Wharf Sunset
The sun was setting on the Santa Cruz Wharf after a Boardwalk beach concert. I walked along beach street in a musical trance.The wharf lights were starting to glow. I snapped a few photos with my iphone. Final Painting
Telluride Hiker
On Sunday they rested. Not really, since we took a two hour hike instead. At least we took a break from painting. I didn’t do this painting in Telluride but rather from a photo I took while hiking back along the Bear Creek Falls Trail. When I started to draw this out in charcoal on my canvas, I […]
Scottish Reflections
I was so inspired with the photos I took in Scotland that I created a series of these mirror image photos. To get one of these photos for your wall, just comment on the one you’re interested in. Would you like to see large versions of these in a gallery show? Watch my Scottish Reflections iMovie View higher resolution […]
Putting ‘Soft’ Back in Software
When I’m not snapping pictures of foreign landscapes or in the studio scooping up pigments and spreading on canvas with a knife, I’m hard at work helping software companies make their products easier to use. If you or your company need an experienced user experience consultant to work with your development team here’s where you can […]
Bean-shìdh
Bean-shìdh is Gaelic for Fairy. This composite image is from a photo I took while hiking to the Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye. It’s about a forty minute walk from the car park to the main pools and well worth the effort. Bring a lunch, I did, and sat on one of these amazing rocks looking down […]
Pillboxes Roseisle Beach
Along the northeast coast of Scotland many of the beaches are covered in so many pebbles and empty muscle shells that you can’t really layout on the sand. Roseisle Beach just a few miles east of Findhorn Village is a lovely sandy haven. The Germans must have noticed this sandy shore too. To prevent foreign […]
Breakfast at Findhorn Marina
One morning I drove down to Findhorn Village and had breakfast at the Captains Table at the Marina. A mini Scottish breakfast consists of a friend egg, bacon (ham with crispy fat on the sides), sausage, toast and beans. I skip the beans and sausage (what I’ve had so far has a got a mushy mouth […]
Bona Lighthouse – Step-By-Step
Once the smallest manned lighthouse in the UK, the Bona Lighthouse on the Caledonian Canal kept ships safe with a single paraffin lamp in a bedroom window. Today the building has been restored into a holiday house, rooms rent for about $100 a night. Ever since I saw this tiny lighthouse from the window of the Jacobite […]
It’s a Dog’s Life
Every town has a High Street, the equivalent of Main Street USA, and on High Street you will meet people and their pooches. This lass even brought her Irish Setter to the Piper’s Competition. The Scottish people have a high opinion of their canine comrades and the shopkeepers know it. Most towns I visited had […]
A Staircase to Ideas
As many of you know I rented an art studio in Scotland for a few months. I got the keys Friday July 31. It’s at the Moray Art Center on the Findhorn Foundation property about five miles from the town of Forres. Forres is a town of 12,000 residence about 20 minutes east from Inverness. The […]
Form and Function
On its own, this solitary bronze sculpture is a show stopper in an inconspicuous dirt path in the Cawdor Castle walled garden. When you get up a close to Orchid Tree bird feeder you notice it’s not just a decorative addition to the walled garden, it’s performing an important role in the ecosystem as well. Scottish artist Illona Morris, must […]
The Stalker became the Slalked
How could anyone resist stalking this little Stalker? (Gaelic, Stalcaire, meaning Hunter or Falconer) I was 17-miles from Obin when I saw this magical site and nearly put the Corsa into a ditch. Wee Stalker Castle is perched on a tiny rock island just waiting for Repunsel to toss her long braid out it’s tall window. It was built […]
A River Really Does Run Through It
You can sail right through the heart of Highlands on a boat. The Caledonian Canal connects the Scottish east coast with the west coast. The canal was constructed in the early nineteenth century as a way to provide jobs for the displaced highlanders. The canal runs about 60 miles from Inverness to Fort William. Only one third of the entire […]
Ever wonder what a Scotsman wears under his kilt?
The answer: Shoes and socks. On Saturday I watched the European Pipe Band Championships in Grant Park. It’s the second largest competition in the world and features thousands of pipers and drummers and over a hundred bands, competed to be European Champions in their grade. In the background you can see the Benromach distillery banner. […]
The Monster Patrol
No trip to Scotland would be complete without a boat ride on Loch Ness. This impressing 23-mile long fresh water loch is a mile wide and 700 feet at it’s deepest point. Our cruise ship is named after Jacobitism, a political movement in Great Britain and Ireland that aimed to restore the Roman Catholic Stuart […]
Castel and Tea Party
After exploring Inverness, we spent a day focused on writing and the follow day we took a coach (poshe word for bus) to Cawdor Castel. We ate a sack lunch on the grounds and then toured the castle interior. No photos alowed inside but the castle grounds were full of photo opportunities. After three […]