open studios

It's open studio season. Last weekend I showed my work at Hunters Point. Always intense, hauling 60 paintings over in a borrowed van (thanks Elmer and Annette), hanging down art down in the basement (thanks Ed), and meeting and greeting for two days. It's a rare chance to get direct input on my work. My favorite response this time was the woman who said, "Your paintings are of a world where hope exists." And the sweet couple who bought a painting for their wedding next week.

Sunday night, I enlisted another borrowed van and crew (thanks Mark, Brandon and Noah) and hauled 53 paintings over the Bay Bridge as it got dark. That sweet relief of the familiar cranes of the Port of Oakland welcoming me home.

Day after tomorrow it's a repeat performance, this time at the Hotel del Sol on Webster St. in SF. The stART up art fair will be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, noon to 7:00. If you missed one, you can do the other. This one is new for me: 50 artists in a vintage 1960's motel. I would love to see you there.

Reading in a Night Wood

Reading in a Night Wood
36"x48"
It's open studio season. I am transporting carloads of paintings to Hunters Point for the April 23-24 show. A week later I'll be at the stARTup Art Fair at the Hotel Del Sol, also in San Fransisco. But all  I really want to do in curl up with a good book.

Reunion

Reunion

I'm often asked to donate to charitable auctions. An organization that placed me in a teaching job in China years ago asked if I would give something to their fundraiser, so I took over this painting. A woman I know named Shirley bid on it and got it, and I delivered it to her one Sunday morning at church. She was on her way to choir, and I had to go teach a class, but when she said, "I need to tell you why I had to have this painting," I stopped in my tracks. I knew she had something to teach me about the painting that would change and deepen it for both of us. She unwrapped the painting and started to cry. "My mother died when I was eight years old. We weren't a demonstrative family, very Chinese. But someday we'll have a reunion like this..."