Ragged Point

Another beautiful weekend on the Central Coast. These shots are up Hwy 1 from us at Ragged Point - the southern entrance to Big Sur. There's a lovely walk out to the point and then views like these.
There's a great restaurant with outside seating. A special place for Margot and me -it's where we had our first date.

End of the Trail

End of the Trail

My latest work for the up-coming Open Studio Tours this fall. This was one of those pieces that sat on the art table for several weeks - "marinating" as my wife says - and then came together in a single sitting. A 9x6" box, the inside back and sides painted with burnt sienna acrylic, vintage newspaper stories concerning cattle drives copied onto parchment paper- torn, wadded up and smoothed out, a wooden cross form (from Michael's) papered with the same, a rusty horseshoe and spur (e-Bay), a plastic Halloween skull (also Michael's) and a silver cross and barbed wire ( a local antique street fair).

A few paint splatters, some PVA, E-6000 and craft wire to hold things together and there you are - at the End of the Trail.

From the Bookshelf

Not quite sure how, but I had missed hearing about Melissa Zink until about a year and a half ago. She's an amazing artist, now living in Taos, who has an abundant out-pouring of work that changes directions every few years - but is always stunning and thought provoking.

Quintet with Soloists and Trio with Complex Accompaniment

This book, part of New Mexico Magazine's Artist Series, is full of beautiful pictures and interesting biographical material. Her works are collage, ceramic, assemblage, small, huge, delicate and massive, infused with colour and mono-chromatic.

Compendium of Certain Languages of Love

Lynne Perrella's new book Art Making and Studio Spaces (available in January 2010) will have a tour of Zink's Taos studio. Can't wait!

And, Thanks, Chris!

This has been my week for wonderful mail and being lucky in blog contests. The above, a lovely collection of polymer clay beads, from Chris at Prism Trail. If you haven't visited Chris you are in for a treat, I rarely get through one of her posts without major laughter, this is one funny lady!

I find it so random that I won 2 blog contests recently by being drawn at random by a random selection program. Random acts of winning!

Cigar Box Wednesday

This week's cigar box holds trading stamps. A rather foreign concept to the younger generation, but those of us who grew up mid-century know all about this. How many of you got to be the one who licked them and pounded them into place in those little books? And the excitement as we watched the books get fatter and fatter. S&H Green, Blue Chip, and dozens of others.

Usually my mom picked out something for the house, but there would be those times when there was a book or half a book left over and then I'd get to trade it for something special; a toy a baseball... Handing the stamps to the person behind the counter at the redemption store was almost as much fun as actually getting the item. Ah, those first forays into consumerism!

Lynne Does it Again!

Faces & Folly - Lynne Perrella

The wonderful Lynne Perrella has just announced the release of her new series Faces & Folly. See them all on her website. "Their faces are familiar to me, like a mythic family" Lynne says, and indeed for those of us who love her artwork, we will recognize these faces in their new finery.
The group above is only part of the entire series.

Rivals

And - they are available in her just opened Etsy shop! As Michelle Ward would say "HCIT"? Speaking of Michelle - she designed the fabulous slide show on Lynne's website featuring this artwork. Any new work by Lynne Perrella is great, but an entire new series - a cause for celebration.

Pippa

Thanks, Seth!

A few weeks ago I was one of three lucky winners on Seth's The Altered Page. My big box of goodies arrived the other day. I waited til the weekend to open it so I could take my time and really enjoy going through it all.


Vintage papers, old photos, a Japanese paper clip, artist papers, a tiny, tiny journal...


interesting bits and bobs and several issues of wonderful art magazines. What an incredible haul - thanks Seth!

A Deck with a View

Morro Rock from our front deck

What a treat! We had glorious, lovely sunshine for the Fourth. We took advantage of it by breakfasting on the deck, reading on the deck and napping on the deck! I also actually remembered to grab my camera and get some shots.

View of side-yard looking towards our eucalyptus tree

Plants on tiny chairs on front deck


Lemon trees from back deck

Chair (with vine!) on back deck

Pull up a chair and join us - July sunshine is a cause for celebration here on the Central Coast.

Happy Fourth!

Pregnant with Liberty

photo courtesy Margot Silk Forrest

America! Land created in common,

Dream nourished in common,

Keep your hand on the plow!

Hold on!

If the house is not yet finished,

Don’t be discouraged, builder!

If the fight is not yet won,

Don’t be weary, soldier!

The plan and the pattern is here,

Woven from the beginning

Into the warp and woof of America:

ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.

NO MAN IS GOOD ENOUGH

TO GOVERN ANOTHER MAN

WITHOUT HIS CONSENT.

BETTER DIE FREE,

THAN TO LIVE SLAVES.

DEMOCRACY!

To all the enemies of these great words:

We say, NO!…

–Langston Hughes, from “Freedom’s Plow”

From the Bookshelf

This week's eye candy book is Chihuly 365 Days. You've probably all seen at least one of the books in this series, which encompasses everything from the African Veldt to famous golf courses. They are a nice compact size, but very chunky and full of glorious pictures. This one is drenched in glorious glass and colour. Works from all of Dale Chihuly's periods are covered. Close-ups of individual pieces, shots of grand instillation's, pictures of walls covered with his characteristic drawings - they're all here. Wonderful commentary by the man himself, as well as many of his friends, colleagues and curators.

Last summer Margot and I attended the Chihuly exhibit at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. It is such an experience to see these pieces in person and at close range. The shapes, the colours, the combinations are truly mind-boggling and amazing.

When asked if he was getting ready to retire and relax Chihuly said "But, you know, I can't do that, because I have the energy!"

Glass art has always seemed like magic to me and the work of Dale Chihuly certainly affirms that opinion. If you get a chance to see his pieces in person - do so. Until then, get lost in this book.