This is one of the 21 public squares located throughout the Historic section of downtown Savannah. There are small parks everywhere here, within a block or two of everyone's home. Most of the homes, and the church, in this painting were built in the mid to late 1800s. The home on the far left at center is the Andrew Low home, wealthy "cotton merchant" (which I read as "slave owner") and the former residence of Juliette Low who founded the Girl Scouts.
The over-the-top church here is Savannah's most famous, St. John the Baptist, and the yellowish home in the bottom right is the childhood home of Flannery O'Connor. I only know this because the city seems intent on putting wordy bronze plaques everywhere. I've read "Robert E. Lee visited here" in so many plaques; it made me wonder if all he ever did was going around town socializing. No wonder he lost the war!
Conspicuously absent in the countless plaques I've seen here, commemorating war heroes and history, is any mention of slavery. Like it never, ever happened.
"Lafayette Square, Savannah" 24" x 30" Acrylic on Canvas
I painted a couple of small paintings this week while waiting for my boxes of canvases to be delivered. I painted them to fit some of the empty frames I have stored in my garage. This painting was done after an all-day outing to Hilton Head Island and the beaches in South Carolina. I took the dogs and made the 45 minute drive a week ago.
Along the way are lots of rivers, marshes, wetlands, and alligators. I didn’t witness a crashing plane, but that image somehow made its way into this painting too. Perhaps I’ll understand why some day soon.
I could easily write a ten page tirade about the lame, ignorant arguments against gay marriage. But for me, it comes down to “You either believe in equal rights, or you don’t”. I’ve lost all patience with those that don’t. I couldn’t care less how Miss California defines god. You either believe in equal rights or you don’t.
And civil unions? Didn’t this country learn anything from that shameful chapter of American history called “Separate But Equal”?
In this painting, I added the five state birds of the five United States that now extend equal rights to ALL of its citizens. I was sad not being able to add the state bird of my home state, the California Valley Quail.
1) Massachusetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage after its Supreme Court ruled such a ban was unconstitutional, in 2003. (The Black-Capped Chickadee)
2) Connecticut, October 2008, the state’s Supreme Court struck down a civil union law that limited marriage to heterosexuals. (The American Robin)
3) Iowa, April 3, 2009, the state’s Supreme Court ruled bans on marriage for gays violated equal protection laws. (The American Goldfinch)
4) Vermont, April 7, 2009, the legislature overrode the governor’s veto of a legalization bill. (The Hermit Thrush)
5) Maine, May 6, 2009, the governor signed into law a gay marriage bill (also The Black-Capped Chickadee)
This painting is about my journey from Los Angeles to Corrales, New Mexico, to my current home, and my impending trip and move to Savannah. Although I abstracted the whole thing so much, I don't think anyone would have a clue that that's what it's about.
My old L.A. apartment building is on the top left, the L.A. skyline and hillsides are on the top center and right. My moving truck can be seen if you look for the circle/tire to the right of the right ear. My Corrales place is to the left of the face, my current home in the bottom left, and my car that I'll be driving to Savannah in, is at the bottom center, with some abstracted Savannah buildings in the lower right.
If I didn't explain it, I know this painting would seem to be just an odd mesh of meaningless shapes. But I see the journey laid out in front of me, the past, present and future. In that vein, I painted over a 10 year old painting for this.
he older I get, the less I want any confusion, conflict, or artificial drama in my life. Conversely, as I age, I increasingly seek clarity, peace, and harmony in all things. As I make my way down the road of life, everything that I bump up against is evaluated against that scale, and is either embraced or left by the side of the road. It is quite simple, really.
Been working deadly hours (again). After a lovely respite spent in the south western end of the world (La La La San Diego), it is now back to the treadmill drill of hauling in a paycheck. Such is life.
There was one surprise this week: on a web site where you look up money that is looking for it’s rightful owner, I found and investment and a life insurance policy connected to my late father. My brother is the one dealing with the paperwork – I was barely able to get my income taxes filed this year – and I had a big ass refund. He said one of the two amounts might be sizable. We’ll see.
If I end up getting $’s, I will buy a nice new desk/work station and wall unit for down stairs.
Before I get into this week’s music, some pix from my trip south.
I think I was standing on an overlook at the convention center.
I like the light in the conversion center. Very pleasing public interiors., with a seafoam greenish tint to the light.
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L:ight. Great light almost everywhere I went. Above is more morning convention center light, and below is a super hot (they were having record April heat) evening light.
The view from outside room 1735: a glimpse into next world.
I walked out on a private performance by the Eagles to wander the night with my camera. I fell in love with this stairway.
These pictures could go on and on. But now we must dive into the soup for the soul, Saturday recipe.
This week's soup spans many decades and genres of music. The theme, much like the photographs above, is morning, evening, and nighttime light. The opening is a collage, made up of several elements that I shall identify at the end of this Soup, and in the next Soup. It represents evening fading into the night.
First off is 1950’s gay icon, Johnny Mathis. His debut LP, titled “Johnny Mathis” is one of the great debut albums of all time. Sophisticated and raw all at once, it casts a deep and passionate emotional spell. His biracial background, his surprising teenage athletic ability, and his San Francisco roots makes him one of the memorable 20th century gay American hero’s.
Angel Eyes, from the LP, shows off his soaring trademark vocal delivery. The song dwells in the depths of night where passion and sexuality grows in the shadows into a wild human animal. He must have been quite the intensely passionate lover in his prime.
"We're Open Tonight" is the second track from the 1979 Wings swan song "Back to the Egg". I have loved this piece of music from the first time I heard it. This is deeply wistful music, and possessing the duality that is such a part of my own personality. The words speak of “throwing open the doors for fun” – preparation for a party, but the music is oddly detached and melancholic.
The song has an almost haunting ethereal quality. A great bit of work by Paul McCartney, as he closed yet another phase of his career, ending Wings.
Next comes "Rugia Sui Ranocchi" by italian film score composer Nino Rota. This composition comes from the Federico Fellini film "Juliet of the Spirits". Rota was a genius. His film music is in a class by itself. This piece dredges up strong abstract images and emotions every time I hear it. Pain and futility giving way to the magical spirits that lift you out of the pain and into the arms of ethereal bliss. If you are familiar with the film, then you willl instantly recognize that Ninoabsolutely nailed what this film is all about.
English composer (and another gay icon) Benjamin Brittinchanges the mood with "Sunday Morning" from his Four Sea Interludes, Op.33A. This music is filled with the lifeblood of all things powerfully optimistic. This is the spirit of Sunday morning rolling back and vanquishing the doom and the gloom, and the magnified sexuality of the previous Saturday Night. It is openly majestic, and yet again dualistically mysterious. Duality I like; duality I know; duality that is at the core of my own being.
We garnish the soup with "In the Evening", which opened up the soup, from Led Zeppelin's swan song LP "In Through the Out Door” There appears to be a hidden "swan song" theme running in the subterranean depths of the Soup this week. Not sure why. Both occurred in 1979. I listened to this song about 30 times this week. It brings back memories from a very specific time and place in my life: Casablanca.
And that is all that I am going to say. Anyway, for those elect few who possess the keys to the kingdom, the music says it all, making all of my words words trite and unnecessary. Love you all, one and all. Really and truly. The end.
All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your 34.5 Mb bowl of Saturday Night Soup by clicking the jukebox.
I wonder where this country would be without ambition. Without dreams, drive and inspiration. Without goals, hopes, and a vision for a better future, and a fairer tomorrow.
I wonder where this country would be without the ambition ofMartin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Thomas Edison, Franklin Roosevelt, Barack ObamaandGavin Newsom.
I will answer my rhetorical question:itwould be country filled withmediocre conservatives whose only hope is that nothing will ever change, whose only vision is to delay, obstruct and tear down.
"Saint Harvey" 24" x 30" Goldleaf and Acrylic on Canvas
Update: My painting "Saint Gavin" got totally trashed by FedEx, during a shipment to a beloved Palm Springs buyer. It was returned to me with a 24" gash down the center of it, the stretcher bars broken, and the outer box looking like it had been ripped in two.
I painted "Saint Harvey Milk" as a replacement for the buyer, and never sent the image out. This is the first and only public display of "Saint Harvey".
I vowed to never use FedEx again, and it's become a running joke with a couple of friends I told the story to. One of them emailed me a pic of a filthy FedEx truck they saw lumbering and stumbling down the streets of London Town.
Actually, I sent TWO Fed Ex packages off the same week, and BOTH were damaged, but only "Gavin" was destroyed, as if one of their trucks ran over it and then back up over it. The other "Virgin de los Perritos" also arrived damaged, with holes in the boxes. The collector said the canvas had been pushed and had bumps in it, but no rips or holes.
Oh! Did I forget to mention, when I dropped the two paintings off for shipment, FedEx said they no longer insure artwork and I'd have to get a private art insurance company?
FUCK THEM AND THE DEAD HORSE THEY ROAD IN ON. THEY HAVE LOST MY BUISNESS.
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