Southern California Contact

Ok, I am home at last.....Post Pasadena and a side trip to Northern California to visit family. I feel like the quintessential weary traveler. But must get back in the groove for the run up to Thanksgiving. Here's a few pics and I'll be adding more now that I am home. Met some amazing and inspiring illustrators thanks to Murray Tinkelman and the MFA Illustration Program. Carol did a great job keeping us all organized. The best was meeting up with everyone again. A truly talented and great group of fellow illustrators.
We took turns driving our rental car on the dreaded Los Angeles freeways--quite the experience. After that you pretty much feel like there's nothing you can't do....especially with GPS. Lots to see in Pasadena and LA but little time. Did get to the incredible Gamble House, Huntington Gardens, The Getty, Old Pasadena, and The Grove. Then it was on to San Francisco and a brief WOW trip to Sonoma and Napa Valley which I'll post about later. I'm experiencing a little overload and trying to debrief and process everything I saw and heard. Looking forward to diving into thesis work after Thanksgiving. Had a good meeting with Doug about the direction I'm going in.

Pasadena

Hmmm...Palm trees right about now might be nice. It's time for our contact period in Pasadena. Assignments, done. Still ruminating on thesis but am feeling good about what I want to do. They have told us though that our ideas will change a few times. Our jam-packed schedule includes visiting Dream Works Animation Studio, the studios of Greg Spalenka, Jon Han, Gary Meyer, Jeff Smith, Bill Robles, Scott Anderson, Erik Sandberg, Lon Levin, Kenton Nelson, Paul Rogers, the Getty Museum , Norton Simon Museum and hopefully Huntington Gardens as as well as the Gamble House and maybe the Arm and Hammer Museum where there is a Charles Burchfield exhibition including his "late greats".
Photo courtesy of Wikitravel. Will try to keep everyone updated on FB.

Rochester NY: Memorial Art Gallery, Maira Kalman Exhibit/The Elements of Style

Day trip to Rochester to see the Maira Kalman exhibit at the Memorial Art Gallery. Love Kalman's work. Unfortunately, no photos allowed, so here is the bookcover of The Elements of Style that she illustrated. You can get it here. The show was wonderful. All the illustrations were done in watercolor, gouache and were suprisingly small. The regional art exhibit was also up and was great, but again, no photos allowed. Most of my photos were of objects from their permanent collection. I was pretty impressed with the variety of time periods from Egyptian, Medieval, to Impressionist and some Asian Art as well. Lots of sculpture...loved the folk art too:) They also have a nice restaurant inside where we had lunch. Then it was over to the Eastman House, former home of George Eastman. Didn't have time to go inside so we just quickly wandered through the back and side gardens. Rochester is a really vibrant city, so much to do and see...definitely going back for more.

Lift Off

Ok, just finished with an extremely focused push on the assignments for Hartford. Whew! I'll be posting when I'm there. At least I promise to try:)... I am excited to see the graduating MFA's exhibit as a prelude for our class in a few years and am anxious to meet new compadres in art. We may be going to the Eric Carle Museum of the Picture Book Art in Amherst MA next Sunday. Meanwhile the garden is starting to top out with cherry tomatoes and garlicscapes that may be on the dinner menu here:) Here is a nice site for how to grill them. The garden has been wonderful primary source material for one of my projects...nothing like opening the back door and doing some research. So have a nice weekend.....and think happy thoughts for me:) Stay tuned.....

Day Trip to Skaneateles, NY

Day trip for R&R and inspiration.... Skaneateles is a great little town. This place exudes charm, quaintness, and has great shopping, a crystal clear lake, and great food (a la Sherwood Inn, award-winning Giverny at Mirbeau Inn and Spa, the Blue Water Grill, the famous Doug's Fish Fry, Joe's Pasta Garage, Johnny Angels, Chang Jiang, and the beloved Rosalie's Cucina) And this is just to name a few. We ate at Giverny at Mirbeau and it was amazing! The bread is
made onsite and the desserts are to die for (or rather from) The scenery while you wait is a Giverny inspired garden complete with bridge and koi pond sporting pink, yellow and white water lillies.....dreamy.

Road Trip

Road trip to Skaneateles, NY yesterday. Post tomorrow....stay tuned.

Barn Sale

Been reading the WOW book for Adobe Illustrator and wanted to try a few things. This image made by doing a live trace of a color photo then restricting the colors to 6. It has a similar effect to "cutout" which I like...





















There is a big barn sale coming up! MacKenzie-Childs in Aurora, NY on weekend of June 12-14! Fun road trip:) with out of town guests! What's the barn sale like? You can watch a video on their website:)

More Inspiration: NYC Views

NYC is always a much needed jolt of energy and it is always a study in contrasts. View from inside the Boathouse Restaurant in Central Park. You can take little boats out on the small lake and paddle around. These folks were getting a closeup view of the turtles sunning themselves on the rocks. Charming....all grist for the mill...

Out and About

*A day in the country, Brackney PA
*Sea Hag Soaps and Art Mercantile (postage stamp quilt)
*Visit to Art Gallery (Betty Bryden's Bird Collages) in Montrose, PA. Tom Canouse and Betty are owners of The Butternut Gallery and Second Story Books at 42 Church Street in Montrose. The gallery is open year round.
*Lunch at Summerhouse Grill featuring all local fresh food.

Montrose, Pennsylvania

Outing to Montrose, PA....more tomorrow....

San Francisco

I am back from a trip to San Francisco. What a vital city! The oval shaped striped building is the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) which has a great collection. A Paul Klee show opened on the day we left (darn) but there was still plenty of modern art to experience. It was wonderful to see flowers blooming everywhere from Fisherman's Wharf to the California Academy of Sciences. Especially loved the aquarium there and all those fanciful fish and of course the penguins were endearing! Also had an amazing take-your-breath-away day of looking at dramatic lanscape at Fort Funston, a state park with knockout views of the Pacific Ocean and dunes covered with ice plants in bloom. I did the sketch of a man sleeping? (with ipod) while traveling on a BART train to visit friends. I'll be posting more photos later.