In late May and early June I produced a 40 x 27 inch drawing in black and white ink pen on paper I’d painted gray. The drawing is of Carrie, Johanna, and Ross standing on my platform and I’ve always called it “Sniffing Armpit” because Johanna kept urging Carrie to “sniff my armpit” and Carrie, […]

In January, 2014 my then studio assistant, Carrie Riehl, walked in one morning wearing shorts (in January?) and showing off her new 2nd hand red, white, and blue leather jacket and I said, “let’s go photograph you right now!” In May I generated sixty drawing layers of red, yellow, blue, black, and white squiggles intended to produce a drawing […]

After Mom died, Dad moved back to Kansas City from Aspen where he’d lived since the late 1970’s. He invited several of his old friends to join him at my studio and then lunch at the vegan restaurant across the street, Cafe Gratitude. Morton Sosland is one of those old friends and joined us at studio […]

Hal Wert teaches History at Kansas City Art Institute. Hal was Vice President of KCAI in 1988 when students there asked me to teach them karate and self defense. I made an appointment and met Hal (he was wearing a business suit and tie). I asked whether the school would allow me to teach and […]

After a three-day karate special training, I asked one of my juniors, Dinh Hoang, if he would model for me. His eyes had ‘that look’ people get after hard practice, and I wanted to show that kind of metaphysical clarity.   Details of completed drawing Details of work in progress

For my 61st birthday in June of 2012, my mother-in-law treated my family and me to dinner at the fabulous Rieger Hotel Restaurant. We were seated by a very tall and slender (and gorgeous) hostess who was showing a lot of tattoo ink. I said I would love for her to model for me and gave […]

I wanted to try to realize something closer to naturalistic color. I’d tested a Japanese pen (Pilot Choose) with pigmented inks which, unlike most pens I’ve tested, would continue to write until the ink was gone. These were advertised as permanent with excellent light-fastness. I needed to learn how the colors blended when overdrawn, so […]