(click on image to make it bigger)

For many of my trips I have taken with me a  Canson 8.5×11 sketch book. Made up of acid free paper with a durable black cover and binding, this sketchbook has about 200 pages of a good quality paper. My goal is always to try to fill up the book before I go home. After the trip I paint about the experience and then have an exhibit every few years.The Egypt paintings were shown at Robert Mondavi winery.  The painting above is based upon a sketch I did of some birds that were drawn in 2450 BC. I found the images in the tomb of Teti.

For this body of work my paintings introduce large scale light boxes set within canvas structures. The light boxes highlight artwork inspired by sketches done during my trip to Egypt.  Size: 54″ x 84″ wax and acrylic on canvas, sumi ink, watercolor on two layers of mulberry paper.

Stacked up inside this pyramid are separate books.

Luxor, Egypt ,Karnak and The Nile

Each book is filled with poems, transfers, rubbings, collage,

drawings and paintings. All drawings were made on site.

Polaroid transfers  from slides are included  in the pyramid,

so is an accordion book made out of tickets to the various monuments.

The monument tickets have a photo of that particular monument which gets stamped when you go in.

Egypt   2001

9″ x  9″ x 8″  pyramid base, grid paper, polaroid prints, transfers, rubbings, collage,

drawings, paintings, tickets, poems, one polaroid transfer on papyrus.

Soft Nubian melodies

mix with

cataract sounds.

Stark white ibis

mark the grassy water’s edge,

a camel comes to drink.

Hot liver stew is offered

from a tin pot.

The sky is turning pink

above the squared cotton sail.

” 2450 BC ”  54″ x 84″

This large scale light box set within a canvas structure highlights one of my sketches done during a trip to Egypt.

After listening to Jim Miotke interview Tony Sweet, I’m thinking of putting away a series of paintings and moving on to something new. Tony talked about when things aren’t going well, let yourself go. Leave and move on. After being away from the studio for a long time I thought I’d change some paintings. They didn’t seem to be working anymore.  When making photographs it’s good to turn around and see what’s behind you. I tried that with this painting. I photographed the back of it. The sun, coming though stained, waxed raw canvas created some powerful images. It looks like a new series of photographs is about to be born. You can hear Tony’s interview on http://jim.betterphoto.com/

Beeswax and acrylic on canvas, mixed media on mulberry paper, 54″ x 84″ The crane in flight is taken from a scene in the mastabaof Ptah-Hotep, Saqqara.

Here is one version of the inserted painting within the light box. The light boxes within the  painting held two layers of mulberry paper. Abstract transparent paintings veiled ink sketches of the animal gods of Egypt.

This is a detail from “The Guardians”  size: 54″ x 84″ acrylic and beeswax on raw canvas.

Making the decision not to renew Apple’s website has caused a few glitches like having no place on the net to show my artwork. I’ll need to rebuild it somewhere. Meanwhile this painting, The Guardians is one of the paintings shown in an exhibit called Taken from my sketchbook: Egypt 2006. My paintings introduce large scale light boxes set within canvas structures to highlight artwork inspired by sketches done during a trip to Egypt. Size: 54″ x 84″ Beeswax, acrylic on canvas, mixed media on mulberry paper.