Wandering Artist's Journal

It's mid-August and we're near the end of the annual fog season here in the outer Sunset. It's faintly reminiscent of the end of February in upstate NewYork - you start to wonder if you'll ever see the sun again. Yesterday I managed to escape for the day . . . David Steinhardt asked me if I wanted to go with him to do some plein air painting at Rush Creek Open Space Preserve, near Novato. This was a perfect time to go there - incredible variety of birds in the marsh, deer on the hills, classic California oak grasslands and gorgeous weather (clear skies, high 70s to 80s with cooling breezes from the west, where the fog was peeking over the top of Hicks Mountain.) At about 9am, we parked along the road beside the marsh. David set up in the bed of the pickup and I sat in the cab. Then David discovered he had neglected to pack any white paint. Since he was using oils and I was using watercolors, I couldn't help him out and we had to take a quick trip into Novato to g...

"Mermaid Meat, The Secret to Immortality and Other Japanese Ghost Stories" A 70 page illustrated book and 1 hour cd of storytelling (with musical accompaniment) by Brenda Wong Aoki and Mark Izu ISBN 978-0-9797528-0-3 This little multi-media gem is an accessible and affordable work of art by two San Francisco contemporary artists and a Japanese woodblock master of Ukiyo-e. And maybe this silk-covered book-with-CD is also a transitional format for the book. Brenda Wong Aoki describes herself as "a solo performer specializing in song/dance/monodramas." In this book, she presents four of her ghost stories - all female ghosts. These ghosts are filled with passion, rage, and the power to manifest their will. They cover the classic human themes of love, desire, betrayal, selfishness, delusion, cruelty, redemption, and the hunger for immortality. The stories are presented in Aoki's written words and performed in her voice, accompanied by musician Mark Izu . For visual...

Dover has just released McCain and Obama paper doll sets by paper doll artist, Tom Tierney . Each set contains dolls of the candidate as well as his family, and "authentic outfits" worn by the couples on the campaign trail. McCain's set includes his Baghdad Market Stroll ensemble (right.) Obama's set includes his February 2007 Announcement threads (left.) Dover Publications is offering free weekly bonus costumes for the candidates: "You can follow your favorite paper doll candidate with our weekly Presidential Paper Doll Sampler ! Each week, you'll receive a colorful email that's packed with cool giveaways: extra costumes for the candidates and their wives, free samples from other Dover paper doll books, and more. Plus, with the Campaign Countdown you'll find out which paper doll candidate is the most popular." * from "Paper Doll" ( mp3 ) by Denison Witmer

David Byrne and Brian Eno are collaborating on a new album, "Everything that Happens Will Happen Today" and they've released one track for free download . From David Byrne: "Brian Eno and I recently finished our first collaboration in about 30 years. For the most part, Brian did the music and I wrote some tunes, words and sang. It's familiar but completely new as well. We're pretty excited. The name of the new record is Everything That Happens Will Happen Today and the music will be available on this Web site on August 18th, free for streaming and available for purchase as both a download and in physical formats."

Exhibit A : Oakland Art Blog, " The Obama Art Report ": Daily reporting on the world of Barack Obama artwork, prints and auctions. Invest. Collect. Document. Exibit B : San Francisco Art Event at the Krevsky Gallery , as reported by SFGate: Rupert Garcia, a founder of the late-1960s Chicano Art Movement, has built a national reputation for his posters depicting Frida Kahlo, Salvador Allende and Ruben Salazar. But lately, Garcia, like many painters, musicians, actors and authors, has found new artistic inspiration: Barack Obama. "His image, and the messages associated with the campaign, resonate with me," said Garcia, 66, who on Tuesday unveiled two works, "Obama 2008" and "Obama Hope," at a San Francisco fundraiser called Art for Obama. "Just the way he emotes provides insight into his character." More than 200 people, each donating at least $5, attended the six-gallery show at 77 Geary St. and raised more than $3,000 for the presumptiv...