2011 Project — 10th Anniversary

Ten years have already passed since the 2011 Project.  Whenever I look back at those 365 pieces, I always notice the seeds of what would be future work that I have been working on since then.

Before San Francisco went into pandemic lockdown, my last museum visited was to the Asian Art Museum.   A few months later I was inspired by a video they posted.  I started painting books for my Chaekgeori-inspired series.  This latest one (see below), completed as the new year began, even has a 4x4 inch piece I did for the 2011 Project.   It is tucked right behind the remote control.  That piece was inspired by a visit to the Asian Art Museum back in 2011.

Tennessee Valley 16 - Back to the 4x4 format

Earlier this winter friends and I enjoyed a hike in Marin County’s Tennessee Valley.  That day it rained on and off but we managed to stay fairly dry.  Yesterday was a day of late season rains that kept me in the house.  The results are a series of 16 4”x4” paintings based on that afternoon on the trail.  I deliberately forced myself to work quickly.  Any painter knows the trap of going too far and overworking a painting.  It’s frustrating when you get a work done and then keep going and, well, ruin it.

Happy 80th Birthday Coit Tower!

Coit Tower turns 80 today.  It made the 2011 Project twice.  Though ironically I had to live in San Francisco for 20 years before I finally visited it for the first time.  

The Naked Ladies are Back!

It's that time of the year, everywhere you go along the coast you're likely to see naked ladies (the flowers that is).  And if you were searching on the word “naked ladies” and came upon this page, you might not have found the image you were expecting.

Happy Birthday Sutro Tower!

Sutro Tower turns 40 today.  This is my view of the tower done for the 2011 Project.  The tower inspires many of us local artists, last year I created my own Sutro Tower rubber stamp, but I still need to make more Sutro Tower art.

Point Reyes

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.

December 31, 2011 – Let Go, Look Forward

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 28, 2011 – Far From the Museum Crowd

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 25, 2011 – The Only Family with a Christmas Tree

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 22, 2011 – Winter Solstice

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 20, 2011 – Valley of Fire

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 16, 2011 – Paint by Numbers

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

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 13, 2011 – Headlands

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 9, 2011 – F Market Fido

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 1, 2011 – First Snow

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 28, 2011 – Sweet Landscape

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.

November 26, 2011 – Calm at Limantour

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 24, 2011 – Thanksgiving Traditions

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

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.