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The Factory Studio

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Long Beach, CA
The Factory Studio

Named after Andy Warhol’s Factory,
The Factory was my Long Beach restaurant where art, food, music and community collided.

Now The Factory Studio continues that creative world through painting, storytelling & imagined universes. Featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-in's & Dives! http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/diners-drive-ins-and-dives/2000-series/from-standards-to-standouts.html

10/27/2026

Dog Beach is usually where I slow down with my Great Dane, Dax … listening to the waves, watching the sunlight reflected off the ocean, and taking in the whole feeling of just being present in the moment. It’s a kind of meditation for me.

With the king tides happening now, there were more seashells and strange things washed up on this stretch of beach than I’ve ever seen before. About half a mile from Dog Beach, homes along the peninsula have been destroyed by the king tides. As I walked, I had to maneuver around a whole chunk of a house lying on the shore.

I found myself wondering about the stories behind these pieces washed up on the beach. Was that pregnancy test part of a happy surprise … or a moment of fear and uncertainty? How did that rose end up all alone in the sand? How did the waves carve a hole and that little hook into the rock? Could that white material be destroyed sandbags washed away by the tide? And, for crying out loud, what the heck is that crunchy-looking, rooty, spidery thing?

Today reminded me that I don’t have to explain the whole story on the canvas. Sometimes the story is in what’s missing.

08/12/2026

Somehow, all roads lead back to LA.

Fire and Ice
24 × 24 inches
Acrylic on canvas
$375 + shipping

DM to purchase.

🥃 Echo Mtn. Spirits
📖 Carla
🛞 Specter Built Shawn Illingworth
🎨 Mama G | Artist

08/10/2026

Sometimes the best finds are completely accidental. 🎨

I was walking down the street to have a b**r at Long Beach B**r Lab when I spotted this little neighborhood paint store and, of course, had to go in.

I mentioned to the owner that I’m an artist, and he brought me over to a stash of paint samples he thought I might be able to use.

When he asked what colors I was looking for, I don’t think he was expecting me to whip out my phone and show him the fully designed palette board I’d made for a new series I’m starting for the 2028 Olympics. 😂

A little crisscross-applesauce sorting on the floor later, I walked out with about 7½ gallons of paint for 30 bucks.

I’d say that was a pretty successful accidental stop.

Next up: swatching every color in my sketchbook to see which ones will make the best base coats for the series. 🎨

08/06/2026

This Little Monster
Oil, acrylic & mixed media on canvas
12 × 12 inches

$75 + shipping
DM to purchase

08/05/2026

Meet Space Monster. He comes in peace … and he’s looking for a home. 👽

12 × 12 inches
Acrylic on canvas
$75 + shipping

DM to purchase.

07/13/2026

Everything you need to know about why I paint monsters is hiding in these three books.

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This Little Monster
Oil, acrylic & mixed media on canvas
12 × 12 inches

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As a child, the world is poetry, storybooks, imagination… and monsters that only live under the bed.

“Home I return across the sea,
And go to bed with backward looks
At my dear Land of Story-Books.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson, The Land of Story-Books

Then come the years when you’re still figuring out who you are. I was in my twenties, newly transplanted from California to Texas. One of my favorite things to do was visit the rotating exhibits at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. After one of those visits, I brought home the From Renoir to Picasso catalog. I didn’t know it then, but it would become the bookmark for that chapter of my life.

My life at the time looked like one of those Impressionist paintings. The details hadn’t come into focus yet, but I trusted the picture that was emerging. I trusted where life was headed.

Then come the family sagas. The stories we inherit. The conflicting memories. The versions of the truth that never quite line up.

As I was styling this painting, I opened the cover of the poetry book I’d always believed had been given to me as a child. Inside was a handwritten inscription dated January 25, 1968. I was born in 1971. The inscription had always been there. I had simply never noticed it.

It wasn’t a life-changing discovery. It was a detail. But it reminded me that the biggest shifts in our lives don’t always come from finding something new. Sometimes they come from finally noticing what was there all along. How fitting that something I’d believed since childhood simply wasn’t true. Not every forgotten detail changes your life… but every one teaches you to look a little closer.

Maybe that’s what my monsters are all about. They were never really monsters at all. They’re people carrying histories we don’t always see. We all learn to soften the hard edges, put on a smile, and keep moving forward. The flowers don’t erase the sharp teeth… they just remind us that beauty and reality have always existed side by side.

07/11/2026

A few years ago, I made a pretty big detour to visit San Sebastian on Spain’s northern coast. I did it for one reason: I wanted to come home and say I’d surfed the Basque Coast.

Now, don’t mistake me for some serious surfer who’s chasing waves around the world. I’ve surfed most of my life, and I’m pretty average at best. I just love being out there. That’s the feeling I wanted to paint.

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Good Vibes
Acrylic on canvas
11 × 14 inches

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The funny thing is, I didn’t set out to paint the ocean. This canvas began as one of my leftover palettes. Whenever I have paint left from a larger painting, it ends up on one of these small canvases. Once it’s full, I step back to see if an image begins to emerge—kind of like looking at clouds until you start seeing shapes.

The swirling paint reminded me of the beautiful chaos of the sea. But surfing isn’t all about the waves. Most of the time, you’re simply sitting on your board, waiting for one. I added the broad horizontal brushstrokes to capture the calm and peace that exist alongside all that movement.

The surfer in this painting is a worry doll. Worry dolls are tiny handmade dolls from Guatemala. Tradition says you tell them your worries before you go to sleep, and they carry them for you.

I use worry dolls throughout my work because, to me, they’re reminders to put life in perspective. Sometimes you just need to let go of the worry and live in the moment. I’ve always thought that’s a pretty good way to move through life.

That’s exactly what happened in San Sebastián. Surfing never happened that day. The ocean was flat. Instead, I drove inland to Bilbao and wandering through one of the most remarkable museums in the world.

If you’ve ever surfed—or even just stood in the ocean—you know the feeling. The chaos. The calm. The peace that somehow exists alongside it all.

When you look at this painting, I’m curious …. can you feel it?

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