Paving Over Paradise

The latest in corrupt idiocy from the Trump administration is a plan to sell off over two hundred million acres of public land to assorted connected private interests. Excuses for stealing this land from the American people include "affordable housing" in the middle of nowhere and mineral and fossil fuel extraction to make a quick a buck while continuing to warp the climate. Nothing will get better until there's nothing left, it seems. The exact location depicted here doesn't matter, but if you feel the view would be better without the barbed wire fencing and smoke-spewing refinery, that's the point, and the cynical greed and cruelty of this administration is costing us far more than just pretty views. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Cinder Dawn on the City

The rains ended in April, followed by drought and now wildfires burning across Canada. Smoke blanketed the east coast of the US for days, leading to hellscape skies of ash across major cities, such as New York. Under the light of a seemingly dying sun, we look upon a stylized version of the city's skyline choked in ashes. A sickly tree struggles in the foreground, reminding us of what we are losing. Scenes like this are sadly going to become more common. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

The Earth Screams

This work is loosely inspired by Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream," but here it is the Earth in crisis. In the distance, we see one of the countless extreme wildfires that has ravaged the planet in recent years burning its way down to the water. In the foreground stand unshielded streetlights, each blazing away in pointless defiance, illuminating an empty road. The effects of civilization - for better and worse - last far beyond the people who created them. Cherish what we have so that future artists are not just painting memories.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

2020 in Hindsight

2020 has not been a good year: catastrophic, climate-change driven wildfires from the western US to Australia, a deadly pandemic, and disturbing assaults on democracy. This painting is as much symbolic as it is artistic - a fitting scene for a terrible year, and an attempt to find some beauty in the wreckage left behind. A burnt forest, a discarded face mask, and clearing skies with a hope for a better future.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"