Tag: los angeles
Regroup, Refresh, Review – and the First Stop
Back home after nearly a month on the road. We travelled 6500 miles, drove through ten states, visited friends and family, drank beer and smoked cigars, ate wonderful meals, viewed three national parks on a very limited basis. Countryside ranged from desert to high mountains, with rain, hail, and sandstorms to accompany the sun and pleasures of the summer. Even better, we go along! One of Josh’s friends said, “It must be love if you can spend weeks in a car with your wife.” We had a great time – and time not to just travel, but time to get reacquainted with each other.
The first leg of the trip was to Flagstaff, Arizona. We spent one night here on the way out, and another two nights on the way back, in a different section of town. It was about a 7-hour drive from home, which is just north of Los Angeles. The first part was a few hours simply getting out of the sprawl of L.A., but once out, we moved into the sprawling Mojave desert as we travelled east. The Mojave is an amazing area – very large, very diverse, ranging from flat and barren, odd mountainous formations, to a sparse lushness with oddities such as the Joshua Tree, which, interestingly, is related to the lily!
Of course, geology changes as one travels, and moving into Arizona, the land certainly did change, especially as we began the ascent into the city of Flagstaff. The first night of the trip was spent in downtown, in an old hotel called the Hotel Monte Vista. We were up on the fourth floor, but on a Saturday night, we could hear the noise from the street below, and the chiming of a local church bell, tolling the hours in the wee hours of the morning (which was off by about 35 minutes, I think). The noise was not distracting, though, and the hotel is centrally located, so walking everywhere was fun. We visited 3 breweries that evening, and found out that trains travel through the middle of downtown with alarming frequency. The view from our window – we stayed in the Walter Brennan Room – was pretty cool. And, better, the windows opened!
The initial impressions of Flagstaff were very favorable. For a small town, it is rather cosmopolitan, and this is, in part, because of the fact Northern Arizona State University is there. There were also some shocks – Arizona’s gun laws and politics are vastly different than what I am used to in California. For instance, signs in restaurant windows telling customers to leave their guns at home, was a significant reminder of the differences.
Certainly food for thought . . . so, for now, I will leave you with Josh pondering a menu on the patio of Beaver Street Brewery.
F-1
This is the engine which made travel to the moon possible. Dedicated on 20 July 1979 to the mark the 10th anniversary of the first lunar landing, this site will soon be torn down to make way for apartments, condos, and shopping.
The Weng Collection and Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library
I have a fairly decent knowledge of different time periods in western art history, and some familiarity with many forms in which it is produced. I’ve worked with oils, acrylics, watercolors, done etching, stone lithography, and other forms of printmaking. Being familiar with techniques gives an appreciation of the process the artist goes through to create a work. I’ve also studied art history a bit, and know what occurred in what time and place, understand the evolution of styles, and can recognize a fair number of renown western artists.
Studying Chinese painting is very different because there is not the cultural context of brush and ink, nor a sense of the symbology of many of the subjects. To the western eye, it has been written, much of the painting and ink art of Asia is not understood. I’m inclined to agree, because although I love the elegance and simplicity of sumi ink painting, my cultural background and training can make the art of Japan and China at times difficult to appreciate.
The Weng Collection – “Treasures Through Six Generations – at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, was eye-opening. Spanning about 900 years in time, from the 1200s to present day, calligraphy and paintings, large (a 53′ scroll) and small, filled a couple of rooms. There wasn’t so much that it was overwhelming, but enough to appreciate a sense of time and history in Chinese painting. It was through this continuum of paintings that I got a sense of history and development, as well as an appreciation for the symbolism, the individuality expressed within traditional subject matter, and, I think, a sense of Chinese cultural time. I was able to look at a painting and recognize how it was done – the movement of brush and ink, the addition of color. Brushwork and style was recognizable, as both fine line and more spontaneous styles were shown. The calligraphy was beautiful, ranging from “letters home” to loved ones, to a large, magnificant scroll of “hu” – tiger.
Newly completed in 2008, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance is nearby the exhibit. After leaving the exhibit, we wandered down the hill, and into a grove of pine trees – so like the ones depicted in the scrolls in the exhibit, and so like the ones shown as samples in The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. From there, a setting of young black bamboo.
The grove leads to the ponds and streams which have numerous koi, trees (willows and native oak), pavilions, and bridges. The eye is led here and there. Details small and large wait to be noticed. Architecture, plants, and water create a living handscroll.
The Weng Collection, the Chinese garden, The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, and my monthly Chinese painting class have conjoined into a single experience. Somehow, I understand the history of Chinese painting better – nearly a millenia of tradition has been seen (and who has touched these paintings? who made them? who unrolled them in lantern light to enjoy them?) – a garden of trees and flowers, an earthly aesthetic – a “how to” book that is about 500 years old, and still being printed – and finally, doing the brushwork myself, as generations have before.
The catalog which accompanies this exhibit is well worth the 25.00 price – I know I will continue to enjoy this exhibit long after it leaves the Huntington. It gives the history of the collection, and detailed information about the work displayed. These pictures will give a sense of the contents.
If you ever have the opportunity to see this exhibit, go! And if you are in the Los Angeles area, visit the Huntington Library. The grounds are incredible. The gardens are beautifully laid out, one leading to another. We went on a Friday, had a picnic on the lawn (you cannot bring food into the gardens), and wandered through galleries, gardens, and had a peaceful time. In four hours we could not see enough. We shall return!
The Budget, Phones, a Dog, and Weird Little Things
This has been a rather dismal week.
There are just times when life’s external events pile up, and become Issues.
The budget crisis locally, statewide, and nationally is producing delayed effects, especially for those employed in the public sector.
Yours truly is one.
And, now, with the new fiscal year, the ones spared so far are looking ahead with consternation.
The city of Los Angeles, looking to save money, is auditing phones, to see if they are connected or not. 8000 phones never ring, are not used, and the potential annual savings is nearly three million bucks, if other phones are found not working. Tax dollars at work.
How many jobs could be saved, would have been saved, if this had not occurred?
Life goes on, despite or inspite of it all. Coming home to wagging tails is always a pleasure! This guy certainly makes the day brighter! And looking at the junk on my desk, I had a good laugh over this.
Off to work!
I’ll check my phone, too.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 