!949: American GIs become Art Students in San Miguel de Allende

I have just started a search for a mural that my Uncle John Lynch and his friend, Ray Rice painted in 1949 in San Miguel de Allende. I have made contact with some people interested in the history of American artists in San Miguel. It is a great story, which perhaps I can get into a book at some time. Here is the best piece of evidence I have. I also have some drawings that he produced.

My Friend Beverly on Facebook: Help me out. Let's catch this scammer!

This post is only marginally related to art, but it will inform you not to trust everything that happens on Facebook. Yesterday I had a friend request from my friend, Beverly, also an artist. Of course, I accepted, but then she started texting me. "How are you doing?" "What's new?" and finally "Did you hear that Steve Case was giving out grants to those who use Facebook?" "I got one.", she said. She also said that she saw my name on the roster of those who would get awards. She said that someone actually delivered money to her, after she paid the delivery fee. I said, "Berverly, if I didn't know you and trust you, I would have thought that this is a scam." She gave me a link on facebook to check and see if I actually had an award. I was suppose to friend the person, then ask if I was on the list.

I went to the website. It looked like a Senator or politician's website- a handsome Black woman with an American flag in the background. Her name was supposedly Patricia Bennette. She said that I had to fill out the form and she would check. Name, address, phone number, marital status, age, and income. I filled it out and of course I was on the awards list. I was entitled to $100,000 and it would just take a $1500 processing fee to receive it.

Once that happened all kinds of bells and whistles went off in my head. They screamed "SCAM, SCAM, SCAM!!!" I called up Beverly and got her husband, who said that two other people had called him up, and no, he was sure that Beverly was not involved in any of this. I went back to my computer to report the scam to Facebook. As I was reporting it, "Patricia Bennett" asked if I was still there. I saw this as an opportunity to keep her on the line as long as I could, while Facebook checked out the conversation (who knows if they ever did?) and also to try and collect as much information as I could.

I kept a transcript of our conversation, but I will not bore you. She gave me an address to send the money to. I will give you that address in case we have any sleuths here: JOHNSON GREG ANTHONY...ADDRESS: 1340 RIO BONITO ROAD APART 201 HOUSTON, TX 77083" and yes, it is bizarrely written. I said that my friend told me that they would come to the door. I tried to keep leading them on. I said that I had the cash. But I had to leave and get ready for work. Sure enough I got a text message from phone number text from Texas: 832- 422- 6604. Try it. I googled the phone number and it came up with a very strange link, but the exact phone number there. "BRYNN TILLERY Solana Beach, California 832-422-6604 8324226604 832-4226604 832 422 6604. ALEX FORE Roxboro, North Carolina 313-738-2376  ..."

The link brought me to a list of names and some kind of bogus dating site: Gorgeous CARRY - Industrial Science
www.industrial-science.com/627.html Try it.

The last thing that I did was report all of this to the Houston Police Department. I have not heard back.

All right. I will give you a relaxing piece of art to take you mind off of this, unless you would like to follow the leads. Let me know what your find.

California Mustard

Something outstanding about Spring in Northern California is the California mustard fields. I think especially of the broad fields of bright yellow mustard flowers as one drives along one of any number of roads to the coast from Marin to Medocino County. Inspired by the display of these flowers I created a small piece of acrylic on thick watercolor paper.

California Tonalists: Dealing with a Large Canvas

As I have studied the Tonalists more and more, I realize that much of the mood that they create comes from the successive applications of layers of semi-transparent paint. I could not approach the mood of the Tonalist because I was only working in two or three layers. Something that I have not tried and may give me just the effect that I am looking for is encaustic. A neighbor lent me a book and I have been studying the technique. I will start small, not on a giant canvas as I did here.

The first photo is the underpainting- a totally unsuccessful attempt at Tonalism. The second is where the painting is now and how I exhibited it at Art At the Source. Some who came to the show liked it. If you like it, as it is here, you should buy it quickly before I change it. I am about to create a center piece. I am feeling that there is too much simple grey space in the middle. So picture a scenic rectangle in the middle.

Also if you would like to see the Mexican painting on the back, I will take a photo of that and post it on my next blog. I will now post the final painting first, the first attempt, second.

California Tonalists- an unsuccessful experiment

I had my largest piece yet in the show. It is a funny story where I got the large canvas for this piece. I have a favorite thrift store in Santa Rosa. Certain days have half price sales. I am always looking for nice frames for half price. This particular day I came upon a giant canvas- one done by decorators in Mexico. Art factories produce these giant pieces to hang in hotel lobbies, etc.

I looked at this one and it was a genuine canvas in good condition (48" X 54") for $10. I bought it and went out to the car, and I could not fit it in. Luckily my friend, Andy, had his violin workshop less than a block away. I knocked on his door and fortunately he was there. With his tools we disassembled the whole piece, wooden support frame and gold outside frame. It took about 45 minutes, and I was almost late for work because of it. 

When I got it home, I turned it around- blank canvas facing the outside- hotel design on the inside. I had recently been to the Oakland Museum and I was inspired by a group of painting that I had seen. 

I will let an authority paint the scene, so to speak:

A new emphasis on art for art's sake reflected a greater sophistication among painters who had been exposed to newly imported European trends. The Barbizon group of artists in France had long been painting en plein air, that is, working out of doors and observing nature directly, to render scenes in spontaneous brushstrokes right on the canvas, without benefit of elaborate preliminary sketches. Their choice of modest domestic subjects on an intimate scale contrasted with the grand panoramas of an earlier style. Many American painters were turning away from the crisply defined, descriptive realism of an Albert Bierstadt toward more subjective interpretations realized through a style that has been termed "Tonalism." This was a then-vanguard approach to painting that helped in the eclipse of realism's popularity even as it rejected the tenets of French Impressionist-inspired plein-air painting. Nature remained the principal inspiration for Tonalism, particularly in landscape painting. The Tonalists explored quiet contemplative moods of nature experienced in the diminished light of early morning, late afternoon or evening. Often mysterious or romantic lighting effects were achieved through representations of atmospheric fog, mist or haze rendered in carefully controlled, low-key color harmonies that seem to envelop the subject, to soften or blur the imagery, leaving details to the poetic imagination of the observer.

Landscape Painters of Northern California 1870-1930    by Harvey L. Jones

Here is an example of some of their beautiful work. I attempted a simple piece in imitation of this style. In my next post I will tell the rest of the story.

Terra Cota Spring

It seems like everything becomes symbolic for me. I created Terra Cotta Spring this past spring. I think that it is a good title for several reasons. Terra cotta is, of course, a clay that potters use to produce beautiful ceramics. It has been done in a similar way for thousands of years. Cermaic pottery is the most enduring art form as archeologists have gained more knowledge about ancient peoples from this art form more than any other. The clay literally becomes stone, which is why it is preserved for hundreds of thousands of years.

Terra Cotta means "cooked earth" in Italian. We, in California, are going through a pretty serious drought. The normal yellow the fields turn to in the spring and summer is becomming a little paler and dustier due to the drought. At the same time these vast stretches of dry California grasslands are lovely to behold.