Tag archives: Thomas Van Stein
Waterhouse Gallery is celebrating its 37th year of fine art for us to buy and enjoy in La Arcada Court. To celebrate, Ralph and Diane Waterhouse invited four artists to set up easels in the courtyard and paint so we all could watch. They were Thomas Van Stein, Derek Harrison, Craig Nelson, and Wyllis Heaton. […]
The year of COVID made us rethink a lot about interiors and exteriors. Some of us holed up inside, either by choice or by decree. Others found themselves outside more than usual, discovering or renewing their love affair with our beautiful landscape. For painter Tara Rose Toner, that led to a new interest in plein […]
As I was heading up to the Paseo Nuevo parking lot roof to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), I saw two artists painting a gigantic mural on the wall outside. Turns out it was due to be finished the following day in honor of Earth Day. Check it out the next time […]
In Defense of New Sanitary District Building The need for staff showers at the Montecito Sanitary District wastewater treatment plant should be obvious. Staff are working with pathogen-loaded water that also contains antibiotic resistant microbes and their genes. This is biologically loaded pathogenic material (liquid and solids) capable of transferring pathogens to staff, their homes, […]
East Valley Road to Perdition I am astonished to be writing again about the Ennisbrook Owner’s Association and their unwillingness to fulfill their responsibilities to us as members and residents. Ennisbrook owns our entire road. It starts at East Valley Road, and continues past ten properties and the four Ennisbrook members are the last four […]
MJ‘s favorite painter, Thomas Van Stein, just completed a commissioned painting of the historic Knox-Cota building on Anacapa Street for the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation. The house was built in the 1870s for Dr. Knox and his wife. The building’s facade crumbled in the 1925 earthquake, and has been sitting as a rather […]
A Strange and Risky World We have a president who has led his caretakers in the Republican White House to think it is reasonable to insist on a petty hiding of a destroyer docked in Japan during the president’s recent visit because it has the name of a Republican senator, a former prisoner of war […]
What a ride this has been for us all. While we are not yet out of the woods of what will probably turn out to be the worst wildfire in California’s history, I write this letter with a cautious sense of optimism. There are still over 8,000 firefighters on this fire. On 12-hour shifts, there […]



