Bergamot Station, Santa Monica

The Roaming Leo the Lion is back with a new shoulder and prowling around galleries and museums.  After getting a good report from the MD in Santa Monica, I roamed into the Bergamot Station with its array of galleries.  My most exciting find was the William Turner Gallery with its paintings by Carole Bayer Sager  The singer and song writer now paints.  She hired a painting coach, built a studio on her home that she shares with husband Bob Daly and creates amazing paintings that are being bought by the big names in Hollywood.

As a girl growing up in New York she was evidently a little plump so her mother wouldn't let her eat junk food.  At age 65 she is enjoying painting junk food and we drool with out any calories.  Take a look at her creations.

"What's Left Behind"

"Kid's Delight"

"Popping"

"Snacks"

"Meltdown"

"Darling Corn"

"Drippy", oil on linen, 48" x 48", $30,000 Sold
peanut butter and jelly delight....makes me hungry

Early morning at the Rose Parade on 1/1/2013

We were treated to an early morning walk around the floats and a fun view of the parade.  Love those BANDS!  I am partial to the Tuba players of course.

The moon shining over the Indonesian Float

The Korean War Veterans were remembered solemnly

A Hero

Hero dogs were also recognized...one was missing a leg.

Another float with many dogs and cats awaiting adoption

Weekend at Point Loma with Penny and Tom

We were guests of Penny and Tom in the Point Loma area of San Diego.  A new discovery for us was Liberty Station which is a redevelopment of a former Naval Station with dozens of restored Spanish styled buildings that use to house Sailors and Marines during training now sporting new trendy restaurants, arts, wine bars, and even Ace Hardware along with beautiful park areas which were formerly parade grounds.  You could almost hear the thousands of service people marching in cadence.  We particularly enjoyed the quilting society show and the works of the water color artists.  Here are a few of my favorites:

"Growth Factor" by Betty Busby of Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Inspired by microphotographs of plan cells done with Silk and Evolon which is photoshop manipulated images, printed and appliqued.

"Sentinels" by Denise Oyama Miller of Fremont, CA.  She is drawn to trees with their various shapes, colors and patterns.  This was done with cotton fabric, fusible material, and acrylic paint with machine quilting.

"Solace" by Mary B. Pal of Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Using only cheese cloth manipulated with glue and stitched to fabric and machine stitched, she invites the viewer to look beyond the surface of the work to the stories within.

This watercolor by Robin Erickson is entitled "Protesting Braceros, Guanajuato."

"The Souk in Rabat" is by Jane Riles

Christmas in Pacific Grove

We escaped with Ginny and Lars to the Monterey Peninsula for Christmas.  Good eating, wine from the Highlands, and quality time with family.  Here are some pictures of the beautiful area and the outstanding aquarium.

A stroll along the Pacific Grove shore...Santa Cruz  across the Monterey Bay

Naping Seals on the Beach

Sardines having a group lunch

The big guys being served lunch by a diver

That's not sea weed, it is a leafy sea horse

Lars at Spanish Bay

Colleen along the 17 mile drive

The lone Cypress

Lars, Ginny and Colleen at Pebble Beach

The 18th Green at Pebble Beach

Disney Hall Weekend

On Saturday, Colleen and I met her local sisters and family at the Disney Hall for a Festival of Carols by the L.A. Master Chorale.  The venue was decorated with Poinsettia flowers and the 67 member Chorale were formally dressed.  They were led by conductor Grant Gershon and accompanied on some songs by Lisa Edwards and Shawn Kirchner on the piano and John West on the giant pipe organ.  Shawn arranged many of the songs.

My favorites were "One Sweet Little Baby" by Glenn McClure and arranged by Kirchner, "Glory, Glory, Glory to the Newborn King" by Moses Hogan with a solo by Caroline McKenzie, and "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" arranged by Kirchner with Doug Masek on the saxophone.  The last one reminded me of my high school chorus days under the direction of our teacher, Ruth Rickards, who had to corral us wild teens.

We returned on Sunday to celebrate Zubin Mehta's 50th anniversary as the conductor of the L.A. Phil.  In 1962.  In November of that year, Mehta conducted his first program as Music Director of the L.A. Phil and that concert was repeated this weekend.  He remained in that position until 1978.

The program was Mozart's Overture to Don Giovanni, Hindemith's Symphony Mathis der Maler, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 7 in D minor.  The orchestra started small with the Mozart and grew.  The full orchestra performed the 40 minute Dvorak Symphony which included important parts by Ariana Ghetz, the oboe player, the horns, and of course all the strings.  In the middle there was a lively waltz to sway back and forth.

Thank you Zubin Mehta.  We last enjoyed his leadership in a 2004 Beethoven's 9th (Ode to Joy) will all the trimmings.  Twas a great weekend of music.  How great it is to be in L.A.!

Returning to LACMA on a Tuesday

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has a seemingly infinite collection of delights that I find a new each time I roam in the doors.  Today, I stumbled into the modern paintings from the 20th Century.  I went to visit my favorite George Braque's " Boats on the Beach," 1906.  It is from the Fauvism era meaning in the style of les Fauves (French for 'the wild beasts').  The movement was led by Henri Matisse and Andre Derain.  The paintings of the Fauves were characterized by wild brush work and strident colors.  I love the explosion of color of the Fauves and especially this painting by Braque.  He went on to work closely with Pablo Picasso in the development of Cubism.

Georges Braque, France, 1882-1963 "Boats on the Beach," 1906

I found this great Richard Diebenkorn painting "Freeway and Aqueduct," 1957.  He painted this while living in the Bay Area in the 1960's and a part of the Bay Area Figuration which was conceived as a reaction against abstract expressionism.  The painters used a representative style in order to experiment with shape, color and texture.  Diebenkorn later moved to the Ocean Park neighborhood of  Santa Monica where he painted shapes based on aerial landscapes as seen near his studio for 20 years.

John Baldessari, born in 1931, painted this "Double Bill (Part2):...and Grosz," 2012.

"Portrait of Sebastian Juner Vidal," 1903 by Pablo Picasso, Spain, 1881-1973
This painting was done during Picasso's Blue Period (1901-04) and shows his loneliness and sadness.

"

Henri Matisse, France 1869-1954, "Tea" 1919
The garden scene depicts Matisse's model and his daughter and dog outside his home near Paris shows his interaction of  pattern and color.

I wanted to call this my portrait, but it was painted in 1631 by Jan Lievens from the Netherlands, 1607-1674 entitled
"A Philosopher"
Lievens uses a strong shaft of light to focus on the elder scholar seated at his desk behind a stack of books.  The style of painting suggests the influence of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio who had recently returned to Utrecht from Rome.

George Segal, 1924-2000 U.S. "Old Woman at the Window," 1965
In the background is John Mason's "Red X," 1966.  John was born in 1927 in the U.S.  It is made of clay with a bright red glaze.

 A wonderful docent talked about this painting and all the activity on the beach in the Netherlands in 1646.  The painting is entitled "View of the Beach" by Simon de Vlieger, Netherlands, 1600-1653

Claes Oldenbury, Sweden, born 1929, active in the U.S. "Giant Pool Balls," 1967
Robert Gober's "Single Basin Sink,"1985.  Robert was born in the U.S. in 1954.
John McLauglin's "#26," painting 1961 .  John lived in the U.S from 1898 to 1976

Friend Family at the Sacramento Marathon

Colleen and I traveled to Sacramento to cheer her family members who ran in the Sacramento Marathon last weekend.  Of course it rained cats and dogs...but they all finished...and raised money for the Noreen Fraser Foundation for cancer research. 

The night before in their Noreen Fraser Foundation Shirts

After:  The Wet and Happy Runners with their medals.
Bill and Billy Friend, Michael LaRocca, Noreen Friend Fraser, Patrick Friend, Cooper Friend Tighe, Danny Hutchison