WINTHROP TO WENATCHEE

Elsie, Murray, and Allan driving over Hwy 20 to Winthrop, WA.

Our first stop after leaving Vancouver was a small cowboy themed town on Hwy 20 East called Winthrop.  We had driven Hwy 20 on past trips, but only as far as Winthrop from the East and as far as the town of Concrete from the West.  We had never actually been over the entire highway.  

Cascades National Park, our American Alps

Well, surprise surprise.... the road took us through what was called the American Alps.  It was actually the Cascades National Park and although we have been staying all around this area for years, we were not aware that there was a national park hidden away on Hwy 20.  There were many trailheads off of the highway leading off into the wilderness but we never really saw a visitor center although there was a road leading south that might have been promising.

 However we had a long drive ahead of us and we continued on to Winthrop where we stayed in the Pine Near RV Park which turned out to be wonderful.  Huge grassy sites, full hookups, free wifi, and dark starry nights.  And it was a simple walk to town.  We were only there for a few days so that we could do the laundry, go to the grocery store and generally catch up before moving East.  The grocery store in Twisp was interesting with wild animals displayed everywhere; bears, African lions, mountain lions, wildebeests, etc.  It gives new meaning to knowing where your meat comes from.  

We also were going to try and do a plein air painting and went out one day to find a location and get some photos.  We found a beautiful field full of mustard plants and returned the next day all ready to paint only to find that the whole field had been tilled under.   They must have done it in the middle of the night?  

Oh well, on to Wenatchee where we had reservations at the Wenatchee River County Park.  Another beautiful location with sites arranged around a circle which gave everyone a lot of privacy.  Huge poplar trees and green grass all around and all of this adjacent to the Wenatchee River.   Since the weather is in the 90's here, we went out and got a couple of rafts to take down to the river.  Quite nice, just bobbing about in the water on a lazy afternoon.  The dogs enjoyed it too.  

We were here on a Saturday, so had to visit the Wenatchee Farmers Market.  We had been there before and knew that all the fresh produce, especially fruit from the area would be for sale.  And we were not disappointed.  Peaches, about 6 different varieties, apricots, cherries, blueberries and plums.  We were also able to buy fresh salmon and just picked corn on the cob.  And I was able to get cabbage salsa.  We hadn't had cabbage salsa since we left California.   

Of course we couldn't resist going over to Leavenworth at least once while we were here.  It is such a great success story for a town refashioned to look like a town in Bavaria. Even if it is a little hokey,  there are still some good brats with beer, so we went over for lunch and ended up finding a great consignment shop where Allan purchased two Tommy Hilfiger shirts.   Tomorrow we head to Coeur d'Alene, which will be our take off point for Radium Hot Springs.     

SEATTLE TO ANACORTES

We are currently at the Fidalgo Bay RV Resort in Anacortes, Washington and it seems as if the last couple of weeks have just flown by.  For all of you who know us, you will know that we have been just doing all of our usual excursions and I really have no excuse for not posting sooner, but I will try to recapture a few highlights of the last few weeks.
I did mention in the last post about visiting Kubota Gardens.  So the photo above is one of the many views of that garden and we were lucky that our friend Jann had a day to join us.  

While we were out hunting down used bookstores in the Fremont area of Seattle, we came across a bookstore that had a different take on the usual bookstore cat.  Ophelia's Books had a bookstore rabbit with a little swiss chalet rabbit hutch and a tiny fenced yard.  They also had a great selection of books.  While we were waiting for the store to open, we walked around the district, even having a late breakfast in a vegan, glutin free cafe.  

It was pretty good considering it didn't have any ingredients I was used to using when I cook.  On our walk we discovered a gigantic statue of Lenin.  Someone had painted his hands red with red paint and since our friends Jim and Nancy had just had their photo taken with President Carter, Allan decided he would have his photo taken with Lenin.  This 7 ton sculpture was toppled by the revolution in Slovakia in 1988 and has taken many side trips before arriving in Fremont where it stimulates local controversy.  Note that there is a for sale sign painted on the front of Lenin.  That is because it is privately owned and is for sale.  If you are interested, contact the City of Fremont.  

We also visited a used book store in Duvall, Washington.  This store is not on the internet and does not even have a phone.  We stumbled onto it by accident a few years ago and return when we are in the area.  This year while we were there, we walked to a restaurant nearby and noticed a group of people staring up into the sky.  

Sun Halo photo by Allan Frey

They were looking at a Sun Halo which is sometimes called a sundog.  It is formed by water vapor that freezes into ice crystals up in a layer of the atmosphere.  When the sun shines through the ice crystals, the light refracts and we see a halo that has the colors of the rainbow around the sun.  

Although we went to several farmers markets while in the Seattle area, one of the most interesting was the University Market in the University District of the city.  This market is ranked as one of the 10 best in the state and it was all food products or prepared foods, no arts or crafts.  However they did have one unique stall, which we have never seen in any other market (and we go to numerous markets on our travels).  A poetry booth where there were three young people prepared to write a poem on any topic for any price.  

Latin Music in the WA State Extension Discovery Garden

I think if there is one thing that I really miss while living in Arizona, it is the fresh fruits and vegetables that are available everywhere in the northwest.  We have been eating the ripest berries, peaches, and cherries, just picked and delicious.  We have had salads and grilled veggies at every meal.  Of course we offset all this goodness by eating all the fabulous scones, strudels, and breads that are also plentiful.

Boxwood Gardens

 The first excursion we had once we reached Anacortes was the annual Symphony Garden Tour.  Visiting gardens and listening to the symphony members play their instruments is always a pleasure and is well worth the donation ticket fee.  This year the gardens were not as spectacular, and the weather was drizzly and sprinkly all day, but it was still a

wonderful outing and we met many gardeners who were justifiably proud of their gardens.  One of the smaller gardens was owned by a potter and the garden was filled with art objects, not all of them hers.  Sculptures and paintings, birdhouse art, mosaics, and more.  It was a tiny space but filled with lovely art to catch your eye.   
Yesterday.... we went to Dakota Art and purchased many pastels.  I think the more pastels you have, the better you will be as an artist.  If that isn't a great rationale, I don't know what is.  

DROP OFF DAY AT THE MORRO BAY ART GALLERY

Last Saturday, Allan and I drove over to Morro Bay to drop off my paintings at the Morro Bay Art Gallery.  It was similar to dropping off paintings at our own shows, with artists coming in and checking their names off, setting out the paintings along the walls and saying hi to old friends.  We didn't have any old friends, as this was a new venture for me, but we were happy to meet Jerry, the show chair and he chatted with us for quite a while and made us feel welcome.  One thing that was different at the drop off, was that a numbered sticker was placed over the signature on the painting so that when the judge came by on the following day, they would not be able to see who painted any of the paintings.  But I am pretty darn sure that the painting next to mine was a Terry Ford, with her characteristic deeper, darker, and richer colors.  We will see tomorrow when the gallery opens the show to the public.  We did notice that every single one of the paintings was great.  It did not matter whether they were portraits, landscape, or still life.... each one was beautifully executed.  If you are in the area, the reception is on October 12th.  

On Tuesday, we headed up to Paso Robles to purchase Italian Sparkling Grape Juice for myself and also for our own show reception at the Scottsdale Artists School on October 18th.  I would have loved to purchase the wine there also, but it is a little out of our budget.  
Last night, we headed into San Luis Obispo to the downtown evening farmers market and it was well worth the visit.  There were no arts and crafts at all, just produce and food stalls, but it covered about four blocks and there were plenty of folks out for the event.  

Almost immediately, Allan spotted a pasty stall and his Australian heritage called out to him.  He got a steak and rutabaga pasty, I got one with chicken pie ingredients.  Both were delicious.  
At the produce stalls, we purchased bunches of tiny carrots, beets, beautiful Spanish onions, a whole box of shallots for two dollars, tomatoes, pluots, strawberries, blackberries, assorted lettuces, garnet yams, and a cucumber.  

We walked back along the street, listening to all of the various street musicians, ranging from a Scotsman playing some sort of long necked fiddle to a classical violinist to the usual folk guitar and finally a teenage boys rock and roll band (which was quite good with sounds of the 70's filling the night).   At the other end of the market were all the food stalls and there must have been at least ten different rib stalls, with the vendors doing everything they could to attract the customers to their own ribs.   It was definitely a fun evening and we came home with plenty of produce for the week to come.

MALIBU AND LACMA

We are now staying in Malibu at the Malibu Beach RV Park which is very expensive but right across the street from the ocean.  We can see why it is so expensive as everything in Malibu is costly from the gasoline to the groceries and of course eating out is a bit pricey too.  But we had decided early on that this last week was to be our treat and so here we are, and having a good time too.  

We are parked up on a bluff and our neighbors are mostly foreign in rented RVs.  As a matter of fact, almost everywhere we have been on this trip, we have been surrounded by foreign visitors in RVs.    When you are an artist, you are always prepared for the beach.  Notice Allan sitting underneath the plein air umbrellas.  This photo is taken right across the street from where we are staying.  

Because it was a week day, we had the beach to ourselves for a couple of hours but the drawback was there were no dogs allowed on any L.A County Beach.  So we had to drive north about 10 miles to cross the county line into Ventura County to take the dogs on another day.  Elsie especially loves the beach and she dug a huge hole in the sand, heading for China and then got down into the hole and laid on her back with her legs sticking up.  By the time Allan got the camera out and stood up to get her photo, she was out of her hole and ready for a walk.

On Saturday we went to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) to their special exhibition of EXPRESSIONISM:  VAN GOGH TO KADINSKY.

Restaurant of the Siren at Asnieres, 1887    Vincent Van Gogh

 It was exceptional, and we did not think that any exhibit would top the Norton Simon museum, but we were wrong.  There were 70 paintings and almost as many prints or sketches.  They had been borrowed from museums around the world and also from private collections.  Some of the paintings we were allowed to photograph and others not.  It was held in the Kessler Hall which was huge and arranged by art movements, beginning with Van Gogh, then into the post impressionists such as Gaugin, then into the Fauvists...like Matisse, and so on until we reached cubism.  

The House of Pan-Du, 1890    Paul Gauguin

There were many paintings by German artists, many of whom we had never heard of and the exhibition was arranged to show the effects of post impressionism upon the art of Germany at that time. 
There were many artists who were trying to find an alternative to impressionism with its emphasis on accidental natural impressions of light.

Paul Signac - Color Lithograph of the Chromatic Circle  1888

 Neo Impressionism was a next step which is based on the scientific theory of juxtaposing separate dots or patches of colors to the paintings surface, usually following the new chromatic theory of allowing the viewers eye to mix the colors.   Charles Henry created a chromatic circle in 1888 to explain his theory and Paul Signac did a color lithograph using the chromatic circle as his inspiration.  
Although Van Gogh was dead for 15 years when his paintings were in a show in Germany, his vivacious brushstrokes were instrumental in sending the German artists in search of a new way to express their art.  

Henri Matisse, Studio Interior, 1904

They also found it in Matisse, who was quoted in an essay called "Notes of a Painter", that "What I am after, above all, is expression".  Matisse was considered to be a Fauvist, mainly because his new way of painting was considered "wild" at the time.  Although Impressionism was esteemed because it had liberated art from the Academy, the Fauves wanted to create pictures that reflected their own emotions not just to break up objects in light.  They wanted to free themselves of common conventions of color and form.  They wanted to EXPRESS something, not just depict something.  Hence the word, Expressionism.  

Murvau, Burggrabenstrasse 1, 1908    Wassily Kadinsky

Flat or highly simplified forms and symbolic colors were appealing to the German artists who did not take naturally to the inspirational daubing of light, but were more mathematical in mindset and could use expressionism to arrange flat spaces and forms.  Wassily Kadinsky was one artist who took naturally to the new direction and spent several summers in Murvau village where he underwent the evolution towards abstraction with more flattened forms.

Still Life with Apples, 1894   Paul Cezanne

And, of course, Paul Cezanne was well represented with many paintings in this exhibition as he had begun experimenting with abstraction in the early 1890's.  He was painting still lifes from different angles and experimenting with vision, by setting up curves and countercurves which can be seen in this painting of the green jar with the opening enlarged.  This greatly appealed to the Expressionists and also the Cubists later on. 
Although we have been reading about art for years and knowing the artists we favored, it was a real revelation to see this exhibit which closely examines the transition from Impressionism to Cubism.  As I said earlier, it was exceptional.  Many of the paintings that I would have liked to photograph for you to see here in the blog, had the No Photograph Symbol next to the painting.  But if you are interested in seeing all of the paintings in the exhibit and cannot get to Los Angeles, they have printed a book of the exhibition called Expressionism in Germany and France.   This book has colorplates of all the paintings and prints in the exhibit, plus other smaller color plates which are used as examples of their thesis.  

AROUND LOS ANGELES.... HERE AND THERE

It probably seems as if we spend all of our time at the museum, and for the most part, it is true.  After all, that is why we came to this gridlock congested city.  But we do have other adventures, such as meeting up with Luc and Susan from our Arizona Pastel Association on Friday at the Fairfax Farmers Market.   They were house sitting for friends in the area and we decided to meet for lunch.  We met initially for coffee and to just catch up with what everyone had been doing with their summer and then we wandered around the market looking at all the possibilities for lunch.  As it turned out, they were able to help Allan select some great art challenge items for the September Challengers in our pastel group.  

On Sunday we drove into downtown L.A. to visit the "Last Bookstore" and it may well end up being the last bookstore if the selling, buying, and reading of books continues in the direction it is going.  We are having a harder and harder time finding used bookstores that handle anything beyond comics

and romances.  The bookstore was in the old Crocker Bank Bldg and we had to traverse urine soaked sidewalks to get from the parking lot to the store.  They had guards at both entrances.  Inside there was a very good, but small collection of used books and upstairs on the mezzanine there were also books and book sculptures.  Is this what it has come to?  Books becoming found objects for art??  

We were going to have lunch near the store, but it meant stepping around so many homeless folks and walking more of those sidewalks, so instead we drove over to Olvera Street.  Even though it was a Sunday, the place was jammed with tourists.  I didn't feel I was a tourist exactly since I had suggested the place because of nostalgia.  

When I was a little girl, my father was a postal worker on a train where he sorted mail to and from Phoenix.  My mother, brother, and I would drive him to Union Station where he would disappear down a long tunnel and four days later, we would drive back and he would appear out of the tunnel to greet us.  Then we would walk across the street and eat taquitos in Olvera Street.  Or we might walk to Chinatown for lunch or visit Philippes for a french dip sandwich. As it turned out, the lines were so long in Olvera Street, Allan and I walked around Chinatown for a bit (another section of town that needs some serious cleaning) and then stopped at Philippe's for lunch.  Allan had never had one of their famous sandwiches and as a french dip enthusiast, he had to admit that theirs was pretty darn good.  

Yesterday we went to Venice Beach.  This is a town with huge contrasts.  Just moments from the beach are the canals with some very beautiful homes and gardens.  And then just a block away, along the beach walk are some certifiable crazies.  I doubt that I have ever seen so many homeless tramps and whacked out specimens of humanity all in one place before.  

Of course everyone has seen someone who talks to themselves or sleeps on the sidewalk with their shopping cart full of their collected stuff.  But this was an entire long boardwalk of one seriously brain injured person after another.  Like the person who came to tell us, while we were eating lunch, that he had to have his marijuana and could we please just understand that.  Not that I didn't but he went on to inform someone else.  The police have such a presence on this beach that they have a special police station right there in the middle of the beach and they patrol on foot, bicycle, and cars that ride on the sand.  There are places with signs almost every block of the boardwalk that advertise free "medical" certification so that marijuana can be dispensed.  

Of course there were also the body builders and the skateboarders, who included a number of men around the age of 45+ with cutoffs and pony tails trying to catch a babe, or is that a chick, or maybe its a hottie nowadays.  And there were plenty of those as well, including some old hotties with skin like leather.  

A lot of the art being sold was made out of tin cans, or rubber tires, or was just some swirls of paint asking for LOVE.  But there was a graffiti artist working diligently on a wall and I asked him if he had made the design.  As it turns out, he was hired by Rayban to do the spray painting.  They provided the image and he was being paid for the work.  

I have to say that we had a good lunch at the Fig Tree in the sunshine and on our walk back up the boardwalk to our truck we were accompanied by the music from one of the concert piano players that occupy the piano bench during the day.  His sign says that "This is not a hobby, please contribute to my day job and if you can't, then just enjoy the music".

Portland to Seattle

Powell's Bookstore at Night

We arrived in Portland a couple of weeks ago and stayed on Hayden Island at the Jantzen Beach RV Park.  For those of you who are geographically challenged, Hayden Island is on the Columbia River between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington.  The park is wonderful with nice wide sites and full hookups, grassy areas at each site, and located right on the Columbia River with a trail along the river where Allan walked the dogs.  I think he took a million photos of the river and the bridges but sadly we do not have any of the park itself.  We had lots of plans for Portland but ended up doing a lot less than planned.  We did visit Powell's two times, each time dragging in a couple of bags of already read books and dragging out an equal number of unread books. 

Recycled Glassware

One of the books that I got on a whim was the bestseller by Jenny Lawson called "Let's Pretend This Never Happened", a memoir of her life which were events from her past which ranged from bizarre to humiliating and were all hilarious.  I read portions of the book to Allan and he was in stitches.  We also visited the farmers market in Vancouver, Washington where we not only saw all the usual fresh produce but also saw about 100 vendors who were selling recyclable objects.  It was amazing to see what people could do with trash.
I guess our only real outing was to The Grotto.  The Grotto is a Catholic Monastery which happens to have an outdoor altar carved into a rock wall face. 


The Grotto Altar

The Elevator up to the Second Level

The Monastery

Allan in the Gardens

There is seating around the altar and there is also a regular church.  It is in a wooded setting and people come to light candles and sit near the altar.  But you can take an elevator up to the top of the rock face and there is the monastery building where a few retired Fathers are living and the adjacent gardens where visitors can come and walk the trails and meditate.
The following week was spent up in the Seattle area, although I really shouldn't say Seattle, because we stayed at the Maple Grove RV Park in Everett, Washington.  I would not recommend this park to anyone unless they just needed a spot for a night or two.  It was basically a tight parking lot and it seemed even tighter to us because we were next to a fifth wheel with children.  One of the children was a toddler, who was at the screaming stage of conversing and she screamed when happy, screamed when angry, and screamed just to hear the sound of her own voice, I think.  When you are only five feet away and have thin walls, screaming from morning to night, day after day, can become very tiresome.  Then to top it off, we were there during the week of July 4th.  And fireworks are permitted in Everett, so every night leading up to the 4th, and of course the night of the 4th, and even after the 4th, we had to listen to rockets and explosions from dusk to midnight each night.  Allan said that the street behind the park, where he walked the dogs, was completely covered in firework litter.  Now, did I mention that I got a migraine.... yes, of course I did.... what else could I expect with all that noise pollution. 

That Kid Is Disturbing My Nap

So we did not do much while we were in Seattle, just one tiny little trek down to Pike's Market and that was about it.  Instead we hung out close to home and made one last drive to Redmond for the farmers market on the Saturday before we left for Anacortes.

Sharon Picking Out More Pastels

I am pleased to report that all is now well.  We are in Anacortes in our favorite site.  The weather is wonderful and we have already been to Dakota where I have been replenishing my Giraults plus adding a few other little colors, some papers, and some portfolio inserts.   

Salem, Oregon

We have been staying in the Woodburn RV Park for the last week so that we could explore the Salem area.  The rv park is adjacent to one of the largest outlet malls in the state.  Other than Allan using the mall to walk the dogs, it has not been much of a temptation.  Instead we have been doing our usual kinds of side trips, finding

bookstores, cafes, art galleries or museums, and trying to find a spot to plein air which because of the inclement weather did not turn out to be fruitful.  One of the first places we went during a rainy day was to the Readers Guide Bookstore.  Google maps showed its location as a vacant lot and upon actually arriving at the location, all there seemed to be was an abandoned warehouse.  Allan went to peer through the window of the door and it turned out that there were people and books inside and they were happy to turn a bag of our books into a $75 credit for us, so we immediately foraged through their bookshelves and found plenty of books to use up our credit, plus some.  Another overcast day we went to the Hallie Ford Museum of Art and it was a very small museum,

mostly showing local artists of Oregon but there was one small room where there was a print by Hiroshige called the Iris Garden, completed in 1857.  We have a book on Hiroshige at home and it was nice to see one of his woodblock prints up close.  It was one of the 100 views of the Edo area of Japan and is interesting because it has only a foreground and a background, no middle ground.  Hiroshige was trying to produce a compromise between the traditional Japanese birds eye view and Western linear perspective.  The only European paintings that they had at the museum were 5 paintings by artists from the

Barbizon group.  Barbizon was a village suburb on the outskirts of Paris.  One of these artists was Camille Corot, a French artist, who enjoyed success in his time and like his fellow artists in the Barbizon group painted rural scenery.  Their practice of painting outdoors anticipated the later impressionist plein air painters.  Just recently I purchase a rare book on Corot, so I was delighted to see one of his paintings, this one called A Balmy Afternoon. 

Some of our other excursions involved going to the local Saturday Market in downtown Salem where there were about 150 vendors including hot food vendors.  We managed to find plenty of fresh produce and fruit, bakery items, and more.  We then had a artisanal pizza with artichoke hearts and feta cheese.  And we also took a trip up to Beaverton to visit the Powells Books in Cedar Crossing Shopping Center.  It never has the inventory of the main store in downtown Portland, but we managed to find a few things nevertheless and they took about a half bag of our books for credit.  One book that we did purchase from them was Edgar Payne's Scenic Journey which Kim Lordier brought with her to our workshop and we have been looking for a copy ever since. 

We also stopped at Uwajimaya Market to pick up a few hard to find Asian items and had no trouble finding Macha Green Tea, Soba Noodles from Australia, new chopsticks, Curry Sauce, Plum Chutney, and a beautiful Sake Bottle which will be used for a still life and not for drinking sake.  We finished off our visit at Pastini's where they offer 10 lunches for less than $7.00 and they are all good, we have been here on past visits and this day Allan had the lasagna with salad and I had the meatball with ziti in a tomato butter sauce with a salad.   Tomorrow we will be heading up to Portland and we are hoping for less rain, although from the weather forecast, it does not look promising.