The Air is Free Up Here!!!

Last weekend I went to visit my darling niece, who lives in the Oakland area. We had tickets to the show of Post Impressionist that is currently at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. Most of these artist were new for me, and because of that it was a total joy. This charming cat was painted by Paul Bonnard. The focus of the show was the Nabis Group of painters. It was so moving that quite a few times I felt the air leave me. These painting were new and I had not seen them in any book. The shapes and colors were new and fresh. I saw a Van Gogh that I had seen in books but the replicas were nothing, I say again, nothing like the original. One of the most moving paintings was by Maurice Denis . If you can go see this show, go. I do know that it is traveling and hopefully in your direction.
But this fantastic experience of art began the day before. In a very mundane setting, I found the free air. My niece had found a new person that cuts hair beautifully and I was to have my hair cut. We were sitting there and my darling niece made me laugh (she has a wonderful sense of timing and humor). We both started laughing so hard, the owner of the shop brought us a box of Kleenex. It is very cathartic to laugh till your sides hurt.
The rest of my time was just as joyful. Friends came over for dinner, we walked by the bay on sparkling, rain washed beach, my great niece sang in Gaelic for me as many times as I asked it of her.
It was perfect time.

What a Great Niece

I received this wonderful drawing from my Great Niece Annie, who is the daughter of my darling niece. Annie is very creative. My house seems decorated by "Art by Annie". I have a clay cup that is totally perfect for my cutting table. I have a wonderful cat drawing, inspired by the many cats that I have had in my life. I have this amazing figure out of clay that was inspired by Project Runway. Annie uses her life to inspire her art.
It is always fun to see what she does but sometimes it brings tears.

Fusion of Worlds

I found this fabric very enticing. I like the feel of fabric and when there is a combination of textures, I become very excited. This fabric has the chenille as well as the twill textures. I can imagine being in a dentist's office or on a plane and soothing oneself by the stroking of the fabric. I must have always done that.
My Mother grew up in San Francisco and saw a lot of Chinese art work. her Father had a magnificent Chinese chest imported for her to use as a "Hope Chest". I grew up with my Mother's appreciation of Oriental art work. While working with my Uncle, who was a jeweler, this appreciation deepened.
It seems natural to me to combined the West with the East. I scroll through Ebay and lust after the beautiful pieces that are on that site. Every once in a while, I will see something lovely that I know will work well with a purse.
This dragon was made in Tibet out of silver. I don't know the age but when I hold it, I feel the age. The patina alone tells of the years it has been on this earth.
Well, I think that guarding the opening of a purse is appropriate place for this dragon to be in the "New World". He is holding four fish in his mouth, so he will never go hungry!

Madonna with Rose

First of all, let me say that Patrice O'Farrell Hinz did the painting. She had it stashed away in a folder and I fell in love with it. Because of my attraction to it, she generously made of gift of it.

The painting is very special to me and I wanted to participate in the honoring of the painter as well as the subject matter in the making of the frame. I gave it a lot of thought on how I wanted to frame it. I felt that it should have a place for a votive candle and that was my starting point.

The wood is all Walnut. I love the smell, feel and the warmth of Walnut. When it is cut the fragrance is so lovely.

I also wanted a slight Oriental feeling to the setting as well as religious feeling to the frame.

And this is how it came out. I find that sometimes things have their own pace and design and this was a case were the frame seemed to make itself.

Painting: Patrice O'Farrell Hinz, 9 x 15 1/2", oil on wood

Frame: Patrice Sieler

Art 101

Once, at a low point in my life, I received this in the mail from my sister, Georgeanne Sieler (better known as Annie). It helped a lot. I knew that she understood the mountain that I was climbing and she was there for support as well as cheerleading.

And looking at the pieces that she put together to form a whole, I am still so pleased to see it. The influence in my life by the East and the West, the little cat (that would be Willie Dixon, who is still with me) in the right hand corner, how we traveled together and the fact that I needed to let the past just be the past and go on with my life. Annie conveyed all this with this very personal card.

Annie created Art in a 3" x 5" format. I have saved, enjoyed and reflected on this card for many years. To my mind that is what Art does. It instructs and elevates.

The Day is Early, the Thoughts......

The day is early and the thoughts are long and yearning. Sometimes I wake with this yearning to call my sister. Maybe it is the dreams of the night that provoke this feeling, I have never pinned it down.

When we were young, between 18-20, we would go to coffee houses and sit and talk about the boys we were dating, a dress I was making, her play at college that she was in, a fight with our parents. Just regular talk that girls have with each other.

Along came our late thirties and early forties. We both had the burdens of life weighing us down. And in the mail I received this card and the enclosed poem. My sister was always writing, writing poems, love letters to her family, journaling. She always used the written word to express her inner self. I have kept them all.

This painting by Edward Hopper expresses the connection that we had. Each girl leaning into the other with the urgency of communication. This is what we experienced. We listened to each other when no one was talking.

Because of the unexplained emptiness that one feels in Edward Hopper's paintings, he is my favorite painter. I have driven down early morning streets and felt like an escapee from "Nighthawks". The aloneness that he addresses is speaking to me. I did have the fortune of seeing "Nighthawks" at the Pasadena Art Museum many years ago. It is not a large painting (approx 17" x 30") but it certainly looms large in the consciousness.

My card has faded in the passing years but the feelings of those days are still beautiful and clear.

One of My Favorite Scuptures

This is one of my favorite sculptures that my uncle, Patrick Dennis Sieler did. He was living in Tucson at the time of it's creation. I did not get to see it until after his death. When I opened the box that it came in, I almost lost my breath. The power of this creation just about overwhelmed me. I sat on the floor with the wrappings and the box and just held this up in front of my eyes, turning around and around and around.

I immediately saw a story in this beautiful creation.

The above image is the Conquistador, maybe Cortez. This image is cruel and unforgiving. I try to put myself into the mindset of the invaders. They come to this land and the people are pagans. They are savages or perhaps little better than animals. The Conquistadores do not need to respect these people, just savage the people and the land. I cannot hold this image in my mind for long but I see it in the sculpture.

Here is the Aztec. He is proud of his place in the Universe. His people have done many wonderful things. Many cruel and inhuman things by our standards but we are not to look at the Aztec by modern day standards, only how they see the world. They have a very fine organized culture. People live and thrive. The Arts thrive. And here is where I have my Achilles heel. Anywhere the Arts thrive, I tend to feel that the people have more abilities. And this is where I cannot forgive the white man, who came to pillage. For the most part, they could not see the beauty of what they looked at, only the gleam of gold.

And here is the aftermath of the white man's doing. They brought Small Pox, death, famine. They took possession of a land and changed it forever. Was is it for better? That is not for me to say, but I do regret what was done the culture and the disrespect to a whole race and culture.
As you can see, this sculpture brings a lot of feelings to me and makes me think, and it challenges the mind. That is what true art can do the human mind.

This is bronze is 10" x 5", Patrick Dennis Sieler

Kitty Came Home

I will tell you straight out, I do not like representations of cats. No paintings, note cards, sculpture, wind socks, anything that looks like a cat and isn't. I really like the real thing. I like the living, breathing, purring, talking, moving cat. I think that I have offended more than one of my friends when I didn't go into ecstasy over some sculpture or windsock. It is just how I am.

Well, that said, I was at a friend of mine's house about ten years ago and I saw this carving. I flipped over it. I started heavy breathing ( a bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea). She told me that she had found it at a yard sale. Lucky her. Then she said that she paid .50 for it. Lucky her. I complimented her on her taste and her luck. Sometime later this friend came to my door carefully carrying this little bundle. In her arms was this carving. My friend told me that the kitten needed a better home. I opened up my arms and took the little baby and she has been treasured ever since.

I don't know how old she is or who carved her. But to me, it is obvious someone "channeled" cat spirit because I look at this baby and I see the essence of cat.

Kitty measures 6" x 6" x 3 1/2". She is made out of wood. Probably Fir.

Challenges of Light and Perception

For the first time in my life, I have become serious about the camera. I did take pictures of my son. Some (about 3) were decent and one was good. I think that I was very intimidated by my father and uncle who were at the Art Institute in S.F. while Edward Weston was there teaching. All I knew while I was growing up was the light meter, "hold this light", "get out of the light" and looking at terrific photos taken by the above people. When I was very young, my father had a photo developing lab in the kitchen (sectioned off) and the odors of the chemicals are burned into my brain (I don't know if that is a literal fact or not). Anyway, I could not apply my consciousness to anything that was "already conquered or climbed or done". Totally intimidated. So as a result, I never did anything but point and shoot.

Now I have a problem of photographing this mobile. I get shadows and blurs and it does not look anything like the real thing. Don't know what to do? Maybe I am dealing with a dream and it actually looks this dull. I must be objective about this or I won't solve the problem of the rotten photographs. One of the problems that I must deal with is that when I made this mobile, I was remembering, and still do recall, the time when I collected these beach objects. It was a wonderful Sunday with a boyfriend. We went to Stinson Beach in Northern California. We walked the whole beach. It was a wonderful day. And that might be the problem of capturing the photo. I am capturing the day, and the shadow of the day.

Just My Luck

This image is from the brochure from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. They are currently having a show on "Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples". It is an exhibition documenting the flourishing artistic center in Pompeii.

I remember that in the sixth grade I had my first exposure to Pompeii. That whole year we study ancient history and while I was very interested by ancient cultures, the idea of the abrupt ending of a whole city really captivated me. I still remember the thrill that went down my spine.

I am a member of the Museum or LACMA (as it is called in Los Angeles). Every once in a while they have these fabulous exhibits and I get to attend to special times for members. It is worth the cost of membership to go to an exhibit and not have to bump shoulders with so many people and listen to their comments. Not that their comments may not be important but sometimes they are distracting.

So, I have my tickets in my hot little hand and I am anxiously waiting for the date to come up. I will drop myself into the show and immerse myself into the Pompeii culture, trying to imagine what life was like 79 AD.

The exhibit is there until October 4, 2009. But I am going in about 2 weeks. I am totally thrilled to be able to attend.

Neglected ?

Since I feel that my house would be much more what I consider wonderful. if I had art on every single surface, I feel that the ceiling is the most neglected area. Since I do not have a scaffolding to paint the ceiling like Michael Angelo, I make do with hanging objects.

This lovely lady is Balinese. She was brought to me by my darling niece . I have her hanging over my resting spot (bed) to symbolize the swimming that the mind does in sleep.

The reason that everything is a little fuzzy is because I am balancing on my bed and that is a trick, that being "grown-up", I have forgotten. Remember the days when standing or jumping on your bed was part of the fun of the day? I almost caught that feeling. Maybe I should try it again?

El Mercado

I totally enjoy artistry from Mexico. The colors are vibrant and resonate with happiness. I respond to this art. I feel happier, fulfilled and know the world is a better place. Is that a little overblown? Maybe, but this is how it works for me. This was painted in 1973 by Carlos Coronado Ortega. He was young at the time and I lost track of him but found that he is doing well and has become as great as I thought he would.This link will show the power and strength this man possesses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkqPq4CRHUs. I hope he and his family are happy and as the video show he seems to be still painting his Mexican scenes. But the power has become amplified.

I saw him paint (over a few days) a very large painting depicting a Reindeer Dancer. It was inspiring and a little intimidating to watch the speed of his creation. I did not have the funds to purchase it but knew that what ever I did have of his, I would treasure.I have studied this painting over the years and each time it brings to mind this hot pink rebozo shawl that I wore every day. I loved what that shawl did for my coloring and the statement it made about me.For me, that is what art is. It goes to the fundamental in all of us. It goes to the primitive brain and we wear it like a talisman. It goes forth and protects us from the unseen forces.

May we all wear our Art well.

Carlos Coronado Ortega

Acryllic on Canvas. 26 x 34, 1973