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East Brother Island Lighthouse” is an original watercolor, gouache and ink painting by Mike Robles.
A section of a NOAA nautical chart was printed on Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper, after masking an area for the lighthouse. The lighthouse was then painted using artist quality paints and ink. The location of the lighthouse is shown with a small red & white striped LH on the chart.
The Lighthouse is located on East Brother Island in San Rafael Bay, near the tip of Point San Pablo in Richmond, California. It marks the entrance to San Pablo Bay from San Francisco Bay. Built in 1874 and automated in 1969, The United States Lighthouse Service ran the lighthouse operation until 1939, when the Lighthouse Service merged with the United States Coast Guard.
Large families occupied the lighthouse. They had to light the original lens wick and keep it filled with whale oil. On many foggy nights, they would have to fire up the steam boilers to drive the foghorns, hauling coal...

About the Artist, Mike Robles I am a senior artist and a native Californian. I was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from Carlmont High School, Belmont in 1958. I graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1963 with a BS in Physical Sciences. One week after graduating, I married Jane and this year we�ll be celebrating our 50th anniversary. My career as an analytical chemist for GE Nuclear Energy started in 1963 at the Hanford Engineering Works in Eastern Washington. In 1969, my family (wife and two sons) and I moved back to California and settled in Livermore. I continued working for GE for most of my 40 year career. I was exposed to art at a young age by my extremely gifted artist mother and step-father. But, I...