Tyler Street

Wayne Thiebaud Ice Cream Sundae 1/1/11

2011-01-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

My new year begins with both good news and sad news. My dad passed away two days ago after a full life and a mercifully quick ending. Today I stepped away for a while from being immersed in family "to do" lists; I began moving in to a studio. My own studio! Today I put an embarrassingly large quantity of art supplies into a beautiful white space downtown with high ceilings and two big windows. Tomorrow my husband promises to put up shelves and hooks for me. When that's done, I'll close the door and have the space to myself, to clutter up, tidy up, contemplate, write or paint as I wish.

I have some paintings to finish, and some woodcuts to print, and some more woodcuts to carve, and I'm thinking about a piece about my dad. It will just be for myself. All I know so far is that the main color will be red. At least to begin with.

I asked Tim if he had a pushpin to hang my calendar -- it is new year's day after all. After he left me alone to arrange things, I unpacked a trash bin I had used to ferry some bulky items (paper towels, a lamp). When I got down to actual trash, there among the empty plastic bags was one with something lumpy inside: I reached in and found a twist-top cap from the cheap wine my dad was drinking for a while last spring, and one silvery push pin. I said, "Thanks dad," and used it to put up my 2011 calendar. It's all Wayne Thiebaud. January is an ice cream sundae (though not these "Dark Cones."

"What happiness feels like"

2010-11-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

Last week, wonderful art: at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, there was a Wayne Thiebaud retrospective. He turned 90 on November 15, and he still paints AND plays tennis every day! Maybe the most satisfying museum show ever: most delicious paint. In 2001 in the NY Times, Michael Kimmelman wrote:

"If the world were a perfect place, the Wayne Thiebaud retrospective ... would be nailed to the walls for good and we would be free to stop by whenever we needed to remind ourselves what happiness feels like.”

More images here (the insert from NY Times looks excessively garish here).

The next day, I went to the de Young Museum in SF with John Dabney (who, it turns out, is related to the painter Daubigny!). Many post-impressionist treasures were visiting from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, including some I didn't think would ever leave Paris: Vincent's Bedroom at Arles, Starry Night, a roomful of Cezannes, and more. I turned the corner and there was "my" Toulouse-Lautrec, "La Rousse," that I copied in pastel a few years ago, studying it inch by inch over 5 weeks. It was such a thrill; I ran back around the corner to share the news with John, who was basking in the glow of the Renoirs.

On Saturday, before heading for the airport, I went to the Museum of the Palace of the Legion of Honor in SF for a show of Japanese prints and western prints they inspired in the 19th century. I arrived just in time for a woodblock printing demo, HANDS ON, yes! A beautiful tiny martial-artist woman with shaved head and dangly earrings and work boots showed how the traditional woodblock prints are made. Then, along with a couple of dozen others, I got to carve my own little woodblock. I carved a turtle: had just seen a dignified turtle in an old print, reminded that it signifies longevity.

I have just seen the portrait of me that Beth had told me about! How she sees me is interesting to me: I don't quite feel like that's the face I inhabit, but I like the look of that person, and I think she should go mix up some colors.

"Ivanov"

2010-04-30T20:45:00.001-07:00

Kenneth Branagh as Ivanov, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Kenneth Branagh as Chekhov's "Ivanov," November 2008, Donmar Warehouse, London. Pencil sketch (Inktense pencils) from the program cover photo, April 28, 2010, in Beth's studio. (I'm going to put up some March entries, a bit belated: New York, MOMA, Marina Abramovich "The Artist is Present," and more....).

"The Artist is Present": a New York week

2010-03-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

Susan came down from Boston and we met at the Manhattan Club (timeshare graciously ceded by my brother and sister-in-law) for a week in New York. I had arrived on a bumpy flight, but at least my airplane, unlike others that night, landed where it was supposed to. After a quick bus into the city, I couldn't resist walking from the Port Authority Bus Terminal up to West 56th. Saturday night in Times Square with a howling rainstorm!

From our cozy suite, we could see Carnegie Hall and Central Park.

On Sunday we had brunch with Jack Snyder at Caffe Cielo, then went to the Museum of Modern Art, packed with refugees from the rain. During the week we also walked through Central Park, still mostly leafless, to see:

the Whitney Biennial and the greatest-hits show "Collecting";
the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum -- where, like most of the visitors, I spent too much time trying to figure out how to make the iPod Touch tour-guides work instead of looking at the exhibits;

the Guggenheim -- the main (corkscrew) building closed for installation of a new show but in the new wing I discovered a gorgeous painting by an artist I'd not been aware of: František Kupka, Planes by Colors, Large Nude, 1909–10;
the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and more.

Plus a bit of St. Patrick's Day parade, the Apple store, art galleries in Chelsea, and some great food.
One night Susan and I saw "Fela!" with amazing dancing (thank you Bill T. Jones and dancers) and music by Fela Kuti, originator of Afro-Beat music; the musical is set it his club in Nigeria, "The Shrine." On another night (2 blocks walk to front-row seats in a small theater!) we saw "Equivocation" by Bill Cain, riffing on the Gunpowder Plot, Shakespeare and his acting troupe, and the efforts of the powerful to torture truth into the shape of a story that will keep them in power. My idiotic choice from the TKTS booth for my last night was a farce; I missed my chance to see Alfred Molina as Mark Rothko in previews of "Red." I'll be wincing for years that I didn't go. But I did see this (Rothko "No. 10") ---

and this (Clyfford Still).

My last day in New York (weather had turned to spring by then), I stumbled onto the 6th floor of MOMA looking for something else. Passing by warnings of nudity and disturbing images, I entered the retrospective, with recreations, of works by performance artist Marina Abramovic. The show is called "The Artist is Present," and Marina is indeed present for the whole run of the exhibition, almost 700 hours from March 12 to May 31. Trust, stamina, being "100 percent present."

I found the show unexpectedly moving. Early originals from her work starting in the 1960s were projected in B&W, later ones shown by color film. Some pieces were recreated by performers in the galleries. The show made me think (and feel) about trust, and the artist's bravery in trusting her audiences. In "Luminosity," a young woman stood on a perch halfway up a wall, spotlit; while I stood in this gallery, a young man nearby was gazing at her, and she was gazing down at him with a beautiful expression of stillness. Slowly, slowly, her arms raised: so slowly the motion almost imperceptible. It seemed to me that she was spreading her wings; it felt like a blessing.

Live streaming video is here. Photos of people who come to sit across the table from Marina are here. I am not alone in wishing I could hear the thoughts of the performers who recreated her works: the June 2 symposium with the performers is already sold out.

Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day, 2/27/2010

2010-02-28T08:03:00.000-08:00

I love finding the preserved fragments of art-deco and art nouveau elements that were integral to older downtown Seattle buildings.

I wish I could capture the peculiarity of a forest built in a boxtop set atop a freeway surrounded by giant glassy buildings!

Seattle has changed so much since my younger days when the Smith Tower (yes!) was the tallest building in town. Then came the Space Needle, then the Sea-First building, where I worked for a few years several decades ago. The views from its top floors were spectacular, but not much else there was fun, so sometimes I took refuge at lunchtime in Seattle's Freeway Park, then new. I would sit close to the fountains where the white-noise of the rushing water drowned out the rush of cars on Interstate 5 below. Seattle has grown; fortunately Freeway Park has grown too. Yesterday was a typical grayish February Seattle day, but urban sketch-crawlers found color everywhere! Thanks again to Beth and everyone who came along for the fun!

Port Townsend Bay

2010-02-13T14:19:00.000-08:00

Seattle Plein Air group met in Port Townsend on a windy day; five of us painted and drew from inside the new Maritime Center and were rewarded with waves and a peek at sun on the Olympics. 2/11/2010 (painted in Kroma acrylics, 6x20 inches or so). Others' work is here; I was glad to welcome Beth to Port Townsend for the first time!

Vicarious portrait party

2010-01-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

Second Bowl, Half Filled

2009-12-31T15:29:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Day, in the Half Sweet Studio, I put layers and layers of paint on my friend's face (well, on a little canvas panel).

Then, I threw some paint on to a black-gessoed panel. Whoo!

Now I'm scared to continue -- what if I wreck the part I like?!

But that splash of golden in the corner needs attention. Or actually, a little less attention....

Half Sweet, Christmas Day

2009-12-30T18:41:00.000-08:00

She dreams in colors and dreams colors into existence. She painted me in joyful colors, and from my somber colors her blazing red heart emerges. She describes herself as "98 percent water, half sweet."

Still holding the bowl steady

2009-12-19T12:48:00.000-08:00

A third and fourth day of painting. Limited palette: Kroma acrylics, Vancouver Grey 2009, as a base. And some Kroma Zinc White. The mountains came fast; everything else took until now, with Golden Open acrylics: alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue (lots), burnt sienna (mix with blue to get the darks), titanium white and touches of Indian yellow. Plus a teeny bit of Pyrrole Red near the end. Here's how it started a week ago.

Stage 1: last Saturday --

Monday -- no brush, just sea sponge, rag, fingers....

Friday.

And this morning, Saturday, I think I'm ready to go on to the next painting.

"Hold the Bowl Steady and It Will Fill"

2009-12-14T17:03:00.001-08:00

"Hold the Bowl Steady and It Will Fill", originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

I sat looking across the Skagit Valley for a long time on Thursday just before the sun went down, and again the next morning before the sun came up over Three Fingers in the Cascades. Came home and started this painting, and gave it a name; painted some more today. Seeing it abstracted to a photo, I can see what I want to do next.

What to do in Port Townsend

2009-11-26T20:23:00.000-08:00

Gabi Campanario, the "Seattle Sketcher" and illustrator for the Seattle Times, and founder of Urban Sketchers, drew and wrote up his day trip to Port Townsend with his family. He even credited me ... and I was a little slow making sure I had a fresh post in case somebody came by to visit. But, better late than never, here's the advice I gave him!

I wish we could show you around, but you will have no trouble finding wonderful places to sketch. Victorian buildings, boats, water, mountains (if it’s clear), and farmers market complete with musicians. Can’t wait to see what you see in my town!

As you come in to town on Highway 20, you might want to visit the boat building yard at Boat Haven (turn right at the traffic light at the bottom of the hill you will descend as you enter town; landmark is a Safeway Store and a MacDonalds on your left). If your kids need to run after being in the car, a waterfront path -- the Larry Scott Trail -- begins at Boat Haven and runs back down the bay toward the paper mill (the mill usually sends up a very visible plume of steam). Drive through the boatbuilding yard straight toward the water; the path begins there and runs to your right along the waterfront and there’s also some beach to explore. You’ll see a giant “heavy haulout” boat lift that looks like it should be a Transformer toy.

If you continue driving on Hwy 20 into town you will pass the dock for the that ferry goes to Whidbey Island. Beyond, Hwy 20 becomes Water Street with several blocks of 3-4 story Victorian buildings on each side; this is the main downtown area, right along the waterfront. Find a place to park, and you can stroll down Water Street windowshopping. I highly recommend William James Booksellers used book store if your kids will let you have time to look around!

On the left side of Water Street, away from the water, at the first of the Victorian buildings you will come to, you’ll see Sport Townsend outdoor gear shop (owned by my friend Mari, a terrific rower!). Also on that corner, if you can take a few minutes, visit Belltower Arts, which has, alas, just started its going-out-of-business sale -- everything is 20% off right now, including Moleskines. Marc, the owner, is a lovely guy and I will miss the store; it started out at another location just a block from my house which was way too tempting!

There are many eating options along Water Street. Next to Belltower Arts and Sport Townsend is the Publick House; the menu has lots of choices and it is in a pleasant high-ceilinged room with old cedar racing shells hanging from the ceiling! Down that side street (Polk Street) is the Spot Café which features soups. Continue further on Water Street, 2 or 3 blocks, and you’ll see Nifty Fiftys on your right, a 1950s style hamburger shop. Windows at the back look toward the water. I haven’t actually eaten there but it looks like fun for kids. Elevated Ice Cream (link to Google Street View) is further down on the right (water side of Water Street) and has delicious ice cream and a candy store. Just beyond it is a small park with playground for kids on the waterfront, and a dock out into the water. There are several places along Water Street where you can overlook the waves, or even find a tiny beach for playing.

If you continue all the way past the Pope Marine Park to the end of Water Street, you will see some road construction, and just past it is the beautiful brand-new Northwest Maritime Center (two big new buildings just dedicated in September, with a beautiful INDOOR place to store rowing shells!). They give a wonderful view from the upper deck and the plaza on the water side of the building, overlooking Point Hudson Marina just beyond. You can see across the water to Whidbey Island and, on a clear day, the Cascade Mountains from Mount Baker to Mt. Rainier; good luck with weather! Between here and Whidbey is all the Puget Sound shipping traffic: freighters, cruise ships, fishing boats, sailboats, and of course rowers on a calm day. We have even seen Trident submarines, just a bit showing above the waves, with a Coast Guard escort.

In the Marina are all kinds of boats. You can walk around the marina to Hudson Point; there is a casual Chinese restaurant on the point called Shang Hai, a fancy restaurant called “T’s” and, at the very end of the point, Hudson Point Café which features all kinds of breakfast until about 2 p.m. or 3 p.m., so if your kids like scrambled eggs, waffles, etc. it is VERY good (perhaps an oyster scramble for the grownups?!). I had a great breakfast/lunch there with my visiting English mother-in-law the other day. Great view; it is right next to the boats in the marina.

You should certainly find your way “uptown” to the Farmers Market! There are signs to point you there. It is on TYLER STREET at Lawrence Street (I live a block away from it! I’m lucky.) It is on every Saturday until mid-December. There is always live music; there’s food; lots of beautiful fruits and vegetables, crafts, doggie treats, art, interesting people wearing interesting clothes and doing interesting things. It runs from 9:30 to 1:30. You can drive up the hill, or walk up via the steps that lead up from downtown; follow TAYLOR street (it crosses Water Street and has the only traffic light in the middle of the Victorian district), walk away from the water one block (admiring the beautiful Rose Theater!) and you will see a neat little park with steps going uphill behind it. At the top of the steps you will see signs pointing you one block left, one more block away from the water to reach the Farmers Market, which usually has dozens of booths even this time of year. Find the bakery booth in front on Pane D’Amore; EXCELLENT bread and treats. If you haven’t had lunch, you could go in to Aldrich’s Market on the corner of Lawrence and Tyler; the deli at the back has a big variety of fresh sandwiches, soups, sushi, and other good things, which you can take upstairs to the tables on the mezzanine which has a view to the water and could be a good place for casual lunch with kids.

A mile or so from downtown Port Townsend is Fort Worden State Park! Great views, great beach and woods for walks and runs with kids, beautiful lighthouse out on the point. You could also visit the Port Townsend School of Woodworking, started by my husband Tim plus master craftsman John Marckworth and woodworking book author Jim Tolpin.

You are going to have to make it over here more than once! Have a great day!

Crow and Gate pub, Ladysmith BC

2009-11-26T11:27:00.001-08:00

Crow and Gate pub, Ladysmith BC, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Finally got there.

Air Mail to the Center of the Universe (Fremont)

2009-11-26T11:26:00.003-08:00

Correo Aero at the High Dive, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Juli took me to see AND DANCE TO Forro in the Dark. Before they came on, wonderful music from Correo Aereo!

They don't look that much alike now, do they?

2009-09-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... not done yet! Every time I take a picture, I immediately see a line or a mark that needs to be nudged. But I've been having fun with this, painting for 3 days, working from a photo of a friend and a printout of a da Vinci painting. I learned so much from putting these two faces into my painting and working back and forth between them. It is so amazing to see what a tiny TINY bit of shadow does to change expression or likeness. I'm not really there yet; I haven't captured the expression I so liked about the picture of my friend, but the more I look, the more I begin to see what I could change that would move the picture closer to what I want.

Used a very limited palette of alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, titanium white and, in the latter stages, Indian yellow and burnt sienna. There were a few dabs of Van Dyck brown and yellow ochre in the early stages but I didn't like them. These (except the ochre and burnt sienna) were part of the sample set of "traditional" colors in the Golden "Open" series of acrylics. I really like working with this paint: it is buttery and slippy, stays open for quite a long time.

Things I learned from this painting (again): draw first; keep the palette limited; cool and white tones first; work up to warmer layers. Perhaps best: I find that painting somebody I know well and like thinking about has kept me interested in working on the painting long enough to get it beyond early stumbles. I still want to work on this painting and get it better!

A friend

2009-09-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

A sketch for a painting.

Vancouver BC with Beth

2009-08-29T20:51:00.001-07:00

A glorious visit to Vancouver BC with Beth, my oldest friend. We drew near the waterfront on a glorious afternoon in the clear, warm light: Burrard Inlet, ships, cranes, boxcars, and the sail-like structures of the convention center. We began our visit with Dutch paintings and drawings at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Beth used colored pencils on drawings she had made two weeks earlier; I visited and discovered. Here is my drawing of Rembrandt's loving painting of his son Titus, age 19, dressed as a monk.

Titus was the only one of Rembrandt's children to survive infancy. I see so, so much tenderness in Rembrandt's strokes of paint.

I copied a lovely 1653 drawing of girl by Leendert van den Cooghen. Never heard of him. The small drawing in black and red chalk, brush and black ink was so beautiful.

The first day, my sketches were not very satisfying, but after I drew in the museum, my sight got clearer.

Later we enjoyed some wine and more drawing, followed by a leisurely dinner, at sidewalk tables. Beth drew me, I drew the Gastown Steam Clock, which tooted the quarter-hour for us as the beautiful afternoon turned to dusk.

Aphrodite Gets Around

2009-08-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

Watching a documentary in which Rosamund Bernier talks about "The Matisse I Knew" and then "The Matisse Nobody Knew" I caught a glimpse of a 1919 Matisse painting that includes a familiar torso!

In hunting it down on-line last night, I found that the Matisse painting lives in Sao Paulo now. I also found this Chirico, called "The Uncertainty of the Poet" (Tate, London).

According to the Tate website: "The identity of the classical sculpture depicted in 'The Uncertainty of the Poet' has not been firmly established. It appears to be an Aphrodite-type cast which had its origins in the practices of nineteenth century academic art rather than in any Greek or Roman prototype.... Roland Penrose (1900-84), an English artist and critic who lived in France in the late 1920s and early 1930s ... purchased a similar plaster cast in 1935. He brought it home to England and used it in his construction 'The Last Voyage of Captain Cook', 1938.... In conversation with Richard Francis of the Tate Gallery in 1984 Penrose said of this cast, 'it was well known in Paris. It was on sale in lots of shops round Montparnasse. Always that size'. Freely available in Paris, this cast featured in works by other artists. It appears in a painting by Henri Matisse, 'Plaster Torso and Bouquet', 1919 (Museu de Arte de São Paulo). Max Ernst [also] transformed the front and back views of the cast."

The Tate also has Penrose's sculpture, "The Last Voyage of Captain Cook."

Incomplete Venus

2009-08-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

Week 4 of my cast drawing class: I continued the block-in but after a while I couldn't resist beginning to indicate the shadow lines. Fascinating to follow with great attention and understand how minute changes suggest the rounded form.

I was looking forward to completing the drawing a week later but instead we practiced shading on a sphere. The one on the left was done with soft charcoal; I have a hard time having a light enough touch! The one on the right was done next, with harder charcoal, and it was easier to make many light marks, letting layers accrete with more subtle transitions. Three hours to draw these! Brain cells busily reforming....

"Slow Looking"

2009-08-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

In the New York Times, an article by art critic Michael Kimmelman is headlined At the Louvre, Many Stop to Stop to Snap but Few Stay to Focus. However, he notes, "Artists fortunately remind us that there’s in fact no single, correct way to look at any work of art, save for with an open mind and patience" and he goes on to say:

Recently, I bought a couple of sketchbooks to draw with my 10-year-old in St. Peter’s and elsewhere around Rome, just for the fun of it, not because we’re any good, but to help us look more slowly and carefully at what we found.... Slow looking, like slow cooking, may yet become the new radical chic."

Weekend drawing class

2009-07-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

Three days of drawing with Danny Adams; I always learn a lot. Probably bite off more than I can chew. Drew the model's head on Day 2 after bashing around a bit with too-soft charcoal, wish I'd settled on medium to start with.

Same model on Day 3, tried out Trois Crayons, pastels in white, black, and sanguine on a very dark paper. Again with the bashing around; I was just starting to get the coloring figured out when we ran out of time.

Fast draw

2009-07-24T16:44:00.001-07:00

On day 1 of a 3-day drawing class, Danny Adams' son obligingly gave us 3 twenty-minute sessions in the same pose (more or less). Fun to draw.

Venus, part 1

2009-07-22T15:13:00.001-07:00

Venus (sight size drawing), originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Third class in sight-size cast drawing, learning the "block in." Again, these are the fruits of 2 and a half hours of sighting, measuring, marking, checking, correcting, and measuring again. The result may not look like much but the eye-hand-mind training is the purpose. This is like playing scales would be for a musician, I suppose.

Rogue Sketchcrawl

2009-07-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

A big fishing reel , originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Seattle Sketchers met on Sunday, July 19, 2009, at Fisherman's Terminal. This time I focused on finishing a single sketch.

Beth painted the same boat from further along the dock.

Frances drew this beautiful motorcycle.

Hope somebody drew the Ballard Bridge opening in the distance!

Head: cast setup for sight-size drawing

2009-07-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

Head: cast setup for sight-size drawing, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Here's what I managed in about 2 and a half hours during drawing class. Many brain cells were rearranged in the process and new neuronal pathways formed. At least that's the plan.

SketchCrawl 23 Seattle (zoo)

2009-07-12T14:40:00.001-07:00

SketchCrawl 23 Seattle (zoo), originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

A great day at the zoo with Beth and other SketchCrawlers. More to come when the paint dries....

Cast drawing class

2009-07-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I began a class at Gage Academy to work on cast drawing. This method relies on starting the drawing with a pains-taking block-in of dots and lines, with repeated measurements and comparisons, always looking from the same position.

Although on Day 1 my results were feeble, I felt that something good could come of this. Evidence: the almost audible shrieking sounds as the two halves of my brain duelled for control.

"The mind wants to turn deliberate, newly learned skills into unconscious, automatically performed skills. But the mind is sloppy and will settle for good enough. By practicing slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, the strenuous student forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance."

My hope is that the harder it is, the more useful the hand-eye training. We'll see! Four more Monday afternoons to go.

(Quotation is from this book review.)

Last day of art camp: channeling Edward Hopper

2009-06-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

Done from a magazine photograph; alas I do not know which magazine or who the photographer was. Paint was all mine. 10x16 in fluid acrylic on illustration board. Updated 7/8/09 with a clearer photo!

What I did today (or: why paint?)

2009-06-22T18:47:00.001-07:00

The view from French Mill Lane, November 2008.

Snow Farm

2009-06-22T18:39:00.001-07:00

A week at Art Camp!

Vancouver Island III

2009-06-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

By the saltwater pool.

Vancouver Island II

2009-06-22T18:35:00.001-07:00

A yellow chair, one of many.

Vancouver Island early June

2009-06-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

Almost enough time.... here's the beach cabin.

Madrone.

Oak (with Tim kayaking past).

View from the porch.

Life Drawing

2009-05-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

I've been reading Jack Flam's book about Matisse and Picasso , which is full of little grayscale thumbnails of many works where they played off of one another (or fought off one another, more like). Looking at those, rubbing and erasing charcoal ...

Life Drawing 5/27/09

2009-05-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

A sassy long-legged long-armed dancer/gardener for a model!

The Impact of the Unequivocal ("Silence is so accurate")

2009-05-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

Oh and then there's Rothko: "We favor the simple expression of the complex thought. We are for the large shape because it has the impact of the unequivocal. We wish to reassert the picture plane. We are for flat forms because they destroy illusion and reveal truth."

"Scatole contemplative": fugitive, exquisite, and secret

2009-05-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

“Screwing things up is a virtue,” said Robert Rauschenburg. “Being correct is never the point."

From Josef Albers, Rauschenberg "gained a respect for the grid as an essential compositional organizing tool."

Hmmmm.....

"Kicking around Europe and North Africa with the artist Cy Twombly ... Rauschenberg began to collect and assemble objects — bits of rope, stones, sticks, bones — which he showed to a dealer in Rome who exhibited them under the title 'scatole contemplative,' or thought boxes."

Around 1959, Rauschenberg developed a "transfer drawing technique, dissolving printed images from newspapers and magazines with a solvent and then rubbing them onto paper with a pencil. The process ... created the impression of something fugitive, exquisite and secret."

Fugitive, exquisite, and secret.....

Quimper Arts Life Drawing 5/20/09

2009-05-21T10:13:00.001-07:00

Quimper Arts Life Drawing 5/20/09, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

One more from last night.

Return to Life (Drawing)

2009-05-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

Deborah was a beautiful model at Quimper Arts Life Drawing Session tonight. Drawn with "LithoCoal" which handles like charcoal then heat-sets (and although we know from Ray Bradbury that Fahrenheit 451 is where paper burns, it is still possible to scorch the drawing paper in a 250 oven if you put it too close to the element. Luckily the last drawings of the night came out fine.)

Where the dancers came from

2009-05-20T21:58:00.001-07:00

Quimper Arts life drawing session in February 2009 (Dava).

Next layer (dancers)

2009-05-19T19:13:00.001-07:00

Next layer: transparent red earth; Indian Yellow (I meant Naples Yellow, on the first layer -- it is more buttery and opaque; Indian Yellow is transparent and warm). Also some titanium white. Putting on and wiping off. (Looking, just a little at a time, at the Rothko catalog from the 2008 Tate show; it just arrived today.) Then some cobalt blue and quinacridone violet, plus a little of the rest.

Five Figures, or two, or one

2009-05-16T13:01:00.001-07:00

Started a new larger oil painting today (18x24). Anthraquinone blue, some places grayed out with tiny bit of burnt umber, or lightened with titanium white, or warmed with a tiny bit of quinacridone red. Indian yellow [I meant, Naples Yellow], some places with titanium white. Used Galkyd medium mixed with a little Gamblin Cold Wax Medium (thinned with Gamsol).

They started as tulips

2009-05-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

Oil paint; second layer.

Seven Million Dollars and over 39 miles

2009-05-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

My friend Sally Light just walked a MARATHON AND A HALF. IN 2 DAYS! In the RAIN! Well, she's from Seattle so she takes the rain part in stride. The big deal is that she and her fellow walkers on the 2009 Washington DC Avon Breast Cancer Walk (successor to the 3-Day that inspired me to make my very first web page in 2001) raised $7 million for breast cancer research and treatment.

So this is inspiring me to upload a video to my blog, another first -- may require Internet Explorer rather than Firefox to view it though. An experiment! Video from the DC-area television news coverage. Sally wrote: "Just after the Arlington girl holding the cardboard sign on day 2 of the Walk, you can see Jyl to the left in the blue poncho and me next to her in the middle in a baseball cap and rain-soaked jacket, brown capris (also soaked). The best news -- we raised 7 million!"

Big cheers for Sally!

Drawing practice

2009-05-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

"The mind wants to turn deliberate, newly learned skills into unconscious, automatically performed skills. But the mind is sloppy and will settle for good enough. By practicing slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, the strenuous student forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance."

From a review in the New York Times of two new books about the nature of "genius."

Ginevra de Beth: Beauty Adorns Virtue

2009-04-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

I have believed for years that my friend Beth resembles Ginevra de Benci. This is the earliest known painting of a woman by Leonardo da Vinci.

The motto on the back of the painting (which lives at the National Gallery in Washington DC) is "virtutem forma decorat" --- beauty adorns virtue. I take this to mean that Beth's manifest virtue is in the creation of beauty.

Here's my sketch of Beth from a few months ago.

The Table Where the Poems are Made

2009-04-18T10:45:00.001-07:00

I met Beth at Third Place Commons to paint. Light from skylights made dramatic shapes on walls and floors. Models obligingly stayed at their tables, laptops, cellphones for a long time.

I painted chairs. Beth painted the guy.

Neither of us painted the dramatic light on the walls! By the time I took my picture it had moved off the wall. But we saw it!

Third Place to Paint (part 2)

2009-04-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Beth painted this scene next:

Then we moved over near the window and painted the outdoors.

This was our view over the parking lot, looking south (toward the north end of Lake Washington). Here is Beth at work.

... and her finished sketch:

... and mine:

What a good day! Painting makes the clocks stop!

Spring is coming (as Beth shows!)

2009-04-16T16:42:00.001-07:00

post 4-11-09, originally uploaded by polusladkaia.

I missed the SketchCrawl last weekend but about a billion sketchers around the world got out and made pictures, including Beth. Isn't this a hope-filled image? Yes it is.

Back to the easel

2009-04-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Beth in her infinite faith and wisdom has nudged me back toward making pictures. Later this week we will meet at Third Place Commons (adjacent to Third Place Books) in Lake Forest Park to do oil sketches in public.

Their website explains the name: "Third Places are the many public places where people can gather, put aside the concerns of home and work (their first and second places) and hang out simply for the pleasures of good company and lively conversation." This is taken from a book by Ray Oldenburg, The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. These are our favorite kinds of places!

Since I haven't been making pictures, you should go look at what Beth has been up to!

Variations on a stripe

2009-02-22T18:06:00.001-08:00

Can you guess which one is mine?!

I did a different painting today; I'll post it later. Still working on it.

Tillering the painted fields

2009-02-21T17:10:00.000-08:00

This weekend I am taking a painting class from Don Tiller, who makes colorful and exuberant paintings. Today he walked a dozen students through his process of designing and making a painting, starting with a surface of black gesso, drawing in chalk, and applying successive layers of mostly translucent Golden Fluid Acrylics. We ended with a dozen ersatz Don Tiller paintings -- his stripey style is quite distinctive! Quite fun to see how we all started the same way (same colors, same picture elements) and end up with variations. This is a great way to learn his specific approach, and I'm happy to play with luminous colors. Tomorrow we'll work from our own compositions. Stay tuned...

Is it Real Art if it is framed?

2009-02-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

Just picked up two pictures from the wonderful Megan at Frameworks in Port Townsend. This is the first time I've ever had my own work properly framed. She is working on 4 more pieces (by Ronald Jesty, Robert Powell, and a New England artist whose name I cannot at this moment recall).

These are collages of (mostly) acrylic colors on torn paper, made in October 2002.

Mom's new scarf

2009-02-14T21:51:00.001-08:00

I crocheted a silk/wool neckwrap for my mom to wear; here she is on Friday the 13th of February at home, still recovering, still wonderful. She dressed up specially for me to take a picture of the shawl.

This is Doris Chan's wonderful "All Shawl" pattern, which I've now made 3 times -- free pattern on Ravelry. It's great for reading in bed. Another way to play with colors.

Mary J

2009-02-06T12:08:00.000-08:00

Here's my mom, at the Relay For Life in July 2006. She has had some significant medical challenges since then and last night was admitted to the hospital after fighting pneumonia at home for a week. Fingers crossed.

Color in winter

2009-02-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

Even if it's NeoColorII crayons!

Matisse's armchair

2009-02-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

Pitcher, watercolor

2009-01-29T11:42:00.001-08:00

Pitcher, watercolor, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Drawing daily if I can, and painting a bit too. I had the watercolors set up on the kitchen counter, but then I found the little blue footprints.... Mac thinks natural-bristle brushes are HIS. He steals.

Here is the original ink drawing; I made it earlier this week, holding the pitcher in my left hand as I drew. I think this was my grandmother's; I am fond of it.

Self-portrait with warnings

2009-01-27T10:46:00.000-08:00

From five years ago. (The handwriting is my mother's.)

This time last year

2009-01-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

January 2008:
A watercolor sketch from a life drawing in charcoal made a year or so earlier.

Boy on Lombard Street, SF, February 1971

2009-01-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

Photo I took in SF February 1971; trying to paint it. Love it, love it, lost the negative, only have one 8x10 print that I have scanned. Started to block in on top of some old paint; stopped and now am trying to draw it to get it all figured out.

This kid was playing with his friends and I love his laughing face and stance. That left foot! Those shadows! The proportions of the background are amazing me!

Yes we can!

2009-01-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

I am overjoyed at welcoming our new president and his family and all those who surround him and will help him. For the first time in years I feel that my government works for us, not against us. Here is Lauralee celebrating at Jillian's pub an hour or so after President Obama took the oath of office. (Did I mention that a co-chair for national security on the transition team [update: now an Undersecretary of Defense] was once my Secret Santa?)

From the wonderful Urban Sketchers site, our SketchCrawl friend Gabi Campanario commemorates the inaugural with a sketch of a stack of Obama cakes from the bakery at Albertson's grocery store.

SketchCrawl Seattle: January 10, 2008

2009-01-12T17:07:00.001-08:00

Cherry trees in the UW Quad, January , originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

SketchCrawl. It was chilly! Beth was making her drawing from the arched doorway in Raitt Hall across the quad; Edwin, Guy, and Bill were sitting on the steps at the top of the quad, making wonderful drawings. I joined them to make a quick one, looking toward the Barnett Newman sculpture "Broken Obelisk" (twins are at the Rothko Chapel in Houston and at MOMA in NY):

Glad Bill posted his wonderful pictures including the Art building; also glad to see the great drawings of the Music building that faces it by Edwin and, from another angle through those cherry trees, by Beth. These are all on the 21st SketchCrawl site for Seattle. (I want to see Guy's giant squirrel!)

Then the 5 of us retreated to the Hub (student/Husky Union Building) to share our drawings and thaw out. Beth recalled the idea of a Portrait Party, so we each drew the person on our right: Beth drew me, I made a couple of attempts at drawing Edwin.

After the first sketches, we each turned to the person on our left and began anew. Edwin had drawn Guy, now he drew me. I drew Beth twice.

During the first round, we had laughed and talked and shifted around, a bit self-conscious, I think, about making our portrayals. During the second set of portraits, very soon our concentration was wonderfully powerful and intense. Very exciting to do this; thank you to Beth, Edwin, Bill and Guy for sharing this experience with me! I think it is really cool that now Bill and Guy, father and son, have made portraits of one another.

At the top of my page is Beth, not as beautiful is she really is but it was fun to draw her clouds of hair!

We reconvened at the Solstice Cafe in early afternoon with 15 or more SketchCrawlers and shared our drawings with one another.

You say it's your birthday!? We're gonna have a GOOD time!

2009-01-12T13:01:00.000-08:00

As if the SketchCrawl wasn't enough fun for one day, I spent Saturday evening (and on into the night) in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains at Fall City's Raging River Saloon to hear the wonderful keyboard player Lauralee Smith in a band called Free Rain. Despite their name they can NOT be blamed for the floodwaters just down the road. I did dance, I did drink some beer, I did stay up way past my bedtime. My hotel room was just up the street at the Fall City Inn, which apparently found fame in the tv show "Twin Peaks."

I kept trying to leave but the band kept breaking into great dance tunes and I had to stay: keyboard (piano, synth, accordian) player Lauralee, singer Tom, guitarist Dale, bass player Tim (hey Ballard!), singer P.A., guest singer Debbie from Chrome Molly, drummer Donn and a guest drummer whose name I could not hear above the ambient sounds. That was WITH the earplugs, gracefully provided by Lauralee; there is a reason she can still hear after playing in bands since forever.

The best reason for a party was to celebrate the 65th birthday of L's other half, the estimable Mr. Smith. Dick is now "officially the world's oldest 18-year-old." Ever so true. Note his shirt: Lauralee's turquoise accordian had its public debut in a classic version of "Twist and Shout." So we did -- although I was briefly expecting her to play "All Along the Watchtower" and I still hope she will.

Definitely a weekend for old friends. Beth (SketchCrawl) and I were locker partners in 8th grade. Lauralee and I go back nearly that far --

She remembers, if I don't, that I took this picture of her band Rock Kandy on the Seattle Art Museum camels in Volunteer Park in 1968. And somewhere I probably still have the negative for a picture of Lauralee and Dick on New Year's Eve 1970.

21st International SketchCrawl in Seattle

2009-01-12T12:37:00.001-08:00

Here is Beth, making a drawing from the steps of Raitt Hall on the quad at the UW.

We joined the 21st International SketchCrawl, which took place in Seattle as well as almost 100 other cities around the world! Thanks to wonderful Beth -- my friend of more than 4 decades now -- for this picture:
Fifteen or more sketchers, here warming up at the Solstice cafe, after drawing pictures on the UW campus on a typical raw damp Seattle morning. And here the results of our SketchCrawl are accumulating, including our 5-person "portrait party"! My drawings to come soon.

SketchCrawl!

2009-01-05T16:26:00.001-08:00

Next International SketchCrawl coming up Saturday, January 1o! Convening in Seattle at 10 a.m. at the Cafe Allegro in the University District to draw in and around the University of Washington. Many memories from that immediate vicinity but nearly 4 decades ago. How'd THAT happen?!?

Wheels on a boat

2008-12-08T12:29:00.001-08:00

Wheels on a boat, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Drawn from the car, 4:40 ferry Seattle to Bainbridge (it's Winslow! why did they change the name of the ferry run?!). I made the red Corvette look like a Gremlin; ha!

Drawn with a Rotring "Art Pen"; I suppose F stands for Fine. I liked it fine for drawing. Colors added later with NeoColor crayons, followed by a bit of water on a paintbrush: the ink that came in cartridges with the pen is not waterproof, it turns out.

Shaftesbury Sunset

2008-12-05T12:47:00.001-08:00

Shaftesbury Sunset, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

What a sky! Dorset November sunset from Tim's mum's house.

Dorset: farm and the cherry tree

2008-12-05T12:46:00.001-08:00

The farm and the cherry tree, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

More or less the same view (this time, through a window with a camera) that I drew last June: the cherry tree in its fall color, and the old old farm.

The Thames, 24 November 2008

2008-11-30T16:53:00.001-08:00

The Thames, 24 November 2008, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Some beautiful sketches on the Urban Sketcher by Katherine Tyrell, who reports (visually) from London. I saw the same yellow birches a few days later, and almost the same view of St. Pauls from the Tate Modern. I enjoyed a day with Marion and Brian and a bit of red wine and lots of Rothko.

Sunday in London

2008-11-29T15:01:00.001-08:00

11-23-08_0715, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Sketchbook stayed in my pocket until the last couple of days, but the cellphone camera grabbed this image when I made my way up to London near the end of my trip.

On the road again

2008-11-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

In a few days I will be back in the UK to spend some time with Tim's mother. I've got a few pages left in the Moleskine I started there and took to Paris, and a new one to start. I hope to fill a page a day once again.

Seattle Sketchcrawl 10-25-08

2008-10-26T09:13:00.001-07:00

Seattle Sketchcrawl 10-25-08, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

Beth's photo of some, not even all! of the Seattle SketchCrawlers.

Market Pillars: Seattle Sketchcrawl

2008-10-25T20:31:00.001-07:00

Market Pillars: Seattle Sketchcrawl, originally uploaded by Skeinfest.

I went into the Market and drew the pillars. And of course flowers. I bought a bunch of flowers and came back outside to "color in" my drawing. Most fun part, next to looking down and seeing the tile with my old next-door neighbor's name on it!

Afterwards I went to S'Abadeb: The Gifts -- the just-opened exhibit of Salish (Puget Sound area) art at the Seattle Art Museum. Old and NEW: Marvin Oliver's raven print (which I had only seen in a greeting-card size reproduction), and carvings by Susan Point, and some modern bentwood cedar boxes with polychrome carving (Andrea Wilbur-Sigo: stupendous. And some of the oldest pieces I've ever seen; cedar and wool and other organic materials tend not to last long in this climate, but there were a few very ancient carved pieces and even a fragment of woven cedar-bark hat. I will go back.

The exhibit is on until January. Anyone who lives here should find out about the incredibly sophisticated art that has been made in this region before "europeans" arrived. To my mind, this art should be the permanent centerpiece of the Seattle Art Museum.

Sketchcrawl Seattle at the Market October 25, 2008

2008-10-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Seattle Sketchcrawl: seemed like about 20 people at the Pike Place Market today! If only I could have drawn the 3 young Japanese women each holding a camera to her face to photograph the original Starbuck's coffee shop (getting a bunch of sketchcrawlers in their pictures to boot)!

My first drawing was just to clear the buffers and hit "re-set"! There's too much to see! I can't draw it all! but I drew Beth's cousin Katie.

We've got Feegles!

2008-09-01T21:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, there were distractions ... ! This is Nac Mac Feegle, newest member of our household. I collected little Mac Sunday evening after my great afternoon with Beth. Almost too much fun for one day!

Painting with Beth at the Ballard Farmers Market

2008-08-31T21:33:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I met up with Beth, my oldest friend (we were locker partners in junior high school!). She is a wonderful artist who has just returned to painting after a hiatus of far too long.

It was raining, so we agreed to do recon in Ballard, where we grew up. We thought we might find a spot from which to paint the old library -- that is, the OLD old library, the Carnegie on Market Street (where I first learned to read: "See Jane run!"). The Ballard Sunday Farmers Market was a surprise to us, and then the sun came out!

We set up our easels and as we painted, we had lots of admiring attention from strollers, and people with strollers, and even people in strollers. During a break, we ate crepes for lunch as we sat on the curb. "Montana Slim," playing music up the street a bit, provided the soundtrack (and placed a CD in my paintbox as they were leaving! thanks, Slim!). Their rendition of Talking Heads' "Home" really lit the fuse on the afternoon for me. Bliss.

And then we went to Ray's Boathouse and sat on the deck in the sun with a refreshing drink, talking about the trials and joys of ... well, life.

In my picture, the part I like best is the row of farmers' tents; that's where I fussed the least. The brick bell tower at the north end of the market stands next to the old Ballard News Tribune building; my dad delivered that paper when he was in his early teens. I'm not used to painting with an audience: I stared at my painting more than at the scene, and that usually fails. Still, I got some colors I like. Oil paint is still very new for me; everything is experimental! Beth reminded me that we are just sketching!

Here is Beth's painting! She gets so much into a much smaller panel than mine. Colors and life and activity. People! the most vivid part of that day! Thank you Beth!

(Also thanks for the picture of me: I look happy!)

Unclasped

2008-08-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

From February 2008.

I'm reaching back in time to fill in, because I wasn't making much art in August!

A Talisman

2008-07-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

Oil painting class with Danny Adams, mid-July, four days of bliss: it IS possible without going to Paris!

I don't think this painting is finished, but the longer I don't work on it, the less I can remember about how to get back to where I was in my head while working on it. In my head or out of it: wherever that was.

At the end, Danny said, "there's a painting on a cigar box lid..." and until that moment I had not even thought of Serusier's "Talisman." I had seen it a month earlier in a small dimly-lit gallery in the Musee d'Orsay; Serusier (one of the "Nabis") is said to have painted it under the guidance of Gauguin. I can just imagine. I am not a fan of Gauguin, though I may have to give him another look, prompted by Martin Gayford's "The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Provence."

Thinking about drawing

2008-07-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

More drawings from a few days of class. Not great, but not bad considering that I was taking "Beginning Drawing" less than four years ago. Yeah, okay, if I'd been 16 then I'd expect more progress and refinement by age 20! But after decades of "I can't draw; I wish I could draw" it is deeply satisfying to get even this far!

Looking

2008-07-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

Drawing ahead

2008-07-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

Life drawing class with Danny Adams, mid-July, 2008.

Raven mask

2008-07-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Amazing to go from Paris museums to, a few days later, Seattle art museum and see work by Morisot, Manet, Goya, Velasquez, Renoir. After the "Inspiring Impressionism" exhibit (go! closes mid-September), Tim and I went downstairs to look at the astounding northwest coast art. I drew some masks; here is Crooked Beak of Heaven (raven).

Ferry ride home

2008-06-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

In Paris, most of my colors were added a few days after the drawing. For some reason I needed to put the color into this drawing right away, on the Edmonds-Kingston ferry ride as I headed toward home. There's my trusty suitcase; there's the little black metal W&N watercolor box and my travel paintbrush.

Dejeuner sur les cobblestones

2008-06-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

Also, there were accordian players. Montmartre, Cafe "Chez Ma Cousine," 24th June, 2008.

Midsummer Tree

2008-06-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

What I saw (and smelled) as I looked up from the concert in the garden.

Midsummer Concert

2008-06-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

Midsummer night, June 21, the longest day of the year: all of Paris celebrates Fete de la Musique with concerts everywhere. In the manicured garden courtyard of the Ministry of Research and Higher Education, the orchestra of the students of the Grands Ecoles played "Night on Bald Mountain" by Moussorgsky and Beethoven's 7th Symphony (with, alas, some competition from the rock-and-roll band on rue Descartes). The music was beautiful. The sky was blue. The air was scented sweetly by the tree under which I sat. There was beer. On this, I will blame my lack of perspective. In the streets afterward, there was also Silly String.

Orsay Terrace, 20 June

2008-06-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

From Tyler Street

On the upper levels of the Musee d'Orsay, there is a terrace with views across the Seine towards the Tuileries, the Louvre, and across town to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. I spent all day at the museum, drinking in colors.

The Seine in Rain

2008-06-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Matisse had his studio midway between these two bridges, at 15 rue St. Michel. Notre Dame and the bridges appear in a number of his paintings. Actual raindrops appear in mine (evening of June 19). Perspective drawing is a challenge!

Pantheon and Santiago

2008-06-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

June 19, evening, I went out for a walk and a few blocks from the flat, I saw on a bench and drew the Pantheon as carefully as I could. I also wanted to draw the parking spot with outlet for recharging electric cars but I couldn't fit it in!

I felt a little bit brave when I sat down, but by the time I stood up again, I realized that sketching in public in Paris was totally fun and absolutely the best thing to be doing and not the least bit scary.

I added a picture of the golden shell that is the symbol of the pilgrims who walk to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. John bought it for Jane when they were there a few years ago, and she wore it almost all the time. John gave it to me at Jane's memorial service last year. Just after I made this drawing, I went around the corner to the Rue St. Jacques, where pilgrims leaving the Ile de la Cite in the Seine would take their first steps on the ancient road to Rome, or to Santiago (= St. Jacques = St. James). I thought of Jane a lot on this trip, about getting to know her when I was 17, and I also thought a lot about being in Paris for the first time when I was 19.

Une Manifestation

2008-06-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

June 19: After my coffee in the place Contrescarpe, I strolled up the rue Descartes and rue de la Montagne Ste. Genevieve to the street market: tomatoes and cherries, poppies and cheese!

Then, my way back was blocked by police, who were spreading out and blocking streets in preparating for a "manifestation" or demonstration. Since I couldn't continue up the street, I went in to a little store to buy some milk and butter. When I came out, the demo had moved downhill so I was free to continue. Instead, I stopped and stood on the sidewalk, shopping bags at my feet, to draw what I saw.

The demo was very calm: some slogans, some singing, a bullhorn, some sitting down in the street. Police vans everywhere and police with riot shields, but their helmets were hanging on their belts and it all seemed fairly routine.

The banners had the names of various university departments, and one said "Sauvons l'universite" (let's save the university); does anybody know what the issue was, on June 19, 2008, at the rue des Ecoles and rue de la Montagne Ste. Genevieve?

Un Cafe s.v.p.

2008-06-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

First morning in Paris: my command of the French language, limited at the best of times, only extended to "un cafe" at the Cafe Les Arts on the Place Contrescarpe.

Do you see the Place Contrescarpe in my sketch? No, you do not! I was still too shy to stare at anything beyond the immediate vicinity of my own table and the chairs nearby. I did get a "Velib" bicycle (Paris's amazing bike rental system) across the sidewalk.

Nice neighborhood in Paris

2008-06-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Morning view from the flat. Look, there's an art supply store! Besty has a bright yellow sign.

Paris in the the spring (almost mid summer)

2008-06-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

On June 18, I arrived at my rented flat in Paris and there was a full moon that night!

Southampton to CDG

2008-06-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

After our walk, Tim took me to the airport at Southampton. I still don't know how to draw airplanes, but I know how to fly to Paris!

Old Harry

2008-06-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

The chalk cliffs at Swanage are irresistible for sketchers like me and this lady. Her other half was napping; my other half was taking pictures of plant life. This chalk "creature" is called Old Harry. Ronald Jesty did a wonderful watercolor of Old Harry; it's in one of my art books (with a different name) and we saw a giclee print in the window at Quarr Gallery in Swanage. They have more of Jesty's and others works available.

Swanage cliff walk

2008-06-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

South coast, chalk cliffs

2008-06-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

We walked along the beach at Swanage on Britain's south coast. It was windy! This was the last time I tried to do watercolor in the field. My water and my paints and my brush and my notebook were blown around. The next day we walked along the cliff that is in the distance.

Views from French Mill Lane

2008-06-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

The view toward St. James's church and the ridgetop on which Shaftesbury has stood for over two millennia. Sunset artificially tropicalized by excessive playing with NeoColor crayons!

Morning, Holyrood Farm and the Blackmore Vale

2008-06-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

In the morning, I drew the scene looking out across the farm toward the Blackmore Vale from French Mill Lane.