A full life...

Ken Beck, 1921 - 2009

My favorite photo of my Dad is this one taken in about 1934. He's wearing his Lucky Lindy helmet, a style popularized after Charles Lindbergh made his historic trans-Atlantic flight. His direct gaze is representative of how he lived his life.

Dad passed away Saturday after battling cancer for many years. He lived a full life – one filled with hard work and dedication to his family and friends. A gifted woodworker, he generously donated his skills to help family and friends over the years. He was also a handyman extraordinaire who always found ways to improve his surroundings. And he had a silly streak that made him very fond of wordplay, goofy songs, Wily Coyote cartoons and Seinfeld. I'm going to miss him.

This week at Brush-Paper-Water...

Grand Canyon – Cache Creek, 14" x 18"
gouache over acrylic
Kay Duffy

Kay Duffy is another longtime art acquaintance whose energy and love of experimenting with new materials and techniques keeps her art lively and fresh. She is well-known for her traditional transparent watercolors of plum and cherry trees during their ethereal spring bloom (once a common feature in the local landscape and a signature of the Santa Clara Valley), but she is equally at home creating innovative collages and painting landscapes of her travels to places such as the Grand Canyon and Yosemite.

Please visit Brush-Paper-Water to see more of Kay's work.

All in good time...

Snail Mail, 6" x 6"
watercolor
Chris Beck

I just got word that my painting, Snail Mail, has won an award in an international competition. I can't say any more about it now, but I'll let you know when it goes public. This painting came about when Pablo Villicana Lara and I were invited to join a challenge posed by Jelaine Faunce and M. Collier back in March using a plain white envelope as the common denominator for our paintings. I had a great time with this subject -- one of the snails in my collection of vintage tin toys almost crawled off the shelf to volunteer its services!!

This week at Brush-Paper-Water...

Orange Iris, 30" x 22"
watercolor
Sally Bookman

Sally Bookman is well- known for her charming watercolors of local scenes -- street and harbor views, beach and cafe scenes -- whether in California or abroad. But she also excels at capturing the luscious quality of flowers, from views of a whole section of a garden to closeups of individual flowers. And she manages to fit all this into a life already full with her work as a realtor, raising her family, and volunteer activities.

Please jump over to Brush-Paper-Water to see more of Sally's work.