Artwork

Viking Ship Hammock Stand

A client wanted me to design a hammock stand for his living room and asked me to come up with some unique ideas. Using my boat building background, I came up with several. My favorite was Cleopatra’s River barge, but the client picked this one. I later found out that he had a love of Viking lore. The bow and tail separate from the keel for transportation and uses shipbuilding joinery. These had to be extremely strong to hold the hammock. This piece appeared on the cover of Fine Woodworking Magazine February 94. Teak, ash and maple. 14’ x 7 1/2’ x 7’

Viking Ship Dragon Head Close-up

This is a close-up of the Dragon Head showing the fine detail work. The head was an original design. With the skull and jaw being made separately for ease of carving. Once while assembling the head, it actually bit me.

New York City Park Bench

This piece evolved out of some stair rails that I been working on. New York, both old and new is represented and surrounds the velvet seat of central park. The end sections (not shown) are taken from the external framework of the twin towers and the rest of the city (chair) seem to rise from them. The colors come from the early morning new light. This piece won 1st Place, San Diego Fine Woodworking Association-Professional at the 2003 Design in Wood Show. I’m currently working on a similar piece that centers on the East River, with the Brooklyn Bridge dividing the bench into two sections. The city will be at night with blue, green, purple and black colors. 25”x77”x56” $10,800

San Gigimano

This art chair is from the Italian hill town of San Gimigano, which is famous for its surviving towers, and church, all of which are used. The seat works around the town square with the well under the seat. I can remember buying chestnuts in Tuscany and seeing many beech trees, so these woods seemed appropriate to the piece. The courtyard goes into steps, which wrap around the interior of the seat and there is stained glass in the cathedral windows. 28”x30”x58” $5400

Balboa Park Bench

I thought that Balboa Park would be a great theme for a “Park Bench”.  The arched bridge and sidewalk promenades are perfect for the base structure.  The lily pond is the center with the some of the other park structures surrounding it.   This piece was made for the Mingei show summer 2008

$11,500

Coffee Table with Cave Paintings

This inlaid top was inspired from the many cave paintings that I have visited in Baja California. The woods were selected to simulate the actual colors found in the caves. The table itself is a totally modern design contrasting to the ancient art of the top. This won 1st place in contemporary furniture at the Del Mar Fair. 22”x36”x18”

The Original Southwest Chair

Many times while traveling with the cowboys of Baja California, I would see them playing around with skulls and putting them in humorous places around our camps. In the early 90’s, Southwest furniture was becoming very popular. I wanted to take another look at it. Popular wood- bleached 34”x24”x40”

Earthquake Coffee Table

This was titled “are you ready for the big one?” The surfaces are all Formica. In this type of furniture, I like to try and capture the instant of time when an event or sudden change is taking place. For example: a building starting to fall, a piano coming out, a breaking window or a cup of coffee starting to spill. It’s the freezing of this moment that makes the drama of this style. 21”x30”x36”

Whitehall 17ft. Sailboat

This was a beautiful lined Whitehall pulling boat, that I modified with a keel and sailing rig. On flat water this boat really flies both on and off of the wind. The Hull is construction is called lap strake as the actual planks overlap each other with no calking. Copper rivets secure the planks to the ribs and the water swells the planks tight.

This was one of five sailboats that I have built and this one won “Best of Show” at the New Port Wooden boat show. Port Orford Cedar, Oak, Mahogany and Walnut. 17’x5’x2 1/2’

Mural of Cave Painting

This interpretive wood application piece is taken from a cave in Baja California “Cueva Pintada” which literally means “painted cave. Note the female figure near the left with a protruding stomach and the adjacent deer with a small deer inside, both suggesting fertility. Various Hardwoods. 14”x40”

Brigantine Ship Model

Before I decided to do full size woodworking, I built many models. This one is of a brigantine and uses what is called “plank on frame construction”. It is built exactly like the original ship and even uses small (#66 drill size) dowels to secure each plank to its frame. This model took almost 2000 hrs to complete. Scale 1/4”/ft. 12”x36”x32”

"This is not a chair".

Riomaggorio

Riomaggorio chair and New York Public Library Bookcase This is a chair designed from the lovely seacoast town of Riomaggorio. The houses wrap around the harbor and the street ascends up a canyon. Dyed popular and chestnut 32”x42”x48” The bookcase, made for the same client is to house a 24-volume Oxford dictionary and atlas. The design was taken from the New York Public Library and swivels. 24”x24”x36”