This is a little scene painted on the back of a walnut. I don't have the right needle (airbrush) for such small work, so I opted for hand brush. I didn't have any acrylic paint left so I used airbrush paint (a bit thin), and my brush really wasn't small enough, so I eventually cut the brush down with a scissor. But all that being said, I'm happy with what I ended up with.

On one side of the skydome-painted-on-a-walnut-shell is a sun rising behind mountains.

On the other side is a moon rising behind mountains, with some stars and such. This shot is a bit dark, actually.

Once I was on a plane, and it was miserable weather taking off. We were all a little stressed out, as humans often become, given plane rides and bad weather. However, once the plane climbed high enough to break through the layer of weather, the sky was vast and filled with undisturbed sunlight. It hit me that the sun is always shining brightly. At every moment. Even when clouds and rain pass between us and that sun. One of those obvious things that bowls me over and makes others look at me like "um, so what?" But that's sort of the idea behind (under?) this walnut piece. Something to look over and remember that the sun is blazing somewhere, even if not right over you. Given to a girl of 11 or so.

THIS NEXT gift I call "The Ahora Stone." For those who don't know, "ahora" means "now" in Spanish. I made it expressly for someone I felt could benefit from being empowered—when they chose to be—with a jolt of energy, vitality, strength, courage...I hate to define it by words. Those words didn't really come into it. I just had the impulse to lend something to someone and focused on that as I painted. I think of some art as a portal, or conveyor, or conductor of energies or deep spiritual crumb to pick up and feed yourself with. At least I hope it can do as much. And I make it as if that is true.

With that in mind, I used some strong lines and colors, the word "now," (in spanish for no other reason than i wanted to), the hunab ku of the maya like a wheel in water, and did not allow the design to be self-contained, or a closed loop of energy, but rather something that boiled over and broke out of the band of black I painted around most of the kineticism. (Practice this word for when you talk about your scribblings).

I wanted it to be something you could pick up in your hand and draw energy from. The person seemed to receive it well, and felt, somehow, that it would serve as a protective force for them. I'm sure they are right! If nothing else, the stone fits well in the hand and could be used to throw at strange people you catch digging through your backyard piles of junk.

Finally, here is what I call the EyeRock series. It's a veritable quagmire of fun. Given to a 22 (23?) year-old.

I found all these rocks while walking. This one I pulled out of a pile of scrap behind a man's house. I was digging through this heap of stone and such and (once again) a man and a boy approached me. (What is it with these pairs I keep running into?) The man said "Can I help you with something?" and this confused me, making me think I was in a drugstore, and rummaging through wigs of the wrong size. Because of the sudden disorientation, I muttered that I was "looking for weird stuff to do weird things with," a response that truly highlights my skills as a communicator, I think.

This unconventional response only made him clutch his son tighter to his saddlebag, so I tried to explain a bit more. "Just looking for things to, you know, paint. Thought I'd take this piece of crumbling concrete amalgam. Unless...you got a problem with that."

Yeh. It was about the strangest thing I've said to someone in a while. But that's me. Mr. Social Butterfly. Mr. Boxer the Artist. "Yeah, man. I'm taking this rock so I can paint pretty energy designs on it, unless you wanna throw down first, punk!"

I really didn't mean to end on such a confrontational note. It was more or less instinct. I had told myself the day before, too, that I no longer needed to feel confronted by the world by reflex, and could engage it more cooperatively. But oh well. Progress comes in small amalgamated chunks, I guess. Whatever. It's just the stance I'm used to taking when someone rolls up on me when I'm minding my own business, you know, stealing their junk or something. He declined the invitation to rumble, and told me he actually didn't mind at all. He even offered me what he felt was the gold in the pile: marble slabs hidden deep behind the crumbling concrete chunks. I did not want the golden marble, and told him so. Just the crummy concrete stuff.

He also explained that he was on edge because someone broke into the neighbor's back yard recently to steal their boat or something. I told him I understood, and if I happened to see anyone suspicious while I was out sailing, I would make sure to let him know. Meanwhile, I thanked him and his vigilant son (they were standing behind the house, the man puffing nervously on a cigarette) and went on with my day.