Lives were lost, some still missing; houses and properties destroyed or damaged, and people displaced from an evacuation zone 30 miles square.
My studio is in the middle of that - unharmed, as is my general small neighborhood. Half a block away, homes were drowned in mud and crushed by boulders that came from miles upstream. Just luck of the draw.
So we carry on - the community has come together in extraordinary ways.
After a week and a half I was able to get my work for "The River's Journey"
out of my studio. A neighbor who was evacuating kindly loaded up 30 newly framed gouaches, plus my gouache painting kit and my plein-air painting kit and brought them out to me.
We're moving forward with the show at the Wildling, and the Artist Book show at the Elvehoj. Westmont is keeping the "5x5" show going - ongoing online auction and the reception this evening. Sullivan-Goss held a second reception for "100 Grand" since the fire took a bite out of the first one.
I hope people will come out and support these endeavors - many more artists than just me are involved.
The River's Journey, Santa Ynez River Watershed, Artist Book, 27"x 4 1/2" Filamentous Green Algae, Ink, Blue Thread.
This accordion-fold book is made of 'paper' I made from dried filamentous green algae that I picked up from the SYR bottom. It's a beautiful green color when it first starts to grow, then turns light colored as it (and the river) dries up. I flattened the pieces and attached them with Japanese paper tape. The shape of the watershed is drawn in ink and the river's flow - from the Murrieta Divide to Surf Beach, Lompoc - is stitched in with blue thread.
