View of Hyde Square from Cranston Street, Jamaica Plain approx. 18″ x 24″ Oil on Canvas 9/2008

Another Jamaica Plain – Hyde Square painting that I just finished in the studio after being on hold for over a year when I moved to San Diego.

Behind the StarLight 30″ x 42″ Oil on Canvas 10/2008

Behind the StarLight is a larger painting that was started from life in Balbao Park in a spot that was behind the Star Light Outdoor Theater. I was moved by the play of light, gestures and abstract shapes of the scene as well as the funky topography and mood of the place. For several reasons I decided to finish the painting in the studio and wasn’t a plein air work.

Balboa park’s overwhelming number of picturesque scenes keep many San Diego painters busy however I am more attracted to off beat and the un-picturesque spots like this painting’s subject in the thinking that it more interesting to find new forms of beauty and wonder in the unexpected and mundane.

Under 15 30″ x 46″ Oil on Canvas 9/2008

When I was a teenager I used to spend a great deal of time on turnpike on-ramps hitch-hiking alone to where ever I could get to, Washington, Detroit, Philadelphia, sometimes with no particular destination – just to keep moving. Over the past year I keep returning to these images of highway overpasses and on-ramps in part for my nostalgic wanderlust as well as their often overlooked monumentality.