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“Canvas & Conscience: Art in a Changing World" 

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Ruins of Crop Fields After a Storm: When the Earth Gets Too Much of a Good Thing

Ruins of Crop Fields After a Storm: When the Earth Gets Too Much of a Good Thing

I wasn’t trying to paint something sad. I was trying to paint what happens when the balance tips. The land wants water, but not like this. This is my view of water-logged crops and destroyed rows.  This work shows the storm's impact on soil, harvest, and spirit.

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Painting the Ocean After Dark

Painting the Ocean After Dark

At night, the ocean doesn't change. But I do. With no light to guide you, you're not just seeing anymore.  You are feeling, listening, reacting. This seascape is a painting of the ocean after sunset, during what I call the limbo hours.  That is when the world slows down and shadows become part of the art process itself.

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 When Art Meets Environmental Reality.  Painting the Plastic Tide.

When Art Meets Environmental Reality. Painting the Plastic Tide.

Living just a few blocks from the ocean changes how you see things. I walk the beach almost every day, and what I see isn't always beautiful. My latest painting, 'Plastic Tide,' came from one of those post-storm walks where the beach was littered with so much plastic debris.

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How Nature Painting Connects Us to Our Inner Landscape

How Nature Painting Connects Us to Our Inner Landscape

What I've learned from years of hiking and painting is that the outside in the foothills is that it awakens the wilderness within us. That untamed part of our creativity, our authentic emotions, our connection to something bigger than ourselves needs regular contact with nature.

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“Over the Barren Ground.”  A Painting About the Weight Nature Carries
landscape art, landscape paintings, landscapes John Robertson landscape art, landscape paintings, landscapes John Robertson

“Over the Barren Ground.” A Painting About the Weight Nature Carries

“Over the Barren Ground” is more than a figure—it's a metaphor for exhausted farmland. A visual reminder that nature is wearing down, quietly, beneath us.  Living near the fields, I’ve seen the balance shift—fewer birds, vanishing bees, dry soil. This painting is that story in paint.

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Why Climate Change Art Matters: When “Half-Measures” Aren't Enough

Why Climate Change Art Matters: When “Half-Measures” Aren't Enough

"Traditional plein air painting celebrates nature's beauty, but what happens when that beauty is under threat? Over years of regular observation, you develop instinctive awareness of environmental rhythms. This intimate knowledge becomes the foundation for authentic environmental art that captures both beauty and loss. With that thought you change how you paint, to reflect the emotional experience.

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 Painting a Place We’re Losing to Climate Change

Painting a Place We’re Losing to Climate Change

In this blog post, we explore the meaning behind “Unfolding Fields,” a piece that speaks to my connection to nature, memory, and quiet reflection.This post reflects on how abstract art can embody memory, presence, and place. Each year, the land changes. This painting became a quiet call to protect what’s left.

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Crop Rows Painting About Land, Pressure, and the Past

Crop Rows Painting About Land, Pressure, and the Past

Faultline Memory “ is an oil painting that reflects rural landscapes and the emotional layers found in farming life. It is a painting about land, pressure, and the stories held beneath the surface in farming communities. The thick texture and natural palette connect to rural memory and emotional resilience.

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Creating Art in a Hurried World

Creating Art in a Hurried World

Every artist knows the feeling of creative paralysis. It’s that sense that your ideas and expressions have frozen solid, immovable and heavy. Working in black and white stripped away distractions and forced me to confront the essence of what I wanted to express. The process mirrored my own journey of breaking through creative blockages.

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When a Painting Tells You to Slow Down

When a Painting Tells You to Slow Down

We’re not built to go nonstop. This painting is about what happens when we pause. It’s not lazy or passive—it’s a form of presence. It is a black-and-white painting about calm, made after a quiet hike. It’s not loud or dramatic—it just exists. It invites you to do the same: slow down and breathe.

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"Blunt Force Trauma".  When Art Has Something to Say

"Blunt Force Trauma". When Art Has Something to Say

Blunt Force Trauma is a raw, emotional piece confronting the trauma of family separation at the border. It uses text, texture, and imagery, steel and stencil to highlight asylum, exile, and state violence. It reflects my personal responsibility as an artist to speak out.

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When Sports Meets The Tribal Nature of Baseball Art

When Sports Meets The Tribal Nature of Baseball Art

Sports art isn't just about the action. It's about the stories, emotions, and ideologies beneath the surface. The catcher, the swing, the stance.  They all say something more.  When I paint sports, I’m thinking about more than just the game. I think about how people connect to teams, players, and moments in ways that go deep. Sports art often reflects loyalty, identity, and even questions about fairness. That shows up in the way I paint, even when I’m not trying to say something specific.

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When Landscape Painting Becomes a Meditation on Journey

When Landscape Painting Becomes a Meditation on Journey

For me, this painting isn't just about capturing a beautiful scene but about exploring our relationship with challenging transitions. Nature provides the perfect metaphor—constantly changing, enduring, and ultimately finding pathways forward, even through the most difficult terrain.

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Harmony in the Tides.  My Tidepool Adventure

Harmony in the Tides. My Tidepool Adventure

Have you ever noticed how the ocean's tide cycles mimic life? Low tide brings solitude, when everything is calm and the tidepools sit quietly under the sun. High tide brings connection, as each pool is swept into the vast ocean again. And then there's the ever-comforting renewal when the waters retreat and leave behind a refreshed shoreline.

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