Food I'm Eating: First garden tomatoes of the season

We're getting our first home-grown tomatoes of the season this week. So far, Better Boy and Black Krim with Green Zebra and unknown varieties we've kept going from seed over the years on deck. 

Food I'm Eating: Zucchini

It's that time of year--when you remember that even one or two zucchini plants would have been enough to supply yourselves and several neighbors with squash for the summer. You planted six seeds. You meant to thin them out after they sprouted, but they looked so green and vigorous when they came up that you couldn't bear to pluck even one and ended up transplanting the extras and now the zucchini come in waves, one after another, like a parade of tropical storms. Picking them young and small helps, but somehow a few always get missed and one morning you find one the size of your arm. One afternoon, under a low leaf, you uncover a zucchini  that's been swelling there silently for weeks and now looks like a green zeppelin....

The trick really is to pick them small. That's when they are at their tastiest and picking them small, you don't end up with so much fruit that you become sick of seeing it. 

Another important tool for summer zucchini disposal is good recipes. I first encountered this simple dish at the  Moose Café (now defunct) in Mendocino. It's now a regular in my household. 

Try slicing raw Zucchini very, very thin and sprinkling the slices with grated Gorgonzola, crushed walnuts, and black pepper before drizzling them with a high-quality olive oil. Makes a quick, easy, delicious summer salad. And it uses up zucchini--at least a little bit of zucchini. 

Art I'm Making: Last work of 2021

I'm woefully behind in posting new work. These are the last two pieces I completed in 2021.

Untitled Collage No. 240 (Santa Rosa). November 26, 2021. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, fragment of bark cloth, collage. Image size: 41.3 x 32.1cm (16.3 x 12.6 inches. Matted to 24 x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and date on the reverse. (Above)

 

Untitled Collage No. 241 (Santa Rosa). December 28, 2021. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper (paint and graphite on paper, fragments from artist Carol Dalton), collage. Image size: 21.1 x 25.9cm (8.3 x 10.2 inches). Matted to 16 x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and date on the reverse. (Below)

 

For more of my abstract collage work, see my website at https://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site/

 

Places I'm Visiting: A Sojourn in Benicia

Yesterday I ended a two-month sabbatical of sorts from everyday life. I stayed at the studio/home of artist friend Mark Eanes for the entirety of June and July while he was away traveling. The space is in Benicia, overlooking the Carquinez Strait, offering a view of the oil tankers, bulk carriers, and car carriers coming in from all over the world to load and unload oil, grain, and cars--especially cars.

It was a pleasure waking up to find a new car carrier had slipped silently into port while I slept and to watch it disgorge hundreds of cars the following day. The work of parking the cars and then loading them on transport vehicles for delivery to dealers went on 24 hours a day, but distantly. The muffled, punctuated clatter was soothing. 

 

My only obligation aside from my day job as a translator was to water the plants indoors and on the breezy balcony outside. The situation afforded me much more time to work making art than I usually enjoy. I finished 14 new pieces in the two months of my stay. I will begin posting these before long, but I have several I finished before the Benicia interlude that I'll need to post first. I'm way behind....

 

 

Serendipitous art: Overpainted graffiti

Graffiti and over-painted graffiti on a concrete wall looked like art to me--unintended art. This was near the entrance to the tunnel that runs from John F. Kennedy Drive behind the De Young Museum in San Francisco into the plaza area between the Academy of Sciences and the De Young. Given the proximity of the latter, I wonder if this wasn't to some extent intentional, but it appears to be random. We'll never know. In any case, it arrested my attention. 

For more serendipitous art, see my Serendipitous Art blog at serendipitousart.blogspot.com 

Places I'm Visiting: Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival (2022)

Yesterday, for the first time in many, many years, I went to the big clay and glass show they do in Palo Alto every year. I ran into the Nichibei Pottery team and potter Bill Geisinger, both down from Sonoma County. I came away with a souvenir—this spiral-decorated turquoise bowl—which I've decorated with Meyer lemons, for the time being. 

Art I'm Looking at: Asawa "Life Vessels" at The Anderson Collection, Palo Alto

After visiting the Cantor Arts Center yesterday, I went next door to see the adjacent Anderson Collection (both on the Stanford Campus, in Palo Alto). Among the various exhibits was a small one consisting of mask-like ceramic faces made by Ruth Asawa. Along with these, three large ceramic vessels were on display made by Asawa's son, Paul Lanier, an accomplished potter who studied with Bauhaus-trained Marguerite Wildenhaim (of Pond Farm fame). At Asawa's request, Lanier mixed her ashes after her death and cremation with clay and also with the ashes of her husband, who pre-deceased her, and threw and fired three pots using the clay–ash mixture. The finished vessels were given to their children. I think this is a wonderful idea--perhaps a better thing to do with ashes from a cremation than scattering them somewhere to be lost forever. 

Miscellaneous: 100 years ago, through Europe on a Harley-Davidson

It was in the spring of 1922, just over 100 years ago, that Warren R. Laity wrote a three-part account of a trip through Britain and continental Europe on a 1920 Harley-Davidson roadster (with side car) for the Harley-Davidson company magazine. His account appeared in the March, April, and May issues of "The Harley-Davidson Enthusiast." 

Although he says it's possible to enter Europe through any port, he recommends an American choosing a British point of entry, suggesting that the common language makes the transition to a new country easier than it might be through, for example, France. 

He describes his machine as "economical and dependable" and outlines the process of crating a motorcycle and having it delivered to a US port for departure, meeting the machine at the port and paying for its transport as baggage ($25, or $35 with sidecar), and also taking care of customs and other formalities, before writing about the pleasures of travel through unfamiliar lands on a motorcycle. He says "Some walk, but that is too slow, bicycling is too tiresome, and autoing too formal. The Motorcyclist may stop any moment for a prolonged view or a chat with some odd character. It is so easy to slide from the saddle to snap a picture or inspect some romantic ruin by the roadside...." 

His wanderings take him from England to Belgium, and France, and then through Switzerland, and Italy. The articles are profusely illustrated with his own photographs, and it was as a photographer that he was known (particularly for photographs of architectural subjects; he taught art history at a New Jersey women’s college that later became part of Rutgers. His special areas of interest were the history of the flying buttress and runic script on cathedrals in Europe). Warren R. Laity was my mother's father. My son Warren is named after him. Above is one of his photographs (Florence), a cover of one of the magazine issues his account appeared in, and a picture of the type of motorcycle he used (I regret that I have been unable to find a credit for the motorcycle photo). 

Movies I'm Watching: What's so great about Blade Runner?

I generally avoid movies and TV shows that are relentlessly hyped and talked about in the media (I'm the guy who saw the first episode of 'Breaking Bad' the day the final episode aired). As a result, despite being a fan of movies in general, there are quite a few famous films I've never seen. These excessively promoted flicks are often a big disappointment, I find, so I shy away from them. For example, I didn't see any of the Godfather movies until about 2005 (the first two, against the trend, were not disappointments, and, for the record, I binge-watched 'Breaking Bad' in about two weeks). That said, I've still never seen 'Midnight Cowboy', 'Apocalypse Now', 'The Deer Hunter', any of the Star Wars films, 'Titanic', any of the Tolkein adaptations, 'Blade Runner', and on and on (as Kurt Vonnegut used to say). 

Last night, however, 'Blade Runner' was on Netflix, so I gave it a shot. I have to say, I don't understand why so many people seem to think this is a great film. First, this is supposed to be Los Angeles. Why is it raining all the time? Second, this is supposed to be Los Angeles. Why are all the stores advertising themselves in Japanese? Third, why are half the inhabitants Japanese and Chinese? Fourth, if, the job of the burnt-out cop, Rick Deckard, the Harrison Ford character, is to kill replicants, as we are told, why doesn't he eliminate the Rachel character immediately? Is he smitten? Does he see something different in her? If so, the director has failed to explain to us what makes it easy for him to 'retire' the other female replicant but not Rachel. It is suggested that she is a newer version that has been given manufactured memories and that she herself is unsure about whether she is a replicant, but never is Deckard's motivation made clear.

So, she's pretty. He's attracted to her--presumably so strongly that he's willing to rebel--but we don't even get a good sex scene to make clear his desire for her (working here on the assumption that replicants are so human-like that they can have sex, even if it's non-reproductive sex). 

Aside from that, while the acting is not notably bad, in my view, it's notably notable either. In short, I don't see why this has the following that it seems to have--I don't understand why I've been hearing about it over and over for so many years. When it was first released, I lived in Tokyo (1982). I remember seeing a billboard for the movie being painted to the right side of the entrance to Shinjuku Station (East Exit) back when real people still painted movie billboards by hand in Japan when a film was first released. Apparently, there are different versions made subsequently, though. I saw the 'Final Cut'. 

I haven't read the story the film is based on. Given the reputation of Philip K. Dick and, having read (and enjoyed) 'The Man in the High Tower', I suspect it worked better on the printed page than as an adaption. In short, I don't get it.... 

Places I'm Visiting: The Blackhawk Automotive Museum, Danville, CA

Today I visited the Blackhawk Automotive Museum, in Danville, CA. I've long wanted to see the car collection there because it always housed at least one of the Alfa Romeo BAT cars (for more information about the BAT cars, visit the Wikipedia page on them at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_BAT). I was disappointed to find that the museum has been changed a great deal since I first heard about it (years ago). The BAT cars are no longer there and the automobile collection has been pared back substantially to make room for a large exhibit on the upper floor on the "Old West".

That seems an odd pairing, but, even stranger, in a couple of wings connected to the main building there is a large exhibit on China, another showing African Art, and another that is effectively a mini natural history museum stuffed full of stuffed animal specimens. An eclectic mess.

There are, however, some interesting cars on the first floor of the main building (see photos). The whole complex is at one end of a shopping mall that seemed very quiet, if not quite abandoned. The highlight was Draeger's Market, which has quite an impressive selection of wines from every corner of the world. I picked up a Vermentino. 

Art I'm Looking at: Alice Neel at the De Young

Hubert and Rita (1954)

With an open mind and largely ignorant about the career and work of Alice Neel, I visited the De Young Museum yesterday to see the Alice Neel retrospective. 

David Bourdon and Gregory Battcock (1970)

What struck me most forcefully was how comfortable she appears to have been with work that appears unfinished. I was reminded of some of the paintings of Edvard Munch, which likewise feature bold, unmodified brushstrokes and areas of unpainted canvas. I was also reminded of Gilbert Stuart, who is probably best known for his portraits of George Washington. I've read that Stuart loved to paint faces but found painting backgrounds and clothing tedious. As a result, he sometimes left portraits unfinished.

Richard in the Era
of the Corporation (1978-1979)

I wonder if Neel felt the same way? I doubt it. That's not the impression I got from looking at her riveting portraits. I felt rather that, having so skillfully captured the essence of her sitter, she may have felt the rest was simply superfluous. The paintings suggest not laziness but an uncanny ability to capture a look, a gesture, or a posture, that says everything that needs to be said. The palpable presence of the sitter in these paintings is unsettling because it so strongly contrasts with the economy of the brushwork, particularly in the later paintings. The paintings, as I've said, often look unfinished. They sometimes look cartoonish (an effect heightened by the creamy whites and pastel hues she sometimes uses that reminded me of Wayne Thiebaud confections). Some of the work is reminiscent of Van Gogh in its directness and almost naive use of paint. Some reminded me of David Hockney—a painter I don't much care for because his simplicity of style too often suggests vapidity to me rather than  anything substantial, in sharp contrast with the impression I get from Neel. Despite these characteristics, the sitter is always there in Neel's portraits. These paintings seem to be alive. 

Cindy Nemser and Chuck (1975)

Seeing the Alice Neel show at the De Young Museum was a very worthwhile way to spend a few hours. Recommended. The show closes on July 10. 

Pregnant Woman (1971)

The Cocktail Glass Collection: Toot's in Crockett, California

On a short trip in the East Bay recently I found myself in Crockett, a little town near the southern coast of the Carquinez Strait. On a corner near the center of town stands a bar called Toot's. It has an unusual neon cocktail glass sign above its entrance. Besides the name "Toot's" in neon, there is a martini glass in neon—which is common—but into this one has fallen a nude woman. It's not clear whether she's frolicking or drowning, but there she is. I'd like to see this sign lit up at night. 

For more, click the "Cocktail Glass Collection" label at right toward the top of the page.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No.239 (Santa Rosa)

A collage from around the end of last year. This was exhibited at the members exhibit at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts at the end of 2021 (Sebastopol, California). 

This is untitled Collage No. 239 (Santa Rosa). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 29.9 x 39.4cm (11.8 x 15.5 inches). Matted to 20 x 24 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. November 20, 2021. 

 For more of my abstract collage work, visit my website at: https://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site/home

Tidbits: Radu Lupu

I was very sorry to hear that pianist Radu Lupu died yesterday. He's long been a favorite. His recording of the Schubert Sonata in A Minor (D.959) is still the best in my view. 

His Brahms is great, too, but it was the Schubert D.959 recording that first brought him to my attention. Years ago, I had the unexpected privilege of being invited to dine with with Kyung-wha Chung and her entourage after a concert in Ueno, in Tokyo (another story altogether). For some reason we got on the subject of Radu Lupu. They recorded Franck and Debussy sonatas together.  I remember her calling him "a crazy man." It was something about putting his fist through a glass door—which seems a very odd thing for a pianist to do. I don't know. He may have been crazy, but he will always remain among my favorites. I heard him in recital in Tokyo sometime around 1988. He was wonderful. I was surprised, however, by his virtual baldness even then. His photos on recordings were always of him as a younger man and with more hair. Funny the things you remember...

Rain: A Little More Rain (March 14-15, 2022 and March 27)

We had a little rain in the early morning hours of March 14-15. We got 0.45 inches of new precipitation at my location in northeastern Santa Rosa. That brings our total for the 2021-2022 rain year to 22.45 inches. Every little bit helps, but we are woefully behind normal rainfall levels. By this time of year, we should have had about 34 inches. We got off to an excellent start early in the season, but have had almost no rain (until last night) since early in January save for a couple of tenths of an inch on one day in February. Rain is in the forecast again for Thursday, March 17. Let it rain....

[Edit: The rain predicted for the 17th failed to materialize, but a small storm passed through on March 27. It dropped 0.9 inches of rain at my location, bringing our total now to 23.35 inches--still very low, but better.]

[Edit: On 13 April we got about 0.5 inches of new rain and then it rained overnight and into the early morning or 15-16 April, adding another 0.9inches, for a total of about 1.4 inches since last reporting. That brings our total for the current rain year to 24.75 inches. That's a help, and there is rain in the forecast again for the coming week.]

Art I'm Making: Unintentional Political Commentary

My art is not and never has been political. Most of the art I create is entirely abstract. Composition has always been my focus. It is the formal relationships between compositional elements that interests me. I think of my abstract collage pieces as silent "conversations" between the shapes and lines and patches of color they are made of. 

Yesterday, I finished a new collage. Untitled Collage No. 242 (Santa Rosa). This is a large piece for me, 33.2 x 41.4cm, or 12.7 x 16.3 inches. Like most of my work recently, it is a collage of acrylic monotyped papers that I make myself.

When I looked at it this morning, I saw in it something unintended. Suddenly it looked to me like a field of ripe grain with a backdrop of a dark, threatening sky and I realized that I had created a sort of dark version of the Ukrainian flag that we have seen so often since the start of Russia's war on Ukraine. I stress that this was entirely unintentional and unconscious. Yet, there it is.

For the record, art aside, I stand with the people of Ukraine—and all oppressed people, foreign and domestic. 

Wines I'm Making: 2021 Sangiovese Rosé Bottled

Finally got around to bottling our 2021 backyard rosé today. I bottled three gallons, or 15 bottles, from the nine Sangiovese vines behind the house. Normally I do this before Christmas, but it's been a busy year. Now it's time to design a label.

[Edit: Label done—see below.]

Miscellaneous: Random Saturday morning observations

Opera can be hard to take seriously at the best of times. Opera sung in English is impossible to take seriously ever. 

Cats love to sit in boxes. Despite that, they rarely show any interest in entering refrigerators.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 236 (Santa Rosa)

Untitled Collage No. 236 (Santa Rosa). This is another very small  piece, measuring only 6.8 x 6.0cm (2.7 x 2.4 inches). September 10, 2021. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Matted to 8 x 10 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at: https://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site 

Miscellaneous: Quintessentially American

Quintessentially American is Jiffy brand corn muffin mix. Somehow, Jiffy corn muffin mix in six packs is even more quintessentially American. First sighting.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 235 (Santa Rosa)

This is a fairly recent collage, Untitled Collage No. 235 (Santa Rosa)—a diminutive piece, measuring only 6.7 x 6.0cm (2.6 x 2.4 inches). September 10, 2021. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper, collage. Matted to 8 x 10 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at: https://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Birds I'm Watching: California Thrasher (January 22, 2022)

Doing a bird survey on private property last weekend, I came upon a California Thrasher (Toxostoma redivivum) along the Russian River, near Healdsburg. Not a truly rare bird, but unusual and always fun to see. They have some distinctive calls and sometimes mimic other birds. Notable for the long, decurved bill.

Plants I'm growing: First blooms (2022)—Cyclamen Coum

I note here a little belatedly that Cyclamen coum was the first plant in the garden to bloom this year, as it is in most years. The first couple of flowers opened this year on January 7, which is typical. Cyclamen coum normally blooms in the first week of January, occasionally in the last week of December. Also blooming in the garden right now is the pink flowering plum at the front of the house. The first flowers opened on January 10 or so, although, strictly speaking, I missed their first day.  

Rain: More Rain (January 7, 2022)

Since last reporting, there has been rain on and off on a number of days—mostly quite light—but we have had an additional 0.65 inches, which brings our total for the current rain year to 22.00 inches. 

Words I'm Writing: An Autumn Haiku

I meant to post this here back in October when I wrote it. Here belatedly is an autumn haiku.

Sun-warmed paper bag

Damp after first autumn rain

But my sleeping cat snores 

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 233 (Santa Rosa)

Another relatively recent collage—forgot to post this one.... This is Untitled Collage No. 233 (Santa Rosa). July 3, 2021

Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 19.1 x 11.3cm (7.5 x 4.5 inches). Matted to 14 x 11 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. A quiet, contemplative piece. 

 

For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website at: https://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site

Rain: More Rain—Rain expected on and off all week

It rained overnight (December 21-22) and rain is in the forecast every day into next week. We'll see what materializes, but, so far, as of the morning of December 22, we've had 0.70 inches of new rain since last reporting. That brings our total for the year so far to 17.75 inches.  

[Edit: As predicted, we've had more rain. As of of the morning of December 24, we've had another 2.15 inches of precipitation. That brings our total to 19.90 inches--and it's supposed to rain again on Christmas Day and the day after.]

[Edit: We've had another 1.45 inches since last reporting, so our total now stands at 21.35 inches as of the afternoon of December 28.]

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 234 (Santa Rosa)

A fairly recent collage. This is Untitled Collage No. 234 (Santa Rosa). August 25, 2021. Acrylic on paper. acrylic monotype collage. Image size: 20.2 x 21.6cm (8.0 x 8.5 inches). Matted to 16 x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at

https://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site/

Birds I'm Watching: 2021 Santa Rosa Christmas Bird Count (December 19, 2021)

I participated in the Santa Rosa Christmas Bird Count this year, as I do most years. I hiked with the group that covers the area that includes Spring Lake, Howarth Park, and also Strawberry School Park. It's a small area, really, but we managed to see 75 species despite missing a few birds we normally see, such as Wild Turkeys, White-throated Sparrows, Pileated Woodpeckers, and House Sparrows. We saw nothing rare, but most of the usual suspects. A Western Tanager was perhaps the most unexpected bird--rare at this time of year. We did, however, see three Pacific Wrens, which is fairly unusual. Shown above is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Below is a Hermit Thrush. 

Rain: New Storms in the Second Week of December

 A storm that rolled through mostly on December 14 gave us 2.6 inches of new precipitation. Another storm, supposed to hit in a few hours, will likely give us at least another inch or so. At present, however, as of the morning of December 15, our total for the current rain year is now 15.55 inches. 

[On the evening of December 15, the predicted storm moved through, dropping an additional 1.6 inches of new precipitation. That brings our total for this rain year to 17.05 inches. More rain is in the forecast for next week, but today, December 16 is a sunny day in Santa Rosa.]