A WORLD WITHOUT THE ARTS

..... has anyone imagined a world without poets, musicians,songwriters, painters, sculptors, writers. thespians and film makers ?.....

the world would be very quiet in whatever time 

you set your consciousness

into...don't you?

How are you going to enjoy your coffee in a cafe without music....

how are you going to set an ambiance of romance with your soul mate....

how are you going to describe the changing seasons....

without the moods expressed in music...

 how would you manage to get by each day...?

would you settle for a dry day listening to politicians 

and bureaucrats and

capitalists ....?

or would you rather listen to a Beethoven, Chopin, 

Bacharach, the Beatles, James Taylor,

Santana, Segovia, Paco de Lucia, Sinatra....

enjoy a Walt Whitman, Thoreau, Browning

or Dryden poetry...

watch re-runs of What's My Line...

I Love Lucy or the Three's Company...

The question of life without the arts is untenable....

no matter how you look at it...

in whatever angle or perspective....

it's like being cooped up in four solid walls

without windows ....

All the seasons...

 without an artist rendering in sound,

words and colors will pass by 

unnoticed and unappreciated...

Christmas without the cheery carols, 

Valentines without love songs...

buildings without designs...

Somehow, our society and civilization

created the arts to enjoy life

in a more meaningful way...

perhaps a blessing in disguise...

to forget the foul ups of those

who are in charge...

or circumstances beyond 

our control...

the arts are responsible for creating

a world of illusion ...

that is pleasing ....maybe

even ideal ....

So we are thankful....

to Delacroix, Monet, Constable...

Constable's Haywain

Inness, Homer, Michael Angelo,

Da Vinci, Tiepolo, Sargent, Luna,

Luna's Tampuhan

Zorn, Shreyer, Amorsolo...

Amorsolo's Filipina

Siekert, Degas,

Picasso, Diebenkorn, Hopper...

....to Bacharach, Granados, Albeniz,

Deodato, Miles Davis, Tommy Dorsey...

Brubeck, Diana Krall...

to Hemingway, Steinbeck, Alvin Tofler,

A.C. Doyle, HG Wells, Blackmore...

and many more ....

that's it for now folks!

jt

PLEIN AIR in Pacifica

..... at about 2 p.m. i started a plein air painting of the Mori Point

in Pacifica....the weather was mild and sunny...the wind is gusting

15 miles an hour and the beach is swarming with surfers,

 joggers and the regular beach bums...

but it was a day that's completely quiet and calm...

good enough for me to paint a seascape on 11" x 14'...

the fog started to roll in with cold winds

from the ocean as i was perched on the 

hill side of Roberts St. ...I thought it was time to

call it a wrap..

....that is Highway 1 in view

the time is 3:30 pm and I haven't had lunch

yet... so I proceeded to Seniores Pizza on 19th Ave

and Taraval to get the Greek Special....just a slice...then

went over to La Baguette to meet Ramon for

coffee...

On Friday night KJ, Ramon and I did a charcoal

portrait of Jessica at the cafe... 

KJ's sketch is on the left side

it was fun to sketch

a person like her who posed like a real pro...

Jessica had fun posing though she didn't realize

that staying still is not that easy...till today...

Tomorrow I'll continue on the Francisco St

cityscape....

Last Saturday Ramon and I had a chance to take photos 

in the downtown area on California St

California St looking west as the sun is setting

and Leavenworth...

A view on Leavenworth looking south at 5p.m.

that's all for now folks !

I'll be in touch so you be in touch

jt

STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO

..... the streets of San Francisco are perhaps the 

most captivating sceneries for an artist, poet, writer, 

cinematographer or even to just the incognito 

idle rich carrying a point and shoot camera....

Francisco Street looking towards the east bay with a view
of the Bay bridge in the horizon

Francisco is definitely one of these enchanting lovely descending and ascending

streets 

On the right hand side of the street stands the San Francisco Arts Institute where i found myself one day in search of a cityscape subject....Ramon and I have paintings in progress of this beautiful street...

a few days ago i went  with Ramon to continue our paintings....

then the other day as I was busy focusing on my work...out of town-

ers

were taking pictures of me

 including an SFAI painting student

who later shared her lunch box of fresh fruits and bought me a cup

of coffee in the school cafeteria ....

She's knowns as KJ in school or Lynn

with an invitation for a free coffee and a smile like hers

it's not easy to say No....

but it's definitely a pleasure to say Yes...

Broke her painting arm a few weeks ago...but has healed pretty good

I've met quite a few of the SFAI students in the Cafeteria

where I had taken a break for lunch each time i painted...

Wilfredo and Miranda...photo students

I did a charcoal portrait of Miranda a few hours later...

Wil....short for Wilfredo gave me a tour of the school facilities

and introduced me to a few of his teachers.....

SFAI Library from the roof top...students in the foreground on lunch break

Student in the Library

We went to one of the studios and found Arielle Lemons

did a sketch of her while she was working

working on her project in acrylic

 Arielle Lemons is graduating next Fall

That's all for now folks!

jt

SAN FRANCISCO PEBS

....everyone made it today for the sketching session...

Dina doing her charcoal still life sketch....

Ksenia from last week's session

her charcoal sketch is on the piano

Theresa, Matt, Ksenia 

from foreground ...Theresa, Matt, Ksenia and Ramon

Theresa and Matt are sketching the Penelopes cats...

Penelope is telling a story here about her trip 

to Mindoro on Tuesday ....

In between the dead silence we manage to converse

anything from music to sociology

 to politics and whatever...

Ramon took care of providing us with

classical music today ....to help us

focus intently on our drawings...

During the break we had kale salad, baguette, brie and

sparkling apple cider and hot tea...

Theresa played a Catalan piece for

safe trip wish for Penelope....

then we all called it a night....

I have a few more photos to load for this page which i will 

do in the morning....

that's all for now folks !!!

jt

Winter of semi discontent

.....too many intervening circumtances ....

is a great way to describe a situation where 

one looks so busy and seem to accomplish 

things in slow motion...

yes... i have my deadlines and they're extended ....

because of intervening  circumstances

 i was hoping to catch our class reunion

and the Panagbenga Flower Fest 

in Baguio...

i'm excited... considering it will be 

my first time

to see it...

at the moment life is going

day by day ...

my symptoms of flu have lingered

for weeks.... hopefully over 

after a regimen of daily dozes

of vit C,  fluids and avoiding crowds...
will do the trick...

Anyway the groundhog day signaled more

wintry weeks to come and in California it

seems winter is late ...

the warm days are gone and storms are

starting to blow over the sunny state...

Yesterday at Stonestown i bumped into 

Jakili who i went to 

 art school with ...

"I remember you... aren't you... Pepe Le Pew?..."

He almost passed me by ....had i not called his attention

about him not remembering the good 'ol times...

...we had coffee and ...

by the way ...he worked for

Lucas films for 7 years ....

now he's at a crossroad art career wise...

like everyone does at a certain point in life...

C'est la vie

He took a trip to Europe and wandered around

in the great museums in Germany, France, Italy 
and Holland in the daytime and partied at nights...
foot loose and fancy free....

With his career experience and maturity i believe he'll do

alright tackling whatever comes along the way...

I'll check back with you later Jakili....

that's all for now folks!

I apologize for not having posted anything foe a while....

my creativity went down ... as the flu season 

threatened my vulnerability....