Books I'm Reading: Susan Hall – Painting Point Reyes

Susan Hall is a painter I know from seeing her work over the years at the Erickson Gallery in Healdsburg. I've long been drawn to her abstracted landscapes of the Point Reyes area, where she's lived and painted most of her life, aside from a stint in New York as a younger woman at which time she was a friend of Mark Rothko, among others. In particular, I was taken by a distant view of cliffs overlooking a beach with pale seals basking that was dominated by a vast cerulean sky offset by the white cliffs. I loved this painting and felt a particular connection to it as I know precisely the view depicted, having been to the spot across the bay from the cliffs on birding trips. I recently dropped into the gallery and saw there a new piece by Hall in much more vivid colors than she has used in the past entitled "Deer on the Ridge." 

As the title suggests, the painting is an expansive view of a golden ridge with a few tiny deer along the ridgeline, these barely sketched in, creating a tiny accent that makes apparent the scale of the landscape they stand in. Billowing white clouds rise up behind the ridge. In the foreground, are scattered trees. Across the golden hills stretch bands of rufous and lilac that make the scene come alive. The whole is done in multiple, thin, almost transparent layers with the prominent brushwork that is typical of Hall's style. Danielle at the gallery kindly gave me a copy of Painting Point Reyes, a monograph on Hall (Green Bridge Press, 2002), which I have just finished reading. While it is mostly a selection of paintings from around 1998 to 2001, it also includes three short essays on Hall's work and her relation to the Point Reyes landscape. 

"Deer on the Ridge" and other recent work by Hall is rather more colorful than much of the work that appears in the book. Hall's earlier work used a much more limited palate dominated by ochre and olive in thin, flat washes very reminiscent of the California Tonalists, although darker. Often when looking at her work I'm reminded of the murals at the De Young Museum by Piazzoni. The way she abstracts the landscape and uses accents of intelligently chosen contrasting colors reminds me also of the Canadian painter Lawren Harris. The more recent work, with its bolder, brighter colors reminds me of Bonnard and printmaker Carol Summers. That said, Hall is immediately recognizable as Hall. 

Birds I'm Watching: Santa Rosa, Point Reyes (September 14-15, 2010)

I took a short walk along Melita Rd. yesterday afternoon thinking I might see some migrating autumn warblers. I was disappointed in that, but got to watch a large flock of Cedar Waxwings and some Western Tanagers stealing grapes from a small vineyard in the front yard of one of the houses there. I got a nice photo of one of the tanagers (above). I had much better luck with warblers today.

I joined a group from the Madrone Audubon Society that went out to Point Reyes this morning--in dense, bone-chilling fog. There were virtually no warblers to be seen in the early part of the day out toward the lighthouse, except a single bird that no one got a good look at and no one was able to identify. The highlight at the lighthouse was a Rock Wren, which was a new bird for me. I also got good, leisurely looks at a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches, another new bird for me.

After lunch, out at Chimney Rock (which the bird people seem to refer to rather loosely as "the fish docks") we had better luck, tipped off by a group that was leaving as we arrived. We eventually found a single (probably female) Magnolia Warbler (yet another new bird for me) and two Black-and-white Warblers (which I saw for the first time in my life just last week, out at Bodega Bay), along with some Townsend's Warblers, a couple of Warbling Vireos, and about six flycatchers that seemed mostly to have been Western Wood Pewees (photo), although--as is often the case with the flycatchers--no one seemed positive. Despite the cold, damp fog and poor visibility in the early part of the day, it was a worthwhile trip. With the addition of Rock Wren, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Wagnolia Warbler, my life list now stands at 317.

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots

Birds I'm Watching: Point Bonita Lighthouse

I went out to Point Bonita Lighthouse on Sunday. It's near Sausalito--that horrid little city with the predatory parking enforcers. Happily, I didn't have to go anywhere near Sausalito itself. I didn't see much interesting in the way of birds, but it was a pleasant drive to a scenic spot. The view of the Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance is wonderful. If you go, expect to spend at least an hour for the visit. The small suspension bridge out to the point is allowed to carry only two people at once, so there's a long wait while visitors alternate in pairs, coming and going.

I saw a lot of cormorants. Frustratingly, I couldn't get close enough to tell which kind they were. The vestiges of past dwellings near the light house were interesting--especially the overlapping, lichen-covered layers of plaster, brick, and native rock (upper photo). When I was out at Point Reyes not long ago, I photographed the distinctive bright orange lichen that favors these wild spots around San Francisco Bay (lower photo). I also noticed strata of natural conglomerate exposed there. More found art.

Birds I'm Watching: Point Reyes (July 27, 2009)

I went bird watching today at Point Reyes. Three new species for me--northern harrier, pigeon guillemot, and Eurasian collared dove. Other birds I saw included: American goldfinch, great egret, willet, brown pelican, Heermann's gull, California gull, Western gull, common tern, white-crowned sparrow, common murre, barn swallow, turkey vulture, and scrub jay.

Interesting rock formations (conglomerate) out at the old lighthouse. Saw the harrier at Limantour Estero, the rest mostly at the two points--Chimney Rock and the lighthouse. The doves were at Chimney Rock. I wish I better understood how these formations were deposited.