Blue Moonrise Over the Biltmore #1

Happy New Year to all. This picture depicts two paintings; painted on New Years Eve, 2009. The painting on the bottom is the setting sun at 445pm from Butterfly beach, then the top painting is of the Blue Moon rising over the Biltmore Hotel in Montecito. It was a lively crowd celebrating the passing of the decade (with great thanks) and the excitement of the full moon (blue moon) first time in 16 years.

I will post these images when the paintings are finished.

"Blue Moonrise over the Biltmore" 8x6, oil/canvas

"Last Sunset", 2009 6x9, oil/canvas

Night of Departure

I will begin afresh this new year and post one painting per day, depicting my best work from the last 25 years of my art career, and/or a photo depicting myself and the process of being an artist in life. Nothing will not be in chronological order, however it will be theme oriented wherever applicable. All I will say is once an artist has mastered the fundamentals in painting/drawing, it takes miles of canvas to get to the configuration of his art.

I leave 2009 behind, I give thanks for the lessons, I move keenly into the New Year, with the sun to my back, and my nose to the wind.

Night of Departure, 6x6 oil/panel
From the collection of Robert Eringer

Loyal Friend

When the Edge seems razor sharp...

share the moment with your best Friend.

Shooting Star, Carpinteria

Why am I here?
What's there to see?
Just one shooting star;
That's enough for me.

Shooting Star 8x6 oil/canvas

Life on the Edge

I guess I live by the old saying, "If you are not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much room." As a result, I seek in every moment of life, the edge. And thus, in spirit I am never poor. "Why Notism".

The magic is in this moment. I choose the riches and miracles in the here and now, and once I've gotten to the configuration of the moment before me I can't wait to share it, and teach it.

I teach through my story, I teach through my paintings. I am to create a life that is thought provoking, if not by my actions, but by the paintings/expressions I manifest.

Each painting is like a bread crumb on the trail for whomever is called, or moved, to investigate the life of Thomas Van Stein; remnants of a life once lived in the shifting paradigms of the early 21st Century.

This blog will be a starting place for me to share the extraordinary events, places, times and stories, of my life, and lessons to be learned; a journal, open to feedback and critique. A launching pad for ideas; a place for community to check in and deepen their appreciation for life, and inspiration to live their lives more fully.