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An image I’ll probably never paint (ongoing)

The image is a storefront sign where the diffusion panel is missing, and for whatever reason they never cut power. As the title of this blog entry states, this image will probably never be a painting. I have been collecting like images of empty or closed businesses, so one never knows for sure. The image is straight out of the camera; there was no alterations on it beyond resizing and saving it for the interweb. The complete disconnection with the environment is very appealing, and the more I think about this and edit my thoughts the more potential this image has. This might instead be a preview of a future painting.

Summer Block Busters

In general, I try not to recommend things to anyone. Although I rarely hesitate to expound on things I like or enjoy. This list, however, is only five movies with the word summer in the title that I have seen—not necessarily recommendations or suggested viewings. I decided not to include; One Crazy Summer, Bikini Summer, Summer Rental, Summer School or the like, though by listing them they are included.

Summer Stock (1950) starring Judy Garland and Gloria DeHaven. A company of actors agree to help with farm chores in exchange for use of the farmer’s barn to put on their production.

The Long, Hot Summer (1958) based on Faulkner stories, starring Paul Newman and Orson Welles.

The End of Summer (1961). Yasujiro Ozu next to last film. Recently released on DVD by Eclipse/Criterion.

The Endless Summer (1966). There is a restaurant in Santa Barbara, California, named after this film.

Hot Summer (1968) Heisser Sommer – East German musical follows a group of teenage girls heading for the Baltic coast for their summer vacation. Along the way the run into a group of obnoxious boys with similar plans—competition, conflict and attractions ensue.

Bernd Becher has died

Influential photographer, Bernd Becher died on June 22nd in Rostock, Germany after heart surgery at age 75.

BERND & HILLA BECHER Oberdielfer Strasse 14, Oberdielfen 1960

BERND & HILLA BECHER Kühltürme, Beton 1967-73

Not Far From Los Angeles

out on the Pearblossom Highway about 20 miles east of Palmdale, one can find the ruins of a utopian community.

Llano del Rio

It is located in the Antelope Valley within the county of Los Angeles, California, USA, etc.

Founded on May 1, 1914 as an utopian socialist community, Llano del Rio Colony lasted only a few scant years in this location due to the disruption of water caused by a shift in an earthquake fault. The colony moved to Stables, Louisiana (renamed New Llano) were it lasted until 1939. Prior to abandoning the site in 1917, the colony had grown to over 1,000 inhabitants by 1916.

additionally:

• Members of the community owned stock in the company which chiefly produced fruits and vegetables.
• Among it’s founders was Los Angeles mayorial candidate and lawyer Job Harriman.
• It had one of the country’s first Montessori schools
• Its social services included low-cost housing, Social Security, minimum-wage pay (everyone was paid 4 dollars a day), and universal health care

it also went bankrupt due to infighting and financial woes.

Other Items:

• The artist David Hockney created a work called Pearblossom, Hwy., 11-18th April, 1986 in the area.
• Writer Aldous Huxley lived in Llano from 1940 until his death and it is where he wrote the utopian novel Island. Huxley died the same day as C.S. Lewis which was also the same day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Sarah traversing the ruins.

Self Promotion

Today Jacques de Beaufort paid a visit to my studio with the purpose of writing about my work on his blog. Here is the link to that piece plus you can explore what else Jacques is up to in his studio and other things he has been thinking about as well as cheking out his homepage.

Here are two pictures (c. 2002) of nature doing what it likes, and probably slowly destroying the sewer systems.

2 Signs

A difference of one letter.

the Favicon is here

I added a favicon to my website—the SMPTE color bars—using the full power of Photoshop to create it.

As defined by Wikipedia:

A favicon (short for ‘favorites icon’), also known as a page icon or an urlicon, is an icon associated with a particular website or webpage. A web designer can create such an icon, and many recent web browsers can then make use of them. Browsers that support favicons may display them in the browser’s URL bar, next to the site’s name in lists of bookmarks, and next to the page’s title in a tabbed document interface

I think urlicon is the best as it sounds like a mythical creature of some variety; whether one pronounces it U R L icon or earl icon. I would also suggest pagicon, for the same reason.

As a special feature of this post, I left the links within the wikipedia entry because I am too lazy to remove them. Enjoy.

London

This is another image I’ll probably never paint. A crosswalk marker in London.

More Richter

From page 173, Richter wrote in regards to the Red Army Faction (RAF): I was impressed by the terrorists’ energy, their uncompromising determination and their absolute bravery; but I could not find it in my heart to condemn the State for its harsh response. That is what States are like; and I had known other, more ruthless ones.

One Sentence from Richter on Form

Page 127. I have only to act in accordance with the laws and conditions of form in order to get the materialization right.