Meridian Avenue

I titled this painting Go Slowly, because it drives me nuts how people speed down this street, especially where it straightens out after all the curves. It is the only street in town where you can travel in an approximately north south direction utterly unhindered by signs and signals for over a mile. I hope I'm not giving that away. People should drive slowly because there are plenty of children, animals, and dog walkers, and it's fairly blind due to the curves and lovely camphor trees. I probably shouldn't say that either, about the trees. We just lost the biggest of the camphor trees which stood at a corner a block or two north of where the painting is set. I don't know why or when it left. I looked one day and it wasn't there.

I like the style of the painting and the washed out sunny look. I think my washes were not very masterful and there should be deeper shadows up in the trees. Happy new year, and success and joy. To my reader(s).

Speaking of parrots

A page from a sketchbook. This was not one of our neighborhood green parrots (as you can tell by its beak,) but a blue macaw seen in the lobby of a Hawaiian hotel. It appeared to enjoy having its picture drawn.

About next year: will we call it two-thousand-ten or twenty-ten?

Angelenos

I like this one. The sky pleases me a lot. The composition is a little interesting. While the trees look a bit static and artificial, I still get a sense of a light breeze, a soft rustle. But you have to like palm trees, and I do. They stick out above the horizon in nearly every L.A. landscape, so you could never ever mistake it for New York, Chicago, or Dallas. Like the palm trees, I am completely regional, and on the tall side. For all their peculiar looks and lack of useful shade, my local palms house woodpeckers and squirrels, and feed the noisy parrots.

Discoveries from the garden

I left the lights on

The devil that stole the pears this year, or his kin

Paperwhite narcissus and a faux fly agaric

These fell over in the rain, but they're pulling themselves back up

I promised discoveries from my garden, and I haven't yet delivered. I went out with my camera and was reminded that the lens is inadequate to photograph bugs, and my reflexes are inadequate to photograph birds. There are plenty of plants which cooperatively grew large and held still and I took pictures. But it is winter after all. My biggest discovery is how much more slowly the grass grows in the winter, despite the nourishing rain. I'll check later and see if any of the pictures is worth a post and a few words.

But for now, one of my indoor plants. A quick sketch with fully saturated color. An orchid (I can say the name but not even close to spell it) and a fuji apple.

Rialto redux

Another Rialto picture. In my formative years, they actually showed movies there. It was kind of an art house. They showed double features of older, classic, cult, artsy kinda movies. Some of my favorites were (and are) Harold & Maude, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Fantastic Planet and Dr. Strangelove.

It was not merely my affection for the Riato of my past that caused me to paint it twice. It was a paint-out/show sponsored by the California Art Club and South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce in 2008. I have mixed feelings about the California Art Club. It may be like the popular girl of the art club world. It's a little snooty, pretentious, and obsessively traditional; but at the same time, really really good. I'm a member, but don't feel entirely like I belong. I like it when artists make fun of their gold frames, but at the same time I really want them to like me.

Obviously, I didn't make the Snoopy picture. I like it, for reasons I'm not obliged to explain, but it doesn't really fit with anything, except a generalized idea of Christmas. In fact, I googled Christmas images, and Snoopy was in the first ten; I didn't even need to scroll down.

I've never painted a Christmas picture. I have drawn many, and if I'd thought of that, and hadn't been too lazy, I might have included a drawing. Oh well. Next year. I've nearly run out of photos of paintings I no longer have. There are plenty of things I don't have photos of, and I still have paintings aplenty, photoed and not. But only one more photo of an ex-painting, which I'm not anxious to post only because it's redundant. Less so with the passage of time and space. You'll see.

So here is a photo of something that I painted. I don't have the painting, because it went in a silent auction to a couple of people I like a lot. It looked kind of like the photo. The hibiscus plant is no longer there; it's too bad because it was a darned nice one. It was in the alley behind Ai restaurant.

Christmas dinner was (so good) mac & cheese, ham, tri tip roast, potatoes au gratin, zucchini with almonds, and green salad. More food before, more after. My presents were California native plants (whose name I'm not remembering) and books. I am happy with myself because every single bit of my wrapping was recycled or reusable. Red and green pillow cases, reclaimed ribbon and bags, gift tags made out of last year's cards. Saving the world, a tree at time.

Merry Christmas

Ready or not, Christmas is here. It is like a big buffet where you can't possibly even taste everything. It is a day that is crammed full to overflowing like a lumpy stocking packed with strange and sweet surprises. May the wonder, comfort, joy and peace be yours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtPKbMwnRo

Collections. The Rialto

The first paintings I will post(and have posted)are the ones I no longer have. I gave them to others or sold them. If I keep posting on a daily basis, I think I will run out of paintings soon. But I'm not sure. If I include old paintings (and cookies) I might be able to post daily for a long time. I'm curious to see.

Picture only, no words

Cookies

These are the Christmas cookies. Something else to paint on. They are a ridiculous amount of work. The task is fun and the cookies inspired in direct proportion to the number of people who help. Thank you to my sister, my friend, my husband and my sons. Thank you to Mrs. Bungay who made cookies for me and my sister when we were little. Thank you to my son and his friends who ate cookies before they were too stale.

For a Monday

I have to go to work. The pictures on the prior posts (and this one)are mine. One is where my grandfather used to live, on the corner of Franklin and Mariposa in Hollywood. The other is the Coffee Gallery in Altadena. The Coffee Gallery Backstage (in the back of the Coffee Gallery) is one of the all time best places to see and hear live musical performances, because it is small and authentic, and because the acts are great. You can get your food and coffee there or bring your own wine.

These are a few of my favorite links

I waste a lot of time on the internet, but everyday I do something useful. Small, but useful. I click on links at www.thehungersite.com All the tabs at the top. And then, without leaving the comfort of my computer, I have helped the world.

When I need a break from harsh and sad world news, or when the tedium of work is numbing my brain or heart, I visit cuteoverload.com The daily influx of cute and sometimes quirky photos and vids is not saccharin or sentimental. It is presented with intelligent humor and a little edge.

This is my current favorite youtube vid. The camera work is as improbably and mystically weird as the subject matter. I am no fan of drugs, but I love animals, fungi, and northern lights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkCS9ePWuLU

The problem is I have not figured out how to put in hyperlinks or videos. But you get the idea.

My First Post

I hope to share my art, which I hope I will be creating often. I hope to share discoveries from my garden. I hope to disseminate information I feel that everybody should have: things you must know and places you must go. One day I may have a reader.