Recent Drawings

Human behavior

Human Behavior - Bjork

pencil drawing in my moleskine

Calbayog City 2024

"There's definitely definitely definitely no logic"

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going home

colored pencil and pen on paper

Los Angeles 2018

"The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everyone rushes around in a great panic as if it is necessary to achieve something beyond themselves."

-- Alan Watts

colored pencil and ballpoint pen

Los Angeles 2018

black sharpie

Hollywood 2018

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Lavender Pink Tangerine

colored pencil & ballpoint pen, calbayog city, 2025

You see Doc, I tell myself that I'm not going to draw another one, and then, I just... do it.

Red, lavender, pink and tangerine.

C0l03 - Tezeta

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A curious snail

watercolor on paper

black and white photo

Los Angeles 2018

It's easy, at least for me, to imagine that snails have characters.

Maybe it's those eyes, poking out on their stocks, looking....

I wonder, do snails dream?

And if so, of what do they dream?

Do snails dream of wet concrete and fresh clover?

Do juvenile snails have wet dreams?

I've never thought of that before but why not?

Little snail nuts messing up the grass where they sleep...

So cute.

watercolor

Los Angeles 2018

Early mornings

black sharpie and water color

Westwood 1986

Let me try to explain myself.

When I was a young man I loved illustration.

Perhaps the two illustrators who had the greatest influence on me were Aubrey Beardsley and Jean Giraud aka Moebius. Both artist drew with a fine line and I tried to emulate that.

Here's an old drawing of mine.

pencil drawing

Venice CA 1978

So back then I saw myself as an illustrator.

Then sometime around 1980 I was introduced to Abstract Expressionism and I had an epiphany...

Could I approach Abstract Expressionism with an illustrator's line?

A new world opened up to me and I started having fun with my drawing.

And then, for about 35 years I never drew an identifiable object.

No joke.

Still Life

black sharpie

Westwood 1985

Attitude Adjustment

pen, colored pencil and watercolor

Duarte CA 1996

Time never began

black sharpie on bond paper

San Francisco 2003

Dan's drawing

black sharpie

Rosemead 2011

i did a lot of these drawings. And I really enjoyed making them. For over thirty years I completely liberated myself from the rigors of drawing something that had to look like something. And I loved it. But then...

Sometime around 2015 I returned to illustration. Why? I'll be honest with you, I started to miss it.

Call it full circle but that's where I'm at now.

I still treasure my line though.

little boxes

black sharpie on paper

Los Angeles 2019

Thank you Aubrey and Jean.

Aubrey Beardsley

Jean Giraud aka Moebius

black sharpie on bond paper

San Francisco 2003

I spent Christmas 2003 with some friends in San Francisco. They lived in this big two-hundred-year-old house that sat on the prison grounds of San Quentin penitentiary. It's a long story actually but what I remember most was the bed. The guest room of the house had this large old four posted wooden bed frame with the softest thickest most wonderful mattress I have ever slept on in my entire life. I will never forget the moment when I laid down and sank into the loving folds of that luxurious mattress. I felt embraced by softness, and I fell asleep as if floating on a cloud.

When I awoke the next morning I was amazed at the time. I had slept through the entire night without waking up once. I felt wonderfully refreshed.

After breakfast I sat down with my sharpie and drew both of these drawings in a single sitting.

black sharpie on bond paper

San Francisco 2003

some random old drawings

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Niney I soon know - One foot Sammy

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Reading tea leaves

ballpoint pen and alcohol

Calbayog City 2024

These drawings are like reading tea leaves. I draw a bit then I splash alcohol on it and see what the smearing tells me to do next. This particular drawing I actually made on the backside of another drawing using the bleed through. Really fun when a face starts looking back at me..

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The Band - The Weight

ballpoint pen and alcohol

Calbayog City 2024

I was fortunate enough to see The Band's farewell concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 1976. My friend's mother was a reporter for the LA Times and she had guest tickets but she couldn't go so she gave the tickets to us. It turned out the tickets were for the VIP section! What a great show. There we were, three crazy young hippies, high on peyote, sitting in front row center seats, along side a bevy of Hollywood dignitaries, digging The Band and all their guest artists.

Fond memory.

What a trip.

E ticket.

The Band

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colored pencil and symmetry

Los Angeles 2015

The Crystal Ship

Before you slip into unconsciousness

I'd like to have another kiss

Another flashing chance at bliss

Another kiss

The days are bright and filled with pain

Enclose me in your gentle reign

The time you ran was too insane

We'll meet again

We'll meet again

Jim Morrison, The Doors

The Crystal Ship

The Doors