VIERNES, EL VEINTITRES DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Yesterday I went to the Palace of the Legion of Honor and got to revisit (again) some paintings that have been very influential on my practice. Probably the most enigmatic for me is a small oil painting on brass by Gerard ter Broch titled Portrait of A Gentleman in Black, c.1639. I painted an ex-voto of the painting in 2008, when I was last in San Francisco (scroll down to the 18th of June). I think it impressed me as it reminded me of the Dou copper painting of the Physician in the Christchurch Art Gallery.

JUEVES, EL VEINTIDOS DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
A new drawing, Neo Self-Portrait, 2010, pencil on paper, 188mm x 147mm (7.4"x5.8")
Full scale when clicked.

MIERCOLES, EL VEINTIUNO DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Well, we got to the game last night and the A's won over the Rd Sox 5-4. There was some great hits, some surreptitous bases stolen and a good time had by all. Now it's the AM, am feeling a bit seedy, but, Hell, I'd definitely do it again!
For a gratuitous fan shot of us (Matt, Lisa, Dennis, Jo & Matt C) on the Oakland A's website, click here.

(these photos by JK Russ)

MARTES, EL VEINTE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
A frustrating day yesterday, trying to tick of things on a big list of stuff to get done, but failing miserably due to not knowing protocols at the post office (and getting yelled at for it), not having the right change for the bus, walking to the local art shop to discover they've just run out of the paper I wanted. Then to top it off, losing my shopping list somewhere at Kinkos while having some business cards laminated. Ugh. BUT at least I managed to finish another drawing and have been sketching for possible paintings. Oh! and took Senor O to the park for a walk after Jo got back from San Fran. Time to perk up though, we're heading out to watch the A's play the Red Sox tonight.

New Cornerstone, 2010, pencil on paper, 140 x 200mm

LUNES , EL DIECINUEVE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ

Yesterday we met up with our friends Jesse and Sarah and went for lunch out at Louis' Diner by the Pacific Ocean, overlooking the riuns of the Sutro Baths, then walked around the Presidio, visiting the pet cemetery and the old airstrip, Crissy Field. Below are a selection of photos of pet headstones from the cemetery. R.I.P.

DOMINGO, EL DIECIOCHO DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Alcatraz Ave, Oakland, near Adeline, where we walk to catch the BART. The two shop windows are fancy dress-costume shops. I feel a Popeye scrimshaw coming on ... especially after recently painting Swee'pea in a painting to be exhibited at the Rayner Brothers Gallery soon.

SABATO, EL DIECISIETE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Yesterday went finally got into San Francisco. I did the Geary St. galleries and then SFMOMA. They've got a great collection show on at present - Calder to Warhol and photographs from their permanent collection. Highlight was the room of late Guston paintings (four post-'69 late works and one '65 black blob paintings). The weird thing about it was receiving a text from a friend from NZ who has a common interest in Guston - spooky.
I also got to see 'A Life Lived', a doco on Guston and his painting filmed in the early 1970's then again in 1980 during his retrospective at SFMOMA just before he passed away. I missed screenings of this doco in 2003, when I visited the retrospective in San Fran, then again in london in 2004 when the retrospective was at the Royal Academy, then again at the Drawings exhibition at the Morgan Library, NYC in 2008, so I'm now glad that I've seen it. The funniest part of the documentary is that he's 'demonstrating' how he paints a painting - a klan hangover painting - all the techniques and brushstroke styles are whisked up on the linen - a total performance, then at the end of the movie, the painting is destroyed and erased out (obviously when the cameramen are out of the studio) so all we see is a faux-act of painting, a performance for the camera - nothing is really gained by the viewer watching it. He was obviously very aware of the camera during the whole filming process over the ten year span - he's constantly spiking the lens. The most interesting aspect of the film is Guston's demeanor. In the earlier filming, he's confident in his performance, yet in interviews from 1980, he's quite anxious, unsure and hesitant. In a floor-talk, he's asked by an British woman, what would he like to leave behind, as in a legacy, to which he states he's never thought about it, but that he wants to end up in the same place as Goya and a simple pat on the back from the members of his pantheon and a "good work, sonny" comment would do him just fine.

VIERNES, EL DIECISEIS DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
A new drawing finished and framed-up today. The drawing is of Morris Graves, a Seattle artist who died in 2001. I found his work through a book called Villa Delirium, about the ceramics of Charles Krafft. Krafft started the Mystic Sons Of Morris Graves, Seattle Lodge No. 93 in 1991 to establish the importance of the artist's role of Northwest mystic painters. It is said that he possessed an acute awareness of perfect pitch for color and line from his infancy.

JUEVES, EL QUINCE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Before leaving New Zealand, I got one of Paul Rayner's 'Jesus Saves' money-box crucifixes. It's an excellent to my crucifix collection, now numbering just over one-hundred.
The current Rayner Brothers exhibition, Cheesy Moulds is an exceptionally good show with a mix of mould works, teapots, photographs and money-boxes. A must-see if you're in Whanganui, New Zealand.

MIERCOLES, EL CATORCE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
A sign on the way back from Sth Berkeley down Shattuck Ave, nearby is the Berkeley Bowl, a great place for fresh bread, great produce and a stunning collection of beers including Scrimshaw Pilsner.

MARTES, EL TRECE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Two pets that we've been looking after over the past few weeks. On the left is Tiny, who we looked after in Putiki in Whanganui, New Zealand. She's a feisty number but happy to chat after you get to know her. Now we're looking after Senor O, a brilliant dog, originally from Barcelona, Spain, now residing in Oakland, California. Belly scratches mandatory.

LUNES, EL DOCE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Bye bye New Zealand, especially Whanganui.
(Photo by JK Russ at 'Eye of Night' (RIP) circa Nov, 2009)

DOMINGO, EL ONCE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
The final state of my palette, Putiki, Whanganui

SABATO, EL DIEZ DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Below are the final three works I'll finish in New Zealand. They are intended as a triptych and read as a narrative. From left to right they are titled Creator, Nurturer and Lifegiver. The are all oil on metal and framed in a Mexican Colonial style. The photo was taken at Paul Maseyk's studio in Putiki, Whanganui.

VIERNES, EL NUEVE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Tonight is the opening of the Carey, Smith and Co Whanganui Arts Review at the Sarjeant Gallery. It's always a huge turn-out and a good chance to catch up with locals.
I've got the alien painting below in the exhibition and Jo has one of her new, framed collages.
Might see you there....

JUEVES, EL OCHO DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Meta-redux/revisit to San Marco Convent in Florence.
I'm holding up my catalogue from my exhibition, The Museum of Inherent Vice from 2007. In the catalogue is a photo I took during my first visit to San Marco in 2004, featuring a conservator painting a fresco in one of the exterior apses in the courtyard. I returned in 2008 and decided to re-photograph the same scene but with the finished fresco. I also did this at the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Del Carmine with Masaccio's Tribute Money fresco cycle (I'd used the disciples from the fresco in a painting of mine) and also in the Vatican with Raphael's School of Athens, of which I'd used the swastika-decorated arch that frames the fresco.

MIERCOLES, EL SIETE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
I've just finished a couple of new scrimshaw (which I'll post here soon) and while I was looking through my archives, I found images of a scrimshaw object in the North Otago Museum in Oamaru (bottom, right).
After returning from a trip around the South Island in 2005, I made the Oamaru Altar (top and bottom, left; 2006, 380 x 300 x 310mm, oil on found wooden bowls, scrimshaw, wire and thirty New Zealand five-cent coins). I wanted to add something in the centre of the scrimshaw as they look like an archway so I painted a small wooden bowl that was kicking around.
The photograph of Christ I took at St. Patrick's basilica in Oamaru. I was pretty close to deleting this image, until I uploaded it onto my computer was stuck by its Cubist or Futurist-type aura or penumbra.

This work is part of a private collection in Petone.

EL SEIS DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Philip Guston paintings at MOMA from the Edward R. Broida bequest, 2008. (Click on the image to enlarge it)

LUNES, EL CINCO DE JULIO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Las Vegas, Fourth of July, 2008 (sans fireworks)

FELIZ CUATRO DE JULIO!
Bath Salts, (recto) 2005, oil on two canvases, 480mm x 330mm
(John Trumbull vs. Marcus King)