Fire & Fog

"Burn", acrylic painting on 16" x 20" canvas

Day 311: Burn, a painting

I was glad for a rainy gray day- then again, it rarely rains here, so I’m able to enjoy them when they do come- and started this canvas out with shades of gray and black. Then I got out a ‘big gun’ from my paintbox and what began as a color study became a moody homage to my dear Golden Gate.

Cadmium Red Light- a flaming orange red color- is my new favorite paint color. I like the bright ones, what can I say? I don’t follow baseball and am not a Giants fan, but clearly I’m not immune to the influence of orange and black bombardment that the World Series and Halloween have generated lately. Of course when it comes to Hockey, that’s a completely different story…. go Sharks! 😉

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All the leaves are brown…

"Guardian of the Pumpkins", a photo

Day 297: “Guardian of the Pumpkins”, a photo

After a day full of photography, I headed home from the bay area this morning through crazy rain, looking forward to seeing my hubby & puppy and settling into my studio with a cup of tea and a paintbrush. I picked out the photo I wanted to use next and taped it to a canvas and have been staring at it longingly for a week or so. Somehow I expect this anticipation and excitement will magically make the painting process go more quickly, or at least I hope it will- inevitably, most paintings include that cranky stand-off argument stage. But we’re still in honeymoon mode. Just like the happy couple from yesterday. 🙂

At the end of the event, mom swung up the street to an inn covered in lights and piles of pumpkins for a couple last images. Anything involving night, lights and orange is always appealing to me. I first eyed the pumpkins glazed with rainwater reflecting the white twinkling lights so prettily, and then upon closer inspection, I spied this ceramic rabbit keeping an eye on the squash citizens and had to have an image of it. Yay, it’s autumn!

Day 88: ‘Peking Bazaar’ & ‘Eavesdropping on the Tattletale’

This is the first nightscape from the roll (isn’t it weird to say “roll of film” now when everything’s digital?) of shots I took in SF the other day. I was randomly driving through Chinatown, trying to make sure I didn’t turn the wrong way down a one-way street and get some decent images to work from at the same time. If you’re wondering why I didn’t just pull over/park and walk around to take pictures, clearly you’ve never been to Chinatown. I was tempted to title this “No Parking at Peking Bazaar”, but then I thought the owners of this fine establishment may happen across this painting and find that obnoxious.

One street I came upon had an explosion of red globes and strings of white lights. Even though it was dark and relatively unpopulated for Chinatown at that time of night, it felt like the street might erupt into a parade at any moment. That’s one of the things I love about Chinatown. It’s as if, at any moment, the lanterns will burst into mutant blossoms and the tiny bulbs above will pop open and rain down glittered tickertape while the pedestrians turn into a walking dragon float. There’s color and vibrancy there all times of day or night, and that’s what I really hoped this painting would show. This took about 8-9 hours from start to finish. It’s acrylic and charcoal, 18”x24” on heavy duty canvas. (I’m going to be taking better photos of this tomorrow in the daylight, will update.)

For those of you who think I may be breaking my own art project rules by allowing this piece of work to span two days, I also painted another text/abstract mini-painting today. So there. 😉 This is acrylic, fabric, text and watercolor on a 5”x7” canvas. The words are “eavesdropping on the tattletale”, which I just find really amusing since both actions are relatively uncouth, which somehow evens it out, I think. The color was inspired by the red orange of the Chinatown lanterns and banners.