Once upon a time in a land just over a thousand miles away from Seattle, I lived in one of these small yellow bungalows a short bike ride from the Pacific Ocean.

This magical place was called California.

The beach town that I lived in was Santa Monica.

As you may or may not know about me, I have this thing with California. I have been inspired by the Pacific Ocean beaches and coastal vibe way before I ever visited. I lived there twice, and had very different experiences each time. I know we’re never the same person as we were before, but I was living a radically different life each time.

Much of my artwork is inspired by water. That’s part of the inspiration for this oil pastel painting, Pacific Ocean, No.1. The second part of inspiration are some of the color palettes used by one of my favorite artists, Richard Diebenkorn in his Ocean Park abstract painting series.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know about Richard Diebenkorn until after I lived in Los Angeles! The artist actually had a studio in the Ocean Park area of Santa Monica, hence the name of his painting series. He died ten years before I ever lived there, but it would have been cool to have known about his work when I was getting to know Santa Monica. I would have loved to have experienced the city and the colors through his eyes.

While the original Pacific Ocean, No. 1 painting is not available for sale, I have created prints and products featuring the artwork. I plan to continue this painting series and offer some originals for sale in the future. If you really connect to this work and want me to create a painting inspired by it for you now, visit my shop page to learn about my art commission process.

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite products featuring Pacific Ocean, No. 1. They are available in my Society6 and Redbubble shops. xoxo

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