Portfolio of Works

The Majesty of Water
rivers, creeks, and wetlands

The gallery at Pepperwood (pepperwoodpreserve.org) is hosting a special eight-month exhibition from October 2026 through June 2027. This unique presentation honors conservation with paintings and drawings about water: one of our most vital natural resources.

"The water continually flowed and yet it was always there;
it was always the same and yet every moment it was new."

--Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

A Living, Fluid Exhibition

Like the rivers, creeks and wetlands that inspired these works, this exhibition is a fluid entity. Over its eight-month duration the art on the walls will acknowledge the dynamic rhythms of nature itself, constantly shifting and flowing. Every two months, fifty percent of the artwork will drift away to be replaced by new images, marked by four distinct showcase events:

October 15  *  December 3  *  February 11  *  April 15

The Fluid Rotation: How it Works

There are approximately 44 pieces on display at a time. Every two months 22 will go into storage and be replaced by 22 new works. Ultimately over 100 pieces will flow through the gallery. In keeping with the enduring form yet constant change of a river, the exhibition remains a unified whole while new 'droplets' of artwork pass through.

Current Works on Display: from October 15 

On April 22, Earth Day 2021, I began a new series of drawings and paintings at Pepperwood Preserve, just North of Santa Rosa. Selected as an artist in residence I have been visiting the preserve throughout the seasons and responding to the magnificence of 3200 acres, working in pencil, pastels, and oils.

Pepperwood Preserve, launched by the California Academy of Sciences, is dedicated to tracking ecosystem health over time by systematically monitoring things like weather, soil moisture, stream flow, and the diversity and vitality of local plant and animal populations. And the landscape setting is extraordinary!

An exhibition of the artwork ran for April 20 - August 20, 2023 (extended to September 17, 2023), at Pepperwood's  Dwight Center Gallery. I have posted some of the paintings below as a sort of 'sneak preview' of the exhibit. These images are not a direct visual transcription of the preserve or its environs, but rather my emotional response, with the landscape providing a stimulus to design. In fact, some of the paintings portray multiple views or composite arrangements of the area. Some paintings may evoke a succession of images jumbled together -- much as our personal memories and dreams include fragments of loosely connected experiences.

If you click on the ZOOM button, you can get 'right up close' and see the brushstrokes like you might do at a gallery. In the ROOM feature, you can see the artwork in a variety of virtual room environments.
Also: click to see the Drawings and Studies

In the mid 1990's I began a series of paintings and drawings on California's longest river, The Sacramento. Having previously completed a series, and a book, on New York's Hudson River, I was more and more attracted to subjects concerning the environment and precious natural resources, especially waterways. The Upper Sacramento had suffered some bad publicity in 1991 when a train accident caused a toxic chemical spill at the Cantara Loop, Near Dunsmuir.

All creatures died downstream of the spill, for 41 miles between Cantara and the Shasta Reservoir. As environmental agencies moved quickly to repair the physical and ecological damage, it became apparent that a repair was needed for the public image of the river. And coincidentally it was just at that time that I began my project, exploring and painting, and portraying the river in a positive light.

The Redding Museum of History and Art hosted an exhibition of the series, November 2017 - January 2018, followed by an exhibit at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center, January - February, 1998.

Also, Click here to see Sacramento River Drawings

After completing my (1995-1998) series on California's longest river, the Sacramento, I began a major series on the San Joaquin River. The San Joaquin is the state's second longest river (366 miles), but has been heavily dammed and diverted, undergoing decades of neglect and misuse. The river was due for extensive restoration when I began my project of painting the San Joaquin in 2005.  I was filled with hopes and dreams as I began exploring the wonderfully diverse terrain of the river, eagerly seeking out sites to paint from its mountainous origins, through the stately valley, and ultimately flowing into the Delta and out through San Francisco Bay to the Pacific. A three-day trip by horseback to visit the headwaters was a remarkable experience, along with many painting trips throughout California's Central Valley.  The Metropolitan Museum in Fresno was to be the lead museum for a series of exhibitions, traveling next to the Haggin Museum in Stockton, then the Bay Institute in San Francisco. A book of the paintings was in the early stages of planning when . . . the financial collapse of 2008 hit. The 'great recession' had a profound effect on the San Joaquin Valley for several years: The city of Stockton declared bankruptcy, and the Metropolitan Museum in Fresno actually closed permanently. Over the following decade the economy of the Valley gradually recovered but was then disrupted by the COVID pandemic. Sadly, after I completed around 50 paintings, my project simply stopped in 2009. The work has never been shown and I've been storing the paintings in my studio ever since.

However,  the plan to publish the book was recently revived. Below are some of the paintings, and click here for a separate page with some of the drawings. The book, Riparian Journey, was published in late 2024.

In 2016 I began another series, and a book, about The RUSSIAN RIVER and its WATERSHED. Rivers and waterways have repeatedly captured my attention, (earlier projects include: Hudson River, Sacramento River, San Joaquin River, Waterways of New York).

With the encouragement of Sonoma Land Trust and Sonoma Water, I traveled up and down the Russian River several times, from its headwaters in Mendocino County to its exit into the Pacific, in Sonoma County. During the years I was drawing and painting the Russian, a few major wildfires impacted the area, including my hometown of Santa Rosa. There was widespread damage to the watershed and considerable strain on the people and animals of the region. But the community is strong and  Nature is resilient. For a story on the project, click to read the article in Plein Air Magazine.

Although COVID 19 cancelled the original book release and the exhibition at Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, there was a Virtual Book Release and Virtual Exhibition held during the pandemic, sponsored by Sonoma Land Trust and Sonoma Water, with the books available for purchase from Sonoma County Parks Foundation. Those books have since sold out, but a few copies were reserved for the exhibitions of the Russian River paintings at the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation in 2021 and Mendocino College in 2022.

The aim of this series, and this book, is to portray several aspects of the river and illuminate areas beyond those that people already know. The river flows for over a hundred miles, and its watershed is as large as the state of Connecticut. These paintings are hardly enough to show the totality of the Russian, but it's a start.

In addition to the paintings below, click to see:

the Russian River Drawings Collection  or the Russian River Studies Collection. In the 'room' feature, you can see the artwork framed or unframed. It makes a difference, especially for the smaller pieces.

The paintings that follow are displayed in the same order as in the book, essentially following the course of the river from its headwaters all the  way down to its outlet into the Pacific Ocean, with a few rambles to visit watershed areas.

If you click on the Zoom button, you can get 'right up close' and see the brushstrokes like you might do at a gallery.