Old
I was going through some old boxes a while back & came across some photos & images from days gone by, which I separated out. Thought it might be interesting to show a few off here, as it was a fun journey going through them for me and an example of progression through the years. I'm amazed I still have some of these with all the moving we did when I was younger, & makes me wonder what happened to all those pencil & pen sketches I once did.
Self Portrait Oh my!... to the best of my recollection, I must have done this large, mixed media, collage thingy when I was about 14 or so. I learned to surf in Waikiki when we first moved to Hawaii in 1960, a year after it became a state, & when I was 10, (goodness... showing my age again). Surfing can become an all consuming lifestyle, taking on religious aspects, & I have no regrets ever taking on that life. Well... there was those 2 times I nearly drowned, but then..... I obviously had "surf head" at the time, & I obviously needed some art & anatomy classes.
Smoke Ring Machine Another mixed media piece, on watercolor paper, & definitely showing it's age. Have no idea when this was done... my best guess would be around 68' or 69'.
I believe these 4 oil pastels on construction paper were all done around 1973. The first one, Day Bloom, is a perfect example of why one should use acid-free materials to work with. The cheap, wood pulp, construction paper is aging, burning on the edges & has fox marks throughout. I guess one would call these pastels drawings as a lot of the paper is showing through, & pastel paintings cover the whole substrate. Next image is Night Bloom... then comes Fire Fall & Night Moves. Funny how I can recall what I named them, but not the year I did them in.
These 3 photos, Lava rocks, Shadows, & Kokohead Crater, were done about 1973 also. I remember being surrounded by art at the time. Was hanging out with my good friend, photographer Charley Myers, who was working at the University of Hawaii photo lab, mingling with some of the art professors up there, and with artists at the Downtown Gallery in Honolulu, where I was working as a picture framer & gallery hand.
Self Portrait Another self portrait & another from around 73' Interesting days.... creative times.
Waterspouts One of several pastels I did just before I left Hawaii in 1980. I kept this one as it reminds me of the Islands, & of several waterspouts I've seen there, sucking up fish & seaweed off the reef as they came ashore. Another pastel of this series, of a sunset looking down over mountain ridges to the sea, I remember trading for an antique wood stove. 8-) This series where all done on 19 X 25 in. Canson Mi-Tientes paper using what I call a "dusting" technique. Shaving pastels sticks with a razor, mixing the dust, & applying with cotton balls or Q-tips. The water in the foreground on "Waterspouts" has a sharp, windswept texture, that you really can't see here, that was done by erasing with a sharp, semi-circle edge, formed with a gum eraser. Fold & repeat.
Sunset Spruces One of a series of 10 pastels I did around 1983 after I moved up to Maidstone, VT. Done on Canson Mi-Tientes paper, size is about 15 X 25 in. I borrowed this from a neighbor that I had given it to, so as to show it here & have a good digital copy, done with a Nikon camera, for possible printing later. Prints available