Zip Code 94109

Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason. Pencil crayon on paper. 17" x 14"

I'm taking part in a fun project with Studio Gallery in San Francisco where invited artists have one week to create art inspired by anything within the borders of zip code 94109. And this is the week!
Because the area extends as far as the water I headed off to Fort Mason yesterday to catch the shadows on the doors of the piers. The wind was gusting so I only managed this one piece on paper but will be working on another small piece in my studio during the week.

Show: May 26th - June 9th

Opening reception: Sunday June 2nd: 2-6pm.

Location: Studio Gallery. 1850 Polk St, San Francisco

 

 

 

 

Map Making - Pier Retrospective

First stage of the map in my studio. May 22nd 2013

In the last three years I have done many paintings and sketches of the piers along the San Francisco waterfront. As much time as I have spent wandering the Embarcadero, China Basin and Mission Rock I still have problems remembering the numbers of the piers and where certain photographs were taken.
 
So yesterday I started creating a map using Google satellite images. I'm not sure what's going to happen next but I know I want to incorporate sketches, images of paintings, and notes, perhaps with push pins and pieces of string to link them to the inspirational location on the map. Very analog!

My only concern is that at the current scale The Ramp is going to end up on the floor!

More Wheels

My painting "Mission Wheels" (see posting from April 17th) received a lot of attention at my Open Studios last month. One comment overheard many times was that, at three feet by six feet, it was too big for the average urban dweller. I had so much fun painting it that I saw this as a great excuse to paint some smaller versions.

Here they are, just finished:

Mission Wheels #2  36" x 36"

Mission Wheels #3  36" x 36"

 

Childhood Memories

Sixteen years ago I came to the States from the UK. My arrival in a new place, many miles from my family and everything I knew, stirred up memories of my early childhood.

I decided to try my hand at painting. I had always sketched, mostly for my work in architectural offices where drawings had to accurately convey a design proposal. As soon as I had learned to recognize one end of a paint tube from the other, I started to paint my memories on small wooden panels.

My family lived in a large tumble-down house in the countryside with another family. There wasn't much money but there were eight (yes eight!) other children to play with and three acres of overgrown land in which to conduct our adventures.

Looking back from this distance it is clear that these paintings were helping me to reaffirm my identity in a place where I had no connections, friends, or history. I discovered them in the back of a closet today while spring-cleaning.

Into the orchard. 12" x 12"

 Underground air-raid shelter. 12" x 12"

The "toyshed" (A Victorian wash-house). 12" x 12"

Uncle Doug's pig in the stables. 12' x 12"

The Hedge-sparrow's nest. 12" x 12"

Chasing a snake through the nettles. 12" x 12"

Spying on Mum in the kitchen. 12" x 12"

Wasp's nest in the wall by the tennis court. 12" x 12"

The dovecote that Dad built. 12" x 12"