First Friday Santa Cruz: Opening Exhibit @ Pacific Trading Co.

Hola, one and all: come see “As the Crow Flies”, a collection of nineteen of my paintings. They shall be at: Pacific Trading Co., 1224 Pacific Ave., in Santa Cruz. I’ll be there from 6-8pm each First Friday in May and June (May 6 & June 3) They’ll be up for all of May and […]

Figure Painting

I haven’t shown or published a ton of figurative work. During college (Towson University, 1988-1992!) I made figure drawings ’til I was blue in the face. Thanks Stuart Stein, Carmen Robb, Jose Villarubia! (et al.)You all made me practice, practice, practice! It’s not that I don’t love the human figure…..here’s another piece: I especially love […]

Abstract Expressionism? Or just art?

I finished this one last week. Actually, this has three siblings; it belongs to a series of four. Back in October, the Santa Cruz Open Studios event went on, and I sold a bunch of small paintings on paper. Inspired by commerce, I decided to make some variations on the themes found in those pieces. […]

Route 66: Nostalgic Acrylic Paintings

Here are some paintings I worked on during the summer of 2010. The challenges I gave myself were two simple ones: work in a series, and choose a theme with broad appeal. As usual, I’ve been adding a lot of layers of paint and plenty of texture. The partial shape of the “state route” shield […]

Santa Cruz muralist Elijah Pfotenhauer

One of the best things about living here at Santa Cruz’s Artspace Tannery Lofts is the variety and quality of people you interact with daily. For me personally, it’s great because I love painting, cinema, music, books, sculpture and a myriad of other arts. Who do I live with in this community? Writers, filmmakers, dancers, […]

How do you make an abstract painting, anyway?

While I’m on the subject lately of painting techniques, I thought I’d present one of my newer paintings. “Crow Song” is another in the series of “Black Eyed Angels”. As usual, click on an image for a closer look. While I was using the metaphor of crows, I was reminded of Sting’s tune, All This […]

How to make an abstract painting with texture

After awhile, I got a little bored with painting traditional-style paintings. I started adding texture to the mix to make things interesting. Click on these photos for some close ups- then you’ll really see the texture. Here’s the basic process: Assuming you’re all ready with a canvas that’s all stretched, gessoed and ready to go….apply […]

A Murder of Crows

This is the most recent painting, finished just last month. The title comes from the old expression of a group of animals, “a gaggle of geese”, “a school of fish”, etc. A group of crows is the deliciously sinister “murder of crows”. The exact metaphor I’m using here I won’t spell out for you readers, […]

New works: Tree of Life

Here’s one of my newest pieces, “Tree of Life” . It’s a continuation of the methods I’ve used for some time: a lot of texture in the first layer, the better to catch the paint washes and highlight said texture. There’s also a subtle grid happening here, outlined with gold leaf. I’ve been using gold […]

Symbolic Paintings: Enso

The enso is a symbol I really like, from a philosophy and culture that really fascinates me. Enso is a simple brushstroke in the form of a circle. (Enso actually means “circle” in Japanese. ) The enso embodies the freedom and simplicity of  being in the moment. I like that in the way it applies […]