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.

Scottish Independence, Barcelona, Phyllis Lynch, Sonoma County Jazz, Niagara Surprise, Graton Ranchera, 23 and me, Memorial Hospital, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

It is as if I have dropped off the face of the earth, yet again.  This post is likely to be scattered and maybe even excuse ridden, but will give some insight into the scattershot approach that I have to my life.  My blog about the Borne neighborhood of Barcelona is still in my mind, and I have not forgotten. In fact just yesterday the Scottish Independence movement lost the referendum to become independent.  I have heard that Catalonia will do the same thing in October.  Let's hope that it will not begin another civil war in Spain.

One project inevitable leaks into another.  I have been stuck on doing my enormous web page for my aunt and uncle. At this point I am almost finished, but since I am honoring my Aunt Phyllis at the moment, I am looking for representative pieces of her pottery. We own a few and I may just photograph them. Yet I know that she took several hundred slides of her pieces and I fear that I may have tossed them. In light of my hoarding tendencies, it would indeed be unusual.

I am bumping elbows in the jazz world again, and my friend Peter is talking about starting a combo. We have gotten together with mixed results. We met today and half the band did not show up- but for good reasons- a funeral. Still I met a woman singer, who calls herself a professional. I will take one step at a time.

I had a major regression into my college years. Giselle published a number of photos from my college years.  Among the photos was one with me and a gorgeous young lady, who at the time was in love with me. Also at the time I was not ready.  She is now my Facebook friend- well, they both are my Facebook friends.

In October a big Indian Casino opened up in our area, ten minutes away. I love to gamble. Now you know one more personal thing about me. Not only do the rest of my family share this vice, but my ancestors worked with horses for hundreds of years.  I am by nature conservative in my gambling.  Since October 2013 I have been on winning and losing streaks.  Now I have been on a winning streak for about 2 months.  Although I try not to wager too much ($100 to $300 any time I go), I am about $2000 in the positive. It scares me a little.

Speaking of ancestors 23 and me has interested me in my genealogy again.  I started when I lived in Washington, D.C. and had my mornings free. Now there are enormous resources available on line. I found out that my great great great grandfather Charles Lafferty was born in County Tyrone, now Northern Ireland, just on the boarder with Donegal.

A dear friend of mine is in the hospital. He is ten years younger that I am, a vibrant, happy, involved firefighter, who just retired. He is very seriously ill. When I went to see him, it really shook me up. I saw how a person could go from being vivacious to one step away from death- very sobering.

And painting- I have started the largest pieces of my life. One is about 4 feet square, the other about 5 feel by 6. I am please with the beginning but I still have a long way to do.

Last weekend was the Denevan family reunion- at our house. I really loved it. I married into a great family...

I look forward to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass on the first weekend of October.

I must have a photo that will illustrate one of these topics!

The Beat Poets

In my research about the Six Gallery the beat poets are central figures.  The beat poets are a loose configuration of poets originally out of New York City, many of whom came to San Francisco in the 1950s. Most went back to New York, but a few stayed.  Also San Francisco itself developed its own "beat" culture and had its "beat" poets.

When researching the community of beat poets 68 names came up, many of whom could in no fashion be considered beat. I am not really here to argue who or who is not a "beat".  The story of the Six Gallery is amply documented on the Internet.  I am looking for communities of artists and poets to clarify the social groupings in the sixties. My first attempt is to take the 68 names and cull out those who really do belong to a "beat" subculture.

Here are the first 30(in alphabetical order. I have noted with an asterisk those whom I would consider beat. Also the places mentioned are not necessary the places where they were born. Generally I chose the places where they lived a significant part of their working lives. (I hope that my columns survive.)

Beat Poets                 Born           Died                Place 1 Place 2      Place 3

1. Amiri Baraka     ( Oct 7, 1934 –  Jan 9, 2014                              NYC              (Everett LeRoi Jones)
2. Sinclair Beiles 1930 –              2000                    Johannesburg, SA     Paris
3. Carol Bergé 1928 –              2006                    NYC
4. Jane Bowles Feb 22, 1917 – May 4, 1973                            NYC     Morocco
5. Paul Bowles Dec 30, 1910 – Nov18, 1999                    NYC Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
6. John Brandi Nov 5, 1943                                    Los Angeles Sierra Nevada
7. Richard Brautigan Jan 30, 1935 – Sept 16, 1984                     Eugene, OR San Franciso, CA
8. Ray Bremser Feb 22, 1934 – Nov 3, 1998 NYC    Mexico
9. Chandler Brossard July 18, 1922-Aug 29, 1993                    Idaho Falls, ID NYC
10. James Broughton* Nov 10, 1913 – May 17, 1999                     San Francisco
11. Slim Brundage  Nov 29, 1903 –    Oct 18, 1990                       Chicago
12. Baird Bryant      Dec12, 1927 - , Nov 13, 2008                        Columbus, IN             Hemet, California
13. William S. Burroughs  Feb 5, 1914 – Aug 2, 1997                      St. Louis, MO            NYC                     Lawrence, KS
14. Carolyn Cassady*   April 28, 1923 – Sept 20, 2013                   Nashville, TN             NYC
15. Neal Cassady*   Feb 8, 1926 – Feb 4, 1968                              Denver, CO                San Francisco, CA
16. Neeli Cherkovski    Born 1945                                                 Santa Monica, CA      San Francisco, CA
17. Gregory Corso*      March 26, 1930 – Jan 17, 2001                   NYC                          San Francisco, CA
18. Elise Cowen          July 31, 1933 – Feb 27, 1962                      NYC
19. Diane di Prima*      August 6, 1934                                         NYC                          Oakland, CA (SF)
20. Kirby Doyle*          Nov 27, 1932 – April 5, 2003                      San Francisco, CA
21. William Everson  Sept 10, 1912 – June 3, 1994                       San Francisco; Oakland; Santa Cruz
22. Harry Fainlight* (British) 1935–1982                                       London, England
23. Lawrence Ferlinghetti*   born March 24, 1919                         NYC                          San Francisco, CA        
24. Michael John Fles           born Nov 11, 1936                            London, Eng               Los Angeles, CA
25. Jack Gelber (playwright)  April 12, 1932 – May 9, 2003            NYC
26. Brion Gysin*   Jan 19, 1916 – July 13, 1986                              London, Eng               Morocco                 Paris
27. Anselm Hollo   April 12, 1934 – Jan 29, 2013                           Helsinki, Finland         Boulder, CO  
28. John Clellon Holmes  March 12, 1926,  – March 30, 1988          Hartford, CN
29. Václav Hrabě  June 13, 1940- March 5, 1965                            Prague, CZ
30. Herbert Huncke*   Jan 9, 1915 – August 8, 1996                       NYC
31. Ted Joans        July 4, 1928 – April 25, 2003                            NYC         Seattle, WA/ Vancouver, BC

King Ubu Gallery and The Six Gallery

The six at King Ubu Gallery hosted the most important poetry reading of the twentieth century. (Read more about this.) In 1952 Harry Jacobus, “Jess” (Burgess Franklin Collins, and Robert Duncan opened the gallery at 3119 Filmore Street.  Among the artists were "Jess", Jacobus, David Parker, Elmer Bishoff. The six at King Ubu Gallery hosted the most important poetry reading of the twentieth century.  Artists included Brock Brockway and Lyn Brown Brockway, Edward Corbett, Roy De Forest, Robert Duncan, Norris Embry, Lilly Fenichel, Sonia Gechtoff, Miriam Hoffman, Harry Jacobus, Adelie Landis, Seymour Locks, Clair Mahl, Madeleine Dimond Martin, David Moore, Philip Roeber and Hassel Smith.  I got this list from a blurb on the book: An Art of Wondering. The King Ubu Gallery 1952-1953  Published by Natsoulas Noveloz, Davis, 1989. I was surprised to see Sonia’s Gechtoff’s name, as she was married to James Kelly, painter at the California School of Fine Arts and close friend of my uncle.

By 1954 poet, Jack Spicer, reopened the gallery renamed The Six Gallery.  The “six” were: Jack Spicer (poet) Wally Hedrick (painter), Deborah Remington (painter)David Simpson (painter), Hayward King (painter) , John Allen Ryan.  Today, Kasa Indian Eatery (perhaps Tacko, or a rug store) , there is plaque outside honoring Allen Ginsberg and his famous recitation of Howl. My uncle, John, was an old friend of Wally Hedrick and it has given me new interest in the beat poets and entire artist scene of 1950s San Francisco.

 Sonia Gechtoff

Wally Hedrick

The Blog Exchange

I have just joined the Blog Exchange. I am eager to see if there is an increase in traffic. Click on the links below to find out more about it.