T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - Nougbo Vehou

Anne's hand

Tom Rush/Joni Mitchell - Urge for Going

Your hand is always in everything. Do you know that?

pencil drawing, calbayog city, 2025

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Here's another one.

I should maybe do more of these.

Untitled

red and black sharpies on manila paper

Los Angeles 2018

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New Mexico

red and black sharpie

Somewhere in New Mexico 2010

In 2010 I moved from Miami Florida to Los Angeles California. It was a great trip. I packed all my stuff in my Honda and took two months off to drive across the country.

I wound up spending most of my time camping out in the mountains of New Mexico. I was traveling by mysef and let me tell you, sleeping alone in the pitch black darkness of the New Mexican wilderness was .... creepy.

Whoa.

I remember one day I decided to go for a hike. I walked up a mountain trail following a small creek into the wilderness. After I had wandered for a few miles I found, growing by the water, a wild cherry tree covered with cherries. The cherries were ripe and almost black and so sweet.

So I sat down by the creek and made a lunch of wild cherries and cool mountain stream water. In the middle of the wilderness. No one there except for me and God.

Me, somewhere in Nevada. 2010

During my trip I drew in my moleskine a lot. It was during that trip that I hit upon drawing with red and black sharpies. The above drawing is from my moleskine. I was feeling deep into the colors and imagery of the American Southwest.

I've returned to this motif several times since then. Here is one I did around 2016.

Arizona

red and black sharpie on manila paper

Los Angeles 2016

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ROCKERS, the movie

If you've never watched it, watch it.

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Aluminum can #1

Watercolor and pen

Los Angeles 2016

A friend of mine once told me that she liked Mark Rothko because she liked how he applied paint.

That got me thinking.

What I need, I thought, is a simple image to serve as a vehicle for the application of paint.

With this thought in mind I began painting fantasy aluminum cans.

Some of them turned out very pretty.

Here's another one.

Aluminum can #2

Watercolor and pen

Los Angeles 2016

These days I'm not so ambitious. When I want to apply pigment I just freakin' apply it.

All blue

Colored pencil and alcohol

Calbayog City 2024

colored pencil & pen, Los Angeles 2016

I'm a big admirer of Paul Klee.

I don't think Klee ever used this motif but as I drew this I was thinking about him.

Embrionic Journey - Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane)

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Dream river and moon

Colored pencil and pen

Los Angeles 2018

When the mind dreams it is at play.

There is an appeal to illustration that transcends subject. My art is a reflection of nature. My art is my dream.

Somewhere, even in deconstruction, there is a promise of reconstruction. My art is my reminder.

My art is my ouija board.

Dream river blue moon

colored pencil

Los Angeles 2019

Dream river no moon

Colored pencil and pen

Los Angeles 2018

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Uncomfortably human

ballpoint pen and alcohol

Calbayog City 2024

Self-concious raw desire is uncomfortably human - Anon

Sean, my 8yo son, told me this is the worst drawing I have ever done.

He might be right, but what does that mean̈?

Estas Tonne - Message from the stars

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Don't Force Anything - Alan Watts

The Boatman

pencil drawing

Calbayog City 2024

My wife is fixing a big Thanksgiving feast. I can smell the food cooking downstairs.

We live in a small port city and my wife went down to the docks early this morning and picked up an amazing assortment of fresh sea food. Crabs, scallops, muscles, octopus, milk fish, shrimp, along with assorted fresh vegetables. This is going to be a feast.

I was admiring the bounty of sea food with my eight year old son, Sean.

"Daddy?" Sean asked me out of the blue, "Have you ever noticed that 'SHELLFISH' sounds a lot like 'SELFISH'?"

I love it when he says things like that.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone 💓

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Tropical diving

colored pencil, calbayog city, 2025

I added more to this one. I love playing with these colored pencil pigments.

I brought heavy duty art paper from America that can put up with some abuse. I draw with the pencils and then rub them with alcohol. The colors smear around and blend together. When the alcohol dries I draw more and then smear again. It's so satisfying.

Lately I'm inspired by the blue of the Philippine sea near my home. I went diving a few days ago. The colors of the tropical waters were just like this drawing. As I dove around in a pastel coral forest I actually met a tropical sea snake. It calmly swam about ten feet from me. The snake, the coral forest and the tropical blue ocean were breathtaking.

Hermanos Gutierez - Esperanza

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