Blog

P.S., a client of mine who likes to find orphaned paintings at thrift stores, purchased three oils on board locally, and puzzled over the signature, “Bruce Birkland.” No gallery sale …

J.W. invited me to her beautiful Riviera Craftsman bungalow with an ocean view to show me a block of flat carved wood, a printing block for a relief fine art …

P.C. from the 805 area asked me to appraiser her early 20th century ivory chess set for a few months now, and I put it off, P.C., because, well, the …

F.M. has two mixed media, diluted oil paintings, slightly surreal in nature, with themes related to the eternal feminine: fruit above a portrait of a female in one; birds and …

M.K. has a Madonna and child painting, 25 inches by 33 inches, picked up at an estate sale in Santa Barbara 30 years ago. We see the luminous faces of …

D & P from Solvang writes me that a family member was a 1970’s Central Coast antiques dealer: she found this lamp in Santa Barbara. D & P suspect it …

E.S.J. has collected a 20th century Haitian Vodou flag, measuring 28 inches square. The center of this dazzling object is a pink heart interspersed with blue/green leaves; the completely graphic …

P.J. sends me a little etching of a river with windmills, signed in one corner Leon Gaucherel (1816-86) and in the other Claude Mannet, a little known painter (not the …

J.E. has a South African semi-abstract sculpture, 20 inches by 12 inches by 5 inches, of a female with flowing tresses. The stone it’s made of is steatite, or, as …