The Cocktail Glass Collection: The Washoe House

At the corner of Stony Point Rd. and Roblar Rd., to the west of Cotati, CA, sits The Washoe House, a run-down roadhouse dating back to 1859. Still a bar and restaurant, Washoe House has been an inn, a restaurant, a bar, and, according to Wikipedia, a butcher's shop as well as a post office and a community hall. It was a stage coach stop on routes between Petaluma and Santa Rosa. Ulysses S. Grant is said to have given a speech here once, but the Wikipedia article points out that no supporting evidence for the claim exists. I drove by the place at night tonight for the first time in many years, which afforded an opportunity to photograph the neon cocktail sign lit up--the latest addition to my growing collection of neon cocktail glass signs in front of bars. For more examples, use the "Cocktail Glass Collection" tab to the right.

Plants I'm Growing: Zucchini (June 11, 2015)

Everything is ripening early this year. It's only the first week of June but we're already harvesting delicious, fresh zucchini. The trick is to pick them when they're still small--before you have to start looking up imaginative recipes to use them up and before you start annoying your neighbors with too many zucchini offers.

Art I'm Making: New Collages (May-June 2015)

The second weekend of Art at the Source Open Studios event is approaching. I've got new art to show--new collages I've made during lulls in the stream of visitors to "Studio 48." I put that in quotes because I'm actually showing in my mother's nicely repainted garage, not in my home studio.

Art at the Source (unlike Art Trails, the October Sonoma County event) requires you to show on the west side of Highway 101. Here are a couple of my newest pieces: Untitled Collage No. 101 (Santa Rosa), shown above, and Untitled Collage No. 102 (Santa Rosa), shown below.

Click on the images for larger views. Even better, come see my work in person during the second weekend of the Art at the Source Open Studios event, June 13 & 14, 2015. I'll be showing at Studio 48, in Sebastopol. Come see my photography (abstract work, nudes, bird photography), printmaking, and, of course, collages.

For more about my collage work, visit my collage website  at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.