Picnic at the End of the World

Acrylic on canvas, 21" x 34"

I read somewhere that Stephen Hawking said that if we tried really hard this century we could set in motion processes that will boil away the seas in about a millennium which I know sounds like a long time from now but wealthy babies born amongst us today should be fully transposed into a machine form that will last long enough to view this byproduct of our age from the cool safety of the dark side of the moon. As you can see the people in my painting aren’t really at the very end, they still have huckleberries and bubbles and wine and something to cook (and they don’t seem to be cannibals yet) and the seas are far from boiled away. They are still rising.

Agrigento

Acrylic on canvas, 21" x 34"

The swallows are from Battle Point Park. They are probably thinking that the bugs are pretty tasty in Sicily. We liked the food too. Mostly we ate at The Fork. The cook there was from Torino and he said that he had a rock star cousin named Bon Jovi. One night the cook was surprised that no orders were coming in even though the restaurant was filling up. He poked his head out and saw that “Franco” the owner, maitre d’, and waiter was nowhere to be seen. The cashier was very pretty but she had really long nails and was in no shape to pass hot plates around and besides it wasn’t her job so the cook had to take the orders as well as cook. The police came looking for Franco. They were also surprised he was not there. It was also not the cashier’s job to know where Franco was. I had the fresh sardines that night. There is not a better fish in the world.

Pilgrimage to Cythera

Acrylic on canvas, 21" x 34"

There is always an out-of-tune lute player with an uncertain voice. Throw him some drachma (actually it’s euros now) and give him a swig of wine and he will be off bothering another group. I don’t recommend the sailboat tours especially if you have toddlers because of the low rails and the lack of life jackets. I never made it to the temple. The path is steep and crowded by thorny shrubs.

The Return to Olympia

Acrylic on canvas, 13" x 21"

I went to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe movie with my wife. I thought the female lead was a dead ringer for this gal I went to school with in Olympia, except the school friend was a lot skinnier than the actress but that is not important. The important thing is that my wife and I started reading the second book of the series, which we didn’t finish (someone never wants to read and always falls asleep after 3-5 pages) but there is a nice scene in the beginning of the book where the cast has discovered that their sandwiches have been left behind at the train station but there are apples aplenty to be had all around. In my version it’s late winter and the apples are long gone but my daughter has found a plastic boat that has washed up on the nearby beach.

No Fires No Clam Digging

Acrylic on canvas, 21" x 13"

My wife’s cousin here patrols the beach on a midsummer’s night honoring a tradition that stretches back into the misty past of this Matriarchy tucked on the western edge of this island.

Sheherazade

Acrylic on canvas

13" x 13"

If she had a phone I’m certain that she would call protective services but no such luck in the 11^{th century. She must come up with a new story, the less rational the better every night to keep her head in place.}

Palimpsest

Acrylic on canvas, 8" x 13"

The graffiti on the wall is written over layers of graffiti. The culture is written over layers of culture. The planet is written with second hand atoms happily churned in super novae to suit us. And Osama bin Laden looks a bit like the not contemporary statue of Sargon of Akkad which is probably why we are fighting for Mesopotamia, that fact and their round boats and temple prostitutes.

Fall

Acrylic on canvas, 13" x 8"

This painting is about overcoming the guilt imbued by a Catholic upbringing and about really big gold fish.

Dusk

Acrylic on canvas, 13" x 8"

Just about any thing you would ever want will eventually wash up on a beach but it will usually be coated in seaweed and sand.