Spring in the neighborhood (flowers)

Usually I can name all of the flowers, but most of these are not local, so... Definitely a California Poppy in the upper right, likely scabiosa in the lower left, and some succulent in yellow.  The others... 

Spring on the north side of town (flowers)

The COLORS!
 

Gorgeous Day, Presidio National Park (again)

I returned to the northeastern edge of SF today.  I used up a new roll of film AND the last of my very-expired 120 film, had fabulous tacos from a truck that was generous with guacamole (El Fuego), and marveled that I get to live in this city.

 I usually shoot the Presidio in monochrome, but yes, the reds to call to me.

Lovely head of metal

This is the head of a very tall sculpture that has been installed at the head/foot of Market Street - it's at least four stories high - and now that you can't see the head up close (because: height), I want to share that it is gorgeous!  Look at the eyelashes!  Look at the hair!  It's really quite lovely.

Pale yellow ice plant flower (07 April 2025)

So cheerful!
 

Giant Echium Variety Pack (07 April 2025)

Giant echium make such great landscape STATEMENTS, and do so well along the SF bay's shore...

 

Spring at Presidio National Park (06 April 2025)

I have cameras to test and expired film to play with, so I went out to San Francisco's own Presidio National Park to enjoy all that it has to offer.

I remain impressed by the development of the park facilities over the freeway: the "Tunnel Tops" area has been turned into a very popular, very attractive destination in its own right.

The landscaping looks AMAZING this time of year, and I am still stunned by the novelty of pincushion protea that aren't blooming symmetrically.  (How?  Why?)

People enjoy the Main Post lawn and those wild, bright red chairs (which also make for vibrant photos). The lawn is giving the illusion of not being crowded because everyone has someone in line at a food truck (outside the boundaries of the image).

I wanted to compare my trusty Yashicamat 124g to the experience I'd had the previous day in a much larger Mamiya, and so took the time to shoot with it to compare.  Both require some work in loading and unloading, and I MADE MISTAKES out of old habits that I didn't even realize I retained (such as loading the film to the 220 mark, even though 220 film isn't even made now!).

 I had a great time, and will be back to test other film soon...

Golden State's Own Poppies

Clusters of California poppies are appearing nearly everywhere after recent rains: they are so vividly cheerful!

Dusky pinks and yellows

Small signs of warmer weather in my neighborhood. 

18th Street painted plants

 

Saturday Teals

 There was more than one color of the day, but teal was definitely on the list.

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Returning Home

I took some photos to celebrate my trip home on a very long Sunday.  I had a full Sunday in Tokyo, with my flight leaving at nearly 10pm, but crossed the date line on the way home, and arrived at Sunday mid-afternoon in San Francisco.  

I'm still not fully healthy (and long flights don't help!), and will manage my return to work as carefully as I can.

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Camellias and More

There were signs of spring beyond the cherry blossoms!  Great camellias abounded.  Plus whatever this gorgeous white flowering shrub is (spotted in the Imperial Palace East Gardens).
 

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Hie Shrine

This was my first visit to the Hie Shrine.  I had already bought all the charms that exist (at Meiji Jingu), so I didn't shop here, but enjoyed this shrine complex atop a hill, surrounded by highrises.

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Food

I lost my appetite during this trip, and came back with looser jeans, so that's something.  Eating in Tokyo is hard for me as a vegetarian with gluten intolerance: most Tokyo restaurants are filled with deep fried meats and breaded everything.  But I did well for myself on the one meal out I enjoyed daily.

2025 Tokyo Highlights: MOT

The sound show at MOT was sold out, but I enjoyed this contemporary MOT Annual 2024 "on the imagined terrain" show very much.  Artists include Yuki Shimizu, Satoshi Kawata, Ryohei Usui, and Asami Shoji.  

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Senso-ji

 I spent much of my time at quiet shrines and temples with relatively few people at them.  Visiting Senso-ji was... not like that.  MOB SCENE more than anything.  But I can see why it is popular - look at the size of those lanterns!

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Hilma af Klimt (!)

Hilma af Klimt was an amazing, ahead-of-her-time painter from Sweden, and the touring show happened to be at the National Museum of Modern Art!  I enjoyed it (and the gift shop - too much). 

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Meiji Jingu

This was my first visit to Meiji Jingu, and the park and grounds are lovely. 

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Sakura

This was my fourth visit to Japan, but my first time during cherry blossom season.  The famous viewing spots weren't yet in bloom when I visited, but I found flowering trees in my long walks around town.  The trees that attracted me drew CROWDS. 

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Bold Architecture

Tokyo has wild combinations of old, new, charming, and anti-charming.  I enjoyed bold buildings during this trip, and three are included here: a Palantir/WeWork building with an elaborate glass facade; a government building; and a ventilation structure for the underground trains.   All interesting in different ways!

2025 Tokyo Highlights: Nezu Shrine

I was out sick, and then it was time for my vacation... and the long flight to Tokyo made me MUCH SICKER.  I recovered (mostly), and went out to see Tokyo a little every day, so I'll post my greatest hits here.

These are scenes from the Nezu Shrine, which has many Important Cultural Properties within the complex.  The Inari Shrine on the hill beside, plus its koi pond (lower right) are also charming.  I'd love to visit during the Azealea festival, to see the large azalea garden in bloom.

 

Botanical Garden at Camellia Time

Collage 1: Top: Peach colored vireya rhododendron; red camellia
Middle: pink camellia detail, white camellia with red stripe; magnolia detail
Bottom row: red camellia, pink camellia

The camellias in my neighborhood have been blooming, and I finally got out to the San Francisco Botanical Garden (formerly known as the Arboretum, which it still also is!) to appreciate them.  While I was there, I was able to appreciate other plants as well!

Collage 2: Top: Agave (probably), red camellia, magnolia (tulip style)
Center: white camellia
Bottom: pink furry protea, euphorbia, two enormous tulips in pale and medium pink

Collage 3: Top: white rhododendron with hot pink markings, white camellia

Bottom: pink magnolia, yellow center detail of a protea shrub, pink spray of holly

Sky (4 March 2025)

Clouds: I can't get enough of them, when they are distributed in interesting ways... 

You know I love giant echium (28 February 2025)

These remind me of walks I would take with friends along the bay shore at a prior employer...  Good friends, good colleagues, good conversations...  Also: walking meetings are GREAT. 

Silent pigeon (25 February 2025)

I don't know which artist creates these stencils, but I like them! 

Plum blossoms (25 February 2025)

The plum trees in Alameda are having their moment. 

Ceanothus (25 February 2025)

What a pleasant shade of blue...
 

Lost bud (23 February 2025)

My orchids want to give blooming another go...

 

Brunch in sunshine (22 February 2025)

Every so often, it's nice to get out and be a fancy city person with friends! (At La Mar...)

Brick and cage (again)(22 February 2025)

I'm assuming the cage is to prevent parkour challenges, but I can't be sure. 

Camellia time

 

Recent Skies

"You take a lot of photos of skies."  "Yes, and I have NO REGRETS." 

Late Night, February

One of my gal friends is able to stay up dancing into the early hours of morning, and so we did! And then we bragged about it to all of our friends who had gone to bed four hours before we left the club...

Late Plum of Early Spring

The plums with purple leaves are supposed to bloom after those with pale green leaves, but SOMEONE didn't get the memo. 

Gold and gray

So lovely, and an upcoming challenge to paint in oil pastels…

Oil Pastel Color & Handling Studies

I am out of practice in both drawing and painting, and I've only used oil pastels a few times previously, but realize trying to learn how to use these is lots of fun!

Frustrating, but also fun.  (Thank goodness my first dusk attempt (a week ago) worked out well: it gave me the encouragement I needed to try again.)

The gray paper, the way the pastels blend, the way I touched my forehead and then was alarmed at the large purple (oil pastel) mark in the mirror - it's all an adventure.

Abstracts are the most fun, because I KNOW those are just play (serious play, but still).  So perhaps jumping straight into sunsets and trying to figure out how to use shades of orange (a color I haven't used much in any medium) was ambitious...  But I'm learning things, trying these first skies.  (I rarely even painted skies in watercolor!)

I'm happy that I am taking (making) time to TRY.

Lemony protea

If it were any more pale yellow, it would taste like lemon sorbet.
 

Friday Sunset Studies

My phone is FILLED with these, and now that I'm trying to learn to paint the reflections of the warmest colors, my phone will surely overflow... 

Color Studies with oil pastels, continued

I think that the kind of sunsets I want to draw aren't as blue as I think they are, and I need to come at them with very different colors (more beiges than blues)...  but I made one with exagerrated blues, and it was educational.  It's hard to get orange reflections to sit on top of the blues - they blend into other colors.

Also shown here: the set as I use them; studies in artificial cereal colors, blues, and greens. 

I think I need a lot more days off to get the hang of these...  But it is delightful to LEARN by trying.

Color studies with oil pastels from Japan

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new oil pastels!

I previously posted that one of my October 2024 adventures in Tokyo was going to the home studio and shop Kawachi Art Supplies, trying the handmade oil pastels they are known for on kraft paper on the patio to confirm they truly are as buttery and lipstick-soft as I'd read (they are!), and then buying a gorgeous, balanced set of ONE HUNDRED of them, because the colors are so amazingly lovely.

Back in November, I finally started to put them onto paper, and decide how I would draw/paint with them.  They are so much softer and blend so much more easily than other oil pastels I've tried, that it really did require some play-testing to choose how to use them.  I'm trying to take up 'softer' ways of painting, unlike the precision of my architectural drafting back in the day, or even some of my watercolors with extensive under-drawings.  And these seem ideal for this softer approach.

So, here's my first representational (non-abstract) color study, using an evening dusk phone photo I took back on Election Day 2024 as the color source.  I zoomed in and made some compositional changes for the study.  All of the colors I used are over on the right.  I made the bay a little darker than it really was, as I work on how to manage reflected light on such a dark base.

One: OH MY GOSH, these are a delight to draw with.  I use my fingers to blend the colors.  I'm learning about how they do or don't blend, and how to layer them.

Two: I am very much out of practice for painting, so I am relieved this turned out well, and that I learned from it.  I'm eager to draw/paint more!

Three: I got to the colors I want from blending, but also want to return to the shop to buy more shades of purple: I have many sunsets I want to paint, some with nearly neon violets within them, and those will be brighter and cleaner if I don't over-blend them.  So yes, I'm making up excuses to buy even more colors.  Yes, I know the owner makes some rather fluorescent violets, and I hadn't thought I'd use those, but I'm inventing new use cases!

I hope this is something that I can do more often - that I will make time for - among my other pleasant creative habits.

 

Camellia time

The camellia that survived the renovation work (and somehow escaped having lumber piled onto it) is glowing radiantly right now. 

Flowers from Friends

It's taken a while since my move  into my now code-compliant home to have all of my friends over (schedule battleship is a game no one wins), but by planning an event in November (!!), I got 2 out of 3 pals from a particular group over on the same day, and they brought lovely flowers.  (And gluten-free madeleines - my first time trying those, which are dangerously good!)