2011 Project

February 29, 2012 – Leap!

2012-02-29T10:46:00.001-08:00

The 2011 Project had 365 parts, one for each day. This is the unofficial 366^th. Happy Leap Day!

101 Years of Airmail

2012-02-17T00:29:00.001-08:00

101 years ago today the first airmail letters were sent. It was a short distance - from Santa Rosa to Petaluma, CA. Last year I commemorated the event with a piece for the 2011 Project. I used postage stamps, aerogrammes and other airmail labels throughout the year in many of the 365 pieces. Some of the examples are above. 100 years from now it may become difficult for artists to incorporate stamps in their art as mail becomes less common. In the meantime, I have a box of stamps to keep using.

I knew this would happen

2012-02-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

As predicted, as 2012 marches along I know I am going to keep thinking of pieces I should have done or the 2011 Project. This morning I was enjoying the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park and realized I missed this. I did a fortune cookie piece (see above). Legend is the cookies were invented at the Japanese Tea Garden. I need to do some piece about the garden anyway, even if 2011 is over.

Reflecting on 2011

2012-01-29T17:14:00.000-08:00

Now that 2012 is a few weeks old and 2011 is behind us, I am beginning to miss making a 4”x4” piece of art every day. Last year the 2011 Project became the focus of my artistic life. There were a few days when it felt like a chore, but overall, I truly enjoyed working on it. Gradually my wall kept filling with the grid of piece after piece. But it really wasn’t until near the end of the year that the impact of the project began to feel “real” to me. Around November I was reaching the point where I had that I did it feeling. I’ll never forget the final moment when I put the last coat of varnish on the last piece on the evening of December 31^st. I was sad that the long journey was over but also had a sense of accomplishment with having actually made it.

When I conceived the idea for the 2011 Project, I was experienced enough to understand that I could not really predict how the project would unfold. I had the basic concept of a piece of art every day. Having spent years exploring pattern and making grid like collages, the idea of using 4”x4” canvases and laying them out in a big grid was natural to me.

Starting with the commitment to making a piece of art every day, I quickly realized I also wanted to explore a different idea every day. There are reoccurring themes and styles throughout the project, but I really did strive to make each individual piece about an individual idea. There were many themes and materials I was well versed in and they started to appear in the project. As I began looking for new ideas it also lead to new styles, materials and subject matter. There are so many things I painted for the first time ever in 2011, everything from magnolias, to a goat to a quahog shell. Maps appear in plenty of the pieces and I also used other materials that I had used previously like old photos, vintage postcards and stamps. But the list of new materials grew to include: naugahyde, MUNI passes, dice, jigsaw puzzle pieces, Eucalyptus leaves, candy wrappers, wax and incense boxes to name just a few.

One advantage of working small was that each piece took me about 1-3 hours to make. There was some additional prep time and scouring around for materials. But basically, as an artist, each piece was a small commitment. This brief amount of time opened me up to experimenting. Unexpectedly, many pieces have become studies for future projects. The 2011 Project is also a vast personal sketchbook of ideas I will be expanding on for months and years to come.

Each artists needs to develop their own rules. And, I do not want to be one of those artists that tell other artists what they should do. But I will suggest that by imposing a disciplined structure for yourself, if even for a month, you will likely have a similar experience of positive and unexpected results.

The year 2011 is over, but the 2011 Project is far from finished. There is the need to show as an installation(s) in 2012. Then the separate pieces will be distributed to supporters so they can curate them for the future. And some point 10 years, 20 years or even further into the future, it will be even more interesting to revisit the project.

An Inspirational Phone Booth

2012-01-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon was spent at the SFMOMA wandering through the galleries. One particular photo that drew me in was Henry Wessel’s Buena Vista, Colorado (see above). It was no surprise. I am constantly drawn to images of open, empty roads under big western skies. I take “this” photo all the time on road trips and use them for sources in paintings.

Wessel’s image is dominated by the phone booth. Phone booths have all but disappeared. The logo and style of the booth dates the image to about 40 years ago. If one recognizes that time, it’s unnecessary to confirm the image is from 1973. If the phone booth were absent from this image, it could have been taken yesterday.

This photo stuck with me after I left the museum. As I thought about the photo I was reminded how every artist may act as an archivist either consciously or unconsciously. Many of the pieces for the 2011 Project dealt with past and disappearing objects. Wessel’s photo of a phone booth inspires me to continue to document ordinary items in my work.

Not available in the gift shop, yet…

2012-01-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

If you know my art, you know I love things in grids. A Rubik’s Cube with my images seems inevitable. I’ve seen more than a few of these art cubes in museum gift shops and yes, they are kind of kitschy. I do confess to buying a Gilbert and George cube on sale. But as their work is often in grid form, that Rubik’s Cube has my approval. And it was on sale, cheap. A few months ago I attended an art fair and where an artist had some hand-made Rubik’s Cubes. He shared his trick with me. You basically buy Rubik’s Cubes cheap and then print out your own work and replace the color squares. A certain large shipping company has great blank, adhesive labels that fit in a printer and officially are not for this purpose. And where would we be without Japantown dollar stores and knock-off Rubik’s cubes? So here it is, the 2011 Project on a Rubik’s Cube. If you’d like one, you’ll have to wait for the big Tofu museum show and always remember to exit through the gift shop.

Today in the mail from Italy

2012-01-12T13:58:00.000-08:00

As an artist it’s always a struggle to get recognition for your work. Today the current issue of Urban Magazine arrived in the mail from Italy. It has an article on the 2011 Project. I am feeling rather validated today, and I have to confess, just a bit glamorous…

Off to the Post Office

2012-01-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

A big stack of 2011 Project postcards ready to go to the post office. Do I have you on my mailing list?

Point Reyes

2012-01-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

Today is Epiphany or the Feast of the Three Kings. Point Reyes National Seashore is named for those Kings. It’s a place I like to visit whenever I can and it inspired a number of pieces for the 2011 Project including the six ones seen above. I have been painting and photographing Point Reyes for many years.

Archive Pieces

2012-01-01T12:59:00.000-08:00

Early on in the 2011 Project I started to save some of the cut outs and various scraps generated while making the pieces. It was the beginning of an archive box that I often used as a source for subsequent pieces. Here are just some of the scraps from the archive.

December 31, 2011 – Let Go, Look Forward

2011-12-31T17:06:00.001-08:00

Some years on December 31^st I ride the N-Judah out to Ocean Beach. At sunset a small group always gathers for the ritual for the Goddess Yemanja. It’s nothing like the hundreds of thousands who gather on beaches in Brazil. But it still is a nice way to end the year and look forward to the new one. I painted today’s final piece for the 2011 Project from a photo I took a few years back on a previous New Year’s Eve. I attempted to go out there today on this beautiful winter afternoon. Alas, I waited for a train or a half an hour. Some folks had been waiting for well over an hour. A beach trip wasn’t meant to be this year.

This has been a mixed year for many. I am trying not to dwell on the negative. We all just have to let some things go. I prefer to look back on the positive things that happened in the past year and look forward to more great things in 2012. My new mantra as time marches on — Let Go, Look Forward…

December 30, 2011 – Penultimate

2011-12-30T18:01:00.001-08:00

It’s not often that you get to use the word penultimate. It’s a shame as it’s such a catchy sounding word. And if you’re not familiar with it, no need to be embarrassed. It’s rather obscure. It means second-to-last. I only know about penultimate as I studied a bit of Polish which features fixed penultimate stress. The stress is always on the second-to-last syllable in every Polish word – which is quite convenient for foreign speakers. Today, of course, is the penultimate day of the year and it’s the 364^th piece for the 2011 Project.

Room for Two More

2011-12-30T14:43:00.000-08:00

363 Pieces on the wall and there is just room for two more.

(photo courtesy David Wilson)

December 29, 2011 – Map of the Future?

2011-12-29T17:20:00.000-08:00

As the year on the calendar winds down it is natural to become reflective and look back over the past 12 months while thinking about what 2012 will bring.

2011 has been a lean year for many of us. It was all about being home. I barely have traveled beyond California. It’s been about eating in, having friends over and living frugally. Many of us seem to be in that mode and it’s been that way for quite some time. That said it’s been an amazingly productive year for me. I still haven’t grasped how much art I have actually created this year. My art has also probably reached more people in 2011 than in any other year — in person, online and in the press with articles in the U.K. and Italy. Even some of my sales in this lean year have lead to my art heading overseas.

As this phase of the 2011 Project ends, I wanted to do one more map piece. It serves as a prototype for a new pattern I’ll play with in 2012. It also contains some places I’d like my art to go in the future and hopefully I’ll be traveling with the art. To the coming year…

December 28, 2011 – Far From the Museum Crowd

2011-12-28T17:53:00.000-08:00

When you know a museum and go often, you learn about the “secret” quiet spots where no one ever seems to go. Even when the museum is crowded, the quiet spots tend to stay that way. Sometimes you even recognize them on a first visit to a particular museum. Perhaps the masks and sculptures from Africa and Oceana scare people away at the de Young. A few were probably made with that intention. The Rongowhakaata, Maori ancestor panel is one of my favorite treasures. Today, like on most every visit, I had it to myself. It was the same at the old de Young as well. I always like to stop by for a quiet moment and feel myself transported back to New Zealand. It’s been far too long.

December 27, 2011 – Route One

2011-12-27T16:18:00.000-08:00

There is a lot I love about California and one thing that especially makes it an amazing place is Route One. In various pieces many, many times I have driven along the coast on Route One. Today I came back home to San Francisco along Big Sur, after all these years, it still remains as exciting as the first time.

December 26, 2011 – Florida

2011-12-26T11:56:00.000-08:00

In Britain and in much of the Commonwealth today is celebrated as Boxing Day, but where I grew up, if it was to be any holiday, we’d call it Florida Day. Old folks take down the tree or finish the last of the Chinese from the take-out containers, and it’s time for them to head south. Some might say the smart ones took off right after Thanksgiving. And here in California the concept seems exotic, we never need to go to Florida.

December 25, 2011 – The Only Family with a Christmas Tree

2011-12-25T12:55:00.000-08:00

Holidays tend to bring up a lot of memories and stories of celebrations in previous years. They bring up holidays past, the good ones and alas, the bad ones. One of my favorite Christmas stories was one my great grandmother used to tell.

It happened over one hundred years ago when she was a girl. She lived all her life in Buffalo, a city legendary for huge amounts of lake-effect snow. One particular December there was a massive snowstorm big enough to even close Buffalo down. So much snow that roads became impassable and no one could easily get in or out of the city. The storm hit about a week before Christmas. In Buffalo they are used to snow, but this time it was so bad that farmer’s could not make into the city. It meant that there were virtually no Christmas Trees to be found anywhere in the city. Just before Christmas, late one day, my great great grandfather saw a farmer coming in to town hauling a load of Christmas Trees by horse drawn sleigh. Of course he offered to buy one, but the farmer was frozen and not ready to sell. The farmer asked that grandma’s father just watch over the sleigh and the trees while he went and got warmed up and had something to eat. When the farmer returned a little while later, he gave my great great grandfather a tree for free. On the way home many men came up to him offering to buy the tree for huge sums of money. But he refused, and my great grandmother and her sisters and brothers were one of the only families in Buffalo with a Christmas Tree that year.

December 24, 2011 – Wigilia

2011-12-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

Tonight is Wigilia, the traditional, Polish meal on Christmas Eve. The traditions get tweaked form family-to-family and a bit over time, but there is something special about a ritual meal that has been done this way by your family and ancestors for over a thousand years. Some of the traditions go back in Poland long before Christmas, when the Solstice was the holiday celebrated this time of the year. Traditionally the meal is meatless. It should have 12 dishes and with my family includes things like mushroom soup, fruit salad, pickled beets, herring, pierogis and plenty of baked goods. The other tradition is to always put some straw under the tablecloth. Or with today’s piece, there is some straw under and embedded in the art. Wesołych Świąt!

December 23, 2011 – Snow Globes

2011-12-23T13:53:00.000-08:00

You have to be careful with snow globes. Mom returns from Florida and you get a few as a joke. You leave them out and people assume you collect them. Suddenly you have 50 in the kitchen. Then you take them to the office and fill the windowsill with snow globes. Two years later and there are 200 of them. You even select an apartment because an old doorway has been closed off and turned into a curio shelf. More, then more.

Friends come by, they schlepped that snow globe all over Europe in a backpack or suitcase. You know they check to see that it is still there. They get dusty and they need to be refilled with water. You begin to resent them. They end up boxed up in some friends’ basement for a few years. The friends get ready to move and you go deal with them and go through the boxes. You label the boxes with a magic marker with the words - Tofu’s stuff to sell. Some Haight Street denizen sneaks into the basement/garage when the door is open and the two boxes disappear. Imagine their disappointment when they got a few hundred nearly worthless snow globes.

The collection is gone. Hurray!

December 22, 2011 – Winter Solstice

2011-12-22T09:51:00.000-08:00

This morning, at 5:30 a.m. in Britain was the Winter Solstice. Technically, it was still the 21^st in California when the solstice occurred. But, as I’ve painted Stonehenge in the dark in the cold, early morning, we’ll go by the clock in Britain. I like this dark, short day, because even though it means winter is here, it also means that now it means the days are getting longer.

December 21, 2011 – Christmas Cards

2011-12-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

Being the oldest child has certain advantages. As babies we are the recipients of a level of parental enthusiasm that there is little energy for when the younger siblings come along. Not that my brother or sister were neglected, but I got things like the filled out baby books and scrapbook of every greeting card I ever received (the scrapbooking ceased as soon as my brother came along). Parents with a toddler and a newborn have better things to do.

Now, what do you really do with all these old Christmas cards, valentines and birthday cards in the 21^st Century? Well, a few of them finally got recycled for today’s piece in the 2011 Project.

The 2011 Project featured in Urban Magazine

2011-12-21T08:14:00.000-08:00

Check out the new December/January issue of Urban Magazine. My 2011 Project is featured on pages 48-51. There is a pop-up browser in their website so you can see the article.

December 20, 2011 – Valley of Fire

2011-12-20T10:51:00.000-08:00

When it comes to national parks and spectacular desert spots, Nevada has got tough competition. Squeezed between California and Utah with the Grand Canyon just out of reach, the average traveler doesn’t think Nevada and scenic go together. And I have to admit that some of those dry and dull roads across Nevada can be a challenge. But I decided to treat the Silver State as a treasure hunt. There are some real gems hidden among the sagebrush. Years ago I discovered one of the best desert places in the west.

Valley of Fire State Park is about 90 minutes north of Las Vegas, yet most of the thousands who flock to Las Vegas will never bother to see the park. I am not complaining about that. It’s always quiet and so many other travelers assume that as a “state park” it can’t be as good as “national park.” Okay, you just keep driving. Valley of Fire is all about the canyons, the rock formations, the petroglyphs all in oranges and reds against an intense blue sky. I saw the place in a dream over and over for about six months before I first visited the Valley of Fire. That was over ten years ago. I have been back many times since then.

December 19, 2011 – Christmas Cookies

2011-12-19T11:49:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was about making Christmas cookies (over 100 in my small kitchen). And for today, there is a little Christmas cookie art for the 2011 Project.

December 18, 2011 – Mar Azul

2011-12-18T12:35:00.000-08:00

I remember when we discovered Cesária Évora in San Francisco back in the 1990’s. I was hearing her wherever I went. It was a time when I was doing a lot of painting. Cesária was the soundtrack I would paint to for hours. I don’t think I was unique. I remember going to open studios back then and you heard her wherever you went. It seemed every artist was playing Cesária Évora. It would be difficult to measure how much art was created to her music in San Francisco at that time. I finally got to see her live, her shows usually sold out months in advance. Even in the soulless cavern of the Masonic Auditorium, she was wonderful. My only regret was not being one of the fortunate ones who saw her back in the 1980’s in some small, smoky, intimate Parisian dive.

December 17, 2011 – Gruss aus Wien

2011-12-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

I have ended up using hundreds of old postcards in my work during the past year. And my post office box is filling up as people are sending me postcards for my first piece of 2012. The other day I received a little box that was filled with amazing goodies. Most of the postcards were European and about 100 years old. The print quality on the ones from Vienna is quite amazing. The images are as vivid and detailed today as the day they were printed. I couldn’t resist using a few for today’s piece for the 2011 Project.

December 16, 2011 – Paint by Numbers

2011-12-16T15:38:00.000-08:00

This stage of the 2011 Project is almost at the end of the road, or to use a paint-by-numbers metaphor, nearly all of the 365 pieces have been filled in. And no, I never did paint-by-numbers as a kid. In more recent years, I received a few kits as gag gifts. There are some people who collect paint-by-numbers paintings, and I get it. There is something post-kitsch cool about them. But I resist the urge to start collecting another thing, so I only own one. I have a horse head, paint-by-numbers portrait hanging in the bathroom. I bought it at my favorite antique mall in Bakersfield – they always have a good selection.

December 15, 2011 – Snake Plant

2011-12-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

The other night I was looking at the snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) in my window and realized this plant deserved a part in the 2011 Project. The plant is a big one. It’s nearly two feet in circumference and some of leaves reach up to over five feet tall. This is no ordinary houseplant. It’s always been in my front window for 21 years.

Even with a superficial knowledge of feng shui, I still assumed this was a good choice to protect my home. It’s a tough, resilient plant that looks like a bunch of swords. Finally I was curious and did a little more research. My instincts were correct. The origins of the snake plant are in West Africa where it associated with Ogun the Orisha of war. It’s a plant used for protection. It’s also good for the air in your home. NASA even has done research that has shown it is an excellent plant for improving the air quality in a room. Everyone needs a snake plant.

December 14, 2011 – Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with Strings

2011-12-14T16:47:00.001-08:00

I miss tying up packages with string. The post office started frowning on the practice and then they banned it years ago. I know, it messes up the machinery, but still, I miss it. Yesterday I mailed off Christmas cards and a few packages. And I have to wonder how long into the future this will go on. Less and less cards are being sent and the U.S Postal Service is struggling. In the meantime, I’ll keep buying Christmas stamps and sending Christmas cards.

December 13, 2011 – Headlands

2011-12-13T18:47:00.000-08:00

In California, and particularly the Bay Area, old and abandoned forts, batteries and bunkers are plentiful. Across the Golden Gate Bridge, in the Marin Headlands, you can’t wander far without finding reminders of an earlier era of military defense. Many of the structures are from World War II. It might surprise some how interesting and aesthetically pleasing many of the old bunkers and gun batteries look today. I often see them as being like sculpture emerging from the golden hills. I find them haunting in the fog or striking in bright sunlight. It’s also easy to imagine the bunkers as precursors for the mid-century architecture that perched modernist homes on California hillsides. If we maintain our “ancient” fortifications for a few more centuries, they may seem as interesting for future tourists as any European castle.

December 12, 2011 – Guadalupe

2011-12-12T14:32:00.001-08:00

She goes by many names, La Guadalupana, Tonantzin, the Mother Goddess, Our Lady of Guadalupe and today is her special feast day. Today is the day in 1531 when Juan Diego opened his cloak and a multitude of flowers fell to the floor convincing the Spanish Archbishop that She had truly appeared. She watches over and protects us all.

December 11, 2011 – Kiwi, Kiwi, Kiwi

2011-12-11T16:43:00.001-08:00

Here in California kiwis are in season and the farmer’s markets are filling up with bags of them at bargain prices. I just finished eating the one I painted this morning. I missed doing a kiwi piece six months back when the fruits were coming into season in the Antipodes. As many kiwis as we grow here in California, most people think about New Zealand when one thinks of kiwis.

Kiwis and kiwi kitsch are plentiful in New Zealand. I am proud to say I’ve climbed to the top of the 4-story high, giant slice of kiwi in Te Puke, New Zealand. Ironically, kiwis are not native to New Zealand. Originally the fruit was known as the Chinese Gooseberry in English. You can see why they came up with a better name for marketing purposes. And to make it all a bit more confusing, there is Kiwi, the flightless bird and Kiwi, the nickname for New Zealanders. Some prefer to use Kiwifruit, but mostly one just hears “kiwi” in New Zealand and understands the meaning by context. I can’t imagine a jam made from a fuzzy little flightless bird, yuck.

December 10, 2011 – Winter Monarchs

2011-12-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

I’ve always been a fan of nature programs on TV. Usually, whatever exotic and amazing type of place they show you, it is always far away on some other continent. But right here in the Bay Area, not far away at all, is the wonderful sight of thousands of wintering monarch butterflies. The butterflies tend to prefer groves of eucalyptus trees and have some favorite spots along the coast where the weather is mildest. One of the best places is in Santa Cruz at Natural Bridges State Beach. There is a sheltered grove just back from the beach. Some years there are up to 200,000 monarch butterflies spending the winter. It’s an experience as beautiful and “exotic” as anything you’ll get in places like the Amazon or Borneo. It wouldn’t be winter in San Francisco without that little excursion down to Santa Cruz.

December 9, 2011 – F Market Fido

2011-12-09T16:37:00.000-08:00

City living has its challenges at times and there are times when it can be really aggravating. Then there is the good stuff, the moments big and small that make up the reasons why so many of us choose to love in big cities. Public transportation can often be a hassle but there is one thing that always makes my day. There is something about seeing a happy dog excited to be riding the bus or streetcar. It can put everyone in a good mood, like this fella I recently saw on the F Market heading downtown for a little adventure. So take your dogs on MUNI, just remember, they have to pay their fare.

December 8, 2011 – Diego Rivera

2011-12-08T16:56:00.000-08:00

125 years ago today the great artist Diego Rivera was born. On his birthday in 1940, he was in San Francisco. Rivera celebrated his birthday by marrying Frida Kahlo for the second time. It’s easy to imagine what Diego and Frida would be doing if they were in San Francisco in 2011. They’d be marching and participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Would security let Comrade Diego back inside at the Pacific Stock Exchange to see his own work? Diego Rivera’s first San Francisco mural is inside, “safe” from the prying eyes of the general public and the rabble in the streets.

December 7, 2011 – Long Nights

2011-12-07T13:26:00.001-08:00

It’s the time of the year when just after the sun rises it seems to be getting dark a few hours later. In San Francisco, at 37° North, it’s nowhere as extreme as when you travel further north. Yet still, the short days are a challenge and make you appreciate the winter sun even more. The Winter Solstice is still a few weeks away but tonight and tomorrow have the earliest sunsets of the year.

December 6, 2011 – Advent of Art

2011-12-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

At this point in the 2011 Project it should be clear that I am interested in time as well as it’s connection to specific dates on a calendar. And you might remember that I also love chocolate. It should come as no surprise that I like advent calendars. A calendar with its 24 magic little doors that you open every day on the way to Christmas. And, behind each door a chocolate. It makes me think about other possible calendar treats. I consider today’s piece a prototype. I think combining the concept of the advent calendar with new art surprises behind each door could be in my future. Why it might be the advent of a new era in art.

December 5, 2011 – Dreaming in Korean

2011-12-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

When artists talk about places they want to visit to look at art, they are likely to mention New York and Paris and such places that many people traditionally associate with the art world. For me, the place I most want to go to look at art is Korea. This may seem unusual, but it all started back in 2003 when San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum had a show of Eight Contemporary Artists from Korea. This show was a real eye opener that had me going back and back to the museum when it was still in Golden Gate Park. I saw that show at least four or five times. I didn’t know much about Korea but it was clear that something was up in Seoul. Since then, the Asian Art Museum has had other new work out of Korea. It might be the best museum for contemporary art in San Francisco. See more about my thoughts on that on my art blog. These “teasers” from Korea make me suspect that Seoul is emerging as one of the real centers of innovation in art.

Much of the contemporary art I have seen from Korea is an expansion on traditional themes in Korean art. That is the case with the current show of contemporary ceramics called Poetry in Clay that I saw last week. That museum visit has inspired today’s piece for the 2011 Project. Now, I need to figure out how to visit Korea in 2012.

December 4, 2011 – Un-blue-ievable

2011-12-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

I hate to commit to a favorite color, but I am particularly partial to blue. Just don’t tell orange or green. Blue is a dominant color in my work. I work in a blue room and also have a blue kitchen. And as much as I love using blue paint, I can never outdo nature. About eight hours north is Crater Lake. It’s an immense and intense blue lake high up in the Cascades. The lake is one of the deepest in the world. Crater Lake is all that is left of Mount Mazama. A volcano that was about 12,000 feet high before it erupted then collapsed around 7,700 years ago. It’s one of those places that I always like to stop at when I am up in Oregon, if only for a few hours just to stare at the blue.

December 3, 2011 – Time to Hang The Lights

2011-12-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

It’s that time of the year and these are the steps to follow:

Find the lights.
Untangle the big mess you left from last January.
Test them and see if they still work.
If steps 1, 2 or 3 failed, then buy new lights.
Hang lights in the window.

Now, if you’re a real San Franciscan, you might keep the lights up year round or at least you leave them up in other rooms in your home like most of us do.

December 2, 2011 – Arches

2011-12-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

There is something compelling about a natural arch. For a good arch it’s nothing to drive far out of your way on a road trip or hike down a long trail. The geological explanations about softer layers of underlying rock, the effects of wind or water erosion are interesting enough, but arches are just magical. Arches National Park is one of my favorites among favorite places.

December 1, 2011 – First Snow

2011-12-01T13:15:00.001-08:00

Welcome to December, in many places it’s time to anticipate the first snow of the winter. In some places it has already happened and they’re waiting for more. In October I dodged the first snow and headed south through the Owens Valley after a day in Bodie. I was ahead of the Sierra’s first storm of the winter. Many years I have had my first snow quite unexpectedly in October or September. I’ve had to cancel trips to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, change course in Utah, hit road closures in Oregon and cranked the heat in the car as I found myself in a snow covered pass in Colorado. Lesson #1, altitude trumps the calendar.

A few years ago in October I went up from New Mexico into Southern Colorado. The photos I had seen of Great Sand Dunes National Park were striking. Massive dunes in the middle of the Rockies — I had to see it for myself. I woke in an Alamosa, Colorado motel to an ice encrusted rental car and a few inches of snow. In the national park the sky was heavy, the dunes were covered in snow and it was really cold. Next time, I have to get there before the first snow.

November 30, 2011 – What do you hear?

2011-11-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

We’re listening out there high on the Plains of San Augustin in a remote corner of New Mexico. It’s the National Radio Astronomy Observatory or as it is more commonly know — the Very Large Array. The bright white dishes of the radio antennas are striking against the sky either New Mexico Blue or with storm clouds gathering. It’s a place where science has met art installation.

November 29, 2011 – City of Wires

2011-11-29T10:42:00.001-08:00

There are certain images that come to mind when many people think San Francisco. Things like cable cars, Victorians and the Golden Gate Bridge. While valid, those are the images made for Hollywood and tourist postcards.

For me, one image that really says San Francisco is our nest of wires. The wires that are in view whenever you look up above the street. The jumble of wires sprouting out of poles wherever you look out a window. Even in posh neighborhoods, the rich look out of their windows into poles that are a jumble of wires. The same wires vex camera-toting tourists trying to photograph our pretty houses. The poles lean like drunks adding to the chaotic effect of telephone, electric, cable wires. To the mess, add the wires for electric buses and streetcars. Ironically, the ancient cable cars have their cables discreetly beneath the streets.

The wire mess may not be pretty, but it always reminds me that I am home.

November 28, 2011 – Sweet Landscape

2011-11-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

At first glance one might think this landscape was based on a photo from a road trip I took to Utah or Arizona. It’s an obvious assumption considering my love of painting rocks, particularly in the desert. But this was just a pile of sweet potatoes on my cutting board. And yes, I did make sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving, but they are a favorite vegetable that I eat year round. So today, it’s a sweet landscape.

Send a Postcard — help me make the first piece of 2012

2011-11-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

During the course of this year as I have worked on the 2011 Project I have experimented with many new mediums, subject matter and sources for collages. This has lead to a number of pieces made from vintage postcards.

This is your chance to help me make a piece of art. For my first piece for 2012, I want it to be a collage of nothing but postcards I receive via the mail. All you need to do is please send just one postcard.

The postcard should be mailed to me at:

PO Box 170681

San Francisco, CA 94117 USA

The postcard can be old or new. You may or may not write a note. If you add a return address, I’ll eventually send a postcard back to you.

Thank you!

November 27, 2011 – Bricks

2011-11-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

You don’t notice it right away, but there is something missing in San Francisco — bricks. You have to look hard to find brick buildings. There is a reason: brick buildings tend to fall over easily in an earthquake. This morning I walked by the site of a streetcar barn on Oak Street. I have seen the photos of the pile of lumber and bricks that was left in the aftermath of the 1906 Earthquake. Some of the city was rebuilt in bricks and more of those buildings fell in 1989. I used to work n Jackson Square where now the brick buildings are braced up with steel chevrons to give a false sense of security (the walls may still fall, the building just won’t pancake). Every other neighborhood has a few brick buildings that are closed, boarded up and waiting for the next one to finish them off. There is something picturesque about a brick filled urban landscape, but there is good reason we don’t have many in San Francisco.

November 26, 2011 – Calm at Limantour

2011-11-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

There is something special about Limantour Beach. It’s a quiet place on the southern side of the Point Reyes Peninsula. It is never really crowded and is not the most popular spot at the National Seashore. Yet I often see this same vista I used for the 2011 Project painted by other artists. I have done other Limantour paintings myself. To be sure it’s a nice place, but it is not the most spectacular or scenic California beach. Yet, some of us are still drawn back over and over.

It’s a calm place. It’s a gentle drive from Inverness up and over the hills and on a road that ends on a bluff overlooking Drakes Bay. From there you walk down a trail crossing a marsh. The trail ends at an opening in the dunes and leads to the wide-open beach. I can’t say exactly what it is, but a few hours at Limantour can always cure what ails you.

Over the years, many people have described my art as calming. I think I know why I always go back to Limantour.

November 25, 2011 – Leftovers

2011-11-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

Today is the day to figure out what to do with the leftovers. During the course of the 2011 Project I have been saving unused scarps from the various mixed media pieces. The intent is to have them for a project archive. In the meantime some of those scraps have been used in other pieces for the project. Today’s casserole contains all scraps from some of the pieces made during the past 11 months.

November 24, 2011 – Thanksgiving Traditions

2011-11-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

If you were expecting a Norman Rockwellesque image of a turkey being carved, forget it. In my family the turkey tradition was all about a bad cat in the kitchen sink. No matter how you tried to stop her, every year Tara managed to get at the turkey while it was thawing. And every year there was a nice gouge in the back of the turkey like some sort of wound. Yum, raw, cold turkey.

The dinner guests had no idea, and what they didn’t know, didn’t hurt them. Plus Tara was a great cat. She lived nearly 20 years. This was back in the days when coyotes were unheard of on Cape Cod. She loved being outside and patrolled the neighborhood. Most every morning, except in the coldest months, she left a treat for us on the walk. No mouse was ever found in the house, nothing messed with the garden and the squirrels knew their place. Tara earned that hunk of turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!

November 23, 2011 – Quahog

2011-11-23T16:23:00.000-08:00

It’s time to start getting ready for tomorrow’s big dinner. It also is time for the media to inevitably recycle the same, speculative stories about the first Thanksgiving and what was served at that meal. I think we can all agree that a cylinder of cranberry sauce didn’t shoop out of the can onto the plate back in 1620. But after that, the menu starts becoming debatable. It’s likely that the meal included quahogs, the hardshell clams common to the shores of southern New England. The inside of the clamshells are the source of one of the most beautiful and intense shades of purple found in nature. It’s that purple that was so highly valued. Quahog shells were cut and crafted into wampum beads by the Wampanoag and other Native Americans who made a home in a place that those other folks at Thanksgiving told them was called New England.

November 22, 2011 – Occupy

2011-11-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

One can speculate but it really is not possible to really write history while it is unfolding. But as 2011 comes toward an end there is one word that history will probably most associate with this year — occupy. There is a time capsule element to the 2011 Project. The 365 pieces are meant to be looked at 20, 50 and 100 years from now and perhaps even further into the future. I feel confident in saying that the word occupy and the year 2011 will be linked together for a long time.

November 21, 2011 – MUNI

2011-11-21T17:28:00.000-08:00

It’s the best worst public transportation system in the country. It gets you there and if we didn’t have it, what would we complain about? Where would we be without the endless MUNI anecdotes? Some stories are funny, occasionally a story reminds us that there are some good people riding and working for MUNI, but most of the stories are just outrageous and at times shocking — and hopefully still funny.

November 20, 2011 – Three Girls

2011-11-20T10:36:00.000-08:00

The 2011 Project wouldn’t be complete without a cow painting. And while those happy cow commercials might be cliché, we have some great cows in California responsible for all those delicious dairy products. When you drive to the northern tip of Point Reyes the real attraction might be the herd of elk, but be sure to stop and say high to the girls.

November 19, 2011 – Art in 30 Minutes or Less

2011-11-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

As a general rule, most of my work could qualify as “slow” art. When I work it’s usually a slow, labor-intensive process. But this morning I decided to give myself the 30-minute collage challenge. A kitchen timer was used as part of the process.

10 minutes to go through my various collage fodder and find some pieces that would work together.
10 minutes for cutting and configuring.
10 final minutes for assembling, gluing and finishing.

And yes, the collage was completed in just under 30 minutes. At times it is good to have a bit of discipline and control over one’s work. But in some ways, there was more time involved. The 4”x4” canvases are prepped in advance and the accumulation of collage material is an ongoing process. A photo was used that I picked up at SCRAP in the late 1990’s and some Basquiat bits from an old Art in America that I clipped almost 20 years ago. My alternate title for this piece would be The Conquest of Basquiat.

November 18, 2011 – Fall Colors

2011-11-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

The term Fall Colors might bring to mind the colorful leaves, oranges, yellows and reds in places like New England. But in California, our fall colors are different. The autumn palette is based in the golden hills. The tress offer the contrast of rich earthy greens finished off with the complement of the rich red of manzanita bark. The bark that in most species is polished smooth, a rich terra cotta color. The bark so smooth that it could almost make you believe that mysterious forest dwellers come out at night to polish the trees. The manzanita is California’s other red wood.

November 17, 2011 – The Ubiquitous Victorian

2011-11-17T13:57:00.001-08:00

As the current phase of the 2011 Project is winding down I realized I have not done a piece about Victorians in San Francisco and I have not used the word ubiquitous as well. One should manage to use ubiquitous in a sentence once a year. And what’s more ubiquitous in San Francisco than Victorians? If you’d believe television and the movies you might assume we all live in one. And when we pull up in our cars there is always a parking space waiting for us as a cable car clangs by.

I don’t live in a Victorian, but they are all around my neighborhood living just two blocks from Alamo Square. And yes, when they’re all dolled up, Victorians look pretty good. It’s easy to live here and take them for granted. Unless you live in a hot one like the one I painted today. Every tour bus makes a slow down so the world can gawk at your home. And, if you live right on Alamo Square, you can recite the tour bus spiel from memory. I always am bemused when tourists take photos of even the rather dull ones in need of a new paint job. And one of these days, some unfortunate eurotourist is going to get run over standing in the middle of Steiner Street with a camera. The house might be charming, but our streets are not quiet alleyways of some old city in Europe. Watch where you’re going!

November 16, 2011 – Home for the Winter

2011-11-16T12:40:00.001-08:00

It’s getting to be that time of the year when folks start heading south to warmer climates. Places like Florida, Arizona and the Costa del Sol start filling up. California is no exception. The Elephant Seals are heading home to California. After summering up in British Columbia, all the way up to Alaskan waters or even a far-flung journey to Hawaii, our winter residents will be home soon. Welcome back.

November 15, 2011 – Lucha libre

2011-11-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

I am fairly disinterested in sports and pay little attention, but one sport I love is Lucha libre. The costumed, freestyle wrestling that comes from Mexico. But for me it is all about the spectacle, the costumes, the accessories, and the kitsch. When sport becomes surreal performance art, I am delighted. That Lucha libre comes out of Mexico is no surprise. Mexicans can be proud that André Breton declared, “Mexico is the most surrealist country in the world.” These art school smarties who bore us with their video art and dull performance pieces are no match for any Luchadores.

November 14, 2011 – Kids at the Museum

2011-11-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

I can’t tell you the first time I was taken to a museum. It was just something we always did growing up. Art, science, history — all kinds of museums. It has made me a lifelong museumgoer. I have carried on the tradition with the kids in my life. Start them as babies and never stop. And yes, my favorites are usually art museums.

I love some of the comments and reactions you get from kids. I was in the Portland Art Museum with my cousin Jack when he was about five. We walk into a room with silver tea services in glass cases. I can’t imagine anything more boring. Then Jack exclaims with delight, “Treasure!” A kid entrenched in pirate culture appreciating stuff that I only thought was for the ladies-who-do-lunch. It was a reminder of how we all can take different things away from different shows.

There are even times I learn things from the kids I take to museums. Adam is now 13, his dad and I have been dragging him to museums since he was a baby. He was about 10 when he taught me to appreciate the Gerhard Richter wall installation at the de Young. But he can be a terrible snob at times. On a wet winter day when he was four, we dragged him around the Albany Bulb to see the found art and recycled sculptures only to have him imperiously announce, “This is a junkyard.” Clearly we had taken him to the Legion of Honor too many times.

One of the many projects I want to do is a photo book of kids at museums. I have been taking pictures for year and I don’t mind hams posing to match the art.

November 13, 2011 – Marigolds

2011-11-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

I planned to do a marigold piece for the 2011 Project during the week of the Day of the Dead. Marigolds being the flower most associated with the holiday. I always have them for my altar and am sure to sprinkle some petals on the doorstep of my building. It’s a custom to let your friends and loved ones who have passed on know they are welcome to visit.

There actually was a marigold piece made during that week, but unfortunately it failed. With over 300 pieces for the project, I have had a few that didn’t work and you’ll never see them. Let’s just say, when you try to encase marigold petals in acrylic varnish they quickly discolor and look awful. This week I started playing with modeling clay — just fooling around. I knew this piece needed some color, and when I saw the can or orange spray paint on the hardware store shelf – a marigold happened.

November 12, 2011 – Reverse Collage

2011-11-12T10:37:00.001-08:00

As the 2011 Project is winding down I keep looking at the wall filled with art and realizing there are certain things I have to include in the work. This project would not be complete without a reverse collage. Reverse Collage is a process I developed back in the 1990’s. I work in reverse from front-to-back on Plexiglas. More about the process and some examples can be seen on my website tofuart.com. It was one of those experiments that turned out well. I know I am not the first one to paint on glass but I later learned that I was credited with inventing the term Reverse Collage. It’s gone so far as some craft supply company putting out a glue called Reverse Collage Glue – I was basically amused by that as there is no need for a special glue. See my blog about that product.

Happy Birthday to the Bay Bridge!

2011-11-11T23:57:00.000-08:00

The Bay Bridge is 75 years old today. So far it’s appeared three times in the 2011 Project. With just 49 days left in the project, I’ll have to see if we can get the Bridge in there one more time.

November 11, 2011 – 11 11 11

2011-11-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

Today is the day of three elevens. I consider 11 one of my lucky numbers, so it’s seems a positive day.

The elevens have been recognized for their significance before of course. It was on “The eleventh hour in the eleventh month on the eleventh day” in 1918 that World War I officially ended. The United States along with France, Belgium, Britain and many other Commonwealth countries recognize the day honoring military service. Even though World War I was called the War to End all Wars and we still have not been able to end war. The best way to honor veterans is to work for the end of all wars. We need to stop war before it starts and build a just society free from inequality, discrimination and the conditions that are breeding grounds for extremists and fanatics. Peace.

November 10, 2011 – Favorite Maps

2011-11-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

It’s no secret I love maps and especially cutting them up and making art out of them. There are certain types of maps that I prefer to use. I particularly like the colorful, almost psychedelic maps used to show things like climates, geology and vegetation. In 2009 I did a whole series with these types of maps. Today’s piece incorporates the vegetation and climate of two of the best places in the world — California and New Zealand.

November 9, 2011 – Hidden Art

2011-11-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

Today’s piece for the 2011 Project is about art you find hidden behind art when you dismantle an old picture frame. It also is an expansion of an idea for a temporal art piece that I did at the end of 2010.

Last year and again recently I was on Cape Cod helping my mom get ready for her move to California. We have been sorting through decades of stuff accumulated over 50 years. Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s my dad would comb the thrift and junk stores for treasures. Our Victorian house back in Buffalo had walls filled with prints and etchings from the late 1800’s through the 1930’s. Many were the sorts of things that turned up at the Goodwill and estate sales a few generations later. Some are better than others. In some cases, the antique frames are the parts most worth saving. Going through them has meant taking apart old picture frames. About half the time there is something else hidden behind the art in the frame. And in many cases, the frames have not been opened up for nearly 100 years. Most of the pieces my dad bought went straight up on our walls. We had no idea what was hidden behind them.

In the summer of 2010 I found one of the more intriguing pieces of hidden art. I was taking apart a frame with landscape by the Brazilian artist Reynaldo Manzke. The big surprise was the portrait on paper hiding behind the painting. An unsigned mystery that seems influenced by German Expressionism. More about the discovery is also on my art blog. That mystery painting was reproduced for today’s piece for the 2011 Project.

I have also added an element to today’s piece that allows anyone to participate in the project and a new temporal piece of art.

As I mentioned above, this is an expansion on an idea from the end of 2010. I have always been intrigued by the ephemera you find in between the pages of old books. Last December I created a series of 62 small pieces of artwork that were distributed with the intention of having them hidden away and forgotten in books owned by the 62 different recipients. More about the piece can be seen on my art blog.

I have created a print based on today’s piece. Follow the link to the project website and there you’ll find a PDF file that can be downloaded and printed. What I would like you to do with the print is to place behind something else in a frame. Close up the frame and forget about it. Think of it as a time capsule to be found years later that will bring someone back to the 2011 Project and the art created today and also to this mysterious, anonymous painting created nearly 100 years earlier.

November 8, 2011 – Rorschach

2011-11-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

Have a look at today’s piece for the 2011 Project. What you think about it may determine if you’re crazy, or not. Or perhaps it says something about the artist? Hmmm.

Back in Zürich on this day in 1884 Hermann was born. As a teenager he got into Klecksography. It was the thing for kids to do back in the days before video games and the internet. Klecksography was the making of inkblot pictures. Fun! Hermann, as in Dr. Hermann Rorschach, went on to make it his life’s work.

I lived Switzerland for a year in the 1980’s. Living in the small city of St. Gallen in a neighborhood called St. Fiden (St. Fido!). I lived a block off the main street through the neighborhood. It was called Rorschacher Strasse (Rorschach Street). I did so much in Rorschacher Strasse, everything from the grocery store, the post office, lottery tickets (once I won SFr 100), haircuts to my Swiss Bank (I used to love saying I had a Swiss Bank Account).

The name Rorschacher Strasse could lead to all sorts of wacky symmetrical public art. They really could have had fun with it. But this, after all, was ever so serious Switzerland. And the street is actually named for the road that leads to Rorschach, a town on the Bodensee (Lake Constance).

As I signed and dated the back of today’s piece I also noticed the date is coincidentally and perfectly symmetrical – 11-8-11.

November 7, 2011 – Laundry

2011-11-07T12:04:00.001-08:00

Today is all about laundry. The third and final load is in the dryer. It’s not my favorite household task, but there is something very satisfying about getting all the laundry washed, folded and put away. The 2011 Project only has 54 pieces left, and it is feeling like the time to start getting tasks completed.

November 6, 2011 – Venezia

2011-11-06T20:32:00.000-08:00

I have never been to Venice. Even after all the time I spent in Europe, and I’ve never managed to get there (and I’ve always wanted to go). Well, today I visited Venice, well sort of….

The morning started with a walk to Golden Gate Park and then I popped into the de Young to check out the new exhbition titled Masters of Venice. Room after room of 500 year old Venetian art. The work is on loan from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It’s one of those fabulous European Plunder Palaces where much of the collection is essentially, shhhh, stolen. The Titians and the Giorgiones are the real stars and overshadow the rest of the work. It was another example of why I try to see art in person, no book or photo on a website can really capture the glow of a Titian seen close up. One day, hopefully soon, I must get to Venice….

Just 56 more to go...

2011-11-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are only 56 pieces to go for the 2011 Project. The project website has been updated. You can now see over 300 pieces all sorted in chronological order. The challenge now is to find some galleries to show the installation int 2012.

November 5, 2011 – Listopad

2011-11-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

When you learn a few foreign language, one of the things that will happen is that you end up with a set of favorite” words. This is a very subjective list of a handful of words that, for some reason, sound really amusing to you, and only you. For example I have a Swedish friend who used to find the English words mushroom and mashed potatoes hilarious. It’s a personal thing.

Listopad is one of my favorite words in the Polish Language. It’s the name for the month of November and literally translates as “leaf fall.” It is also the name for November in Czech. In Croatian, Listopad is the name for October (the leaves must fall earlier in Croatia). November, the eleventh month derives its name from the Latin novem (nine)– but it is no longer the ninth month. We might consider changing November to Listopad — it’s about falling leaves and reminds one a bit of the sound of the rain that start falling this month too.

November 4, 2011 – Nor’easter

2011-11-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was on Cape Cod when the first storm of the winter hit. And it was a real winter storm with record-breaking snow (except on the coast). It was early for winter and served as a reminder of why I live in California. The morning after, we stopped at Sandy Neck Beach on Cape Cod Bay. I snapped some photos as the remainder of the storm blew out to sea. Windy, cold and incredibly beautiful, the beach completely swallowed by the surf. A few minutes outside and I had sand in my teeth.

An hour later we were in Stop & Shop. The day before Halloween but everyone was already wearing a mask. The mask was that miserable face they get in New England and will now be wearing for the next six months. They’ll tell you how they love winter as a way of trying to get through it. But their faces tell the truth. The next day I was on a plane home to California with a window sear to watch the snow below.

November 3, 2011 – The Tent is Mightier than the Sword

2011-11-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

If you think back a few months ago, it’s hard to imagine that something as simple as the tent would gain such symbolic importance. And wherever the Occupy Wall Street movement goes from here, it has already succeeded in that it has opened a dialogue about wealth and power that we have not had in 80 years in the United States. Yesterday I was in Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland’s City Hall. It was inspiring.

November 2, 2011 – Día de los Muertos

2011-11-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

Today is one of my favorite holidays, the day to remember all those who have moved on and still watch over us. We can and should remember them every day, but today is their special day to acknowledge the dead and thank them for looking out for us on our journeys through our current incarnations.