center piece above the pond.

I've kept this painting in a drawer, I've never 

really cared for it, but it's beginning to grow on

me.  Sometimes things need time to resolve and

become clear.

Thunder on Jerome

 

I was driving just south of Sedona, AZ.  The sun was 

still shining on the Pinion pines next to the road.

Providing a perfect backdrop was a storm crossing

the mountains near the town of Jerome.  This little town

clings to the side of the mountains.  One block of houses

and the road switches back on it's self.  Now your looking

at the roof tops of the houses you just passed.  Jerome

in it's hay day was a booming Copper mining town.  The

remnants of that past are still visible.  The slag from the

mining is toxic and contaminates the ground.  During

those days the governor of AZ built a house there in Jerome.

Now it sits by itself on a contaminated parcel of land.

Today the town is a buzz of interesting little shops.  One 

I found was very unusual.  They sold nothing but 

Kaleidoscopes.  Large ones and small ones.  

I spent hours going through and looking at the 

unusual patterns created by all the 

different ways of making a Kaleidoscope.  

Cool.

Bobbers Glory

There was an old wooden sign nailed to a post on the

dock. It said Bobbers Glory. Underneath it said

Snapping Turtle. As I sat there painting this scene I was

thinking that Bobber probably was a myth. After about

an hour I noticed this huge mass of moss and seaweed

floating up from the bottom. As it got closer I realized that

Bobber was no myth. This was the largest Snapping Turtle

I had ever seen. At least 2 ft. from nose to tail. A turtle this

size could easily take a mans hand off at the wrist if you

got to close. I had an apple core and tossed it in the

water in front of his nose. In a split second he had slashed

the apple into shreds. That was not what he wanted.

He was staring at me. Don't go near the water!

Faces in the rocks.

Let's play a little game.  See how many faces you

can find in the rocks.  Takes some imagination

and thought.  Currently I've found 18.  No, really I did

find 18 ... imagination, remember.  See if you can top

that number.  Thanks for playing.

Frozen in the river.