Sunday, November 29, 2009

Mac's SF East Bay Art Events for December 2009

This is my art-events calendar for December and the end of November 2009 for the San Francisco East Bay area -- Yes, I'm late; I'm an artist, hah hah.

Enjoy! Friends can get on the email list just by emailing me at mac.mccarthy at gmail.

AND when go to an event, tell 'em Mac sent you.
----

Continues:
* NATIONAL WATERCOLOR SOCIETY EXHIBITION
The National Watercolor Society's 88th Annual Exhibition is presenting 30 of its winners at the Castro Valley Adobe Art Center in this final stop on its nationwide tour.

Dates: To Dec. 8
Extended hours for Adobe for this exhibit: M-T 9-noon and 2-4; Thurs eve 5-8; Fri-Sat-Sun 11-3.

The Adobe Art Gallery is at 20395 San Miguel Drive in Castro Valley (down the driveway to the building in the back).
-----
Continues:
* EXHIBIT: CHINESE TEAWARE
"Chinese Teaware by Modern Masters of the Zisha Tradition -- A Selection of Modern Masterpieces from Major American Collections"

Cal State Hayward (East Bay) to December 3 at the University Art Gallery, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward. Hours 12:30-3:30 M-Thurs. Free, but parking (in lots E2, G, K & N) is $7, into a pay station, so bring change.

"Sixty never-before-exhibited teaware vessels--China's Zisha masters, considered national treasures, follow a Ming dynasty tradition established five centuries ago. The group of California collections from which this selection has been made is the largest outside China. These handmade vessels are known for being so porous that they absorb tiny amounts of tea each time it is brewed, eventually developing a coating that retains the flavor of the tea."
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MEETUP GROUP: ART TOURS OF BAY AREA ARTISTS
"Join art aficionados for intimate behind-the-scenes tours inside the studios of established mid-career Bay Area artists and selected exhibits at public venues. Mingle afterwards at no-host cafe."

To join, sign up for the Web site Meetup.com (it's free) and search for "Diana Lynn Art Tours," then Join. You'll get emails when she has an upcoming Tour to invite you to.

Or you can go directly to her site: http://dianalynnarttours.com/ .

There are 59 people in her Meetup group. A recent tour EXAMPLE: Sat. Oct 24, 10:30am-1:30pm: Studio of Lee Harvey Roswell in SF: "The inventive and prolific surrealist artist, Lee Harvey Roswell, is having us into his studio in Twin Peaks. Afterwards we will go to Braunstein Quay gallery in SOMA for an exhibit of works by Bean and Alan Finneran, a retrospective of thirty years of sculpture, performance and photography. These are cutting-edge artists whose work is also accessible and it promises to be an inspiring tour. The tour is followed by a stop at a no-host cafe."

NEXT TOUR: DEC. 3: "Art & Architecture Tour in San Francisco"
Xanadu Gallery & The Contemporary Jewish Museum
Antiquities in a Frank Lloyd Wright Building, and Maurice Sendak in a David Libeskind Building. "After the tour, we'll stop at a cafe for casual networking and a no-host nosh." Event fee: $25.


----------------------------------------------------
** HOLIDAY ART BASH at the FRANK BETTE CENTER **
December 19 -- starting at 6pm -- Tickets $10 at door
A Feast of Music, Poetry & Storytelling
Plus holiday gift boutique - except their gifts are art! Plus face painting

** and the 2009 HOLIDAY GIFT BOUTIQUE at the FRANK BETTE**
Nov. 27 thru Dec. 20 -- special holiday hours DAILYI 11am to 7pm!
1601 Paru Street, Alameda, CA 94501 call: (510) 523-6957
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** ART EXHIBIT & SALE **

My friend Allison Wright’s creative partner and friend, Kathi Winker, is having a SHOW at Hayward Arts Council, AND at Sun Gallery! WAHOO!
It’s a very unique form of art, very fun, interesting. She is also an accomplished painter (oil, acrylic primarily) and other media but the shows focus on her current passion and it is wonderful. “Sculptural” and Wall Hangy but you HAVE to see it . . .

Holiday Shoppers, are you looking for that unique and special gift this season?
Kathi Winker, Artist, is currently exhibiting at the Green Shutter Gallery and Sun Art Gallery both in Hayward. Come and enjoy artwork guaranteed to bring a heart-warming smile to your day.
Visit the Green Shutter Gallery, 22654 Main St, Hayward http://www.haywardarts.org - thru Dec. 17
AND THE Sun Art Gallery, 1015 E Street, Hayward http://www.sungallery.org
thru Dec. 21
Reception 11/7/09 5 PM - 9 PM (food & music provided)
Tell your friends and please all come enjoy this unique opportunity! Any spreading of the word will be fabulous…do try to make it by either/both of the galleries; different pieces and timing for each!!!
While you are viewing Kathi’s work, you’ll also be able to look at other exhibiting artists and their various media! Well worth a visit!
Thank you so much for your time and consideration!
--Allison Wright
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**ART CLASSES**
--------------------------------------------------
[Pictured Right: Travel Painting instructor David Savellano]



**MARGARET FAGO'S WONDERFUL WATERCOLOR AND DRA
WING CLASSES!**

Watercolor Dynamics: Monday mornings 9:30 to noon - Dec 7, 14 January 11, 18, 25 - $100
AND Thursday evenings 7:00 to 9:00 pm -- Dec 10, 17 January 14, 21, 28 - $100

Drawing Dynamics ~ Monday afternoons 3:00 to 5:00 ~ Dec 7,14 January 11,18, 25 - $100 . The December drawing classes will be held at 1524 Mozart St, Alameda, the rest at Frank Bette.

** ABOUT COLOR DYNAMICS IN WATERCOLOR **
Come develop your painting voice while learning watercolor techniques. We'll explore color mixing, color values, glazing and brush strokes, hard and soft edges, finding and defining a center of interest and much more. Perfect for both beginning and intermediate painters.

** ABOUT DRAWING DYNAMICS **
Working from Still Life and Plein Aire we will explore how to create design and form through line, shading, black and white shapes and tonal values. Release your inner artist through warm up exercises which will allow you to draw what you see. Beginners and intermediate artists welcome.


-------------------

**OIL PAINTING CLASSES WITH CAROL TARZIER

Carol, a *wonderful* painter in oils, teaches in her own studio at 1217 32nd St., Oakland, Saturday afternoons 1 to 5pm, from Nov. 13 thru Jan. 30th. $180. Sign up now -- class limited to 15 students.

Sign up at http://www.frankbettecenter.org/carol_tarzier_oil_painting_class.html and also see her 2010 class schedule.

I've taken her class and she's terrific and inspirational (even though I will never reach her level of artistry if I live to be 99).

"The studio is open, spacious, and brightly lit, 750 square feet, withi a kitchen/bar and patio flower garden for lunch breaks. The classes will incorporate some plein-air, landscapes, and working on still life, with still-life setups at each class."
Sign up at http://www.frankbettecenter.org/carol_tarzier_oil_painting_class.html . If you have questions, you can also reach Carol at tarzier@tarzier.com . There's a link there too for her

MORE CAROL: She also teaches beginner oil painting at her studio, not through Frank Bette -- see http://www.tarzier.com/workshops/ for full details. She;s teaching beginning oils I and II Fridays from February through June, and you might be able to catch the last half of her Fall class now, since it runs through the end of January.

She's also teaching "Life Sculpture Workshop: Sculpting the Figure" for 7 weeks over the summer, at Ft Mason, via City College SF.

----------------
**A SONG IN YOUR HEART? COME TO OPEN MIKE DAY AT FRANK BETTER**

Saturday, December 5, from 2 to 4 -- sign up starting at 1:30. Hosted by musicians Susan Newman and Eliza Shefler. "Come and participate in, or simply enjoy, performances of live acoustic music, in a sunlit room full of fresh air, the latest art exhibit and delightfully congenial company."


----------------
COMING IN 2010: "DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY POTENTIAL"

"Are all the special features and creative options in your digital camera collecting cobwebs? Explore the inner workings of your camera and brush off the cobwebs! Learn to use the powerful tools which often go unleashed in most digital cameras. Turn those complex menus and extra buttons into something with real potential."

Thursdays 6-8:30 PM, Feb 11, 18, 25 & March 11, 18, 25
Cost: $100 members, $120 non-members

------------------

** REGULAR EVENTS at the Frank Bette **

**LIFE DRAWING**
Frank Bette Center, every Tuesday 6:30 - 9:30 pm.
Gesture Poses with a nude model.
All skill levels welcome. Bring your own materials.
Space limited. Pay by the month to cover model fee: $35 - $45 depending on number of artists.
Limited Drop-in Spaces are available at $15 per session.
Frank Bette Members only please! (No Instructor)

--
** BETTE'S BODACIOUS BEADING BEAUTIES **
Every Wednesday Evening, 6 – 9 pm - Ongoing - Free

Share your enthusiasm for beads and baubles. Share techniques with fellow beaders; everything from bead stringing to bead weaving. Share works in progress for support and feedback.

This is a supportive space to hang out with and bounce ideas off fellow beaders. Join us! Bring your own materials/project to work on. (No Instructor)

---
The Frank Bette Center for the Arts has lots more going on, including writing workshops, voice classes, and regular art exhibits - and they have an ongoing need for volunteers for the Center and for their events. Go to their Web site and scroll down to the bottom for links to everything on their rich palette!


-------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------

** SOCIETY OF WESTERN ARTISTS IN REDWOOD CITY **
Has released their 2010 schedule of workshops, including e.g. watercolor, oil-pastel-acrylic, plein-air watercolor, plein-air oil, oil-and-pastel workshop, and more!


----------------------------------------------------------


** FEATHER RIVER ART CAMP NEXT JUNE -- EARLY DETAILS! **

Every year dozens of artists retreat to the mountains above Sacramento and spend a week living in tents and cabins (or the local motels if they prefer) and taking classes and painting, drawing, learning guitar, making glass beads and other crafts, and just getting away from it all. I went in 2008 and it was fun and intensive.

Plans are under way for next year. Since it's so expensive, now is not too early for you to be starting your plans. Here's some early info from Karen LeGault, art camp director:
--
Hello there,

Set your Calendars! Dates for Feather River Art Camp for 2010 are official! ... only 8 1/2 months away (but who's counting?).
We will convene from June 20 to 27, 2010 for another wonderful week at Art Camp.

I will be sending more information along as instructor commitments are firmed up. There will be a new 2010 registration form available online by mid-November.

Our Class Lineup is pretty impressive. Instructors who have already indicated that they may be offering a class are as follows :

-Bookmaking with Rhiannon Alpers
-Outdoor Installation Art from Nature with Ron Brown
-Landscape in Oil with Kay Carlson
-Watercolor with Margaret Fago
-Guitar with Larry Ferrara
-Mosaic Art with Dmitry Grudsky
-Papermaking with Linda Lemon
-Fused Glass with recyled glass with Reddy Lieb
-Writing from the Crazy Child with Clive Matson
-Hot Torch Glass Beadmaking with Harlan Simon
-Clay with Blanka Soltys
-Drawing with Chinese Brush with Karen LeGault

There will also be a kids class with a new format. I will send more information later.
Please pass the word!

In the Spirit of Feather River Art Camp,

Karen LeGault
art camp director
Feather River Art Camp

-------------------
**MISC**
Looking for inspiration? *Robert Glenn* has been handing it out to struggling artists for years via his twice-weekly email newsletter, which is now collected into a book: The Robert Genn Twice-Weekly Letters - 960 pages of musings on the actual life of a working artist, $30 from the large grey link at the top of http://clicks.robertgenn.com/new-book.php . You can also buy his first book, The Painter's Keys. Or just Subscribe and get his email newsletters for the *next* ten years and collect 'em yourself!

-------------------

**San Francisco Bay Area PLEIN AIRE PAINTING GROUPS

the organizing site for a number of Bay Area outdoor painting groups:

*Benecia Plein Air Group (aka DaGroup)

*Peninsula Outdoor Painters (aka POPs)


*See also http://www.pleinairlinks.com/Plein_Air_Links/Introduction.html for an overview of how to get on the mailing list(s) and what it's all about. The groups post photos of their weekend adventures every month so you can see what your competition looks like ;-).


GOOD LUCK AND GOOD ART TO YOU!

MAC

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Art Events for October 2009 (East Bay)

Looking for things to do? We GOT things for you to do -- in this case, artsy things, mainly ART CLASSES and crafts classes, and a few other things. These should keep you busy for the next couple of months!

mac

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As I have said before, this monthly series is not exhaustive -- just what flies by my mailbox and other source. I include art exhibits, art classes, and miscellaneous, mostly from the (San Francisco) East Bay. Many are from the Frank Bette Center in Alameda, which has wonderful classes and is probably the most robust operation offering art classes in the whole East Bay.

Hope you enjoy! Spread the word! Share! Tell people to just email me (mac at mcwong dot com) if they want to get on this email list! And when you go to one of these things, tell 'em Mac sent you! (They won't know who that is, but eventually they will catch on.)

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** SF Open Studios 2009 **
Weekend 1 is this weekend, October 10 & 11! And continues for the next couple of weekends, so if you can't make it with this last-minute notice, you can get to another one.


Open Studios includes galas, visit-the-artists (thus the maps), and a free exhibition thru Oct. 25 at SOMArts Main Gallery, 934 Brannan St., SF (Wed-Fri noon-4, Sat-Sun 10-5).


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Frank Bette Center for the Arts
At the Frank Bette Center for the Arts - 1601 Paru St (corner of Lincoln), Alameda CA 94501 www.frankbettecenter.org

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** SKETCHBOOK ALAMEDA**

Come out and sketch the beautiful sites of Alameda Island with friends. Free, open to all--everyone is welcome! Saturdays and Wednesdays each month, varying schedules.

Upcoming: Wed. Oct. 14, meet at 10am at Alameda Point former Naval station. Old hanger buildings, SF skyline, glorious old naval ships. "We may do a sketch crawl," they say, whatever that is! Details and what art and other supplies to bring are at

Bring a picnic lunch and chat and critique around noon. Just Show Up!

Sat. Nov. 14 and Wed. Nov. 18, at The Marketplace in Alameda, Park St. and Buena Vista, 10am. This shopping center has a lovely brick facade to practice your perspective, and boutique shops who are artist-friendly. Restrooms and restaurant and other eating opptys inside.

Bring a picnic for chat and critique around noon. Just Show Up!

TO GET ON THE MAILING LIST AT FRANK BETTE FOR THIS AND OTHER ART OPPORTUNITIES, CLICK THIS LINK AND FILL OUT THE FORM:

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**DAVID SAVELLANO: THE ART OF TRAVEL SKETCHING AND PAINTING**

[David's classes are wonderful - the guy is a genius painter himself, and also a wonderful teacher. Highly recommended! --mac]

"Learn to capture the essence and feel of a scene.

"This intermediate-level course builds on the foundation of basic drawing and watercolor techniques to take your sketches and paintings to a higher level.

"We will sketch on location to capture cityscapes, outdoor markets, indoor public spaces, landscape and water scenes."

Cost: $140 members, $175 non-members
Maximum 10 students to ensure quality teaching

Class schedule:
November 13, 2009
Friday evening introduction 7-9 pm
at the Frank Bette Center, 1601 Paru St., Alameda, CA

November 14 & 15, 2009
Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 4pm,
on location in San Francisco and Oakland (BART accessible).



**BONUS: A DAY OF SKETCHING & PAINTING CRITIQUES WITH DAVID SAVELLANO! **

A one-day class, on November 7, 2009.

Agenda for the day:
-10 to 11:30 am Review artist's sketchbooks and paintings at FBCA
-11:30 am to 3pm Paint on location in Alameda
-3pm to 4pm Final critique/review at FBCA

The purpose of the critique session is obtain constructive feedback on your current artwork and coaching tips for improving your sketches and paintings.

The critique sessions will follow a structured format based of the Elements and Principles of Design.

Cost $75/person - max 10 artists


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** PLEIN AIR PAINTING GROUP ON PENINSULA **

[Next get-together is TOMORROW (Sunday Oct 11), and here's organizer's Kim Holl's info on it:]

Time to get another Sunday painting in before the storm hits next week. This week we will be going to Gamble Gardens in Palo Alto. It was part of the old Gamble estate (as in Proctor and Gamble) which was donated to PA at some point. (Their website has all the specifics). Beautiful property with many different gardens. http://www.gamblegarden.org/index.html

Date: 10/11/09
Location: Elizabeth Gamble Garden, Palo Alto
Time: 9:00 on ( I am usually slow on weekends . . . )
See http://www.gamblegarden.org/ for directions.
No charge.

Rules:
1. Stay on paths and do not set up on brick or tile areas.
2. No painting may take place in the garden beds.
3. Plant material may not be moved, picked or pruned in any way.
4. Restrooms available during business hours only. (the PA library is close by)
5. No smoking
6. No disposal of artist material. Please dispose of these at home.
Happy painting,

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** FRANK BETTE HOLIDAY BASH **
Music, poetry & storytelling. Sat. Dec. 19, in Alameda. Tickets only $10.
Support both Frank Bette Center for the Arts & Rhythmix!

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**ART CLASSES**
-------------------------------------------------------

**MARGARET FAGO'S FAMED WATERCOLOR AND DRAWING CLASSES!**

"If you have been thinking of taking or rejoining one of my watercolor or drawing classes the new class sessions start Oct 5th for the Monday morning watercolor, and Monday afternoon 3-5 PM drawing class, and Oct 8th for the Thursday evening watercolor class. The drawing and Thursday evening watercolor class have several spaces open.

** COLOR DYNAMICS IN WATERCOLOR **
Come develop your painting voice while learning watercolor techniques. We'll explore color mixing, color values, glazing and brush strokes, hard and soft edges, finding and defining a center of interest and much more. Perfect for both beginning and intermediate painters.

Space is available for the Thursday evening classes, which are 7:00 to 9:00 pm -- Oct 15, 22, 29 & Nov 12, 19


** DRAWING DYNAMICS **
Working from Still Life and Plein Aire we will explore how to create design and form through line, shading, black and white shapes and tonal values. Release your inner artist through warm up exercises which will allow you to draw what you see. Beginners and intermediate artists welcome.

Monday afternoon 3:00 to 5:00 ~ Drawing Dynamics ~ Oct 5, 12, 19, 26 & Nov 9, 16


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**OIL PAINTING CLASSES WITH CAROL TARZIER

Carol, a *wonderful* painter in oils, teaches this fall in her own studio at 1217 32nd St., Oakland, Saturday afternoons 1 to 5pm, from Nov. 13 thru Jan. 30th. $180. Sign up now -- class limited to 15 students.

I've taken her class and she's terrific and inspirational (even though I will never reach her level of artistry if I live to be 99).

The studio is open, spacious, and brightly lit, 750 square feet, with a kitchen/bar and patio flower garden for lunch breaks. The classes will incorporate some plein-air, landscapes, and working on still life, with still-life setups at each class.
Sign up at http://www.frankbettecenter.org/carol_tarzier_oil_painting_class.html . If you have questions, you can also reach Carol at tarzier@tarzier.com .

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** HONOR YOUR WRITER'S VOICE:
A 4-HOUR CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP **

Saturday November 7th, 10am – 2pm
Cost: $50


(and scroll to the bottom to see other "Literary Arts" activities at the Frank Bette!)

"Everyone has a unique voice. And everyone has stories inside them that are waiting to be written. If we leave our stories unwritten, no one will tell them for us. And if our stories remain untold, then the world will be a less rich and beautiful place as a result.

"This four-hour workshop will help you discover the stories you need to tell. And it will help you develop the tools you need to tell them. Filled with exercises, prompts and discussion, it will offer inspiration, encouragement, and support so you can find and honor your unique writer’s voice. Appropriate for beginning writers as well as for more experienced writers looking for a creative jolt.

"Instructor and novelist Elaine Beale will be offering a weekly creative writing class at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts starting in 2010. You can also meet Elaine at Frank Bette on Monday October 19th when she will read from her new novel and answer questions about this workshop and her upcoming weekly class."

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** HALLOWEEN CARDMAKING WORKSHOP with Briana Learnihan **
Sunday – October 25, 2009 – 2:00 pm until 5:00 pm at the Frank Bette in Alameda. Sign up and get DETAILS of what to bring etc. at http://www.frankbettecenter.org/Learnihan-briana.html


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LEARN TO PAINT THE FIGURE FROM THE INCOMPARABLE SUSAN LEA HACKETT

**EXPRESSIVE FIGURE PAINTING WITH WATERCOLOR**
Watercolor techniques to develop the expressive quality of value, color, and composition with the figure.

Hackett is one of the finest watercolor figure painters, and the opportunity to learn from her is a privilege not to be missed! More info and enroll at
and see samples of her wonderful work!

Classes, $135 (nonmembers) for three-day sessions, 9:30am to 12:30pm: Nov 13-20-27

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**"LIQUID THERAPY--DRAMA BY DESIGN"
WATERCOLOR WORKSHOP WITH TERRI HILL

Oct 23-25 at the Southwest Artists Gallery in Redwood City, $247.
Limited to 15 students.

"3-Day Workshop in transparent watercolor works that tell a story by going deep with pigment, reflecting the past with juicy material incorporating our personal framework. There will be demos on painting liquids, both contained and not. We will get wet and wild under it all, painting from photographic references. Demos and discussions each day followed by painting in class.

SWA--Society for Western Artists, 2625 Broadway St, Redwood City 94063; more info and registration form available at SocietyofWesternArtists.com; or email mzsherrylee@msn.com, or call Sherry Vockel (650) 873-0118.

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** 2009 HOLIDAY GIFT BOUTIQUE AT FRANK BETTE**
Nov. 27 thru Dec. 20 -- special holiday hours DAILY 11am to 7pm!

CALL FOR ARTS & CRAFTS!
If you want to SELL your arts and crafts at this annual Boutique event, apply by filling out the form at


and dropping it off at Frank Bette (1601 Paru St., Alameda) and bring two samples of the kinds of artwork/craft--which must be stuff you have made! -- for approval (this is a juried show, and space it limited, so hurry!)


------------------

** REGULAR EVENTS at the Frank Bette **

**LIFE DRAWING**
Frank Bette Center, every Tuesday 6:30 - 9:30 pm.
Gesture Poses with a nude model.
All skill levels welcome. Bring your own materials.
Space limited. Pay by the month to cover model fee: $35 - $45 depending on number of artists.
Limited Drop-in Spaces are available at $15 per session.
Frank Bette Members only please! (No Instructor)

--
** BETTE'S BODACIOUS BEADING BEAUTIES **
Every Wednesday Evening, 6 – 9 pm - Ongoing - Free

Share your enthusiasm for beads and baubles. Share techniques with fellow beaders; everything from bead stringing to bead weaving. Share works in progress for support and feedback.

This is a supportive space to hang out with and bounce ideas off fellow beaders. Join us! Bring your own materials/project to work on. (No Instructor)

** AND! UPCOMING EVENT FOR YOU BEADERS! **
Sunday Nov. 8 from 1 to 5pm

"Join Bette's Bodacious Beading Beauties for a fun afternoon of earring-making at this fund-raiser for the Frank Bette Center for the Arts. For $25 you will take home a pair of earrings that you designed yourself, and 100% of the proceeds will go to the Frank Bette Center, so bring your friends and help us raise lots of money.

"The informal, free beading group meets at the Frank Bette Center on Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9, creating beaded art of all kinds, and on November 8th, they will be sharing their expertise with YOU.

"They will provide beads from their personal collections, findings, and know-how to help you create a beautiful pair of earrings for yourself, for a friend, for your mom, your wife, or maybe your girlfriend. Male and female earring makers welcome."

-------------------

** SOCIETY OF WESTERN ARTISTS IN REDWOOD CITY **
Has released their 2010 schedule of workshops, including e.g. watercolor, oil-pastel-acrylic, plein-air watercolor, plein-air oil, oil-and-pastel workshop, and more!


-------------------


** FEATHER RIVER ART CAMP NEXT JUNE -- EARLY DETAILS! **

Every year dozens of artists retreat to the mountains above Sacramento and spend a week living in tents and cabins (or the local motels if they prefer) and taking classes and painting, drawing, learning guitar, making glass beads and other crafts, and just getting away from it all. I went in 2008 and it was fun and intensive.

Plans are under way for next year. Since it's so expensive, now is not too early for you to be starting your plans. Here's some early info from Karen LeGault, art camp director:
--
Hello there,

Set your Calendars! Dates for Feather River Art Camp for 2010 are official! ... only 8 1/2 months away (but who's counting?). We will convene from June 20 to 27, 2010 for another wonderful week at Art Camp.

I will be sending more information along as instructor commitments are firmed up. There will be a new 2010 registration form available online by mid-November.

Our Class Lineup is pretty impressive. Instructors who have already indicated that they may be offering a class are as follows :

-Bookmaking with Rhiannon Alpers
-Outdoor Installation Art from Nature with Ron Brown
-Landscape in Oil with Kay Carlson
-Watercolor with Margaret Fago
-Guitar with Larry Ferrara
-Mosaic Art with Dmitry Grudsky
-Papermaking with Linda Lemon
-Fused Glass with recyled glass with Reddy Lieb
-Writing from the Crazy Child with Clive Matson
-Hot Torch Glass Beadmaking with Harlan Simon
-Clay with Blanka Soltys
-Drawing with Chinese Brush with Karen LeGault

There will also be a kids class with a new format. I will send more information later.
Please pass the word!

In the Spirit of Feather River Art Camp,

Karen LeGault
art camp director
Feather River Art Camp

-------------------


**AFGHANISTAN SINCE THE PREVIOUS WAR**

This is more culture and current affairs, but there is art involved too -- read on.

At Cal State East Bay (Hayward):

Get in on the pulse of the Bay Area’s Afghan and Iranian persons at the Global Knowledge Conference Oct. 22-24 at California State University, East Bay.

Community leaders and academics will be discussing Afghanistan and India’s Common Cultural Heritage, Afghanistan Since the Withdrawal of the Soviet Union’s Army, 1979 – 30 Years Hence, personal and immigration narratives, new directions in Afghan and Iranian scholarship, and numerous perspectives on women’s health issues, and the arts of the culture, and much more. Fremont sculptor Sami Nadi and several Afghan and Iranian artists will show their work, Homayoun Sakhi will perform on the rubab, and a film will explore the making of “Beyond the Mirror” by Bond Street Theatre and Emile Theatre of Kabul. There will be both Afghan and Iranian poetry, a dance demonstration and displays of Afghan and Iranian literature and art.

Pre-registration through Oct. 15 at $35 per person includes a light reception on the opening day, an Afghan dinner Friday, and continental breakfast and Indian lunch Saturday.

The registration form and details are at: http://class.csueastbay.edu/Global_Knowledge.php

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**LOCAL PLEIN AIRE PAINTING GROUPS

the organizing site for a number of Bay Area outdoor painting groups:




*See also http://www.pleinairlinks.com/Plein_Air_Links/Introduction.html for an overview of how to get on the mailing list(s) and what it's all about. The groups post photos of their weekend adventures every month so you can see what your competition looks like ;-).
-----------------------------------

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD ART TO YOU!

MAC

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Time and the Infinite Blog List

My SO CALLED FRIEND, Steve Drace, finds and sends me links to the most improbable, yet interesting, sites, blogs, and knicknacks on the Web. It's maddening, for two reasons, which I fired back at him today:

Steve:

1. Where do you FIND this stuff? And (second part of question) when do you have TIME to find, read, and select the good parts??

2. Do you know how hard I have worked to winnow down my Bloglines feed list to under 100 feeds? It's like cutting off fingers. Now I just ADDED the feed for the blog Your Monkey Called, and because I can't resist clicking on a link that says "and he wants his tapes and pamphlets back," which took me to You Look Nice Today, "The audio-based Journal of Emotional Hygiene," which turned out to be a combo blog and audio blog full of sarcasm, so I added THAT TOO. I fail to resist sarcasm.

My blog list has become like my home library, like my video library, like my WINE library, ferchrissakes, and like my browser bookmarks (abandon hope all ye etc.) -- if I did nothing all my waking hours but read blog posts, I'd never catch up if I lived to be 100! Even in the unlikely event that I stop subscribing to NEW ones!

Jeez.

Hey, wait -- I think I have a blog post!

Yay!

PS: Your Monkey Called was highlighted by Steve for a recent post called "Book Titles, If They Were Written Today," such as
"Then: The Wealth of Nations
Now: Invisible Hands: The Mysterious Market Forces That Control Our Lives and How to Profit from Them"

Today their infinite amusement consists of this entry:

I LOVE HER NAME, I DO

This winter, the BBC brings you a gripping new crime drama…AMANPOUR

A fragrance. A dream. Remembered. Forgotten. Ralph Lauren presents…AMANPOUR

In a world where no man is equal until he has proven himself in a sweaty tropical locale, one man rises above the others. Leonardo DiCaprio stars in Baz Luhrmann’s…AMANPOUR

Crème fraîche over strawberries makes the most delicious…AMANPOUR

---

How can one resist? Now I have to fall behind on THIS too! Arrrrghhh!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Quotable Quotes -- A new batch

Some of my recently gathered quotables:

"What is madness? To have erroneous perceptions and to reason correctly from them"
Voltaire

--
There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965)

--
Claimant complained that Crunchberry cereal contains no berries and she was therefore deceived.

"The survival of the instant claim would require this Court to ignore all concepts of personal responsibility and common sense. The Court has no intention of allowing that to happen."
--May 20, 2009
MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
JANINE SUGAWARA, Plaintiff, v. PEPSICO, INC., Defendant.
No. 2:08-cv-01335-MCE-JFM
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF
CALIFORNIA

--
Lynn Greiner:
"When author Isaac Asimov turned 60, he announced he had just entered his late youth..."
[And since he went on to write another 50 books before dying in his 90s, he may have been literally right.]

--
Maureen Down:
The AP is not a relationship counselor.
[regarding public officials holding confessional press conferences about their cheating ways.]

===
The Novel as Lie
For [novelist JG] Ballard, as he explained in Salon in 1997, the novel is "the greatest enemy of truth and honesty that was ever invented. It's a vast, sentimentalizing structure that reassures the reader and at every point offers the comfort of secure moral frameworks and recognizable characters. This whole notion was advanced by Mary McCarthy and many others years ago, that the main function of the novel was to carry out a kind of moral criticism of life. But the writer has no business making moral judgements or trying to set himself up as a one-man or one-woman magistrate's court. I think it's far better, as (William F.) Burroughs did and I've tried to do in my small way, to tell the truth."
-Quoted in Reason Magazine, June 2009, Joanne McNeil.

----
The Bigger Picture

Human Intelligence consists of:
-A repertoire of concepts (objects, space, time, causation, intention) useful in a social, knowledge-intensive species
-A process of metaphorical abstraction; conceptual structure bleached of its content, applied to new, abstract domains

-Stephen Pinker, "On Language and Thought, at TED, July 2005
http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_language_and_thought.html?ga_source=embed&ga_medium=embed&ga_campaign=embed
--------

I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American. But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic and a progressive religious experience.
--Shelley Winters (1922 - 2006)
----
I've gone into hundreds of [fortune-teller's parlors], and have been told thousands of things, but nobody ever told me I was a policewoman getting ready to arrest her.
--New York City detective
--

Tech theorist Linda Stone famously coined the phrase “continuous partial attention” to describe our newly frazzled state of mind.
--

"If everyone's going to get news items from AP as soon as they're out, on their Blackberries, and so on, then what's the net gain that newspapers can provide?," asked Twohig. "You do have the commentary, you do have the beat reporters that really understand the marketplace and provide a thoughtful point of view. You have to add value."
-- Marketwatch, David B. Wilkerson, May 20, 2009
--
In fact, the Residence Inns, Hyatt Places and Holiday Inn Expresses are perfect examples of disruptive technology. They are newer, cleaner and easier to use. They have a simple mission and they fulfill it. They are well-priced and hit the market bulls-eye. Do you really want to pay an extra $200 per day for turn-down service and a chocolate truffle on the pillow ... romantic getaways excepted? Whenever I hire a Residence Inn, Hyatt Place or Holiday Inn Express to do a job, I am pleased.

These new mid-market motels are the Charles Schwabs of the hotel world.

Now let us consider a few American industries that are broken or in need of a refresh: health care, banking, automobiles, energy, to name four.

The way to improve all of these sectors, seems to me, is to ask: What is the equivalent of a Holiday Inn Express? In health care it might be clinics with kiosks that take your temperature, sample your blood and ask you 20 questions before you see the nurse or doctor. In autos, it might a way to configure your car as you do a Dell computer. In banking, it might be using social networks like LinkedIn or Facebook as a platform for new lending cooperatives.
--Forbes, blog, Digital Rules, 'The Holiday Inn Express Solution,' April 2009

--
Fm Scientific American, quoting the 'year-end (2008) issue of the British Medical Journal, well known for its unusual array of offbeat articles':

"In a short item entitled 'A Day in the Life of a Doctor: The PowerPoint Presentation,' two British physicians reveal that 'the main purpose of a PowerPoint presentation is entertainment. Intellectual content is an unwarranted distraction.'

"They go on to advise that 'the more lines of writing that can be coerced onto a slide and the smaller the font, the lower the risk of anyone criticising any data which has accidentally been included' and that 'the number of slides you can show in your allotted time is inversely proportional to the number of awkward questions which can be asked at the end.' "

--
If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going.
--Professor Irwin Corey
--
Rewriting history to fit current ideologies (i.e. Columbus as native killer) is called “presentism.”
--
10 Newspapers That Will Survive The Apocalypse
Nicholas Carlson|Mar. 28, 2009, 6:30 PM
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-local-newspapers-investors-want-to-acquire-2009-3

Believe it or not, there are investors who still want to buy local newspapers.

Our favorite person of this stripe is an investor who has already plunked millions into the industry and is in the process of spending much more.

"I might be running head first into the buggy-whip business, but I'm not sold on the death of print quite yet," he tells us. (He's asked us to keep him anonymous because many of those deals remain under non-disclosure agreements.)

So what does this investor see in the newspaper industry that the rest of us don't? Lots of room for improvement, for one thing.

His view:

*For most of their existence, newspapers were steady sources of revenue that required little management -- "cash cows that you put your brother in charge of."

*This led to bloat at the large, public conglomerates that now own many of our best local newspapers.

*Then came the Internet. It brought some competition yes, but more devastatingly it brought the perception of a paradigm shift.

*Suddenly, the bloat-tolerant managers at the top of the newspaper chains couldn't turn left without hearing from an equity analyst threatening to slap their company with a "sell" rating if it didn't invest enough in the Internet.

*After a decade of investing in the Internet -- but doing little to fight the bloat -- the conglomerates are collapsing under a weight of debt.

*This debt remains and online ad revenues aren't helping reduce it. The LA Times claims its online ad revenues pay for its newsroom, but our source doesn't buy it. "You had to pull out the duct tape and rubber hoses to make [their formula] work," he says.

Our guy is convinced that underneath the mess, there are plenty of local newspapers that, after cutting newsroom bloat and R&D costs, would be plenty profitable. He says these local newspapers just need to stop "spending on trying to find their way out" and "instead run their current good business."

What does our source think of newspapers on the Web? Not much. He says local papers should have a Web site run by two people that links to international and national news and keeps all local content behind a pay wall or off the Internet entirely.
--

I believe in God -- but I can't stand his fan club.

My favorite prayer: "Lead me to those who seek the truth, and deliver me from those who have found it."
---

[Newspaper failures]
Mono cultures spawn simultaneous failure
The problem is not the new business model, as I wrote in my DaniWeb post, it's the way the business has changed. Instead of concentrating on what they do well, newspapers have become monolithic and brittle. In his Keynote speech last week at AIIM, Andrew Lippman, Founding Associate Director at the MIT Media Lab [7] was talking about the issues related to mono cultures: "I think the institutions are out of scale, past the point of their design," he said "Another problem is they are mono cultures. They are all the same." This means, Lippman pointed out, that when it goes south--as happened last year in the financial sector--all the businesses fail at the same time because they are all doing the same thing. What he said applies to the news business.
--http://www.fiercecontentmanagement.com/node/2358/print
--Ron Miller, Apr 8 2009
--

The original name of the movie Amelie was "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain"

--
Guaranteed Solution to Our Economic Crisis

[I regret to say that I don't know where I got this.]

"Leave it to a brainy Indian to come up with the cheapest and surest way to stimulate our economy: Immigration.

"All you need to do is grant visas to two million Indians, Chinese, and Koreans," said Shekhar Gupta, editor of 'The Indian Express' newspaper. "We will buy up all the subprime homes. We will work 18 hours a day to pay for them. We will immediately improve your savings rate -- no Indian bank today has more than 2 percent nonperforming loans because not paying your mortgage is considered shameful here. And we will start new companies to create our own jobs and jobs for more Americans."

Problem solved! The real joke is: He's almost certainly right! And of course, it will never happen, which underlines the constraints that prejudice, nutty economic theories, and shortsightedness place on our future.

-------------
The key to success for Obama, if he can figure out how:

"You gotta give 'em HOPE!"
-Harvey Milk

---
'Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. '
Philip K. Dick (1928 - 1982) "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" 1978.


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

He Who Dies With the Most Books, Wins


Now this is a topic I can get into. I have
Too Many Books. Says one side of my brain.
Another side says: What means this "too many books" please?

By one definition, I have too many: I have more books than I could read in the remainder of my life, no matter how long I live. Which is about a thousand books, I estimate.

MOVING
The last (and I do mean "last") time we moved, from one small suburban town to another about 5 miles away, we had professionals move the furniture, but for several days before that we moved the little stuff, including books, in our cars. Two-thirds of the dozen trips were just boxes of books.

It was at that point, after several moves over 20 years with increasing proportions of books to the total amount moved, that I finally understood when my
father had said to my mother, when I was 12, about the house they were about to buy, "Like it? You'd better decide for sure, because we're never moving again."

We're never moving again.

HOME LIBRARY
I once tried to make a list of my books. Fool's errand, and I only have maybe (rough estimate only) a thousand volumes or so - not up to the standards of some of you, I gather.

My kids both had bookshelves in their bedrooms, and are both dedicated readers, now grown. One daughter, as a teen, remarked wonderingly to me that when she visited the homes of her friends, she seldom saw books -- they didn't have bookshelves in the house, and none had bookshelves in the kids' rooms. She was disturbed by this.

Later, in college--USC no less--she remarked how few of her classmates ever read books. And in film school, of course, nobody apparently reads anything longer than 120 pages bound in pressboard covers.

I keep trying to winnow down my library but never seem to make a dent. It's a small miracle if I can get through the year without happening to visit the library book sale and making my problems worse.

What we all need, I think, is a good desert island....

Monday, August 31, 2009

Mac's Art Events Calendar for September 2009!

East Bay Art!

Dear Art-Type Person!

This is my art-events calendar for September, 2009 - and the first of what I hope is a useful monthly series. It is not exhaustive -- just what swims into my ken from time to time. I include art exhibits, art classes, and miscellaneous, mostly from the San Francisco East Bay area.

Many are from the Frank Bette Center in Alameda, which has wonderful classes.

Hope you enjoy! Spread the word!

---
Frank Bette Center for the Arts:
"FIRST FRIDAY GALA OPENING"
September 4th, 7-9 PM
See latest exhibition and meet the artists, chat about art, drink wine and munch on snacks!

Also at Frank Bette:
MUSIC: SAGA -Saturday Afternoon Gallery Acoustic Starts September 5th: "Songwriters Open Mic"
"Come and participate in, or simply enjoy, performances of live acoustic music, in a sunlit room full of fresh air, the latest art exhibit and delightfully congenial company."

At the Frank Bette Center for the Arts - 1601 Paru St (corner of Lincoln), Alameda CA 94501 http://www.frankbettecenter.org

-----
SKETCHBOOK ALAMEDA

Come out and sketch the beautiful sites of Alameda Island with friends. Free, open to all. Saturdays and Wednesdays each month, varying schedules.

Upcoming: Sat. Sept 12 and Wed. Sept 23 Naval Airbase on Alameda Island.
Both days: 10:a.m. at Hanger One distillery site -- Start sketching by 10:15 -- We have lots of buildings, the distillery inside, the SF skyline, BIG ships -- a good day to bring a picnic for chat and critique around noon. Just Show Up!


ART CLASSES



OIL PAINTING CLASSES WITH THE GREAT CAROL TARZIER

Carol, a wonderful painter in oils, teaches this fall through the San Leandro Adult School, starting Sept. 11 thru Jan. 29, $
195 for 18 weeks (good price, actually!), Fridays 10-2, in the Great Room at the Methodist Church, 1600 Bancroft Ave., San Leandro ("huge open room with high ceilings). Beginning class as well as for continuing students. "The first half of the class focuses on landscape painting, the second half on still life."

I've taken her class and she's terrific and inspirational (even though I will never reach her level of artistry if I live to be 99). The school online enrollment is not active yet, so to enroll send a check for $195 to San Leandro Adult School, 2255 Bancroft Ave, San Leandro 94577, marking the envelope "Attn Bradley Frazier, Vice Principal" and write on the check "Fine Art-Painting Fridays." School phone is (510) 618-4420, www.sanleandroadultschool.org. To reach the church, take the Grand Ave. exit off 580 East, down several blocks, and the Methodist Church is on your left at Bancroft, park in the lot.

Carol is also teaching the same course at her own studio, SATURDAYS Sept 12 thru Nov 6 and again Nov 13 thru Jan 30. Cost is $180 for each half, or $320 for both (cost is higher because she has to cover her own insurance, utilities, etc.). For these classes, make out the check to Carol Tarzier and send it to her studio at 1217 32nd St., Oakland, CA 94608. You can see some of her painting at http://tarzier.com/portfolio/painting/


LEARN FROM THE INCOMPARABLE SUSAN LEA HACKETT!
"EXPRESSIVE FIGURE PAINTING WITH WATERCOLOR"

Watercolor techniques to develop the expressive quality of value, color, and composition with the figure.

Hackett is one of the finest watercolor figure painters, and the opportunity to learn from her is a privilege not to be missed! More info and enroll at


and see samples of her wonderfully expressive work!

Classes, $135 (nonmembers) for three-day sessions, 9:30am to 12:30pm:
Sept 11-18-25
Oct 9-16-23
Nov 13-20-27


"LIQUID THERAPY--DRAMA BY DESIGN"
WATERCOLOR WORKSHOP WITH TERRI HILL
Oct 23-25 a the SWA Gallery in Redwood City, $247.
Limited to 15 students.

"3-Day Workshop in transparent watercolor works that tell a story by going deep with pigment, reflecting the past with juicy material incorporating our personal framework. There will be demos on painting liquids, both contained and not. We will get wet and wild under it all, painting from photographic references. Demos and discussions each day followed by painting in class.

SWA--Society for Western Artists, 2625 Broadway St, Redwood City 94063; more info and registration form available at SocietyofWesternArtists.com; or email mzsherrylee@msn.com, or call Sherry Vockel (650) 873-0118.



BRIANA LEARNIHAN: "MIXED MEDIA ART MADNESS!"

Sundays, 11-2 pm on September 6, 13, 20

Mix it up! Save money and have more fun with your gift giving this year.Make art with anything! Learn new and unusual approaches and techniques. They make great art gifts!

Sept 6: Unforgettable Greeting Cards, and more.
Sept 13, Artist Trading Cards, Tags, and Tag Books to share with family and friends
Sept. 20, Paper Bag Books, Match Covers, and more!
Take any one class for $30 or all three for $80.
Get all the information you need on this class and about Briana at
where you can sign up for this and other Frank Bette classes.



DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY POTENTIAL, with Chris Rochette

Are all the special features and creative options in your digital camera collecting cobwebs? Explore the inner workings of your camera and brush off the cobwebs! Learn to use the powerful tools which often go unleashed in most digital cameras. Turn those complex menus and extra buttons into something with real potential.

6 classes - Thursdays 6-8:30PM
September 10, 17, 24 Oct 8, 15, 22
Members $100 - nonmembers $120


LUMINOUS PASTELS!
with Gema Lopez

Come learn how to produce breathtaking still life portraits glowing with brilliant color!
Class will cover color theory, composition, setting up and drawing the still life’s lighting, as well as experimenting with different surfaces and types of pastels.

There is a $10 materials fee payable at first class.

Sat/Sun October 10-11, 2009
9:30 – 4:30pm
$125 members and $160 non-members.

Register at:



ALAMEDA "ESTUARY ART ATTACK" GALLERY EVENINGS

Alameda appears to be rivalling Berkeley as an art colony kind of a place.

They've started something they're calling Estuary Art Attack, which is a "First Thursdays" kind of a thing, in that you get a map of the local art galleries which will be open from 6 to 9 each 2nd Friday of each month.

And of course as long as you're traipsing over the Alameda, you might as well dine -- and there are of course lots o' cool restaurants, clubs, cafes, and bars to check out -- including the tiki bar, Forbidden Island, that we went to last month (cute, but service that night was awful! Maybe it will be better when you're there.)

Go to http://www.estuaryartattack.com for the map & all necessary details including promos from many eateries and wine places.

Check it out, arties!



FRANK BETTE NEEDS VOLUNTEERS!

Debra Owen, who woman's the front desk daily and eveningly at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts, goes on vacation in September and they need volunteers to sit in for her!

If you're available to staff any of the following dates, please contact her at debra@frankbettecenter.org

1-7pm, Saturday Sept 5
7-9pm, Thur Sept 10 (during classes)
7-9pm, Fri Sept 11 (during Art Attack & Movie)
11am-2pm, Saturday Sept 12 -Just a couple of hours here, folks!
7-9pm Saturday Sept 12 (during Poetry Reading)
11am-1pm, Wednesday Sept 9 - another short one!
7-9pm, Thursday Sept 10 (during classes)
4-5pm, Wednesday Sept 16
7-9pm, Wednesday Sept 16 (during classes)
7-9pm, Thursday Sept 17 (during classes & storytelling)
11am-7pm, Saturday Sept 19
7-9pm, Saturday Sept 19 (during Special Poetry Reading)

Contact Deb now at debra@frankbettecenter.org or call 510-523-6957 (leave message if you have to).

Debra says: Yes, you will get training!

And: "I’m also looking for someone who’ll be the “Team Leader” for gallery staff while I’m gone. The job is to be the follow-up point person for “difficult” questions (calls). A also work out scheduling glitches (if someone cancels, try to find a replacement). Maybe it would be a good idea to have two/three Team Leaders!"


LIFE DRAWING

Frank Bette Center, every Tuesday 6:30 - 9:30 pm.
Gesture Poses with a nude model
.
All skill levels welcome. Bring your own materials.

Space limited. Pay by the month to cover model fee: $35 - $45 depending on number of artists.

Limited Drop-in Spaces are available at $15 per session.

Frank Bette Members only please! (No Instructor)



INTERESTING ON THE WEB

Two interesting artists to gawk at, envy, and hate for their astonishing technique. These two are 'realists,' to say the least:

The Art of Rob Hefferan

and mind-blowing
Underwater Paintings by Eric Zener



LOCAL PLEIN AIRE PAINTING GROUPS

the organizing site for a number of Bay Area outdoor painting groups:

Benecia Plein Air Painting Group (aka DaGroup)

Peninsula Outdoor Painters (aka POPs)


See also http://www.pleinairlinks.com/Plein_Air_Links/Introduction.html for an overview of how to get on the mailing list(s) and what it's all about. The groups post photos of their weekend adventures every month so you can see what your competition looks like ;-).

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

On Twitter now, God help me!

Image via CrunchBase

When I was Reviews Editor of InfoWorld in the 80s, I would get a stack of (postal) mail literally three feet high, every morning. Obtaining an electric envelope-opener was a major convenience -- as was obtaining an assistant to actually do the work, since slicing open the envelopes was the half of it -- you had to remove the material from the envelope, unfold it (usually), and place it in the pile.

Then I'd go through the pile, throwing out the 60% irrelevant. Then go through the remainder again to sort into Useful/Interesting and Dunno Yet.

That took an hour each morning.

By mid-90s, I got almost no physical mail at all. I was editor-in-chief of SunWorld Online, so most relevant mail went to my editors; but communications were mostly through email. That meant about 100 relevant emails a day -- plus 200 or so spam messages. I had two dozen subfolders in my inbox to sort through it all and felt it was a great personal victory to sort my inbox down to under 100 active messages on any given day. (Of course, filed-away mail was often forgotten thereafter.)

I also subscribed to about two dozen magazines at work, mostly free trade and professional journals, which piled up in the corner with only an article or two read in each. At home I subscribed to another 18 or so computer magazines plus fun reading like Forbes and Wired. Never kept up on them either. By the year zero (2000), I had cancelled most pubs and was down to perhaps five.

I retired three years ago and the first thing I did was subscribe to The Wall Street Journal and The Economist, Now That I Finally Have Time to Read Them -- fatally innocent conceit!

Image representing Bloglines as depicted in Cr...Image via CrunchBase


The WSJ, my favorite newspaper in the world, plus two local papers (the metro and the local), extended my breakfast to two hours each morning. I couldn't keep it up -- it was just too much. And The Economist--my god, what a labor that came to be! It covers all the topics you normally skip by or don't get much sense out of in the regular press -- especially what's going on in other countries -- and you *think * you can just skim through them and get a sense of what's going on in the rest of the world -- but you dip into *any* article and the high-quality writing and the depth of your ignorance combine to force you to read the whole article.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife


Since the magazine is 100 pages with not more than 10 pages of ads, that's 90 dense pages of text every week on MEGO subjects (Mine Eyes Glaze Over -- a Washington term for Very Important but Very Boring subject matter, like the Fed or Kazakhstan). It takes *hours* to read the thing. And while you're in the middle of reading it -- here comes another issue!

Tip for magazine publishers: A magazine whose main virtue is that you can skim through it quickly and toss it should not be dismissed. When I subscribed to all those tech pubs, the lighter ones that I could skim-and-toss in ten minutes I read every week -- Wired, I still have back issues from the 90s here!

Then I installed Bloglines and joined to the great Blog revolution. Despite occasional severe pruning, I have 96 feeds, some with 200 unread blogs, others with two or three hundred Saved blog writings. I love it; I can't spend four hours a day on it. Of course, I started four blogs of my own, to add to the general noise level. Sigh.

I finally signed up for Twitter, which offered me the opportunity to Follow the tweets of the people in my Gmail contacts list -- it turns out 82 of my friends and colleagues are Twittering. Eighty-two.

I Followed them all, just to get my feet wet. I now spend 20 minutes twice a day scrolling through Tweets, almost all of which aren't especially of interest to me. I UnFollowed two friends today and it was like losing five pounds.

Ovewhelmed by info? Oh yeah. Yet I love the stream of info, some of which is amazing, fascinating, amusing, shocking. Bury me with my stacked-up magazines, and my laptop tuned to Twitter and Bloglines -- I'll smile all the way to damnation, and complain to St Peter about it.


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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat,Pray,Love) On Creativity & Dobby the House Elf


Gilbert's talk at the (wonderful) TED Conference can be an inspiration to each of us who hopes for creative opportunities to blossom in our retirement:

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/453

Ole!

-mac

PS: As one who has already had an achievement that leads to the suspicion that one's greatest achievement is behind one, I was particularly impressed with this speech.

Friday, June 5, 2009

"Elderhostel" Force to Change Its Name....

The education-travel company that has specialized in (pricey) trips with educational themes, mainly aimed at retired people, has hit the Boomers wall, apparently: They feel compelled to change their name, on the grounds that some members and would-be members object to the notion of the word "Elder."

Some also don't like the word "hostel" because the accommodations are actually first-class hotels and the like.

They claim they will also try to find ways to cut the prices of their (to me) breathtakingly expensive packages. (They have "scholarships" but that's not a solution for most of us.)

The new name will be unveiled in the fall.

COMMENT: I think this is another in what will be a wave of problems created by us Age Deniers, the Boomer generation: We hate any reference to aging, so it becomes a problem for any marketers. I've run into this: I have a site for those of my generation who are retiring; BoomersRetired.com -- and I can guarantee you, the word Boomers will be a problem on an ongoing basis. But it's hard to work around: My site is aimed at my generation, not the previous generation now in their 70s, and not at GenX either, who are too far away from retirement to worry about it other than financially.

Dealing with the deliberate self-delusions of your market is one of the great challenges every marketeer faces, I think.

mac

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Your Wake/Sleep Plan: Are You a Night-Owl, or a Morning Person?

{{Potd/2006-08-30 (en)}}Image via Wikipedia

Now that you're retiring, you may like just fine the schedule you always kept while working -- maybe you get up at 5:30am, and when it's time to go to work, you're ready -- to go to retirement, though, not to work.

And if that's you, that's terrific. My wife is the Original Morning Person: In her ideal world, she'd be up vacuuming at 6am, mowing the lawn at 7am, and working on her photo albums by 10am.

Oy! That's not me. But it has taken me two years of retirement for this to dawn on me.

RETURNING TO MY NATURAL RHYTHM
When I was freelancing many years ago and working from home -- back in my youth -- I worked best in the afternoons and at night -- I had to unwind around 1am to hit the sack, and didn't really function until 10am.

But that was then. In the many years since, I've gotten up on weekdays anywhere from 5:30am to 7:30am, depending on the job requirements. And I've struggled -- not always successfully -- to get to bed before 11pm so I could function in the mornings.

Yet when I retired, I tried to keep to the same schedule as when I was working -- get up at 6am -- OK, make that 7am -- so I "won't waste the day."

Trouble is, I waste the mornings anyway, as I drag myself out of bed and then sit at the breakfast table, reading both newspapers and nibbling away for two hours or more. Then I'd find ways to dither away most of the rest of the morning, in a fog, only becoming functional as noon approached.

We eat at 6 or so, then we go out for the evening, or, more commonly, watch some TV until 9 or 10, then head to bed. Where I toss and turn for too long.

The "Duh!" moment came recently when I switched my watercolor-painting class from Monday mornings to Thursday evenings. It made a huge difference.

I was a slug at the Monday morning classes. Unhappily, coffee does not wake me up and stimulate me the way it does many people, so I couldn't rely on the chemical boost. So I'd zone off through the morning class, happy when it petered out near noon.

Some new paintsImage by DailyPic via Flickr

The Thursday evening class is a whole different thing. I am awake and alert at 7pm when I arrive, and in the next two hours I actually get more done than I had in the Monday-morning three-hour class.

Well, I'm not stupid! It only took me several months of that for it to sink in. I am still a night owl! I haven't converted to a morning person by dint of getting up at 6am for thirty years! I am not asleep mornings because I'm lazy -- or, well, not only because I'm lazy. It's how I'm built!

So I've switched my schedule: Now I get up at 8am, I don't worry about wasting the mornings (I try to do things that don't require attention or brains), and I get rolling after lunch.

Then after dinner, and after TV, at 9 or 10pm, I head back to my computer or my art desk and get back to work for the next two hours!

I go to bed at midnight, and I sleep like a baby!

TIME TO CHECK YOUR PULSE

You can do the same thing. Retired, your life is now different in many ways. Figure out what your natural sleep/wake rhythm, and adjust yourself accordingly. See how that feels.

It's not all perfect. There's the Partner thing -- my wife is a morning person and I'm a night person, but she is, lucky for me, very accommodating -- she waits to vacuum until 8am, isn't that sweet?

Give it a try.
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