ROAD TRIP 2009

Every year my husband Darrell packs up his furniture and we trailer it to Pasadena California for the annual Craftsman Weekend put on by Pasadena Heritage. He shows his furniture and we try to make a vacation out of it. This year, being tired of going up and down I-5, we decided that after the show we'd head east to Arizona to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, and then head north going by the Grand Canyon.

We recently got new phones, Palm Pre, with which not only can we take pictures, we can instantly upload them or email them or whatever. We are connected! Darrell loves getting his emails as they come in. I would read his emails to him at 60 mph while he drove. How 21st century.

So, here are some of the images I captured of our trip. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

This last one is of Lucy, so happy that we are finally home, she's running around the yard as fast as she can. HAPPY DOG!

We are very happy to be home, too.

GREAT SHOW

Darrell and I really enjoyed the Wayne Thiebaud show, me especially. I think Darrell probably enjoyed the prints of Francis Gearhart more.

The Pasadena Museum of California Art is a very interesting building. Its something you'd only see in Southern California. Its an opened plan, no window glass, exposed to the mild elements.

Although we couldn't park in their first floor gara

ge because of our trailer, we entered through it experiencing the graffitti/art on the walls of the garage. The walls through out the museum are curved, and soft white. The stairs wind up to the open balcony where you enter the exhibits.

The Thiebaud show occupied the main galleries, with the smaller taken up by drawings, an educational glimpse into his process and early work.

I was so excited to see Thiebaud's work up close, the way he globs on the paint and pushes it around. I've seen a short video of him painting, and seeing the paintings helped me to understand his process a little more. There was a docent in the large room, and photos were prohibited. But, with my little phone camera (no flash) I took a few photos, most of them were fuzzy because I was in such hurry!

I was amazed at all the colors, side by side, without mixing together or changing hue. How does he do that? How would I do that? Could I do that? I've never worked in oils, and I've never worked with such thick paint. Maybe I should give it a try.

After walking through and discussing each painting, we sat and just soaked up the wonderful atmosphere and daydreamed about which one we would take home.

Afterwards, we went into the museum shop where I discovered a few other artists who's work I was attracted to. I bought the Thiebaud book, "70 Years of Painting" celebrating this exhibit, with images of the paintings in the show. I also picked up a book by Paul Karlstrom about Raimonds Staprans. His work is very similar to Thiebaud's, simple images with large shapes of color, using bright clean hues.

SADNESS AND JOY

These last few weeks have been a series of ups and downs, sadness and joy.

Several months ago, I remember coming across a story about a Wayne Thiebaud exhibit in a California Museum (now I can't remember where). But, the show was closing soon and there was no way I could get to see it. I searched and googled and searched and googled, but could not find out where the show was going next. Oh, I would have loved to see that show!

Skip forward to last week. I was going through my emails, when I spotted an announcement from Wetcanvas.com where someone mentions that a printmaker I really admire

Frances Gearhart

(this is her woodblock print, "Sundown", 1936)

is having a show opening in Pasadena, California.

Wonderful! We are going to be in Pasadena in October. So, I went to the Pasadena Museum of California's website and Bam! the opening page has an image of a Wayne Thiebaud painting!

And the title of the page says, Join us for the opening of the "Wayne Thiebaud: 70 years of Painting" exhibit, the same exhibit I hadn't been able to attend earlier! Yippee! We are going to be in Pasadena during that show! And it's a double-header, Wayne Thiebaud and Frances Gearhart. I am so thrilled and can hardly wait.

Both of these extraordinary exhibits will be in Pasadena October 4th, 2009 through January 31st, 2010.

To refresh your memory and whet your appetite, here are two Thiebaud paintings,

Cakes, 1963

and

"Down 18th Street", 1980

And as for the sadness... a few weeks ago was the one year anniversary of losing Moe. My life has gone on, but as that date approached I started thinking more and more about her and how much I miss her. My heart still aches.

After about two weeks of no painting (or any other art-making) because I've been busy with life and cabinet-painting, I finally sat down to paint. Here is my rendition of a Thiebaud. I learned a lot about his style while doing this. I found it very enjoyable and very frustrating. Thiebaud is a master of control. His painting has absolutely perfect circles! I'm a long way from that kind of accuracy. Barring that, I realized that when left to my own I tend toward muddy neutrals. Thiebaud uses a lot of colors, but they remain very clean, very true. I had to 'clean' up my style. He also is working in oil while I'm working with acrylics, so that makes for a few style differences.

Because Moe's 15th birthday, would have been October 9th, I painted this for her:

acrylic on canvas, 11" x 14", "Moe's 15th Birthday"

Sadness in the loss of such a grand companion, and joy in the memories.