Ron Pastucha and I recently participated in an auction fund raiser for the Jenesse Foundation. This organization provides shelter and assistance to victims of abuse.
Their spokesperson is Halle Berry, the auction was at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and Ron and I donated work, (which fortunately sold).
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF THE PORTRAITS WE DONATED.
ABOUT “TWO TRUCKS”
This painting took me about three months to paint. It is a painting of two trucks abandoned near Essex, California that I painted from a photo while I was painting other works that were similar in subject matter.
My wife ,Jamie, and I occasionally take trips thru California and Arizona, usually to visit family in Prescott.. Along the way we notice the relics of American life, abandoned gas stations, train cars, motel signs, wrecked automobiles and trucks.
After graduating with an MFA in painting from Cal State Fullerton in 1986, I was fortunate in receiving a number of commissions for public sculpture and wall constructions in the non-objective, process oriented style that I still pursue occasionally.
But these roadside objects began to interest me. In 1992 I went into my back yard and painted a picture of an old lawn chair. I was teaching “realistic” painting and drawing at the time, but still suprised myself that it turned out as well as it did.
I began taking “road trips” thru parts of LA with some friends of mine, and "collecting" images with my 35 mm camera. I began using these photos as sources for these paintings around this time.
