I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.
— Saul Bass

OB Sunset

I grew up in a small area of San Diego called Ocean Beach (OB). It was where life just seemed like one endless summer. Such is the weather. As I began this painting, I was thinking of the pier that opened when I was about 10 years old. My Grandfather used to fish on there every day. On a recent visit with my sister, we took a walk out to the end of the pier. This place has a long history to me and I suppose has had it’s part in many facets of my life growing up. Ocean Beach was a sleepy town in the 60’s and 70’s. OB was full of surfers and hippies. A subculture of beach bums, hodads, drunks and swabbies. There were a few years in my life I swam in the ocean everyday and if not, I was hanging around empty alleys or in rented garages, of which there were many.

This painting is dedicated to Billy Berg. RIP brother, thanks for being my first mentor. I wouldn’t be an artist if it weren’t for Billy.

“Sometimes I wonder what I’m a-gonna do But there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues” — Blue Cheer

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