Through the Fog

View of the Golden Gate bridge with Full Moon -- in the fog

After visiting with my friend David Arnone, glass artist, I headed up to the Golden Gate bridge. Last night was the night before the full moon, and since I'm here I couldn't bypass the photo op. I like to shoot from the Marin headlands so the moon rises over the San Francisco skyline and the sun sets behind and lights up the bridge.

Well, that's on a good day.

This wasn't one of those days. The sunny blue sky day quickly deteriorated as I headed south on 101 by Corte Madera. The wind driven fog swept across the highway obliterating most of the light. I perservered, as I am known to do, and headed for Hawk Hill hoping I could get above the fogline. Nope.

Forty five minutes later I was back down in Sausalito, where the fog was above me, and there was a clear line allowing the full moon to glisten down into the waters of the marina. I sat there for a minute and just looked. Totally forgot I was supposed to be on a photo shoot!

I headed home.

Today I've been running around town doing last minute things before my vacation ends. And I've got some clothes washing and house cleaning to do before my friends come home tomorrow. It will be so nice to see them and share stories.

Breaking Waves

Northern California beach

I've been on vacation too long -- and haven't accomplished a thing. Oh, you mean I'm supposed to be on "vacation", not hauling my 10 lb camera from here to there and designing artwork on my laptop?

When I left Dallas I had just delivered a 22 pc installation for a hotel registration desk. Apparently it was well-received by the designer, since I have already designed a similar one, and have a meeting set up for a third. I have new ideas now that I'm traveling and refilling my creative reserves.

Sometimes I get lazy, though. Nothing stimulates me more than a looming deadline. In looking at my calendar I see that I have less than a week left here in northern California. With that in mind I went kayaking on Monday, then shooting down in Monterey. Tuesday I went shopping and processed my photos. Wednesday I drove north to some rocky beaches close to Bodega Bay and did the thing that I love the most -- photographed rocks and water with slow shutter speeds. I was alone on the beach, with wind whipping my hair, waves crashing on black rocks and kelp littering the gravelly shore. The sun was low in the sky, plating the water with gold. I took a deep breath and thanked the universe for letting me have that moment.

Dahlia taken with Lensbaby 2.0

Today I returned to the dahlia garden at Golden Gate park with my Nikon, my macro lens and my Lensbaby, just for fun. And on my way home I made a stop at SFMOMA to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit.

It was spectacular. I've been to a lot of museums, lots of galleries, seen more art than most people. This exhibit moved me like no other. I wanted to spend more time in front of every painting, examining each stroke, and empathizing with the emotions shown on the canvases. ...sigh...

Women Impressionists

The featured show at the Museum at the Legion of Honor is women impressionists. I am not that fond of old art, but I'm enthralled by Mary Cassatt. I took my time examining her work, and let the crowds flow around me. I was in the zone. Walking out the front door of the museum headed towards the car, my eye was drawn to the line of surf now visible with the clearing of the fog. And there it was -- the deep orange tint of the Golden Gate bridge. I've seen it so many times, yet I'm still in awe.

The Dahlia Garden is in full bloom in Golden Gate Park. There was a handsome young photographer with a tripod setup zooming in on some macro shots, but the breeze stirred the flower heads. We started talking, and long story short, he's a kayaker and we're heading out together on Monday to Monterrey and Elkhorn Slough where there's a large otter population. Should be fun.

The De Young Museum has a Chihuly exhibit, and I've long been a fan of his organic blown glass forms. Some things were reminiscent of his installation at the Botannical Garden in Miami a couple years ago. Actually, I think the gardens were better than the austere interior of a museum to show off his work. Still, I'm glad I went to see show.

Maximizing the Light

Getting up at 4:00 am to take photographs is for crazy people. And that describes Nancy and me. We crawled out from warm blankets and made our way into the cold morning air wa-a-ay before daybreak. When the eastern sky warmed with first light we were perched on top of the rounded mounds that make up the landscape of Point Reyes Seashore. As the sun touched Tomales Bay far below us, herd of Tule elk wandered both sides of the road as we carefully crept along with cameras pointed out of the car windows and the heater on full blast.

It was freezing as we parked the car and made our way down to McClure's beach carrying backpacks and tripods. Needless to say, we had the place to ourselves. Several hours later (and hundreds of shutter clicks) the sun finally made it's way over the cliff and lit the waves crashing on black rocks. I was in heaven.

Climbing down the path was much easier than going back up, and we collapsed into the car and dumped all our gear in the back seat. We drove slowly slowly through the park stopping and snapping photos of anything that caught our eye. Lunched in Olema, visited the local creamery and bought fresh cheese, and then gathered our strength for photographing the redwoods on the way back to Berkeley. At least I thought we were headed home. We changed drivers and Nancy headed straight to downtown San Francisco where we drove up and down streets taking photos out the car window, ending up in Chinatown for a little walkaround. Then we headed home.

We downloaded photos to our laptops, complained about all the bad shots we took, and vowed to do it all again! What a day.

Lazy Girls

Usually when my friend Nancy and I travel with our cameras we keep going til we drop. It's a little different this time since we are petsitting two young poodle puppies which require a lot of attention. We can't be gone very long at one time. Which has suited us quite well, since we're both worn out. She's still recovering from that broken ankle, and I'm recovering from painting dawn to dusk for months in a row. We're being lazy girls.

Last night we went to an opening at MMGalleries in downtown San Francisco. There were several members of the International Encaustic Association (of which I am a member), so it was nice to meet up with them.

Late evening today we dragged ourselves up to Lawrence Hall on the Berkeley campus for great night shots of the San Francisco skyline. We are tired of taking the same "expected" shots, so I'm posting my favorite of the night shoot.

Tomorrow we're getting up at 4:00 am, driving to Point Reyes, hopefully getting some daybreak beach shots and still be there for low tide and tide pools. And on the way back we'll stop at the redwoods and get a few shots there, too.

Margot, if you're reading this, can you meet us in the afternoon for coffee or something in San Rafael?

Inspiration of the Day: underwater sealife

Planning An Escape

It's been too long since I've had a change of scenery, and I'm planning just that. I need to get away, I need to be alone, and I need some distractions. Luckily my artist friend Helen is going away over Thanksgiving and she needs a petsitter for her little dog Redford, and her two new poodle puppies! How could I resist the allure of northern California and two puppies?

Hopefully all these projects that have made me so crazy over the past few months will be installed and off my mind.

Today I am painting three abstracts (the ones I forgot about) and delivering the abstract I painted yesterday that will be turned into digital wallpaper.

Had some major complications with the carving. The casting estimator got the numbers wrong and now it's not even close to being affordable for room art. It's possible that we'll have enough time to get it to China for casting, but that's a long way off, and decisions can be made after model room (Nov 1). We're doing the first one here, that's for sure.

Still doing last minute prints for Texas Clinic. I have one 46' wall left to lay out, and I'm done with that. Can't wait to see what turns up in my inbox today.

How To Paint

As promised, these are some of the paintings I completed in the Burridge workshop. Top left and bottom left are collage and paint, the rest are all painted.

It's really true that the whole "secret" to learning to paint, is painting. There are no secrets, no special brushes, canvases or paints. Just the committment to paint.

Last night as I sank back into my "home" routine I realized that I hadn't painted all day. I have commission work that I left undone to go to California, so I pulled out a few pieces and put finishing touches on them. I always like to be productive, so that made me feel good. I'll do the same thing today before I jump in my car and go to my gallery to pick up the specs for the next commission.

I'm making time to go to the gym today. My friend Janet is clamoring for it, thank goodness for her!

Inspiration of the Day: painting in series

Being in California

I have a horrible habit of loving everywhere wonderful place I go and then wanting to move there. I'm happily settled in the house we've rented in Mendocino, decorated in over-the-top cowgirl, surprisingly enough. But the big wraparound leather couch and Pendleton blankets make me feel right at home. It's on seven wooded wild acres, with a view of waves crashing on black rocks, and deer wandering through the yard early morning. Couldn't be more perfect. Nancy and I each have our own big beds with silky sheets and comfy covers.

There's no TV and no internet, so I am using the computer at the art center. I have told my clients that I am out of touch (which I feel both good and guilty about) but my cell phone works if they are desperate. Otherwise, it's relief not to check email constantly. If I miss something -- oh well.

Our landlady is also an artist, and she generously showed us around her house, including her studio. What a great place.

The house is actually a little north of Ft Bragg, so we have a ten mile drive to the Art Center everyday. This was the first day with Robert Burridge, and we're both beat, since we had a late night getting ready, then painting all day today. He says lots of people go back in the evenings to paint more, but that's not my choice since the landscape around here is so seductive. Looking at it makes me want to move, but I have to settle for getting the best photos I can of the area. It's spectacular!

The workshop is proving to be exactly what I expected and more. Bob is an inspiring guy, and I could use a little of that, who couldn't?