Every space is a blank canvas

Summer is here! And with it comes the wanting to get outdoors.

I am an inner city dweller, and as such incredibly lucky as I have two great outdoors spaces to develop container gardens, a small lower level terrace and a roof top deck.

San Francisco being located between the bay and ocean creates this incredible wind tunnel with heat and fog making it quite challenging to figure out what plants will survive.

With the help of the staff at Flora Grubb we have found some great solutions to both wind and drought tolerant plants. Many of our choices are either from the European Mediterranean or African zones and they seem to be (after much experimentation) surviving. They also helped us pick planters made of lightweight composite materials.

We are so proud of our little olive tree, she is doing great (we won't be producing olio di oliva anytime soon though). We special ordered the tree, wanting a small, double trunk and slow growing variety; we waited for about 6 months for delivery. The olive tree was a perfect choice, being able to take the heat and winds of the Mediterranean climate.

For our roof we went to TAP Plastics and for under $500.00 put up a small plexiglass windbreak. The key was leaving spaces for the wind to pass-through, taking into consideration force and weight and keeping it under "legal" height. We also hired a plumber to bring water up.

Our next project is to get some decking for the roof. Again, weight, money and portability (in case of repairs) are important considerations.

What fun this is to plan. Like a painting, it is a work in progress.

After doing the drawing of the Terrace Chair I got inspired to paint the actual chairs. Everything is on the "cheap" these days. We bought the wood chairs from IKEA about 3 years ago for about $6.00 each and with the help of the bees (who chewed off the varnish for me) the sanding and prep was easy. Painting color is always rewarding. It's so fun to look out and see the bright color on our terrace.

The painting Bi-Rite Market is finally finished!

And this Friday I drop off three paintings, Trailer, Motel Pool and Beach Motel for a July show, Escape into Summer at Artist-Xchange Gallery. Opening reception is Friday evening July 9.

And more on works in progress... walked by the Zoltron stencils at 580 Valencia St. I think it is now safe to say that "our boy" won (see my posting on May 27). The stencils on plywood have been preserved and moved behind the newly installed glass storefront. Very cool!

Time out to get back to drawing

O.K., admittedly, this is not my most exciting post to date.

Miss Taxie Cab-ernet and I went to the studio early this morning, having finished the latest painting (well, more on that) I was free to draw.

With shows and deadlines I have not felt this freedom in quite some time. I have so wanted to catch-up on my sketch book and just do what I love the most... chalks and pencil... for me this is that direct connection to art.

I did a pastel "chalk" drawing of my balcony... simple, no statement, just a very satisfying day.

What is it about drawing? I guess it is that direct hand to paper thing. I love pushing around chalks and getting that little kid feeling of making a mess. It's primal, your hands, your fingers pushing around color. I don't get this from painting with acrylic, it by nature has to be more precise, and by nature my work is "loose". Perhaps it is time to go back to oils? But, I do worry about that cute little studio pup and the toxics of oil painting.

As has been pointed out to me by friends and colleagues my paintings are so different than my drawings. The common statement is that there is such a difference in my expression. I agree. How to pull the two together, or do I want to?

As many of my friends are aware, much of my drawing portfolio was lost (a long story, so never mind) and it's been hard for me to go back to what I love. I have wanted to push forward in experimenting with painting and color... I so love color.

All of this said, my next experiment is to blend the two together... is this possible? We will see, time to start painting from the heart.

And as a final note... been wanting to take a photo of this for awhile, so here it is. I just can't help myself to always watch the streets and the art that is right there, if you look.

And back to the Bi-Rite painting. My partner Anne said; "Why don't you put more shopping carts in?". I said; "Cuz I don't thing the painting needs them.". Today fellow artist Kirsten said, well, kind of the same thing. So, I guess it's not done, more shopping carts on the way. Darn! Everyone's a critic!

Following the streets... Europe

The more I become interested in the urban street art, the more I come across some very talented and accomplished artists.

I have been looking at what is going on in Europe; Milano, Berlin, Warsaw, etc. There certainly are some amazing images.

As I look at these images, what seems to strike me the most is unlike in the U.S. much of the work is not based in violence. Political? Yes. But not so much of the “blood and guts” that seems to be the trend here. A great deal of this work is truly done from a basis in painting, how refreshing to see beautiful pieces in an urban setting.

I guess this really is no surprise as the great cities have always embraced public art and expression.

Check out the open-air project Absolut (Yes, the Swedish Vodka) is sponsoring. The project is called wallpaper redesign and reinvent your city and is currently giving space to American artist Ron English, who has been dubbed the father of Agit-pop (famous for his mural on the Berlin Wall’s Checkpoint Charlie in 1989). This one is from the Absolut web page: www.absolutwallpaper.com/who.html

I have also connected with Urban Painting in Milano and have permission to post up a couple of photos from their page (Thank you!): www.URBANPAINTING.INFO/

How amazing is this?! (I think it originates from this web page: www.orticanoodles.com - shamefully, although having lived in Italy, I still do not read it completely… but I can order up a great bottle of vino!)

And another, from the Urban Painting’s summer show; “Italian Street Artist Neve - just 3 hours to do this spray on canvas”.

And, well, WOW! (Again from Urban Painting’s page)

Me… after looking at these what can I say? I am just plug’n along. Finished or almost finished with the Bi-Rite painting and took a diversion for fun… chalk drawing of “Sock Monkey gone bad”.

…and another cool telephone pole sighting

(on Caledonia @ 15th St)

Beautifying the city one telephone pole at a time...

(on 19th between Castro & Collingwood)

Gallery hoping in the Lower Haight

The energy was great last night with four art openings in Lower Haight galleries.

The first stop was at Bean There Café to see friend Mehgan Rand’s eye photos series. The show is of photos all taken with her iphone and they are truly amazing, worth checking out www.meghanrand.com

Photo: Chris, Meghan and Anne at Bean There Cafe

Next stop was the Lower Haters Gallery to see the Ube’s Icecream Shop Lunch Party show. Ube Urban is an Inner Sunset artist and the show featured some of his custom-painted bicycles also showing were custom skateboard designs from CALAB. www.lowerhater.com

Then up the block to the new gallery at Fify24F’s / Upper Playground for Porous Walker’s show (the humor in his work is outstanding). www.upperplayground.com

Wrapping it up at D-Structure for a group show “Vices”. www.d-structuresf.com

Wow… all of this in a two-block radius from our loft, no car, no bike, no MUNI… how easy was that!

Are the fish swimming upstream or downstream?

For a few weeks I have enjoyed seeing the stenciled fish near the MUNI stop on Haight at Filmore. Then today I noticed more fish swimming down Filmore in the direction of Market. This photo was taken on Filmore in front of Upper Playground. Where are they going?

Zoltron and his Zombies are back!

Any bets as to who is going to win out on this one? Here are some photos as of this morning of that ever changing construction wall at 580 Valencia St.

There are also three new additions. Nice Homeland Security statement... hmm... anyone think that these are official government approved? At any rate, official or not, they are wonderfully drafted images, worth checking out.

Blimp... life can be so random

Cool car sightings

”Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you'll be criticized anyway .” -- Eleanor Roosevelt

It is nice to paint at home, and in many ways is my preference, but as an artist it’s sometimes important to get out of your personal space; it can get isolating and all too consuming.

Point being when my partner said to me; “Honey, isn’t it easier to paint little canvases?” I knew it was time to get a painting space. The paintings were stacking up; the mess was in our home space.

Like many artists, I struggle to keep my studio. It is financially draining. The advantages are many. Should I go through the short list? Well, having a “room of one’s own” (Virginia Woolf) allows for a certain creative advantage.

You have a space that is yours, your creative space, which is what you do there. That is what you go there for. It’s your space and your paints are where you know they are, your canvas is ready. Your routine is waiting. You go when you don’t feel like going because you need to go. So you paint, you doodle, or you find an excuse to hang out at the local café to talk about what you should be painting, but you create.

My studio is on shared floor with other artists in a building located in the Media Gulch section of the Mission. We are lucky as so many of the studio spaces in San Francisco are quite large and crowded. Although we all have private studios, we often gather in the kitchen or each other’s studios to share what we are working on/ what’s going on show wise/ what’s the word on the street and the proverbial artist meltdowns. It’s rewarding to share and sometimes comical to compare what we all go through in the process.

Last week, artist Kirsten Tradowsky (www.kirstentradowsky.com) was hanging out and was kind enough to give me a pretty intensive critique on the painting that I am working on, Bi-Rite Market. Was such a help, she pointed out things that I was aware of, but had not come to the surface for me. I went back to the canvas, made changes and was able to move forward. She gave me some real insight around the difference of my drawings vs. my paintings. (BTW, I love her work, so much that I am proud to say that I bought one of her paintings… it’s of theater chairs and so fits into the space that I live in, being a converted loft movie theater from the 1920’s.) The benefit of working in a community, trading off - helping each other through our meltdowns.

Kirsten’s painting in my home below

Continuing to work on the painting of the Bi-Rite market, taking my time to reflect my love for this oasis. I would say that I am about 70% done… now begins the real work around finishing the painting. I am at the place where I need to back off and just take a look before doing the finishing work (this is where it is a plus to paint from home).

Taking a break, I went back into the Lower Haight Roof View painting. I had said it was done, but it wasn’t. The painting had been layered in with the intention of a fog view. Then that pesky heat wave hit. I just could not get into painting fog. I know it’s not done, so back to it.

Interesting. I have learned and have done a lot of introspective from my conversation with Kirsten. My experimentation and work has been focused on color, and now I think it’s time to pull together color and line and drawing to move forward in my creative goal.

The San Francisco hills are alive!

Well, maybe not with the Sound of Music but with Banksy fever that’s for sure!

What an exciting couple of weeks for fans of great street art. Banksy (www.banksy.co.uk/) was in town and brought out some of the best, like Zoltron (http://zoltron.com/).

Great new stencil art sightings all over town, but mostly in the Mission/ Valencia Street area. But you had to scramble to see them because unfortunately they were defaced and painted over as fast as they went up.

Point in fact; Saturday I walked by the progression of the Zoltron’s on Valencia (on construction plywood, with permission of owner) and Sunday, they were covered over with movie advertisements (without permission). Gone in one day. What a statement this is about our culture, or lack there of. Banksy’s art has lasted for years in Europe. Here, his work and Zoltron’s is almost immediately defaced. Sad. This is a progression of modern street art, not gang tagging. It’s a judgment call, yes a fine line, but whether you agree or disagree, it certainly is interesting to think about. I for one believe it enhances the public art space in the city, if done in those neighborhoods that embrace the avant garde.

“Bus stops are far more interesting and useful places to have art than in museums. Graffiti has more chance of meaning something or changing stuff than anything indoors. Graffiti has been used to start revolutions; stop wars, and generally is the voice of people who aren’t listened to. Graffiti is one of those few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don’t come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make somebody smile while they’re having a piss.” Bansky

In fact, it has felt like a mini public “art” renaissance. Just this week new grates are being installed on Valencia Street for the new trees (construction is still a mess, but it’s going to be great with Boulevard style sidewalks – hope we get lots of sidewalk cafes and new galleries).

And just a couple of others along the way.... Odd Fello in the Dubose Triangle/ Lower Haight and the bike in Hayes Valley.

Busy, good kind of busy… Friday April 23 was opening reception of the Mission United Artists Spring Open Studios, then following Friday, was opening reception at the Artist Xchange Gallery. It was Miss Taxie Cab-ernet’s first opening, and as The 202 Studio Pup, she took her job of “meet and greet” quite seriously. She was not alone, this being San Francisco, other pups were there to give her pleanty of conversation (and, well, since Taxie has recently discovered her ‘big voice”, there was a bit of conversation). I want to thank friends, family and the dog for joining me, had a great time.

I think Taxie must have cracked a joke? Sara, Anne and Taxie in 1st photo. 2nd photo looking into gallery with my paintings showing. 3rd photo Isik checking it out. 4th photo Taxie in “heavy, what is life, what is art” discussion with other dog.

Then on Sunday the opening reception at STUDIO Gallery.

Phew... now back to painting!