Mosaic stairway in San Francisco

San Francisco has many famed stairways, like the Filbert Street steps, which is probably to be expected in a city this hilly.  In the Golden Gate Heights neighborhood on the west side of the city, there’s a beautiful mosaic stairway created as a community art project.  Located on 16th Avenue, the staircase has over 160 steps.

From the ocean to the sky…

Detail of a step

The sun and the moon sections at the top are my favorite parts.

As a reward for climbing up, at the top are beautiful views of the city.  On a clear day, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge to the north.

The big strip of trees in this photo is Golden Gate Park.

And you can see straight down to the ocean.  There are islands out there, believe it or not.  You just can’t see them very often.

Grand View Park is at the top and also offers amazing views of the city.

The stairway is in a residential area and along with the park, is a fun way to spend a couple of hours and watch the sunset.

Happy Valentine’s!

Hello and Happy Valentine's Day!  I'm so excited that it is a three-day weekend.  I am definitely looking forward to relaxing and spending some time with friends.

  Source

Here's some favorite links over the past couple of weeks.

I need to go see this beautiful art installation at Grace Cathedral.

This DIY marquee letter tutorial by Grey Likes Nesting, found via Design is Mine.

Beautiful antique valentine and its story at the National Museum of American History.

 An invigorating citrus mint sugar scrub on Rue Rococo.

5 hangups to ditch by The Fete Blog.  The keeping score and your proportions hangups really spoke to me

 I am crazy for wombats.  This video makes my heart explode.

 Another great post by the National Museum of American History, this time on love tokens.

 Have a wonderful Valentine's Day and holiday weekend!

Impressionism exhibit

I just had the chance to see the Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musee d'Orsay exhibit at the De Young museum.  It was spectacular!  I have to admit that I never studied art and don't know too much about it, but I have always loved many Impressionist pieces so I was super excited to go see this exhibit.   It was a really big collection and in the beginning, it was organized by painter: Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, etc.   There was also a large section from the Pont Aven school. 

Two of the highlights for me were seeing Starry Night Over the Rhone by van Gogh

and a few different pointilist paintings by Seurat and Signac.   It was amazing to see the detail in person. 

Of course, a lot of people know A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Seurat because it was in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which is admittedly where I first saw it too!  It wasn't at this exhibit, but I did get a chance to see it in Chicago a few years ago and it's what I know best by him.

Pretty much everyone was leaning over the barriers to be able to see the details better, including me! I would definitely go back to see everything again and since it doesn't close for over a month, I am sure I will.  It was incredibly crowded, but well worth it.

I also went to see the Japanesque exhibit, which is in conjunction with the bigger Impressionism exhibit. The Japanesque exhibit shows how Japanese prints influenced the impressionist movement.   I've seen a lot of Hiroshige and Hokusai prints in my day, but this was a beautiful collection of those artists plus others.  What made it great, however, was seeing the Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower by Henri Riviere at the end.  They showed Hokusai's Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji and how it influenced Riviere.   The views show the tower being built, as well as views from various angles in Paris, sometimes only the very tiniest part of the tower being seen.  I think I may have to go back and get the book!

Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the exhibits, but I did wander around the permanent collections and found some other beauties.

Henry Benbridge
Mrs. Robert Shewell, Jr. (Sarah Boyer Shewell), circa 1775

Edmund Charles Tarbell

The Blue Veil, 1899

Charles Courtney Curran

Afternoon in the Cluny Garden, 1889

Thomas Dewing

Elizabeth Platt Jencks, 1895

More lomo pics

I wanted to share a few more of my favorite lomo pics that I took the other day

At Union Square – the "Hearts in San Francisco" were created for a public art campaign a few years ago. Tony Bennett painted this one.

 

 

I took these at Justin Herman Plaza on the Embarcadero.  I like the top one much better.  I'll have to remember to try for angles more!
 

Revised collage

I have been having spotty dsl coverage for the last week, so before it disappears again, I thought I would share my second try at the house collage I made for the Petite Maison Blanc event earlier this year.  I had never been quite happy with what I had made, probably because it was my first time trying anything like it and I wasn't prepared with the right materials that I wanted to work with.  So, last weekend, I gave it another try and I think it turned out much better!

The photo is of my grandparents on my mother's side, who were born in Hawaii as second generation Okinawan immigrants.  They worked in the sugar cane fields for many years and never moved away from Hawaii.  

My first attempt….

I always kind of liked the background, which was kind of like a sunset, but the French papers and everything didn't work well, but I hadn't brought anything else down to the class with me to use.

My latest attempt…

The origami papers seem like a better match and I tried to paint it a bit like sand for the background.

I found a great collage sheet with plantation workers to use.  Maybe someday I'll try handcoloring some too.

It still feels unfinished, so if you have any constructive criticism and suggestions, let me know.  I'm not quite sure what to add next, but I think it needs a bit more.  I'm still so new to this whole type of paper arts!

Now, it's back to trying to catch up on email and other internet things while I still can!

Perfumed locket class

I just signed up to take a class on making a beautiful perfumed locket!

The class is being taught by Barbe Saint John and is coming up soon on July 12th!  I'm so excited, even though I will have to drag my butt all the way across the Bay!  I think there's still a couple of spaces available, so go here for more info and to sign up.

La Petite Maison Blanc wrapup

I am finally back and settled in after my quickie whirlwind trip down to LA to attend Saturday's La Petite Maison Blanc workshops.  It was a day filled with incredibly impressive art and lots of eye candy.   Warning – lots of pictures ahead!

Friday night there was a make and take event with Candice Carpenter at Paris to the Moon, which is way out in Costa Mesa.  Luckily for me, a lovely woman named Christine Rose Elle (who, incidentally makes gorgeous jewelry and art), offered to give me a ride out there.   I have been reading her blog and admiring her work for some time now and it was nice to get a chance to meet her and get to know her a bit!  The party was from 6:30-8:30 and was about 50ish miles from my hotel.  Christine had said she wanted to pick me up at 4 to make it there by 6:30 and that sounded too early to me, but I totally agreed because she definitely knows the traffic down there better than I do, and sure enough, it took 2 hours and 15 minutes to go 50 miles!  I couldn't believe it!  Still, it was well worth the time to get out there. 

Paris to the Moon,  which had this adorable window


is a fantastic store!  Anyway, Candice did a fun make and take outside of the shop, while the other attendees shopped and had delicious refreshments – the best punch I have ever had, moon pies, cotton candy, veggie pita things and quiches.  Yum!

I had read  great things about Paris to the Moon before on other blogs, so I was happy when Christine had offered to give me a ride out there.  I was not disappointed because the store was filled from floor to ceiling and every place in between with the most amazing little things!

Here's an idea of what is inside…


Each section is divided into themes – fairy land, etc.  It was fantastic!

Sadly, I ended up not buying very much because everything I wanted was either really heavy or really breakable and I didn't want to have to haul it back up in my carryon.  But, I did get



The spoon is an absinthe spoon. I love art nouveau inspired things, so I picked up the posters postcard book as well.  Next time – or when they get their online ordering finished – I'll be sure to buy some more.

On Saturday morning I had delicious banana pecan pancakes from Fiddlers Bistro next to my hotel and then headed over.  Since this was my first art workshop, I didn't really know what to expect, but the host, Kim was super friendly and remembered that I came down from San Francisco when I introduced myself.  Even though she must have been in manic event mode in her head, she was really gracious and nice.

When I walked in the door, this sign welcomed me inside

And inside… teachers' vendor tables, the attendees' tables and more





There were goodies galore from Kim – lots of goodie bags and boxes, plus giveaways all day!  I couldn't believe it.




There were even white(ish) m&ms


First up was Pam Garrison's paper garland class

I didn't finish it, but I did go out and buy some more supplies today to add to it, so I'll probably take it apart this weekend and redo it and spruce it up a bit and then hang it up.  This picture shows a straight-out-of-the-suitcase garland!

Next was Amy Hanna's house vignette class.  To be honest, this was the class that I was most worried about looking like a total idiot in.  I am sooooo new to the paper arts world, as in so new  I haven't really made anything at all yet, plus I can't paint.  So, I was dreading this class when it started.  I was also unprepared supplies wise because I didn't know what to bring with me.  Luckily Amy passed out some basic supplies in a kit to use.

Some of Amy's inspiring examples


And then mine….


I kind of hate it.  The picture is of my mother's parents on their wedding day in 1943.  The O is for Otome, which was my grandmother's name because Amy was out of M's for their last name.  They were born in Hawaii, so in theory I wanted to do something tropicalish, hence the shells.  I really have no idea where to go next with this, so if you have any suggestions, let me know!  I did have fun playing with the watercolors, though.  Compared to what some of other people were making, I am embarrassed about this, but oh well.

The last class was the milagro class by Teresa McFayden.  I ended up not making this there because she passed out a complete kit plus written instructions and this project was the only thing keeping me from having to pay $15 to check my bag, so I went the el cheapo route and decided to just take it all home and work on it here this weekend.  Some samples Teresa brought:

 

I gave out my madeleine soaps to all the attendees as a little ice breaker because I was hoping to make some new aquaintances out of this trip and I think most people appreciated the gesture.  I was kind of surprised I was the only person who gave out gifts after reading other people's experiences at these types of art workshop days, but that's okay because I am still glad I could give people a little gift to say hello as I venture into this new world.

After Teresa's class, it was a dash to the airport to come back home and then I spent most of Sunday sleeping and catching up on emails.  I'm still behind on everything, but that's okay.  Now, off to get some work done! I'll post more pictures when I actually finish all the projects.

More from the De Young

I’ve been meaning to post some more pictures from the De Young Museum when I went a couple of weeks ago to see the Chihuly exhibit.  Enjoy!

More Chihuly, from the permanent collection




The Blue Veil by Edmund Tarbell, 1898

Lamp by Louis Comfort Tiffany

Afternoon in the Cluny Gardens, Paris, by Charles Curran

 

Chihuly at the De Young

Thanks Typepad…  Just spent almost half an hour making a post that you deleted – now twice! Here we go again…

I went to the De Young in San Francisco a couple of days ago to see the amazing Chihuly exhibit.  If you’re not familiar with Chihuly, he is probably best known for his glass work.  He makes beautifully detailed glass sculptures from the size of an average vase to ginormous towers. 

Here’s some pictures from the exhibit.  Sorry that I wasn’t able to get a lot of perspective, but the galleries were pretty crowded.  But, it’s safe to assume that most of the pieces are huge, except for the Southwestern basket inspired pieces.  For more pix, please visit my Flickr.

Respect

So I just got back from this great panel discussion at the San Francisco Main Library entitled "If They Came For Me Today: Art and Literature from the Japanese American Internment".  Speaking were Jeanne Wakatsuki, author of Farewell to Manzanar; Kimi Kodani Hill, granddaughter of Chiura Obata and author of Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment; Delphine Hirasuna, author of the Art of Gaman; and George Yoshida, author of  Reminiscing in Swingtime. My mother is a friend of Delphine and I highly recommend her book, which is about the arts and crafts that Japanese Americans created while interned during WWII.  Being of Japanese/Okinawan descent, it is both sad and uplifting to hear stories and see experiences of those interned. While researching art to feature in the book, she came across a lot of people who had not opened the boxes containing the items since returning from the camps in the 1940s!  I am lucky because my family was in Hawaii during the war and weren’t send to any camp. Anyway, the discussion was a great overview about the authors’ experiences. I also learned that 120,000 were interned and two-thirds of those were US citizens. In 1990, 60,000 living detainees were finally issued a formal apology and given $20,000 each in reparations.  The speakers on the panel said that the apology meant more than the money. Several years ago, I went to an exhibit in LA on the internment camps
and saw one of the original guard towers reconstructed and a lot of
pictures.  The pictures were the hardest part to see because I could
see my grandparents in all of them.  Tonight’s event has inspired me to learn more about the camps and life in San Francisco’s Japantown before and after the war.  I completely respect what the Japanese Americans of the time had to go through.  Although it wasn’t anything near what some other cultures have dealt with, it’s still painful to think about.  This weekend I’m going to check out the exhibit related to the Art of Gaman at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art.