December art at the Morris Graves' Humboldt Artist Gallery

Celebrating the winter solstice I am showing a glacier topped mountain and a Blue Lucia for you to see at the Humboldt Artist Gallery, downstairs at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka.

The mountain is the famous sugarcane volcano, Snaefellsjoekull on Iceland that Jules Verne used as setting for his fantasy "Journey to the Center of the Earth." I hiked to the foot of the mountain and made four watercolor sketches. It is a three registration oil monotype, 22" x 30".

The other original is a Blue Lucia, Swedish winter solstice celebrant, who is inspired by a photo of my mother at the age of one. She is at the photographer's in her eyelet dress and small boots, standing on a bench made of unbarked birch branches. Adorable!

In the print stand you will find a few Lucia art prints, butterflies, landscapes, and figures. On the counter there are ten Lucia greeting cards. I'll hang new original art each month, as well as fine art prints and a small selection of greeting cards. Once a month I will be in charge of the gallery. I'll post the time on Facebook. Come by and see me! I can show you the art and I'll also give introductions to painting on the iPad. Bring your own iPad if you have one.

Some of the other members of the Humboldt Artist Gallery are Joyce Jonté, Jim Lawry, Frances Kuta, Gary Todoroff, Linnea Tobias, Candy Miller, Julia Bednar and more.

Humboldt Gallery at the Morris Graves, New Art for Novemeber, Ruska - Dusky Moth, Lucias from Dalarna & Cycling Lucias.

The Finns have a succinct word for fall colors: RUSKA - to me it conjures up flaming birches and aspens, as well as the spicy fragrance and crispy sounds of autumnal forests. My Dusky Moth, that you can see during November in the downstairs Humboldt Gallery at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, is a celebration of ruska.

I will also show two of my Cycling Lucias - Look Ma No Hands featured here - a limited series of fine art prints on archival hemp papers. I created these as a friendly wink to my husband and his cycling friends the Latte Warriors. :-) In the art bin you will find art prints on hemp paper of my original series of Lucias - mixed media paintings - these quote from the folkloric Swedish province of Dalarna, home to well known artists Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn. Note the floral "curbits" and the images of painted horses, "dalahäst".

These light-hearted pieces provide me a nostalgic solstice journey to the old country.

I am pleased to be included in the Humboldt Gallery at the Morris Graves as it gives me an exquisite permanent space to show my art here on the North Coast. Be sure to stop by during Arts Alive! on the fist Saturday of each month - from 6 to 9 p.m. The next art walk is on November 5. See you there!

I am about to embark on a new series of Lucia paintings. Follow me on this blog to be the first to see them!

Occupy MOMA? The Modern Museums of Art are my homes in large cities.

When recently in NYC I wanted to go to the Brooklyn bridge and paint the Occupy Wall Street protesters on my mobile art device - iPad - but did not find the time. I am feeling sympathy for the protest. I too worry about the skewed income distribution and the disregard for the public good, and the short sightedness of policies. I've come to the conclusion that only countries in which there is a general agreement to pool resources, in the form of taxes, for the common good, will function well in the long run. And, that the tax collection has to work well too - and not just for middle income salary-earners whose incomes are transparent and easily taxed.

But I find myself unhappy about my beloved MoMA being occupied!

When I was a student in Stockholm I spent as much time as possible at the Modern Museum of Art on Skeppsholmen, enthusiastically participating in all the avant grade activities. Pontus Hulten, who later headed the Centre Pompidou in Paris, was in charge. His mother, renown artist, Siri Derkert embellished one of the new subway stations. I remember walking through Niki de Saint Phalle's She, the arrival of op, and pop and all the other iconoclastic trends - those were exiting days. I seldom miss visiting the SFMOMA when in the City. A couple of years ago I discovered a series of transfer drawings by Paul Klee, which inspired me to pursue this technique used in my Cycling Lucia series.

When in NYC during first weekend of October, I made for MoMA my first day there. Had a lovely, expensive lunch then joined the large crowds checking out de Kooning: A Retrospective, and ended the visit by sitting down and making an homage to de Kooning on my iPad.

Here's an article about the protest at the MoMA. What do you think of this development? Are our large art institutions elitist? Do they exclude people? While a student in Stockholm I had very inexpensive access to all our museums and theaters, including the nose bleed section of the opera. Our beloved Ingmar Bergman had a say in this policy.

Images: "Smiling Cycling Lucia", transfer drawing; "Ripping off de Kooning at the MoMA", iPad painting, both by me; "She" by Niki de Saint Phalle - a walk though sculpture large as a room!

If you see this on facebook, Linkedin, or Twitter, consider becoming a follower of my blog. Also, I would love to learn more about you. Please feel free to make comments!

2 fab JAZZ links: Monterey Jazz Festival, Redwoods Jazz Alliance

I have decided to add links to my favorite jazz sites starting with the The Monterey Jazz Festival. I have a new series of live paintings from this years festival which was the 54th. The link covers this one and shows what's being planned for the 55th in 2012.

I am also linking to our wonderful local Jazz organization: The Redwoods Jazz Alliance. The next performance will be with great drummer Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom. We have seen her with Dr. Lonnie Smith at the Monterey Jazz festival, and are very much looking forward to having her on our home turf at HSU on Sunday Oct. 30. I hope capture her on my iPad.

Here two live iPad paintings of jazz drummers: Justin Brown with the Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet, (red background) and Michael Formanek's Gerald Cleaver.

Stanford MBA '76 35th REUNION ART EXHIBIT

Participating artists: Seth Fearey: photos from the Kyrqyz Republic Pat Jones: landscapes and still life in oil, Avner Mandelman, oil and mixed media paintings shown a digital images, Claire Iris Schencke: oil monotypes and iPad paintings as signed limited series prints.

Here's an short video of my presentation of the art exhibit. Gordon, who had a great time at the reunion, made it on his iPhone.

Sunday, last day at the Monterey Jazz Festival, iPad paintings of SONNY ROLLINS and others. Beautiful ending!

By the time Sunday came along I felt confident that I could paint on my iPad all over the sprawling Monterey Fairgrounds. After another indian meal, this time with a hot chai, I parked myself in the shade on the left hand side in the very front of the Garden Stage. Shade is needed for the iPad. The luminous touch screen is highly reflective. Tia Fuller was a very nice surprise. She was so happy to be there, and I was so happy to paint her pretty figure.

Steve Coleman and Five Elements followed and put me in a sweet mood as I let the music guide my strokes on the iPad.

The evening ended with a love fest, as big, red shirted Sonny Rollins, now in his mid eighties showed us that he was still the man. He took us out with his long and powerful rendition of Saint Thomas, his famous calypso influenced jazz. He pumped the air with his fist and he stood his ground. It feels damn good to have captured him on the iPad.

I am posting a detail of the Sonny Rollins image. Saving the whole piece for a special occasion!

Saturday at the 54th Monterey Jazz Festival: iPad paintings during live performances

I wandered over in the late afternoon, had a lamb curry with mango lassi and lingered with the Dumpstaphunk New Orleans sound in the warm sunshine. Having the MJF app on my phone and iPad was handy for figuring out what was happening where. One of the tough aspects of the festival is having to forgo so many potentially great acts. Can't be at more than one place at a time - more so if you want a front row seat and stay long enough to execute a painting. On Saturday I knew I wanted to see the pianist Geri Allen perform with the tap dancer Maurice Chestnut: Geri Allen & Timeline "A Jazz Tap Tribute to Sammy Davis Jr". And I did not want to miss Herbie Hancock, both events taking place at the big outdoors arena, the Jimmy Lyons Stage. I got there early and took a seat at the front, hoping no one would claim it....and went to work, cheered on by a couple of ushers. Painting in layers I started with the stage, struggled to add Geri Allen as she flicked back and forth in the giant screen above the stage, then drew in the shadowy audience in the coveted orchestra seats, and found a way to add the constantly moving marionette - like tap dancer. Such intense focus - that I nearly fell off the seat when its rightful owner showed up. Moved a couple of seats over and finished as the set finished. I loved the piano, and the tap dancing, and the visuals were compelling. And, having had such misgivings about painting in the big arena, I was happy to find out I could.

Herbie Hancock is one of my all-time favorites. On this painting he appears as a very small guy with his white portable keyboard. And tiny Herbie is multiplied on the overhead big screen. Just a fantasy! Herbie was painted from our regular seat in row G.