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Liquid Salt Interview |
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What was life like growing up? We were water people: swimming, sailing, bodysurfing, and snorkeling. We never noticed that money was tight. Mom was always trying some alchemy on the zucchini from our garden, not realizing she had invented the vege-burger. And of course Fried baloney was a big treat I grew up with a Father who was, and still remains, the smartest man I have ever met. A Rocket Scientist who shared with us his love for the ocean, science and life. The opposite of the nerd image. It turns out, that these days having good parents, who love you and each other, is no longer normal. In the 70’s most Surfers seemed to my parents, to be drug-hazed misanthropes. And it didn’t help matters that my hero was the acid dropping Rick Griffin. It took them decades later to admit that in the late 50’s they had a surfboard. Man, That was pure Joy, WOW! I still remember it, and I can still see it, gliding on a glassy day, College Point, Goleta CA on a borrowed board. It was all the best of everything I knew of the ocean all at once. I always had it, born with it. In our family, it was considered part of being a well-rounded person. Math, science, literature, Art. I had planned to follow in my father’s footsteps and become a Chemical engineer, but I had a high school Chem. teacher who was so
First is inspiration. A color or a shape. Something triggers the moment. I see AND feel something. The image and a vibe gets burned into me. Then I just start blapping paint down. I will sometimes divert into printmaking if the image strikes me that direction, but 95% it is color painted and smeared onto the canvas. Highlands of Central America. It is a different world from Coastal California, and a different value system. A lot of my worldview hinges on the work my uncle has achieved teaching basic farming to families on volcanic hillsides. One man changing the well being of thousands (yes thousands!!!) of people one compost pile or one anti erosion technique at a time.
I never think of myself as a nice person. When I am not behaving somewhat shy, I am pretty bored with small talk, so I usually keep quiet. However; sometimes at my museum openings or gallery openings I meet a lot of people who are really interesting, They are probably trying to leave for the rest of their evening, but my curiosity gets a hold of me and you can’t shut me up. My code…. Don’t brag, don’t exaggerate, don’t lie. - Turns out that truth is a rare commodity. But easy to remember.
The smile on my boy’s faces. And my wife has a smile that absolutely wrecks me. Why ruin today regretting yesterday? Learn from your mistakes and move on. Life is a complex system How would I have known that after growing up at the beach, that in high school, moving from the beach would make me a more of beach person? I have friends that live near the beach but never go anymore. They take it for granted. Being near the ocean is awesome.
15 years of happy marriage, and 3 crazy happy boys. The ocean calms me, brings me joy, restores my perspective. It is a source of stability. Surfing makes me happy! And ironically it provides a life for us. I don’t paint surf-influenced paintings to sell them. I paint them because I am inspired. I have to sell them, because I can’t afford to keep them myself. That is as odd, as it is cool to me
Being in the ocean with my wife and kids.
This is a great question, but I can’t narrow that down to less than 100 people,.. not even that. If I left out the so-called “has beens” from the old days I’d be missing the true point. I recently saw one of the old guard from the 50’s-60’s driving by my house with a trailer full of surfboards to the beach where he runs his surf school. Giving a whole new generation of surfer “his Stoke”. That is a huge lifetime of influence. And just so that I don’t sound like I dodged the question, Whatever Laird’s next hare-brained experiment is… Laird seems to be the face put on the crew who introduced tow in, and then his shooting the Malibu pier on a stand up paddleboard, has created a whole new version of surfing. And of course all the surf stars for sure, for good or bad, and whether they want to or not. My current quiver is bottom to top 6’1” Tom Whitaker Fish My magic Patterson 6”11” 9’0” Phil Edwards-Velzy board- probably not supposed to ride it, but what is the point of surfing if it isn’t to have fun. Patterson 9’ (the best kept secret is that Timmy is a freakishly good longboard shaper) Dave Johnson 9’ 2”- very fun to ride. Town & country 9’ 3” Patterson 11’3” Fishing Surfboard- that on small surf days Is fun to paddle from San –O to Trestles and surf back. I spend most of my time surfing Trestles, especially Middles, some Cottons and then I like State Park and North Beach, granted all san clemente) I pick the spot on a crowd / quality ratio. I’d rather surf smaller waves with no crowd headaches. I Surf to go have fun, not to star in my own surf movie.
Gotta be my wife Amy’s Spaghetti. It is delish; laughing family & friends are essential ingredients My iPod is jammed with Jamaican 45’s that my Cousin Pete digitized for me from his collection of rare recordings. Desmond Dekkar, Ethiopians, Kingstonians, Lee Scratch Perry. Et al. And I am a sucker for Linkin Park, and the Chili Peppers, Van, Petty, Neil, & Jimi. Boy that is a tough one. There are some projects, a few causes. Clean water is number one. I can’t surf in a few of my favorite places anymore because of the pollution levels. MiOcean seems to be getting more things solved locally, so I see them as very successful. Just a hard core getting things done. The save trestles group has done well so far. I have donated to Surfrider in appreciation to getting a mass of people to the California Coastal Commission hearings. And I really like everybody I have met from Surfrider.
More travels around the world painting. I have to get going on my next book. |
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