Klimt and Demitasse

Using the square template of my dear friend Richard St. Ofle I compiled a few images of things that inspired me this week.

1. Pierre Bonnard's Montmartre in the Rain was recently acquired by the Van Gogh Museum. I would very much like to see it as this is the first Bonnard I've seen that I really like. This painting is more atmospheric than his usual jarring indoor scenes.

2. This is embroidery from a garment that belonged to King Gustav III of Sweden.

3. I finished Balthus' memoirs this week. He may have been the very last artist to approach painting as a craft. He mixed paint according to Delacroix's formulas. There is more to be said about him later.

4. This is the Revolving Miniatures Faberge Egg, it's my favorite.

5. This was taken by Arthur Elgort. I have twins on both sides of the family. I used to think it would be really wonderful to have a twin, but now I see that it's just creepy.

6. This is a detail from a painting of King Louis XV, of France. It was painted by Justinat Augustin in 1717.

7. This is beautiful, I found it on a website that just had a list of antiques that are for sale. I couldn't figure out where it came from.

8. Another Balthus. Joan Miró et sa fille Dolorès, 1937-1938.

9. I love Demitasse cups, I am starting a collection. They're so delicate and detailed, each one is a little work of art.

10. A detail from Gustave Klimt's Beethoven Frieze. Recently another Klimt was returned to it's rightful owner. Another painting of his, the infamous Portrait of Adele Bloch-Blauer was auctioned off for 135 million dollars. The story of that painting is very interesting, complete with a surprise ending!

The painting was confiscated by Nazis. Somehow it fell into the hands of Austrain government. Adele's niece and nephew, who lived in the United States were the rightful inheritors of her estate. They waged courtroom battles in Austria and America, eventually they won. They displayed the painting for a short time before selling it to a gallery owner, who promptly returned it on the condition that he could hang it in his gallery whenever he wished. His gallery, Neue Galerie, houses recovered art that was seized during the Holocaust. They refer to this painting as their Mona Lisa, I like it much better than the Mona Lisa!

11. It's summer, the heat is horrible. It's time for escape; the ocean, hiking, aimless drives, swimming, and hopefully staying away from sun burns.

sky cam diptych

April 7, 2009 4:38pm and 7:14pm.



April 23,2009 5:35pm and March 21, 2009 6:44pm.


May 4, 2009 7:14pm and 7:26pm.



April 2, 2009 2:44pm and 3:11pm.


March 23, 2009 6:38pm and April 17, 2009 7:29pm.



May 6, 2009 2:05pm and 4:23pm


May 5, 2009 8:05pm and 8:23pm.



April 4, 2009 7:08pm and April 5, 2009 7:44pm.


April 7, 2009 11:07am and 4:38pm. In the morning the first clouds of a storm begin to move in, by late afternoon you can see rain falling in the distance.


April 4, 2009 10:53pm and May 4, 2009 7:56pm.


May 1, 2009 2:26pm and 6:11pm.


May 5, 2009 11:46am and 11:56am


May 5, 2009 11:58am and 12:58am



May 5, 2009 12:11pm and 12:17pm

I imagine this project will slow down as summer heats up. Even now, every day looks the same. With no rain, clouds, or visible changes in the weather, this becomes a bit boring. Summer is one high pressure ridge after another, a barometer holding steady.

canonize us

This is my first semi-successful landscape painting. I know it may seem that landscapes have little to do with the work I have already done, but in time the ideas will merge. The geographic space we share is what links us all together. The landscape should be seen as a spiritual bond between all people, it should be exalted. Instead we fuck it up. Whatever. Dead bodies lying in grass fields coming soon.

Mothers Day

My grandmother Jeanne is very dear to me. She has influenced my tastes and ideas very much. She is Swedish and has visited my family there, I love to hear stories about the home they have there. She grew up in Santa Cruz, married a man who worked undercover doing secret government business(she was only 17), lived in Germany, and had five children. My mother is the youngest.

She has beautiful ettiquette, likes real mail but knows how to use a computer, and has two great grandchildren. Unfortunately we lost my grandfather suddenly before my little sister was born. I feel very lucky to have memories of him. My grandparents were disaster specialists for the Red Cross and have been all over the world on aid missions. She has been involved in the Red Cross for at least 25 years.

She is Jackie Kennedy to me.

So, on mothers day we always visit her. Here are some shitty iphone pictures of my trip. She showed us all of her china and told us stories about our favorite demitasse cups. Our favorites are from Occupied Japan, from the Wedgewood company, and also the Noritake designs from Japan.

This is part of our family tree, were Viking.


This is a spinning wheel my grandmother brought from our family home in Sweden. As a child it frightened my cousins and I, we saw it as the evil things from Sleeping Beauty.


She has beautiful taste in china. This one is from Occupied Japan. She has many from Japan, England, Finland, Germany, and Sweden.


This is the bottom of a demitasse cup from Japan, this is my favorite.


This is the cup, it's very small and lovely.


This is my grandmother's piano, we love it. My sister and I played it together for a long time.


My grandmother is an avid birdwatcher. This bird feeder has always been there, hummingbirds would come up and drink from it all day long and she would tell us neat facts about them.


She recently found this at her house, the only date inside is written and it says 1916. There was no publishers information, so we called it "emersons zine"


She is a wonderful gardner and her backyard has been a magical place for all her grandkids. Every celebration happens in her gardens. She has a gardenia bush right next to her front door. The smell of gardenias reminds me of saying our hello and goodbyes. I painted this for her.


I also painted this for her. Pears are our mutual favorite fruit.


and this is my sister: