Posted on

Cruising Up Hill

Stage 3, Tour of California 2010
Stage 3, Tour of California 2010

Tuesday my good friend, and filigree mentor Yehuda Tassa, and I went out on the roads of the Santa Cruz Mountains to watch parts of the Amgen Tour of California. Tunitas Creek Road is the first part of Stage 3’s mountain segments. The riders look as if the first part of the road is easy for them. Some of the riders seen here are:

Tom Boonen, Champion of Belgium, the telephone pole ends at his helmet

George Hincapie, Champion of the United States, in the Stars and Stripes BMC jersey is a few helmets/riders to the right of the pole

Lance Armstrong, 8th helmet from the right with the jersey partly open

Brett Lancaster, front left in the yellow Amgen Tour of California leader’s jersey

Posted on

Mexican Museum Art Travels South

Treasures from the Mexican Museum: A Spirited Legacy
"Treasures from the Mexican Museum: A Spirited Legacy"
Mexican Museum exhibit at the Palo Alto Art Center
Community exhibit: pieces from the Mexican Museum

We used to love visiting and viewing the art at the Mexican Museum at San Francisco’s Fort Mason. The museum has been closed for the last few years while a new location is built to house the expansive collection.

Manuel Neri Sculpture from Mexican Museum exhibit
Manuel Neri Sculpture untitled standing figure #5, 1980 bronze and "Molotiv Cocktail Dress" acrylic on canvas by Gronk, 1987

A portion of the collection was recently on display in the Palo Alto Art Center. Sculptural, painting and mixed media works were exhibited in three rooms of the center.

Mexican Museum Day of the Dead and bird sculptures
Day of the Dead pieces are always enjoyable

I enjoy a good Day of the Dead fix every now and then.

Details. Mexican Museum piece
details on the pieces in the case above

The “Treasures from the Mexican Museum: A Spirited Legacy” exhibit runs through April 18th.

Inside program Treasures from the Mexican Museum A Spirited Legacy
The large sculpture shown here on the brochure is very interesting in person; in each viewing something new is discovered
Posted on

Spring Sunday in the City: Part 4

Orange poppy at Queen Wilhemina Tulip Garden
Orange poppy closeup

Orange poppies were mixed in with the tulips and yellow poppies at the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden

Flower Bud. Golden Gate Park
Unidentified bud

In addition to the tulips and poppies, there were other flowers which were good subjects with the macro lens.

unidentified flower. golden gate park
closeup of unidentified flowering bush
Posted on

Spring Sunday in the City: Part 3

Poppies at the Queen Wilhemina Tulip Garden
Before

Tulips at the Golden Gate Park’s Queen Wilhemina Tulip Garden were accompanied by generous plantings of poppies.


Poppies at the Queen Wilhemina Tulip Garden
During

All phases of the bloom were evident


Poppies at the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden
During

I enjoyed taking these before, during, and after-the-bloom photos


Ravaged poppy at the Queen Wilhemina Tulip Garden
After: Ravaged poppy
Posted on

Spring Sunday in the City: Part 2

Golden Gate Park's Queen Wilhemina Tulip Garden
Tulip closeup

After visiting the Cartier and America exhibit, we stopped by Golden Gate Park‘s Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden.

Tulip at Golden Gate Park's Queen Wilhemina Tulip Garden
Same tulip variety bloom in it's entirety

After knowing about the garden for  a few years, I am happy that I remembered it during tulip season.

White tulips at Queen Wilhemina Tulip Garden
White tulips at Queen Wilhemina Tulip Garden
Posted on

Spring Sunday in the City: Part 1

San Francisco Spring Morning Skyline
San Francisco spring morning skyline view from Palace of the Legion of Honor

Yesterday Pat Accorinti and I made an early morning visit  to the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco for a Metal Arts Guild organized private tour of the Cartier and America exhibit. Our group had a 30 minute head start on other museum visitors. Our enthusiastic docent shared a lot of good information about Cartier and the exhibition pieces.

Cartier Rendering of Duchess of Windsor Bib Necklace
Cartier and America postcard. Design drawing for Duchess of Windsor bib necklace 1947. Photo: Nick Welsh, Cartier Collection

Once of my favorite parts of the exhibit was the room with Cartier’s renderings. While in the room I picked out a couple of favorite designs and was happy to see them realized in precious metals and stones in other rooms of the exhibit. Visiting the rendering room again after seeing the entire exhibit, I was surprised to note how many of the rendered pieces were on display in the exhibition.

Gloria Swanson Cartier Bracelets 1930
FAMSF postcard: Gloria Swanson's Bracelets 1930. Cartier and America Exhibit. Palace of the Legion of Honor. Rock crystal, diamonds and platinum, stretchable. Photo: Cartier Archives

Film stars in the past used to wear their own jewelry in films and on the red carpets. Amazing considering the amount some wore. The scanned in postcard shows flexible bracelets that Gloria Swanson wore in a film.

Posted on

Spring @ Filoli

Tulips at Filoli, Woodside CA
Tulips beautiful in a group after first bloom

Spring arrived a week early in northern California. The weather was almost summery. Luckily the tulips were still in full bloom at Filoli.

Flowering Cherry tree and herb knot garden: Filoli Woodside CA
flowering cherry tree and herb knot garden

Flowering trees and a colorful herb garden are among the other attractions that 15 full time and 120 volunteer gardeners tend

flowering cherry tree Filoli Woodside CA
cherry tree in full flower

A fellow visitor was telling us that in May there will be a lot of these dramatic poppies

poppy at Filoli Woodside CA
poppy closeup

I did mention there were lots of tulips, didn’t I? 🙂

tulips Filoli Woodside CA
what I did to the camera is a mystery...I like the results
Posted on

Nice Surprise

Fine silver, 24kt gold necklace "Golden Garden of the Seas"
Original photo of “Golden Garden of the Seas”

As I quickly leafed through a class catalog for the Pacific Art League today, ready to set it aside to pass on to a friend, the last ad on the inside cover caught my eye. Something about the ad looked familiar.

Sherry Cordova Jewelry Necklace in Pacific Art League Ad
The surprising ad

The necklace in the ad is my “Golden Garden of the Seas” fine silver and 24kt gold necklace. I was slower to recognize it than you’d think I’d be, because the original photo has a blue background and the 24kt gold is very yellow in the picture. Someone’s photo editing and the printing color shift threw me off temporarily. I like that piece. I think it’s here with me. Maybe I’ll wear it tomorrow….

Posted on

The Pelican and the Seagull

Pelican landing at Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz
Coming in for a landing

The pelican decided to take a rest on the rock out at Steamer Lane

Pelican and seagull, Santa Cruz, Steamer Lane
Moving seems like a good idea

The seagull who’d been resting on top thought it was a good idea to move

Pelican and two seagulls
All is settled