ARTY FARTY DAYS OF SUMMER

Ah, summer. There’s art everywhere I look. What would a bay area weekend be without an art and wine festival, under clear skies?

Found Art: Have you been noticing the Moon Illusion? And while you’re looking upward, Mars, Venus and Saturn will be converging most spectacularly this weekend.

Bought Art: A brand new painting/collage by Lord Tim Hudson called ‘Telegraph Hill presenting Loretta Baretta’ is now gracing our dining room wall. Lord Tim is a classic self-promotion machine and… I’m a sucker for a fun, over-the-top pitch. The mixture was toxic: the decision to buy took about 10 seconds. I admit to being an alum of the Barnum & Bailey school of art appreciation. And there is a not so benign reason that wine is available in galleries and at these festivals. It all adds up to a less than practical art procurement scenario, but life is short and we can always put Loretta somewhere else if we grow out of love, or lust. Maybe I will put up a picture of the piece, in a week, when I have the digital camera back, along with my traveling wife. And I do have to introduce her to Loretta first. Hope they hit it off.

I’ve been looking for new art, primarily to jazz up the bathroom remodels. We’ve been noticing that most of the house is (over)decorated in a (too)serene, (too)zen-like motif. We need more pizzazz, more serendipity, more….pizzendipity. I think Loretta has helped kick up the zippity-zendipity quotient; with a hint of light erotica to boot. (Boot.kick.) But the Muse responsible for our bathroom art selections seems insistent we stick to something from the calming catelog. The two most dynamic pieces have both ended up in the dining and living rooms, instead of the loos. I can’t explain. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to keep looking.

Another benefit to these festivals: I had the distinct pleasure of hearing the wonderful Erika Luckett again. She is one of my heroes: her musical growth over the course of her solo career is dramatic. It’s a long way from Wild Mango days. Her latest CD is extraordinary. Very her, very confident, very sublime. It’s got the pizzendipity going on, in spades.