Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 275 (Santa Rosa)

Here's another collage from about this time last year, around the time of Art Trails 2022. Art Trails 2023 is this weekend and next (more below).

This is Untitled Collage No. 275 (Santa Rosa). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size 29.7cm x 14.8cm (11.7in x 5.8in). Matted to 14 x 11 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

 

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/. 

 

Better yet, if you're in Northern California or you're planning a visit soon, stop by my studio during this year's Art Trails open studio event and see my work in person. More than 130 artists all over Sonoma County will be opening their studios to the public on two weekends – September 30 and October 1 and October 7 and 8. Studios open 10:00AM to 5:00PM on all four days.

Miscellaneous 2023 Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show

Yesterday I attended The Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show, in Alameda, for the first time in six or seven years. I was able to go this year because for the first time in that many years it didn't coincide with Art Trails (this coming weekend and the following weekend). 

 It's always fun to see what shows up – tiny Fiats and luxury Fiats, sporty Lancias, all kinds of Alfas, Ferraris, and some obscure vehicles I'd never even heard of this time around. I washed, waxed, and spruced up my 1978 Alfa Spider and she got more attention than in the past. Several people stopped to admire the car. A few people were interested enough to take pictures. Perfect weather. A nice way to spend a Sunday morning.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 274 (Santa Rosa)

A collage from around this time last year. This is Untitled Collage No. 274 (Santa Rosa). October 16, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size 32.2cm x 41.4cm (12.7in x 16.3in). Matted to 20 x 24 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

 

Better yet, if you're in Northern California or you're planning a visit soon, stop by my studio during this year's Art Trails open studio event and see my work in person. More than 130 artists all over Sonoma County will be opening their studios to the public on two weekends – September 30 and October 1 and October 7 and 8.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 273 (Santa Rosa)

I'm pleased that one of my collages has been included in the juried 19th Annual Wabi-Sabi show at the O'Hanlon Center for the Arts (616 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley, through October 12).

My Untitled Collage No. 273 (Santa Rosa) is in the show, which features work reflective of the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi – a rather slippery term, but one that usually connotes simplicity, impermanence, imperfection and the effects of the passage of time, and an acceptance of these as beautiful.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

Better yet, if you're in Northern California or you're planning a visit soon, stop by my studio during this year's Art Trails open studio event and see my work in person. More than 130 artists all over Sonoma County will be opening their studios to the public on two weekends – September 30 and October 1 and October 7 and 8. Studios are open from 10:00AM to 5:00 PM on all four days.

Food I'm Eating: First fresh figs of the season

It's that time of year. We're just starting to get the first figs of the season. These are a variety called "Brown Turkey." Fresh figs with yogurt and honey from our beehive make the best of all breakfasts – well, maybe except for smoked kippers, buttered toast, and tea....

Wine I'm Making: Harvest likely to be late in 2023

When wine grapes start to take on their mature color, they begin to ripen. Red wine grapes go from green to pink to whatever color they will end up being – anywhere from a pale red to a deep purple-black. The French call the start of the color change veraison. In my little backyard vineyard (34 vines – 21 Cabernet Sauvignon, four Cabernet Franc, and nine Sangiovese), veraison is usually in mid-July. In a normal year, the grapes have taken on their full color usually by the end of July or early August at the latest. This year, reflecting the very long, cool spring season we had, veraison is still not complete in the middle of September. I usually harvest the grapes in the last week of September in an early year, in the second week of October in a late year. This year I suspect the grapes may hang until early November. 

Miscellaneous: Strange dreams

Strange dreams: Recently I had a vivid dream in which I was playing American football, wearing a white jersey, in a large stadium. I say "playing" football, but actually I was a quarterback at practice, lobbing long passes to a receiver far down the field. 

The odd thing is, instead of a football, I was throwing large yellow lemons. They fit my hand perfectly. After a good catch, my receiver came running back to me and I explained how my hands are not that big and that I was never able to comfortably hold a regulation football with enough control to be a good passer, but the lemons were a perfect fit. 

It was odd to be throwing lemons like a football, but it was even odder that my receiver was Barbra Streisand.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 272 (Santa Rosa)

This is Untitled Collage No. 272 (Santa Rosa). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper (fragment from Carol Dalton), collage. Image size: 15.1cm x 15.7cm (5.9in x 6.2in). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

Better yet, come see my work in person during Sonoma County's Art Trails open studio event. 130 artists around the county will open their studios to the public on two weekends. Studios will be open from 10:00AM to 5:00PM on September 30 and October 1 and October 7 and 8. This year, I'll be Studio 99.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 271 (Santa Rosa)

Here is a collage finished during our Art Trails open studio event here in Sonoma County last year. This is Untitled Collage No. 271 (Santa Rosa). October 1, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 9.1 x 11.8cm (3.6 x 4.9 inches). Matted to 11 x 14 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

 

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/. Even better, if you're in the Northern California area this autumn, come visit the studio and see recent (and older) work in person. The Art Trails event dates this year are September 30, October 1, 7, and 8. More than 120 studios will be open around the county on all four days from 10:00AM to 5:00PM.

Food I'm Eating: Creamy zucchini soup for summer

 If you find yourself with an oversized zucchini that somehow got missed when picking fruits and vegetables from your summer garden, or even if you simply have too many normal-sized zucchini or other summer squash, here's a good alternative to zucchini bread as an excess zucchini mop (adapted from Tamar Adler's excellent "The Everlasting Meal Cookbook," which I recommend – it's a cookbook you'll actually use.

Ingredients (in my version) are: zucchini, an onion, king trumpet (or other) mushrooms, a peeled potato, olive oil and/or butter, vegetable stock, finely chopped fresh dill, salt, and half and half. 

In an appropriately sized soup pot, heat the oil/butter (I like to use a little of each) and add the onion, chopped with a little salt. Stir as the onion cooks until it is tender and beginning to show a hint of color (about 10 minutes). At the same time, in a separate pan, sauté the mushrooms until golden. Next add the zucchini and potato, chopped, but not too finely, to the soup pot, add the cooked mushrooms, and then add the vegetable stock (about a quart, more or less, depending on how much zucchini, potato, and mushroom you have). Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are tender (another 15-20 minutes). Turn off the heat and let the pot rest until the liquid has cooled a little. Add the dill. At this stage, the soup can be put in a blender to smooth into a puree, but I like it just as it is with the coarsely chopped vegetable and the mushrooms in pieces. Add the half and half (about half a cup; the original recipe calls for heavy cream, but half and half makes it plenty creamy in my experience). Adjust salt to taste. Enjoy hot – or enjoy it cold later. It's delicious either way. 

Miscellaneous: Crab Spider

This spider's been sitting in the same spot on the same plant in the garden for several days now. Today I had a moment to do a portrait. I don't know what the species is, but it's a spider in the family Thomisidae, which includes spiders commonly known as "crab spiders," this one in the genus Mecaphesa.

Art I'm Looking At: Drawing the Line at the Legion of Honor

I went into San Francisco on Friday to see what was on at the Legion of Honor. I posted yesterday about the spectacular Holbeins in the Tudor show there through September 24. Today I'm posting about a small, easy-to-miss exhibition in the Achenbach Foundation gallery that's down one of the side hallways downstairs at the Legion, which was an unexpected pleasure. Entitled "Drawing the Line: Michelangelo to Asawa," a selection of work from the museum's collection of works on paper. 

According to the museum, the show is intended to highlight drawings that emphasize the use of a prominent outline. I'm not sure all of the selections make sense from that perspective, but everything on the wall is worth looking at. 

To quote from the Legion of Honor/De Young Museum website,"The selection ranges from minimal line drawings by Michelangelo and Andy Warhol to fluid figure studies by Pablo Picasso and Ruth Asawa. One of our most treasured works, Paul Gauguin’s large-scale portrait L’Arlésienne (Madame Ginoux) (1888) is on display for the first time in more than a decade." 

If you enjoy the art of drawing, the Legion of Honor is worth a visit right now just for the chance to see this group of gems. "Drawing the Line" will be on view through February 25, 2024. I've chosen some of my favorites here, but these represent only about a small fraction of what's on view.

Pictured here, top to bottom: 

1. Charles DeMuth, Apples and Carrots, c. 1926. Watercolor

2. Auguste Rodin, Nude with Legs Spread, c. 1900-1914. Graphite and watercolor on wove paper

3. William Blake, The Complaint of Job, c. 1786. Brush with wash over graphite

4. Willem de Kooning, Untitled (two figures), c. 1947. Paint, watercolor, charcoal, graphite

5. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Young Couple Praying by a River and Young Woman Looking to Her Right, c. 1860. Brush with red and black ink

Art I'm Looking at: The Tudor show at The Legion of Honor

Portrait of Henry VIII of England, 1540
Hans Holbein the Younger
Galleria Nationale d'Arte Antica, Rome

Yesterday I had a day off from work, so I went into San Francisco to the Legion of Honor to see the Tudor show now on there (through September 24). There was much of interest to see, but it's worth going just for the paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger. There are no less than five on view – offering a rare opportunity to see a large group of works by one of the world's greatest portraitists all at once. 

Hermann von Wedigh III, 1532
Hans Holbein the Younger
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The paintings are on loan from the National Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C., the painting galleries of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, in Vienna, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, in Rome. I've reproduced the four full-sized paintings here (the fifth is a miniature that I was unable to photograph well), along with a fairly spectacular full-length portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, not by Holbein.

Jane Seymour 1537
Hans Holbein the Younger
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Edward VI as a Child 1538
Hans Holbein the Younger
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Elizabeth 1, c.1599
Attributed to the workshop of Nicholas Hilliard
National Trust Collections, Hardwick Hall

Places I'm Visiting: Pomme Cider Shop and Tap Room in Sonoma

On a recent visit to the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and the nearby Modern Art West gallery, I noticed a cider bar a few doors down that I'd not seen before. (It had been several years since I'd been to the town of Sonoma, my last visit having been pre-pandemic). I stopped in to Pomme Cider Shop and Tap Room for a look around the clean, simply furnished interior boasting 18 taps at the bar and was impressed to find in addition to the offerings on tap a surprisingly large selection of ciders in cans and bottles from all over the world (although many are local). Co-owners Rick Tranchina and Jessica Olson-Ealy told me the Cider Shop and Tap Room opened in May 2022.

I struck up a conversation with Rick behind the bar and in passing mentioned I had made cider in 2013 from fresh apples and discovered recently that I still had several bottles of it unopened. I asked if cider develops in the bottle as many wines do. Rick was skeptical, but, he said "bring some in and we'll see" – which I agreed to do. 

The cider I made in 2013 I fermented using Pink Lady apples from the tree in our garden, Golden Delicious apples from a friend's tree, and a small, astringent, unidentified apple variety from a tree on the property where my brother lives. De-stemming, peeling, pulping, and pressing the apples was a chore, as was picking up and returning an apple press rented from The Beverage People. A few years later I made another batch of cider (in 2018) from local, unpasteurized apple juice, which was considerably easier. I fermented the fresh apple batch using an English cider yeast from White Labs sold refrigerated in a stoppered glass tube, purchased at Whole Foods. For the later batch I used a Mangrove Jack cider yeast in powder form. 

On my second visit to Pomme, several weeks later, I brought a chilled bottle of each of the two ciders with me. Both had retained their carbonation, letting out a satisfying mist of gas when Rick popped the caps from behind the bar. He poured out a glass of each for me, and for himself, and I encouraged him to let the woman seated beside me at the bar try them as well as she had joined the conversation. 

The older cider turned out to be in perfect condition and rather tasty. Apparently ten years in bottle had done no harm at least. It seemed nicely balanced to me, with attractive apple scents on the nose and, on the palate, it offered a good dose of apple sweetness tempered by some tartness and with a darker, liquorous quality on the finish with suggestions of caramel. Rick was impressed. He asked if he could share it with a couple of cider enthusiasts seated at a table near the front door that he said were regulars at Pomme and they, too, were impressed. Upon leaving, one of the patrons who had tasted the 2013 batch said she thought it among the best ciders she had ever tasted, which, I must admit, resulted in a little flush of pride in me. 

The 2018 cider made from pressed apple juice was not bad, but it didn't have the nuance and length of the older batch made from fresh apples. Rick speculated that using the wild apples from my brother's yard added tannin to the 2013 cider that was the key to its presence and longevity. I suspect he is right. 

A week later, I visited again to sample some of the ciders on tap and learned that cider today is being handled far more creatively than I had imagined. There are straight apple ciders and pear ciders as well as ciders co-fermented with a percentage of grapes to create cider–rosé hybrids. Some of the ciders are flavored with other fruits – a cherry–pear cider was popular on the day I visited. Some are fermented or aged in oak barrels for additional flavor enhancement. You could spend a lot of time here trying the more than 100 varieties on offer. Recommended. Well worth a visit.

Pomme Cider Shop and Tap Room is at 531 Broadway, Sonoma, CA, 707-343-7155) and Pomme has more than just cider, offering more than 20 Pét-Nats, grower Champagnes, rosés, and orange wines by the bottle. Some taps are kept just for beer and wine, and locally-made bites, charcuterie, and other nibbles are available as well. Open Sunday-Tuesday & Thursday 12-6, Friday 12-8, Saturday 11-8. Closed Weds. 21 and over.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 270 (Santa Rosa)

Here is a collage finished just before our Art Trails open studio event here in Sonoma County last year. It uses my usual monotyped papers, but the dark piece in the upper left corner is a fragment of bark cloth. This is Untitled Collage No. 270 (Santa Rosa). September 28, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper (bark cloth fragment), collage. Image size: 18.8 x 16.2cm (7.4 x 6.4 inches). Matted to 20 x 16 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/. Even better, if you're in the Northern California area this autumn, come visit the studio and see recent (and older) work in person. The Art Trails event dates this year are September 30, October 1, 7, and 8. More than 120 studios will be open around the county on all four days from 10:00AM to 5:00PM.

Plants I'm Growing: Summer vegetables

Things are beginning to pick up in the garden. Recently harvested zucchini, yellow squash, Japanese cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, lettuce, and garlic. Soon tomatoes will start coming and eggplants are coming along, too.

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 269 (Santa Rosa)

Another collage from last autumn (still trying to get caught up posting recent work). This is Untitled Collage No. 269 (Santa Rosa). September 25, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 9.7 x 13.5cm (3.8 x 5.3 inches). Matted to 11 x 14 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

I'll be participating in Art Trails again this year (Art Trails is Sonoma County's premier open studios event and one of the oldest in the United States). This year, I'll be Studio 99. Dates are September 30 and October 1 and October 7 and 8. Studios are open from 10AM to 5PM on all four days. Come by and see what I've been up to in the past year.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype-based collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

 

Miscellaneous: Turntable cover

I recently upgraded my turntable to a model that has no dust cover, which was an annoyance, so I had one custom made to fit. Turned out rather nicely. 

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 268 (Santa Rosa)

A collage from last year (I'm still almost a year behind in posting new work, trying to get caught up). This one doesn't reproduce very well, so come see the original. I'll be doing Art Trails again this year (Art Trails is Sonoma County's premier open studios event and one of the oldest in the United States). This year, I'll be Studio 99. Dates are September 30 and October 1 and October 7 and 8. Studios are open from 10AM to 5PM on all four days.

This is Untitled Collage No. 268 (Santa Rosa). September 13, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 37.6 x 20.4cm (14.8 x 11.0 inches). Matted to 24 x 20 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

 

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype-based collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

Music I'm Listening to: Beatrice Rana with the San Francisco Symphony

I belatedly note here that I attended the June 2 performance of the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall, the last concert of the season for me. On the program were a piece called Amazon, by Gloria Isabel Ramos Triano, Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and, after intermission, Schubert's Symphony in C ("The Great"). 

Beatrice Rana was the soloist in the Rachmaninoff. The guest conductor was Manfred Honeck. I enjoyed the whole program, but Rana was the highlight. She played with all the energy and precision she's recently gotten a great deal of notice for. My seat this time was somewhat further to the left than usual, which, in the end, was quite fun, as it afforded an excellent view of her fingers on the keyboard. She played an encore that I did not recognize and she didn't identify it. 

Miscellaneous: Feeling grateful

A fairly typical meal at home. Asparagus grilled with olive oil and sea salt. Pasta with a sauce made from leftover fish, sautéed onion and Swiss Chard with white truffle oil. A salad of lettuce, arugula, and spinach, all from the garden. Soon, the tomatoes, too will be from the garden. A rosé of Sangiovese and Cabernet Franc from Washington. In a few months, the rosé will be from our own backyard vineyard. The three salt dishes were made by local potter John Chambers. The asparagus sits on a plate made by Gina Kuta, another local potter (both live and work in Sebastopol). Just outside of the frame is a large bouquet of flowers just picked from outside the kitchen door in a pot thrown in the 1950s by my late mother. 

I feel very lucky to live here and to have all the things that I enjoy every day. I take none of it for granted. 

Miscellaneous: Trump is a flight risk

Driving recently in Oakland, I saw this theater sign. It says: "Donald Trump owns a private jet. He is a major flight risk. Lock him up!" True enough. Most indicted people charged with serious crimes don't own private jets. If he were to flee, where would he go?

Miscellaneous: Bad writing

Would you buy this wine? 

I generally don't buy wine based on what's on the label, but I do read labels of unfamiliar wines. I came across this one yesterday and I was surprised at how badly written the back label was. Call me a pedant, but I have to speak up.

It says: "Eden Pinot Noir is described as a dry, light, medium bodied varietal with bright acidity with silky tannins. The wine varietal is grown in the foothills of the Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County on the central coast of California. Earthy aromas dominate this varietal including smells that bring a faint flora of Roses, Violets, and a slight smell of fruit. This Pinot Noir can be consumed on any occasion due to the wine making process of this varietal." 

Where to begin? First, "is described as" makes it sound like some unnamed third party has described the wine and the writer is letting us know that instead of, well, describing the wine. 

"Medium bodied" should be hyphenated. 

"Varietal" is a word I hate. It is so often misused. "Varietal" is an adjective. Pinot Noir is a variety. You might call this a "varietal wine" to suggest that it is made primarily from a single grape variety, but, please, don't call the wine or the grape variety itself a "varietal". 

"With bright acidity with silky tannins". I don't like the repeated use of "with." "With bright acidity and silky tannins" would read better. 

"The wine varietal" is awkward and vague. Are we talking about this particular wine or about the grape variety used? "Earthy aromas dominate this varietal" is vague again and the phrase suffers from the incorrect use of "varietal." Are we still talking about this wine or are we talking about the particular grapes used to make it or about the variety Pinot Noir in general?

"Including smells that bring a faint flora of Roses, Violets, and a slight smell of fruit." Well, I'm glad that the wine at least smells a little bit like fruit. That's welcome in a wine, but "smell" doesn't work very well here. Using "scent" would be better. 

"Flora" is the local plant life in a specific place. In medicine, "flora" refers to the bacterial population of the gut. I don't believe this wine will deliver to me a sampling of local roses and violets, faint or otherwise, and I hope the wine has nothing to do with intestinal bacterial growth. I think the writer means "faint scents of roses and violets". 

No need to capitalize "roses" or "violets." 

At the end, we are told  the wine "can be consumed on any occasion." Thanks for the permission. But I wonder if the writer has any opinion about recommended occasions? 

The very last bit leaves me wondering what wine-making process is being referred to and how it affects when and where it might be nice to consume this wine. 

Finally, "wine making" should be hyphenated, or even one word.  

Was this written by a chatbot?

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 267 (Santa Rosa)

A collage from last autumn. This is Untitled Collage No. 267 (Santa Rosa). Completed September 8, 2022. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 22.8 x 15.1cm (9.0 x 5.9in). Matted to 20 x 16 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

This was done as an experiment in reproducing an existing work (which I never do). One of my regular customers wanted to buy a piece that had already been sold and asked me to reproduce it (the second piece shown here). I didn't like the idea and to reproduce it exactly would have been impossible; all my collage work is unique, made from one-of-a-kind pieces of hand-printed papers, but I thought it might be interesting to use the basic composition as a springboard for something new. It's different, but I liked it well enough to keep it (in the end, my customer bought another piece altogether). This collage draws on the same compositional "bones," so to speak, as the first one (from April 2018). I've even toyed with the idea of doing an entire series of collages based on a single, underlying composition. We'll see....

Click on the images for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website at: http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ 

Miscellaneous: A Little Garden Project

A little garden project: I wanted to hide the air conditioner units behind the house from view, so I built a frame to surround them on three sides and added reed fencing. A modest improvement. It will look better when the new wood has weathered a little. Before and after photos.

 

Miscellaneous: Martin Amis

I was sorry to hear that Martin Amis died last week. He was only 73. He was one of my favorite modern authors. I especially enjoyed Money and Dead Babies. Strewn with flawed, tragic characters, the latter struck me as having an almost Shakespearean depth. RIP.

Plants I'm Growing: Peonies

Peonies and German irises were the centerpiece of my grandmother's garden in Dayton, Ohio – a garden that later, when I lived in the house, I was mostly responsible for taking care of. I've always associated these two flowers with her. When I moved to California (from Tokyo) 22 years ago now, I planted both. The irises do fine here, but peonies need a colder winter than we usually have in Santa Rosa. While the clump of peonies I put in always comes up in the spring, never has even a single bud appeared – until this year. Winter weather this year was cold enough for long enough that the peonies bloomed for the first time, after about 15 years. Four large, pink blossoms. 

Music I'm Listening To: Bruce Liu with the San Francisco Symphony

I attended the Friday, May 11 San Francisco Symphony Concert at Davies Symphony Hall. It was supposed to have featured Hilary Hahn playing the Brahms Violin Concerto, with guest conductor Rafael Payare, but Hahn canceled her appearances for an unspecified illness. While I hope she is OK and I wish her a speedy and complete recovery, it was a great disappointment. I heard her recently in recital (in March), but it's been many years since I've had the chance to hear her with a full orchestra. I was very much looking forward to the Brahms. 

Having said that, with only one exception in going on 15 years of attending SFS concerts, I've never been disappointed by artists unknown to me that they've brought in. Pianist Bruce Liu, who in 2021 won the 18th Chopin International Piano Competition, replaced Hahn, performing the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3. I had never heard of Liu, who now records with Deutsche Grammophon, or the guest conductor, Rafael Payare, but I enjoyed the concert, which opened with William Grant Still's Darker America, before the Beethoven. Intermission was followed by Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. Liu followed the concerto with a jazzy set of variations on Für Elise that had the audience giggling. He received a prolonged standing ovation. 

The conductor was a lot of fun to watch. Tall, thin, and with a great mop of hair that made him look a little top-heavy, he is about the most athletic conductor I've ever seen. He was virtually dancing on the podium. Despite all the activity, at times he would stand quite still, with his feet pressed together, stretched to his full height, gesturing grandly, letting only his upper body move, which made him look rather like one of those tubular plastic advertising figures animated from below by blasts of air that seem to live mostly on used car lots. By dwelling on his antics I don't mean to disparage his conducting. He got a very expressive, full-throated version of Heldenleben from the always-reliable SFS musicians. Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik was featured on the violin in the Strauss.  

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 266 (Santa Rosa)

A fairly recent collage. This is Untitled Collage No. 266 (Santa Rosa), done last summer (August 24, 2022). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size 30.0 x 41.4cm (12.0 x 15.8 inches). Matted to 20 x 24 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

Rain: The last of the season?

Since last reporting (but mostly on May 6) we have had yet more rain. Another 1.15 inches has accumulated in the rain gauge since then, but solid rain as late as May is fairly unusual for us and forecasts suggest the rain is mostly behind us for this rain year. That brings our total to 44.70 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa, which is substantially above the historical average of about 36 inches in Santa Rosa. I'm hoping the garden will need less supplemental watering than it often does and I expect to be able to completely dry farm the vineyard this year.