As warm as a summer day

These flowers aren't harbingers of spring, but the intensity of their colors suggests many seasons.

Early camellia time, too

The time has come...  The most geometric versions weren't yet visible, but this means they'll come soon!

Magnolia time (early and pink)

The warm weather has brought this tree to bloom.  Fans gathered around, thrilled not just by the abundant bloom, but also that a few branches are low enough to really examine the enormous flowers up close.

(Note that most of the other magnolias are just starting up, or remain covered in fuzzy buds.)

Saturday in the Park

You're singing it too, sorry…

It is the sort of warm day that reminds me of how California is advertised.

Sutro Views (17 January 2026)

Feeling tropical

Yellow-green smog (15 January 2026)

City Hall Reflected (18 January 2026)

Weird little boat with Bay Bridge (14 Jan 2026)

Wet Hawk (11 January 2026)

The hawk was on a fencepost, and then, quite suddenly, the hawk was in the water, standing on a submerged rock, near a group of rather agitated ducks.  I'm still unsure how intentional the hawk's landing was...  The ducks got louder and edged closer; the hawk retreated into the reeds.   It was... novel.

Saturday Afternoon, Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach (10 January 2026)

Good weather and a pleasant walk with A! 

Saturday Morning, Yerba Buena Gardens plus Sutro Tower

 Walking around, enjoying the good light...

Apricot Cotton Candy Cloud Morning

I'm posting slightly out of order because my photos aren't syncing correctly... but I liked this sky in the single digits of January days.

Violet to taupe watercolor abstract (8 January 2026)

My testing of the premade paints continues, and continues to be fun! 

Glorious Sunset (2 January 2026)

This was one of those days when I kept saying, "and we get to LIVE HERE" as my friends also oohed and aahed over the beauty above us. 

New Year Morning Skies (2 January 2026)

The year is off to a lovely start! 

Watercolor Sunday

I opened up the granulating watercolors I purchased in Japan from both Harmonia (blue box set) and Holbein (limited edition full set of 2025 Japan-only colors, which took me two trips to obtain the complete collection as individual small tubes).   I painted samples on both Arches paper (which pills too easily) and black watercolor paper (Clairefontaine and Legion), since traditional Japanese watercolors often contain opaque media for use on tinted surfaces.  I used a lot of pigment AND a lot of water on the white paper, to see if they'll settle differently, since granulating paints have different weights of pigments that separate out visibly under certain conditions.

Both paint collections are lovely.  

The Holbein colors are vivid on white paper and also show well on black paper, with the darker colors showing differences in tone that aren't as distinct on white paper.  This gives me some ideas for using these paints on other tinted papers, as I've seen done with the Irodori line (which I purchased as watercolors unaware of their opacity; they have subsequently been re-released with much fanfare as gouache). Yes, this is an excuse for me to buy more tinted watercolor papers!  There is only one real yellow, which I would fuss over, but yellow is for mixing (greens), and these paints aren't intended to be mixed.  

The Harmonia colors are vastly more transparent, and the blendedd colors are pleasingly visible.  I only bought one of the two available sets: the Plus (yellow-orange box) set includes one yellow, four pinks (with reds and orange), four blues (including a blue green - I remain fascinated that there wasn't traditionally a distinction between the cool colors), and three neutrals.  If I put these to good use, that set might be a reward on my next trip.  

Both sets show granulation, some colors are much more obvious about it.  I drew some geometric shapes with a clear Grumbacher crayon to create paint-resistant lines, created broad washes over those, and then returned to the shapes once dry to apply more color selectively.  The washes were smoother than expected, pleasantly so.  I had to touch up some of the crayon lines with acrylic ink: the paints are heavily pigmented, and don't leave the wax entirely colorless.  

Using the paints this way was satisfying. I learned a lot about how the paints handle, and have some new ideas for how I'd like to use them.  

Pan watercolor assembly - first try

Back when I slept less in my youth, I experimented freely with watercolors, and even tried turning dry (chalk) pastels into less dusty paint after reading of Monet's efforts with that.  I had some success, but it was still a dusty process.  Having pigment bound in pan or tube watercolors is still much neater for me.

I enjoy colors and can mix new ones well (thank you, architecture school color theory classes!), but can only get so many colors.  Prepared, professional watercolors are often expensive, and only the most popular colors are economical to mass produce.  So I was unduly excited when I realized I could make obscure colors into paint by hand using gum arabic plus pigment from the gorgeous and famous shop called Pigment Tokyo.

I've watched some videos online, and there is a risk of making too dry a mixture: this can result in a failure for the paint to bind to the paper/medium when used. I've picked two colors to test for now: if the paint sticks, I'll continue on!  I took a spoon full of pigment and an equal amount of prepared gum arabic (diluted sap from an acacia tree), mixed them with tools (including the glass muller), and put them into pans to dry.  The 'matsuba rokusho' felt a little too wet, while the 'koikushi yaki rokusho' was very dry, and needed more gum solution to blend at all.  

I hope to learn some fun things from this experiment - and get some novel shades of paint, too!

Best wishes for 2026!

Wishing you (and all living beings) a safe, healthy, and peaceful 2026. 

Mural that responds to light (Electric Forest)

Behind the Midway art/concert venue is a mural that shifts between being a forest or a flock of birds, depending on the lights used to illuminate it.  The Midway credits the work to Haddad Drugan, and calls it "Electric Forest, Michigan St. c. 2023."  It is SO COOL!  (And it demonstrates a concept I wanted to use in a sci-fi story, where humans visited an alien place and couldn't read the extensive texts left in the buildings because they weren't using the appropriate wavelengths of light...  Yes, you knew what a geek I am.  You don't have to pretend.). I previously saw it by day (a different look!), but am thrilled I get to see these versions of it as well.