The Gleam in my Daughter's Eye.

Here is my daughter Lorelei, doing her morning coloring.
That look on her face makes me so proud. This girl has no expressive hesitation.

Paint As If Every Brush Stroke Counts

[ Portrait of Baby Lorelei by John Paul Thornton]

How powerful is a single word? When we speak, should we mumble? Slur our words together? Bark?

I recently presented a series of painting demonstrations in Los Angeles that celebrated the lone, amazing, isolated brush stroke. I explored how each application of my brush created a distinct individual choice, each articulating information about form, space, structure, movement, light and color temperature.

Every stroke was left completely intact. No blending was attempted. Still, there is a softness due to the closeness of values, and exclusion of severe notes.


The ear is expressed with a few structural strokes.


The forehead shifts from cool violet to warm Naples yellow.


In a second portrait which was created with a more harsh, carved approach, I painted a young Nepalese refugee girl. This was painted very quickly, with a house painter's brush in a matter of minutes. Within a blink, the painting was done. I had no time to ruin it. In fact, it felt as if I wasn't even there to make it. Once again, no attempt was made to eliminate any of the character of the strokes. To my eyes, this painting maintains a directness and severity that reflected the strength of this individual person. Many of the brush strokes on the surface carry a surprising quality within their directness and refusal to lapse into a contrived smoothness.

[Portrait of a Refugee Girl, John Paul Thornton]



Every gesture describes planes , light direction, and the emotional starkness that the sitter conveyed to me. When painting this way, every choice becomes vital and must stand as distinctly alone, even while a harmony links the entire image.

United Nations Environmental Programme Project

Whenever I have grown as an artist, it occurs through my love of projects that take me beyond my private world of painting and into the "real" world of people places and ideas.

I once attended a professional art seminar (given by a wonderful painter) where an audience member asked the speaker how she responded to the news and events that plagued the earth. The artist broke into a smile and cooed, "Painting is enough". It was a feel-good answer that allowed most of the audience to breathe a sigh of relief. We had just been given permission to lock our studio doors and quietly devote our energies to the filling up of square white canvases. To me this answer was impossible to digest. I began to squirm in my seat and somehow refrained from grabbing the microphone to launch into a heart-pounding plea that my fellow creative souls believe in their innate power to affect humanity using all of their inclinations, and then act in any way necessary, whether it involved paint or not, to implement that power.


The most inspiring artists I am meeting these days are able to erase that boundary which separates the artists' craft from functionality in the general society, or neighborhood. The involvement with people and ideas is what keeps art and artists relevant.

Since March I have been involved with an art project that has unfolded like an adventure in creativity, challenging my flexibility and vision.

Art educator Teresa Langness from the organization "Full Circle learning" called to invite me to design an art project for Los Angeles youth which would be part of the United Nations Environmental Programmes' World Environmental Exhibition, to be held at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo Norway.

My first impulse was to consider graphic design and printing as the appropriate direction.

I proposed that large panels relating to environmental concerns be the end result, with each participating artist creating smaller block prints which would cover the surface of each panel.
The project would be called "Peace Prints".

A group of really amazing youths from Los Angeles were gathered to participate and we met in Topanga, ( a forested canyon community near the pacific ocean) to begin the process of choosing subject matter. Topanga was a kind of uncharted hippie enclave during the 1960s, and remains a haven for activists who grew up and continue to play a role in social programs around the world.



The participating artists are in their teens, and are growing up believing in their ability to bring peace and positive change to the world. Through their involvement with Full Circle Learning, they have engaged in many activities that bring them great understanding about how people can impact their families, their communities and the environment. Their economic ethnic and educational backgrounds vary, but they are united in their goals and actions. It is immensely satisfying to work with young people- especially when they inspire so much confidence and hope. After introductions and discussions about the possibilities of the project, we decide to focus on creating the first panel: a life-sized polar bear, which will be covered with individual prints of animal life affected by environmental change. Since the theme of the United Nations Environmental Programme's exhibition is: "Melting ice- A Hot Topic", the polar bear links well as a graphic symbol of polar change.

After visualization of the many components, artists begin sketching and drawing their ideas.
All the while, we discuss the history and nature of printing. As one of the worlds most respected art forms, printing became a primary means of communication with the advent of books. Furthermore, printing has been linked with the creation of political imagery, conveying ideas of social reform and public protest.

The printing process we use for the "Peace Prints" project involves artist's foam blocks. The process of using foam as a surface in which a drawing is etched is obviously a contemporary answer to the time-consuming ancient process of carving into wood or linoleum to create block prints. Foam blocks are simply soft surfaces specially prepared to accept bold and extremely delicate marks, drawn into the surface with the aid of a stick, ex-acto blade or even a common pencil.

To quote artist Rico lebrun: "I would rather proceed at a gallop than stop and freeze in favor of a crafty move..."

Once drawings are completed on paper, they are transferred by hand into a block of printing foam. The artist then redraws their lines into the surface, which is in turn coated with printing ink. Artists learn how to handle a roller, and become adept in the nuances of ink application.

I demonstrate the technique of thinning out the ink evenly. The process of printing is fun and very very...messy!


Each artist's individual voice is easily transfered into the foam, and regardless of their skill level, they all produce really engaging images.



Here is a block print featuring a portrait of Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Mathei.
One aspect of the project involves honoring Peace Prize winners and examining how global climate change impacts their home countries.

Block prints are prepared for mass application onto the larger panels.

Applying the ink-covered block prints onto the surface requires pressure with the roller...and patience. The surface is heavy cardboard, a recyclable material transformed into art.

The Polar Bear comes to life first, and depicts animal life impacted by changes in arctic and antarctic regions.


The Sun becomes the omni-present symbol of global unity and life. Each artist creates their own as a sort of signature. The first of many panels is completed.


I stand (In the center) with some of the other artist-participants. The expanding project continues on...

Books For Nobel Peace Center Exhibition

Curators at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo Norway were in need of a solution: How could the results of international art programs featuring artworks from around the globe be displayed in a unique tactile way, with no available wall space? Someone on the conference call had a suggestion: "How about In books!" I instantly imagined how such books could appear, and I asked to design and create them. Three books were going to be necessary to accommodate the needs of the curators and coordinators of the projects and I suddenly found myself deep in a new creative world with a ticking deadline.

The books were intended for "The Global Room" at the Peace Center, where visitors could examine artwork samples from children in China, Nepal, America, and many other countries and cultures. My first feeling was that the books needed to be attractive to visitors so that they would be picked up and opened! I decided to use metal tooling for the covers of each book.

Metal tooling has roots in Mexico, being used in the decorative arts. I also saw this art form being utilized in northern India. 36 gauge tooling foil was used, which is easy to incise and cut.
I first assembled the housing structure of the three books, choosing linen as the binding cloth. I then began working on the metal features.

(clicking on these images will open detailed enlargements in a new window).



The first book was to contain examples from the project I personally coordinated, called " Peace prints". The project consisted of elements of block printing, culminating in the creation of many large, eight foot panels with participants prints covering each surface like hieroglyphics. The primary educational component of the project was "global warming" and many symbols of life and nature in various global environments were used.

I created the cover of the book based upon this imagery, incorporating it into the designs.
Ice cap shrinking and drought is affecting life sustaining habitats, and the imagery reflects the artwork inside. The polar bear and the giraffe motifs are part of the larger panel project.

This book was created entirely by me, freehand, over the course of a few hours.


Every line must be precise as it is etched into the surface. They may not be removed.



The second book shown below was created to showcase nearly one hundred sets of "footprints" decorated by children from around the world, illustrating their views and perceived ideals on the environment. One child's artwork is framed on the front cover, while I enlisted children from Los Angeles to create the embossed designs that adorn the back and inner panels. They transfered the designs into the metal, using blunt sticks.






The interiors of the books also contain lavish decoration relating to the artwork and themes.

The stylized sun design played a big role in unifying the three books, and also played a key role in the "Peace Prints " project. The design below adorned the front of an over-sized portfolio containing award winning children's artwork. It was etched into a heavier gauge brass metal sheet riveted onto the cover.



The three completed books looked really magical and enticing. The whole process was very exciting for me, and this was probably the first time I have ever put so much effort into such a "decorative" art form. I love intimate art books and really fell in love with the whole experience. Getting away from my usual painting process felt liberating. When I paint, I tend to use big shapes and glazes. The approach to metal tooling involves line and linear design, elements I enjoyed in my early days as a pen and ink artist. I was honored to create these books in conjunction with the United Nations Environmental Programme, and pleased to hear the news that the display is currently being well received at The Nobel Peace Center.

Leaving the Cake Out in the Rain

"Listen babe, you've got to do something with that imposing helmet. Oh, and It just doesn't convey friendliness when you're ramming a pole into the scapullas of the elderly..."

The month of May in Los Angeles began with a May Day Immigrants rights march in MacArthur Park which left a shameful stain on the LA Police Department. When a line of riot-gear clad police with batons began shooting rubber projectiles at fleeing crowds while smashing cameras of reporters, they appeared to be oblivious to the number one law of public relations in our media-savvy world:
"Never do anything that you would not feel proud of were it broadcast on television."

A month later, hundreds of emerging home videos, cell-phone videos and network broadcast videos have made it clear that the police tactics were grossly heavy-handed, misdirected and shockingly offensive.

Besides that, it all LOOKS bad from...a public-relations standpoint.

If you want to read about the politics of immigration, the theories of impending fascism, or the nasty results of police Chief Bratton's investigation, go Google "MacArthur Park Melee".
To view jerky hand-held home-movies of Police roughing up frantic grandmas with baby carriages, the blog-o-sphere is chock full of choices... Let's just talk about pure imagery for a moment.

As they stalked about in assault formation like Star Wars stormtroopers while firing weapons against unarmed civilians, I cannot help but wonder if the Police were aware of their kinship, pictorially, with two of history's most uncompromising paintings.

Whether we have stood in front of them at a museum or not, some art images get dispersed through our social consciousness by way of quirky references, half-remembered glimpses from school history books, or goofy lampoons.



Consider Francisco Goya's Blistering Third of May 1808, depicting the brutal killing of Spaniards by cold-hearted French troops.


Then there is Pablo Picasso's twentieth century homage to Goya, depicting "any war".
In corny cubist fashion, Picasso creates a similar gaggle of armored soldiers who prepare to violate a crowd of defenseless women and toddlers. History repeats itself. Both artists were witness to the horrors of war and inhumanity, and both artists rose above the simple act of painting in order to comment on the universal evil that rears it's head from time to time. Somewhere, somehow, we know these images and bristle accordingly when we see such a scenario reenacted in reality... especially in our sunny city parks.

After talking to a number of youths who attended the well-documented May Day March, I found that their outrage was not only fueled by the authentic spectacle of police brutality, but also by the archetypal inhumanity of the scenes before their eyes. Goya and Picasso ( along with many great and courageous artists ) leave us their stinging paintings as diagrams to educate and remind us that there is no defense for those who strike poses of oppression.

Some public-relations specialist decided decades ago that the catch-phrase "...To Protect and to Serve" should be written upon the side panel of every Los Angeles Police squad Car. It was a public relations recipe that has been effectively undone, easily eclipsed by the overwelming power of the image. They will never have that recipe again...