Old Stencils from Greyhound Bus Depot

A while back my friend Bob was clearing his basement and found a load of old hand-cut signage stencils which had come from the Greyhound Bus Depot at the bottom of Potrero Hill - now the San Francisco campus for CCA. He handed them all over to me - naturally! I've been using them for a while but have only recently noticed the backsides of some of them. They have been cut out of old advertising panels. I love the interaction of the printed text and the reversed cut-out text. The top cut-out says "no steam cleaning in this section", and the lower one reads" keep out".

Thanks Bob!

San Francisco Skyline

For a couple of weeks now I've been aware that I needed to get an image of the San Francisco skyline to work into one of my paintings. I was even thinking I would arrange to come into the city from Marin on the ferry to get a good photograph. And then I had to go to the dentist. This is the view from the window of my dentist's 19th floor office - luckily I had my camera with me! The skyline is now on a painting in my studio. Come and see it at my Open Studio on 11th October. (More information will be posted nearer the time.)

Notes from New York - The High Line

I walked the length of the highline twice - once during the day and once at night. It has "grasslands"(shown above), trees, seating areas, sun decks - with rolling sunbeds on the old train tracks, and covered spaces as it takes you through old buildings. After dark the lighting makes it a completely different experience. At night my friends and I used it as a vantage point to watch the Fashion Week melee in the streets of the Meatpacking district below us.

Notes from New York - Show at Stricoff Fine Arts

It's amazing how much smaller my paintings look when they are in a gallery space. This is the view as you enter the Stricoff gallery. The opening was hopping! It happened to coincide with all the other start-of-the season art openings in Chelsea and the opening of New York Fashion Week which was happening in the nearby Meatpacking district. There were people everywhere, gallery included. I had a lot of fun!

New York - here I come!

I'm traveling to New York tomorrow to attend the opening of my show on 10th September. While I'm excited about my show, I'm really excited about being able to walk on the High Line which opened to the public in June 2009. The High Line is a new City Park built on an elevated 1930's freight rail structure on Manhattans West side. I've been aware of it for over 15 years since I saw an article about how tenants in adjacent buildings were climbing out of their windows onto the tracks and planting secret gardens above the Manhattan streets. At last I will be able to walk along it!
Check it out at: www.thehighline.org

Studio floor...

Don't you just love the lines painted on the floor of my studio! The building used to be the Best Foods factory (they made mayyonaise here) and the lines were for the fork-lift trucks. It feels like the urban environment has crept into my studio.

Wharves and Warehouses - New York show

My paintings have arrived in New York so I can now announce my upcoming solo show:

"Wharves and Warehouses"

10th - 22nd September.

Opening reception: Thursday September 10th 6-8pm

Stricoff Fine Art

564 W 25th Street, New York, NY 10001.

www.stricoff.com

Also, my wonderful friend Teresa has updated my website. Check it out:

www.catherinemackey.com

Thanks Teresa!