Art, Poetry & Essays • But not necessarily in that order.
In the 1950s, Mark Rothko painted with striking color. Eye catching, heart throbbing, delicious colors. Then in the 1960s, his paintings shifted toward grays, blacks, whites, and earth tones. I have been told, and you may have heard, that the shift from bright colors to somber tones came from a descent into depression and eventual […]
Over the years, I’ve seen a number of Mark Rothko paintings. I’ve visited them in museums in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles. And as I tried to stand quietly before the paintings, I have often become conscious of the artificial environment—a Rothko hanging next to a Pollock like a guest at a cocktail party—and I […]
I noticed a grasshopper on my paint rag this morning. It posed for a photo. All too often, it is easy to miss moments like this one. Too many times, the mind gets caught up in matters that seem more important than observing life. And as if to send this message home, a butterfly, draped […]
Colleen Quen held her first art exhibit “In the Spirit of Fashion” at the China Brotsky Art Gallery in the Thoreau Center for Sustainability. Her watercolors express an infectious, child like enthusiasm for form and color. The work says what many artists easily forget: art is fun. Madame Quen had lived in an intense production […]
During a long lunch break, I drove from my office in the Presidio to the Legion of Honor in order to see the Initimate Impressionism exhibit. It was one of those magical afternoons in San Francisco. The weather was beautiful and not a shred of fog was in sight. The rugged California coast line looked […]