Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Summer Group Show

OFFSHORE @ Susan Street Fine Art
Exhibition Dates: July 17- September 14, 2008

Artists from around the country are brought together in OFFSHORE, a group exhibition characterizing the development of beach and surf-culture over the past seventy-five years.


Surf history is made timeless through the photographs of Tom Blake, Ron Church, Jeff Divine and Don James. These vintage silver gelatin, platinum and color prints preset moments in surf history. Encompassing the visual and conceptual aspects of surfing through photographs that range from the late 1930's to present day.

Joshua Jensen Nagle's captivating beach settings reveal a coastal romanticism. Nagle achieves an intriguing tone in his paintings by combining both photographic and painting mediums. In Nagle's experimental techniques he employs a toy-camera and expired Polaroid film achieving a timeless mood in his works.

Alex Weinstein's atmospheric paintings give the viewer an intimate sense of our powerful oceans. Like Turner, Weinstein abandons form and captures the movement of the waves through outlining light and color, allowing the viewer to swim into the piece.

Hobie- made surfboards bearing original works of fine art by Dianna Cohen, Wayne DeSelle, Salomon Emquies, Kymber Holt, Nicole Strasburg and Jodi Zellen, transform the California icon. These exquisite and unique boards are the ideal example of how fine art and surfing have merged to blossom into a credible art form.

Susan Street Fine Art Gallery
415 South Cedros, Suite 160
Solana Beach, California 92075
Phone: 858.793.4442

Saturday, July 26, 2008

California State Fair

Opening Thursday, August 14th is the Fine Art Exhibition at the California State Fair in Sacramento. It was only by luck that I stumbled onto this competition and had no idea it even existed. I thought the state fair focused more on livestock, rodeos, entertainment and craft. Silly me. Dear friends live not far from the city center of Sacramento and I decided to enter something big thinking I would drive it up and stay with them, delivering the big mother of paintings, if by chance it was accepted.

Well, of the three I submitted the five foot square painting was the one accepted into the show. We were told that 1470 works were submitted to the jury pool and of those 191 pieces were selected. Can I tell you I feel honored? It's wonderful.

My husband and I began planning the trip north for delivery and realized the expense of driving it wouldn't be much less than shipping due to the current outrageous gas prices here in California. At the time of receiving my letter of congratulations, one gallon topped $4.75 (it has dropped now to $4.29 Oh boy). We decided it might be best to ship considering we may drive up for the reception or, at the very least, to pick up the painting if it doesn't sell during the show.

I will spare you all the details of figuring out who would take an item considered an "extraordinary object" and ship the crate for us. For me, it was a gut wrenching few days worrying over the piece getting there in time and in one piece.

Bill, the super hero, built an amazing crate for the beloved painting, Sentinel 02.


He spent a morning putting it together and making sure that it was snug and well protected in the box.

We used a 3/8" plywood for the front and back with a 1x4" piece to border the edges. I cut up some egg crate to put in the bottom to hold the painting in place.



I wrapped the painting in heavy plastic and made a sturdy cardboard cover for the front and corners of the painting.

We set the painting in the box and then used a foam pipe insulation tubing to surround the painting and keep it from slipping inside the box. I also put another large piece of egg crate down on top so that when the plywood cover was sealed the foam would add another cushion and prevent sliding.

Here it is being labeled and readied for pick up, all 151 pounds of it, 66"x 66"x 5" finished size. It's a biggun.

It had to be at the exhibition by July 11th for installation and judging. A gal pal, Teresa Zepeda, living in Sacramento, who is also in the show, assured me that it arrived safely (FedEx Express was so kind to deliver it) and looked great. Phew.

I truly am honored to be in the show but I think the relief of it being there safely in the hands of the exhibition committee is the stronger of my two emotions.

California State Fair
August 15th though September 1, 2008

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Fan Club

I received this very sweet email this morning from an anonymous admirer:

"I came across your web site by accident, looking for screen print info. Just wanted to say what a joyful, pleasant surprise. Thanks for the info, the links, the site... for just being."

Braxton, whoever you are, thank you. You made my day and it is so very appreciated. Thanks for making the effort to sprinkle your fairydust in my inbox. I will smile often thinking of it.

Sincerely.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

How amazing... get out your hankies

Jill Bolte Taylor speaking at the TED conference in Monterey. Incredible and not to be missed. Thank you Molly for the recommendation!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Returning to normal

Life seems to be slowing back down to normal speed after the big fire scare that was last week. One week ago today, friends and family were loading cars and preparing for evacuation notification. Thanks to all the people fighting the fire, no one was hurt and no homes were lost. The fire is not completely contained but it has been downgraded from top priority in the state. It has moved west into the big open forest lands and is slowing down due to better weather conditions and the unrelenting pursuit of the fire crews. We have been blessed.

This week feels normal, yet my mornings have been spent cleaning off the ash from every surface and wading through the piles on my desk that went ignored while locked in the house, hidden away from the bad air quality and floating debri.

The night of the first evacuations was the opening reception to the Santa Barbara Printmakers show at Studio 3 East in downtown Santa Barbara. It was celebrated during the First Thursday events which is put on by the Downtown Organization every month. Images of the show are posted on the Printmakers blog if you can't make it to the gallery. It's a beautiful show, 35 of our 100 members are participating and the gallery is a beautiful place to view artwork. They are located at 3 East De La Guerra in the heart of downtown. It's definitely worth the visit.

Monday, July 7, 2008

More on the fire

Here are great links to check on the progress of the fire:

Local news coverage at the Independent
Fire maps and awesome pictures at Edhat

Friday, July 4, 2008

Fire Update


Find the best news and updates regarding the fire online at our local Santa Barbara Independent. Sundowner winds were extreme last night making many evacuations necessary in the local foothills. Ash and smoke fill the air in Goleta and the vision of the hills on fire is frighteningly beautiful. As it grows dark in the evenings, perception becomes distorted and everything seems so much closer, as if the fire had come right down onto the town. There continues to be intermittent power outages, mostly in the evenings when the wind fuels the flames which then reach the overstretching power lines.

As of yesterday, the Goleta fire is the number one priority in the state due to the risk and proximity to our community. It's incredible that only a few accessory structures and vehicles have burned, there are no injuries or lost homes. We are all praying that the winds subside so that the fire crews can do their jobs. Thank you to everyone sending good thoughts our way. Thank you to SCE for keeping us all plugged in, for the crews working tirelessly fighting the flames, to the news crews sending out the information we need. Blessings and stay safe.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Goleta Fire



Holding our breath out here in the Goodland... hoping the winds cooperate with the fire crews so that they can control the blaze. It's scary and too close for comfort. Bless those firemen!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Growing Babes

From this....

To THIS! in 2 months! Holy Cow.
Looks like they've been put on a stretching machine, growth pills, something!

Oh... they're not babies any more. *sniff sniff*
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