Sparks Fly on the 405

Los Angeles is a subject I rarely paint, but sometimes the spectacle of TV news does inspire me.  

Pandemic Park

This weekend I stayed at home and painted.  This was my view one afternoon last week while I read a book in shady spot in Alamo Square.

Because I can enjoy our parks on weekday afternoons.  I tend to avoid the crowds on weekends.   This was true even before the pandemic.   I’ve noticed that most people seem to be practicing social distancing and, until they safely settle into a spot, usually wear a mask. That said we have a certain amount of careless and self-centered fools right here in San Francisco — for example, in 2016 9% of San Francisco voters chose the racist, Russian stooge who will remain nameless.  

Hayes Valley Secrets

In 1990, Hayes Valley was a scrappy neighborhood, with affordable (!) rents.  All bisected by the behemoth of the Central Freeway.  A noisy, dirty, elevated structure that nearly collapsed in the Loma Prieta Earthquake.  Gradually, over many years and political maneuvering, the freeway was torn down.   If you never saw the freeway, it is hard to imagine it was ever there.  

Commercial rents were low back then and retail pioneers started to take a chance on Hayes Valley.  In those days they were local, homegrown businesses.  Many of those shops were too high end for the times.  Quite a few lasted about a year.  There were even rumors of money-laundering fronts.  That said, some succeeded for a long time and a handful of the original stores are still in the neighborhood.   Today, Hayes Valley has become one of the most expensive retail strips in one of the most expensive cities in the world.  No one will be opening up a shop or restaurant without deep pockets and wealthy investors.

In the 1990s one of my favorite hang outs was a small café called Momi Toby’s.  I had spent countless hours there by the time I discovered the hidden world beneath the café and sidewalk prisms just out front.  One day, I was in the neighborhood with an open studios map and one of the locations was Momi Toby’s.  

At first, I assumed I would see an art show in the café.  I stepped inside, what I thought was a wooden panel had been opened.  It revealed a hidden doorway and a narrow, windy staircase.  It was like a secret passage.  The stairs took me below the café to a large, high-ceilinged, room that expanded below the sidewalk.  Natural light filled the space.   It was so unexpected — it was magical. The room was tiled with built in ovens along one wall.  I discovered the building had once been home to a bakery and below Momi Toby’s was now Tinhorn Press.  

Tinhorn Press is gone.  Momi Toby’s eventually changed hands, the prices climbed. Now it is replaced by a smart bar.  Still, when I walk down Laguna Street, I often think about the secret world under my feet.   A world far cooler and more interesting than a neighborhood with shops that sell $500 shoes and thimbles of ice cream for $7.

Victorian Perpectives

My view, while waiting for a take away lunch the other day on Fillmore Street in the Lower Haight.   

Germania Street

San Francisco is one of the world’s most photographed and filmed cities.  Because of movies, television or advertising, many people all over the world feel they know what San Francisco looks like — in the same way many people “know” New York, London or Paris.  I myself live two blocks from the “must see” vista of Victorian houses in Alamo Square.  

It is hard for me to avoid the most ubiquitous San Francisco imagery. But how do we locals really see our city?  How should local artists portray San Francisco? You could not fault any artist for wanting to paint the Golden Gate Bridge or other iconic images, but some of us have a different lens.

Here we are still sheltering in place but may still take, safe, socially distanced walks.  I have been sticking close to home.  For example, walking down quiet streets like Germania in the Lower Haight.  The other day the garbage truck had already been through when I snapped a photo of the scattered empty plastic bins — black for trash, blue for recycling and green for compost.  No, not a postcard, but an image that any local would recognize as San Francisco.

Grove Street Steps

Artist tip: Choose to paint crumbling Victorian, concrete stairs and don’t worry about perfect, even lines. 😉

Alamo Square Poppies

Even sheltering in place in San Francisco, we are allowed to go out, get some fresh air and exercise — as long as we practice social distancing.  Some days I just climb up to the top of Alamo Square.  I live close to the famous park.  In 2016 the park was closed for a year allowing for a much-needed overhaul.  Three years later, the replanted gardens have come into their own.  The flower beds have been explosions of color this Spring.   

The painting is the view looking west from Pierce and Hayes Street.  Not the popular postcard view, but one of my personal favorites.

Victorian Collagescape

San Francisco Victoriana, mixed media on board, 16”x20” and repurposed, vintage frame overall 19”x24”

The latest collagescape is more cityscape than landscape.  I wanted to capture the Victorian houses that my City is so well known for.  I also went for the current palette used on most houses in San Francisco.  The palette changes over time, if you find a book of Victorians from the 1980’s, the bright colors appear a bit shocking, looking more like the set for a Thompson Twins or B-52’s video.  In their original state, more than a century ago, the paint jobs were far more subdued.  I have come across a few books written by purists who rail against modern affectations such as gold trim.  If only the problems of the world were otherwise solved and we could worry about what color a Victorian “should” be painted.  Frankly, I like color, lots of color (in case you can’t tell).

As a reminder that this series is about painting as much as it is about collage, this piece has been placed in a traditional frame.  The repurposed, antique frame is now part of the piece – they are meant to stay together permanently.  The frame itself was a bit beat up and was probably made about 1900.  A thrift store find by my dad circa 1970.  It had a tattered and forgettable print and hung on the walls of our Victorian home in Buffalo before spending over 30 years in a Cape Cod basement.  Now it’s come home to another Victorian City and found new life.

This piece will be featured in my collagescape exhibit that opens on July 29 and runs through September 28.

Rousseau Collagescape

Homage to Rousseau, 12”x12” mixed media on board

This piece is an Homage to Rousseau (not the philosopher nor the painter, but the San Francisco architect.)  Oliver Rousseau designed understated, beautiful and livable homes starting in the 1920’s.   They could be described as the descendants of Arts & Crafts and Mission Revival styles of architecture.  Not every Rousseau in San Francisco is an actual Rousseau – he influenced many architects and developers in San Francisco and throughout California.  Some of the copies are quite good.  A closer look and you’ll notice the attention to detail in a genuine Rousseau.  If you step inside you’ll find more to appreciate from the hand painted beams on coffered ceilings to the small interior courtyards.

When one thinks architecture and San Francisco, the Victorian is what immediately comes to mind.  It’s understandable, as Victorians are the colorful, picturesque, tarted-up houses on every postcard.  But even in my neighborhood, where tourists flock to Alamo Square, there is another type of ubiquitous San Francisco home – the Rousseau.  They are everywhere in San Francisco, but they are more common in the “newer” San Francisco neighborhoods from the Marina to Glen Park, but particularly in the Sunset.  Tourists haven’t learn to appreciate our Rousseaus, but a trip to West Portal and a stroll along 17th Avenue is a good introduction to some of the most pleasant architecture San Francisco has to offer.

Homage to Rousseau  will be shown in my Collagescape exhibit opening on July 29.

A print and other merchandise is based on a detailed section of this work and available form Society 6.