I often get this phrase as an excuse or reason for people who love my work but don’t want to buy one. So, for those fans with full walls, you can get my images on mugs, rugs and tshirts. At for the next couple weeks I have a 35% off coupon for Society6.com.
THIS is my page on Society6 and THIS is the promo link.
And if you wanted something a little more unique, I realize I did not post my monthly newsletter with my latest experiment.
I started working with Sm’Art gallery I think 3 years ago, maybe 4. It was a strange start. I received a cold-call email that sounded good, not the usual scam stuff, but the attachment wouldn’t open. After some thought I replied. It was a real offer, Alana had managed to have an email blast sent to the local attendees of ‘Art under the umbrellas’ show.
I signed up for the co-op gallery – we share the rent and working in the gallery. I have made many good contacts and friends over the years, taught a lot of classes (Alana was instrumental in the design of the ‘Painting for Absolute Beginners’ class and the contact that let to a season of intermediate classes, the contents of which become follow on exercises for ‘Absolute Beginners’.
At the end of October, Alana decided to close the gallery. A combination of factors came together at the end of the lease and we had our final evening. Here are a couple photos from the first 20 minutes before the crowd got there.
Just getting set up. Holly had created some ‘Day of the Dead’ paintings.
Sitting around chatting. We did quite a bit of business that night, especially Janice – who is the one with the gray shirt, on her device.
For various reasons I do a lot of trips to the east end of the Coachella Valley. Shows in Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta and the studio I work with in La Quinta. I take Highway 86 north until just past county line and then turn off and go through the fields. The route is a pleasant drive in the country through fields of various crops and citrus and palm groves.
The drive home is equally pleasant, but one highlight for me is the concept that from that area, directions to my house include the instruction ‘Turn right at the tinsel bicycle’.
It has gathered more tinsel over the years. I don’t know why it’s there. Art or memorial? No clue.
I had heard that Bombay Beach is such a close-knit community, it’s one of the last places that you can let your kid run the streets in safety, but I had not realized it was becoming such an artists’ community. I guess they reach out to LA artists more than local ones…..
Here’s the full article on the Palm Springs Life website.
I awoke to a cloudy sky. There had been a forecast of possible overnight rain, and I had put a tarp over my painting, though it was not big enough and I could only tarp about 60% of the finished part. As I was starting to get ready to leave, it started to rain. There wasn’t any time in which to hurry any faster. It rained a little as I drove the 40 miles to Indio. When I got there, Mamun (the city planner) was walking out to the parking lot. He said to me ‘It rained hard here overnight, it’s a disaster, it’s all gone.’ $%&#$%^. Then he confessed he was joking. $%&#$%^, Mamun!
We did have some sprinkles during the day, much of the morning I had most of my work tarped, even under the canopy. It cleared up in the afternoon, though there is still a forecast of rain overnight. Here’s the progress.
Some clouds and a bit of space going in.
All the sky is done now.
Here come the clouds – in more ways than one.
I’m hiding it from the rain here, some is blowing in under the canopy.
Space is finished, now to add space objects.
All done except for those cracks I found I can fill with chalk easily
Some of the crowds, some of the clouds. It actually got a lot** busier than this, but I was busy at that time.
Totally finished. “The artist as part of the environment”. 8’x8′, chalk on blacktop.
Let’s go check out some of the competition.
Competitor 1
Competitor 2
Competitor 3
Competitor 4
Competitor 5
Competitor 6
Competitor 7
Competitor 8
Judging is at noon tomorrow, but we have to be done by 10am.
There are indeed many many murals in the Coachella Valley. (6 traffic boxes are mine!) Here’s an invitation from the Palm Springs Life magazine to go looking for them.
A couple with a home in Borrego Springs had an interest in doing a round-the-Salton-Sea tour with a local, getting introduced to all those funky places the locals know about. I was their natural choice. (They’re also clients…)
The prior couple of days we’d had some rockin high temps – 122 and 1% humidity. But on the day – June 21st, we saw the expected drop in temperature and were blessed with clouds.
Lois enjoying the clouds at the ‘beach’ near my house. Some nice fat cumulus, a little virga and some crepuscular rays.
Doug at my ‘Reflecting Pool’. As it were…..
Compare it with the same scene 10 years ago.
Someone got stuck in Box Canyon. I’m sure this was a Monte Carlo, I used to drive one long ago.
The Albert Frey building that is the North Shore Yacht Club still has a beautiful backdrop.
Lois and Bob were comparing this grotto at Salvation Mountain with some shrines they’ve seen in South East Asia. The same feeling!
The ‘back alley’ at Salvation Mountain is a riot of color.
We found nice shade under the ‘bridge to nowhere’. We stepped out of that shade for the photo. It was about 100 F at this point.
Trailer at Salvation Mountain. Perhaps this was Leonard Knight’s former home.
Next stop was the East Jesus Sculpture Garden. Upcycling at it’s finest.
One of the stops you don’t get on your average tour – the green water lagoon. By now it was 106 F so we declined any further stops that involved getting out of the truck.
Skyscapes for the Soul - Jeni Bate 