A continuation of obsolete books and vintage paper: The Boxer, 8" x 6".

And another:

Obsolete Books and Vintage Paper

When an appeals court issues an opinion (ruling), sometimes the case is "published", meaning it may be cited as a rule of law. Over the decades, thousands of published opinions have filled volumes of books. Naturally, finding the right case to cite to takes research. Traditionally, this research was done in large libraries teeming with law books.

Only recently, however, online research has displaced traditional book research. Online research has proven to be more efficient, not only in time, but in eliminating the large amount of physical space necessary to hold the books and bookshelves.

The books themselves have become obsolete.

So what happens to the books? They become garbage. Or art!

My new series of work incorporates the vintage paper from these old books, still holding good law. For example, The School Girl, seen above, is a piece incorporating a California Court of Appeal decision from 1940. This was back when Earl Warren was the Attorney General of California, before he became one of the most renown and admired Supreme Court Justices in the history of the United States.

Here are some others:


People v. Guerrero, 8" x 6", oil and vintage paper on wood, 2011



Ex Parte Basuino, 8" x 6", oil and vintage paper on wood, 2011



Gump's Estate, 8" x 6", oil and vintage paper on wood, 2011

Little Paintings

Here is a group of little paintings with big subjects. These are works I sometimes do intermittently in between working on larger pieces. Although each painting has a recognizable animal form, what sparks my interest is not the type of animal itself, but rather, the challenge of finding new approaches of mixing and applying paint -- texture and juxtaposition of color which gives a painting life. In this way, painting representational subjects like animals is the same as painting something completely abstract.

Each painting measures 6" x 8" or 2.5" x 3", oil on panel.

Click on the image to zoom.