Paintings at the Pomona Arts Colony

 Clam Samurai in Squashed Clam Chowder Can Kimono

 

Full Moon Ghost Crab

 Crab Claw Cupcake on the Halfshell

 The Last One Abalone

 Thinly Sliced Something Fishy on Toast

I have paintings hanging in two galleries of the Pomona Arts Colony.

http://www.pomonaartscolony.com

Old Downtown Pomona, gone almost derelict after its heyday in the 1950s, had become a small town SoHo for artists in the Pomona Valley, and recently was declared an Arts Colony of Los Angeles County.

Shows at the dA Gallery and BunnyGunner :

Simply Red --    http://daartcenter.org/en/

All U Can Eat --  http://www.bunnygunner.com

opened on the monthly 2nd Saturday Art Walk night of February 8, 2013.  The steets were busy with visitors to galleries, bistros, vintage goods shops and bars, a concert, and a street fair. I saw an interesting art show presented by the Walking Gallery: a conga line of young people circled the block holding paintings up for view and chanting their mission. They shared the sidewalk with a mobile Samba Drumming Band, mostly women in tight shiny short shorts marching with huge drums and racks of percussion instruments, following a leader in khaki blowing a loud whistle. At Simply Red a group of gowned and tuxedoed singers sang arias from Italian Opera. At Simply Red at the dA Gallery I am showing Red Horsehead and Red Birch Heart Valentine (photos posted in previous blogs). Above are photos of five of my paintings at the All U Can Eat show at Bunny Gunner:

All of these are acrylic on 5" x 7" cradled board, a size specified by the gallery (no bigger than 5x7) that presented a challenge to me and I painted them 'specially for this show, with a Seafood (see-food, get it???) theme -- I suppose they have a literary dimension that makes them kinda cartoons. It's been fun and I hope to do more like them. The gallery at bunny Gunner is a single very large room and hundreds of small paintings by many artists were hung in vertical rows side-by-side with the name of the artist at the top of his/her row. Fascinating to see so many styles, subjects, themes, medias all together -- the gallery encourages participants to paint food for "All U Can Eat" and the show does have a fully-loaded buffet table or downtown cafeteria feel to it. One idea of this show is to offer small-sized and affordably-priced art works that young or beginning art collectors can buy. Well,  I didn't sell anything, but the show is wonderful to behold!

My inclusion in these gallery shows came about through the renewal of an old friendship. I had met Kate Thornton in High School and we stayed friends through our 20s in the LA area. By 1990 we had gone our separate ways into other adventures, careers and relaltionships, and we fell out of touch. Last July Kate contacted another old friend, Bonnie Barrett, whom I had also lost and found again, and learned my whereabouts from her. We began a joyful email rediscovery and I learned she had become a published writer of detective and sci-fi stories. She had also taken up painting and had become a member of the Pomona Arts Colony community, especially the dA Gallery where she volunteers and sits on the Board.  Bonnie, and husband Jim, met myself and Kate, with husband Jerry, for a fancy dinner out and some gallery hopping. The recovery and resurgence of my friendships with Kate and Bonnie at this time of my life is a great and unexpected happiness to me!


Kate in her dA Gallery Store