conservatory of flowers, san francisco

it was such a gorgeous day, although quite chilly for s.f. there was ice along pathways in golden gate park. in all the years that i lived in s.f. i had never seen ice there before. it was amazing!

sfmoma from yerba buena gardens (i did the construction documents for some of the gardens there many moons ago).

inside moma ...architecture by mario botta.
we visited some of his cool buildings in lugano switzerland on our honeymoon.

the inspirers

after a recent visit to the de young museum i was pleases to bring back a new book, ruth asawa contours in the air, which has been delightful to read. long an inspiration, since she developed many public works in san francisco when i was growing up and was a continual presence for art education in public schools, reading, especially about her youth, was fascinating. what friends she had: buckminster fuller, joseph albers, willem dekooning, imogen cunningham! b. fuller even designed her wedding ring! it was such incredible joy to see an exhibit devoted to her long career of extraordinary work in so many media, especially the long overdue recognition of her wire works that are sublime. i can't think of a solo exhibit that i have seen that has been so overwhelmingly pleasurable as this one was.

back in my studio, here's more stuff that inspires me mixed in between my paintings.

architecture notes

from my spatial composition class
architecture has quite the syntax!
i was going through boxes of stuff in my mom's garage and came across some folders of class notes. some i recycled like planning, blah blah blah, all talk and no action. but the design stuff i saved mostly because of the enthusiastic professor that taught the class, but also because it reminded me of all the hidden language of design that was pounded into us for five years which tends to pervade the process to much of my artwork.

everywhere i looked there was another live diebenkorn paintingtime to get out the oil paints and a big fat canvas

i left my heart in san francisco....legion of honor museum
i miss the sweet old museum
(damaged beyond repair after the '89 earthquake + demolished)
but the new one is quite a wow! experience.

my son reflected in a sculpture at the legion of honor

coit tower cityscape
ahhhh san francisco in january!
could there be a more beautiful city?

buzz.....my latest illustration friday submission

just a peekat clarity of adornment in the january exhibit

gilding remnantsfrom oil paintings in the january show

old stuff

gilding is so much fun.
light bounces all over the place, when the sun is out, off the little orbs of gold.
i dragged this one (oil on panel) out of the archives just as a reminder,
on this stormy dark day, that spring blossoms will come again.

a peek at the altarcloth shown this month at gallery fraga.
it's one of the ingredients of the birdie altar.featured here is applique of an oregon junco and red-shafted flicker.

what a way to start the new year!

i think it's going to be a great new year with the sighting this morning
of a female peregrine falcon in our back yard!
it was perched atop the bunny hutch (empty!),
that we painted recently, from where she surveyed
the whole garden for critters to eat.
no wonder there were none of the usual small birds present.
they knew when to hide!
what a gorgeously regal creature that falcon was
as she spun her head completely to her rear
and back around 360 to the other side
with those intent eyes beeming.
happy new year to all and happy birding!
(painting: detail from 3, oil on panel)