The California Postal Service?

Start with a stack of old, unused California postcards and then make some artist stamps to add along with the official postage.   And if President Biden doesn’t fire Louis DeJoy soon, we might actually need our own California Postal Service.  If that happens, Huell Howser is going on a stamp!   

A Visit to Orange, California

 

The first time I was in California I was just 11.  We stayed with friends in Orange, California near Anaheim. Years later I found myself back in Orange today.  The draw was Chapman University.  As a mega-fan of the great Huell Howser, I have been wanting to visit the California’s Gold Exhibit and Huell Howser Archive.  It was, of course, Amazing!  They might need to borrow the portrait I did of Huell.

Close by is the university’s Hilbert Museum. I spotted this smallish museum online.  I am so glad I discovered this one.  They have an excellent collection of California art.  The current exhibition is from the archives of the Automobile Club of Southern California featuring work commissioned for the covers of their member magazine including some fantastic Maynard Dixons that I had never seen before.  The Hilbert Museum is only a few years old, but it now has a place on my list of museums to visit when I head south.

Oh my Gosh!

Map of California’s Gold, mixed media on canvas, 20”x20”

Let’s say you want to prospect for gold in California.  Well, you’ll need a map.  I started  with a big pile of California maps that would include pages from old atlases, road maps, topographic maps and ones I picked up at visits to state parks.  Try cutting them all up and putting them back together to see what happens.  I did and I ended up with a portrait of Huell Howser! 

For those of you who are Californians, you know that our Huell is world famous.  I’ve been to countless places featured on his show California’s Gold and even discovered a few places courtesy of Huell.  Without him I might never have found Glass Beach in Fort Bragg.  That road trip lead to a whole series of beach glass paintings a few years back.  Huell Howser’s is one of the most likeable people in California and his enthusiasm for this wonderful place we live is truly infectious.  And, after watching something grim on the evening news, nothing is a better antidote than a bit of California’s Gold.