A Sad Day in the world of Art & Architecture
Norte Dame, which is arguably the worlds most famous church is burning out of control. Authorities have said they don’t thing they can stop the blaze which has taken most of its roof structure. Officials believe that the fire may be linked to a six million dollar restoration project that the famous cathedral is having. For more news and photos go here.
It’s really almost the end of March, 2019. Did I mention that I retired from my regular job this year. It isn’t really a question because I know that I have not written about it yet. Almost two months out and still sane.
My goal was to do more painting and design and I will. I just have a few things to complete before I’m there. Moving out of Kalifornia is one of them. This should be behind us in the next 30 days or so. I haven’t been just laying around though. Completing the flyover landscape was my one of my last large canvas projects but I plan on doing a limited series based on my original photo.
I’ve been gathering some painting ideas over the past few months and have done a few sketch book studies. Spending time on the coast in the fall always inspires me. Whether it be photography, sketching or painting.
The first painting I did once I decided to pick it up again was a fifteen minute, what I call Fred Floss landscape with all the usual suspects. Mountains, trees, streams grass etc. I’ve done a lot of landscape photography with the intent of painting something, someday but haven’t gotten to it. Last February coming back from Washington DC I did something I never or at least rarely do. I took a photo out of the plane window somewhere over Oklahoma (I believe). The fields were covered with mixture of snow and green. I decided it would make a painting. Once I took the photo into photoshop it seemed a little monotone with more white than color. I didn’t want to do a black & white. At least of this one. So this is a figment of my imagination of the earth as I fly over it, somewhere in the middle of the US.
I recently took some photos of a new hotel in Sacramento currently scheduled to open this month. It’s in a unique location that is close to the interstate and light rail. I have been filming this since the work started. Progress is on my Shutterfly page.
Photos taken with a drone will give a unique perspective that you cannot achieve from ground photography. Still photos are taken in RAW format and video will be taken in 4k, which is movie quality.
Its been a while since I have painted a portrait. Over forty years in fact. This is the beginnings of a path that I started in college. It’s a slow path since I don’t have much time set aside for this venture but she’ll get done eventually. We’ll see where she takes me.
Last month I visited the Freeport intake facility with an idea for some evening photos. These are from that session. It is a little hard to take shots without someone being in them. It is on a fairly popular bike and walking trail along the Sacramento River.
Sometimes all it takes is a drop. A drop of imagination. A drop of paint or oil.
A masterpiece starts with a bare canvas and an idea. Can building or piece of furniture be a masterpiece? There are certainly buildings that have withstood the test of time and could be considered a masterpiece or more importantly timeless. Yesterday we memorialized a good friend and architect, Harry Hallenbeck.
Harry spent his life being an architect and as I learned from his daughter, this included at home. Though I had known Harry for many years, I only had the pleasure of working around him on a couple of projects. Most notably Sacred Heart Church in Sacramento, Ca. His guidance to the parish, the artists and myself translated the parishes vision to a beautiful renovation of a holy space.
Rest in peace friend.
We’ve moved our site to a new server. Though I originally intended to just upload the old site, I may change it up a bit.