121/the boardwalk

so many boardwalks, so little time!

i've walked a lot of boardwalks from Coney Island to Santa Monica's Venice Beach.  Boardwalks are a favorite subject to paint. I like them most in winter when only the diehards are there;most of the concession stands closed for the season; a few polar bears getting ready for a dip.

120/food

i've had a love/hate (mostly love) relationship with food all my life.  In my youth i was always dieting, but pretty much i eat what i want these days.
tonight i had cold asian sesame noodles for the first time. really good.

119/the beach

its been a long time since i've felt the sand under my feet.  years.  i can barely remember the feel of the wet sand oozing between my toes, wave upon wave cascading over my ankles, as i walked the beach at Coronado.
i've been feeling the need for cool, damp sand and some ocean water.
artistically, the beach is comprised of three planes, sky, earth and ocean.

118/cigarettes

there were times when i felt like a cigarette was my best friend.  someone told me that once and i thought, how sad.  but i understand it on some level.  a smoke will always be there for you, unless of course, you run out...something i try to never let happen.

117/UFOs

I've never really experienced a UFO but i believe, like angels, that they exist.
"Flying saucers" they used to say in the old movies.
Roswell is more than what the government lets on, i think, tho probably not as much as the tabloids claim to know.
I know nothing of unidentified flying objects....every plane overhead is an unidentified flying object to me.
Extra terrestials are probably here among us...with the angels and the spirits here it is a crowded planet.

116/Music/the kohn concert

listening to jarrett is like being swept away on warm breezes from an open window.  Piercingly real and familiar all these years later.  an exquisite poignancy.  this music takes me back to chula vista, circle mid 80's.  riding in tom's volkswagon van...the warm breeze from the window; mountains ahead on the open road we coveted.

Jarrett curls his body around the piano with each sweet note.

115/Color

I've been in love with color since my first crayon. Color plays a signifigant role in my work; i rely on color over form.
there are two main color theories if i remember correctly, but i don't think that i do.  the sum of all color is black.  the absence of all color is black.  i'm not sure about this at all.
I have been working today with crimson...layering it over darks, rendering new shapes.
I'm in a painting mode, the words aren't flowing.

114/Central Park

If you've never been to Central Park you can't imagine how big it is.
When i was young i went to concerts in Central Park all the time.  I remember seeing Don McClean and Harry Chapin and others i can't remember any more.
Can't mention Central Park without talking about that great Alice in Wonderland sculpture.
Its been a long time since i visited Central Park.
I met David Lambert there when i was 16.  We held hands walking along the pathways and kissed behind a tree.

113/favorite cats

There are favorites among favorites and that would be Bud.  A maine coon, born in my studio in san diego, his mother a wayward stray who found her way thru the always open attic window.
Bud's markings were tabby like with thick long hair.  He posessed an enlightened conciousness and a quiet intellect.  And he had the best purr,ever.  He was a very vocal animal and grand conversations took place between me and him and his brother wilson.

Bud was my pillow every night.  i slept with my face on his belly.  He was good to wake up to, too.  i miss him still. no creature, human or otherwise has ever loved me like that cat.

free write 112/the circus

i'm not a big fan of the greatest show on earth.  i like the trapeze people best,flying across the rafters, their bodies contorted.  the clowns can be okay, but some of them are spooky.  the animal acts don't impress me, i don't like seeing animals do unnatural tricks...and don't even get me started about their care.
the popcorn and souvenirs are fun, tho.

free write 111/Lighthouses

When i was a little kid in sunday school there was a lighthouse bank.When you put coins in it the tower lit up. It was there that the allure of lighthouses began for me. 
I've visited a few real life light houses and they are always charming and romantic.  i would love to live in one.

#110/Sculpture

My immediate response to the topic of sculpture is to think of Henry Moore's immense figures.  Huge, solid, monumental forms depicting family;the most tender of subjects; larger than life and so touching.
Then again there's nothing a
Brancusi's polished bronze...the form simple and elegant.

Picasso's sculpture appeals to me a lot.  i like that sensibility of making art out of junk.

109/Gateways

In my whole life I only lived in one home that had an actual gateway.  it was a victorian carriage house in san diego with a six foot high ,rustic wooden gateway. 
we used to open the gates for company, but rarely.
Gateways can be magical portals.  mine wasn't.  it had a lock and key.

freewrite #108/newspapers

I'm not a newspaper reader any more.  I use newspaper mostly for craft projects, to iron out wax in batik or layer between sheets of fabric.
When I was a teenager i wanted to wall paper my bedroom in Chinese newspapers.

I used to enjoy reading the sunday TIMES with its great arts & leisure section and the review of books.  i remember morning sitting outside with coffee and the paper.
I loved the Village Voice when i was way young and they had better writers.

107/paper lanterns

I remember making paper lanterns in grade school.  Cut from construction paper and pasted together  I thought they were really neat.
Then there's backyard paper lanterns which i can't get enough of.
Also those rice paper lanterns that i love so much.  I have two of them but i can't use them with the electrical fixtures here.