Impressionist Art, On An Autumn Day, In Sacramento

"When everything looks like a magical oil painting,

 you know you are in Autumn."

~Mehmet Murat ildan

Last weekend, while I was in Sacramento searching for public art, and early turning trees, I spotted a really interesting building, which was being torn down. The side of the building, with it's exposed brick and painting chipping away, kinda made me smile. Not because it was fun to see yet another beautiful old building die, and take with it a little more local history, but rather because the way the paint and bricks were coming off the building, it reminded me of Claude Monet's paintings of poplar trees in autumn. I don't know maybe you don't see it, but I sure do! I love Monet, Renoir and Manet, and I see their work in the deterioration of this cool old building. Do you see a grove of Poplar trees? And do they have bright orange and red leaves, some of which have fallen to the ground in little piles. And there are a few purple ones too? Or do you just see a wall of bricks that have overstayed their welcome? Oh well, it's probably just me, I always see the most unusual things in autumn!

Poplars on the Banks of  the River Epte In Autumn

By Claude Monet

Oil on Canvas 1891

Impressionistic Poplars In Autumn

Sacramento, California

September 28th 2019 
Impressionist Filter

#13 Leaf Of The Day

October 5th 2019

September 28th 2019

Stockton, California

Nikon

~Mood: Happy

~Me  :)

Collecting Leaves

"Halloween creatures both friendly and

 gruesome peered out of the rustling leaves."

~Kevin Purdy

Alan and I ordered a ton of movies for this vacation, because we will be spending more time at home than on previous holidays. At least for the first half of the four weeks we have together. So, in addition to our old favorites like, St Elmo's Fire, The Legend of Boggy Creek, and The Changeling, we will have these great films, plus a few you don't see here. I also ordered, The World According to Garp, and Creepshow! I have been adding to my Robin Williams collection a few times a year. I miss him very much, so I am looking forward to just kicking back and enjoying Garp. And I will always need a Stephen King film in the month of October. It wouldn't be autumn without watching great films like, The Stand, The Shining or IT. IT was recently remade, which is okay, but the 1990 television adaptation will always be near and dear to my heart. I am beginning to think of our once a year, Movie-A-Palooza as collecting beautiful autumn leaves. I'm a little weird about autumn I think.

#12 Leaf Of The Day

October 4th, 2019 

Stockton, California

Nikon 

~Mood: Happy

~Me   :) 

Photo By Request: Public Art (Art About Town)

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."

~Aristotle 

This post is a not to our latest #PhotoByRequest subject "Public Art". A subject, which you know, I adore, which is why I chose it. Sacramento is full of public art of all kinds, and it is glorious! I can't wait to go back on vacation and spend a day just photographing the art, food, architecture, and trees. All 110,000 of them! But right now, it's all about the art. Of all the pieces I photographed, the Pop art by street artist, Norman Ayles, is my favorite. I will be doing another post soon about those pieces specifically! Those two pieces really spoke to me!

Art About Town: Sacramento

Murals

More on this piece in a different post to come at a later date.

Art About Town: Stockton

Murals and Sculpture
 
"I'm Not Surprised"

"Plant The Seed"

The Confucius Bicentennial Memorial

Art About Town: Castro Valley

Electrical Box Art

"Field Of Deer"

Autumn Leaf Of The Day...

#11 Leaf Of The Day

October 4th 2019

Sacramento, California 

Nikon

~Mood: Quiet
~Me  

Political Wishes, Hopes, And Dreams In The Age Of Trump

"If your're going to kick authority in the teeth,

 you might as we use two feet."

~Keith Richards

Keith Richards In His Own Words 

Okay, so, as I type this I am sitting in Twitter jail. Or is it, sent to my room? No jail. Definitely Jail. Or as my friend Izzy calls it. Twitmo. At first I was pretty angry that some sniveling fucking pearl clutcher decided that of all the left leaning accounts telling off California Congressman Kevin McCarthy, mine was the most offensive one, but truth is, who knows how many the melting little snowflake reported? It's not like Republicans have any backbone what so ever. But the one thing I will never be able to understand about that lot it, why don't they understand just how much of a moral victory they hand folks like me, when they get us put in Twitter jail?

 Personally, I hope it was McCarthy himself that reported me, because that would mean I got to him! Right now! While he is defending the abusive and dangerous rhetoric of a man clearly on the last legs of any sanity he might have possessed! Wouldn't that be delightfully rich? In actuality, it really doesn't matter because here I sit, all because I made a metaphorical joke about how he is punching himself in the face with his support of Trump. A man who will never show him the same loyalty, that he is showing Trump. As for Twitter, I knew that they could limit free speech on their playground, it's their private property after all, I recognize that, but who knew they could limit hopes and wishes? 

The only possible harm, in my little joke would occur, if McCarthy decided to ACTUALLY punch himself in the face! If he's stupid enough to do that, is that really my fault? But okay, I will go forward on Twitter knowing the only hopes and wishes I am allowed on Twitter, is to see a handsome prince carry off a princess on a unicorn. While the President Of The United States continues to post this...

Lies. Profanity. A blatant disregard for how anything in the world works, including the political systems of other countries, as well as our own. A thinly coded call for civil war, and more. But I can't hope Kevin McCarthy doesn't stop supporting Trump, because, I admit it, it is amusing watching, asshole after asshole, think they will be the one to, experience and enjoy, Trump's gratitude and loyalty. 

Yeah, ask Vice President Mike Pence about that right now.

There is no Autumn Leaf Of The Day in this post, but there will be one in my next post, which will be about a much nicer subject, the #PhotoByRequest project! This week, it's all about the Public Art! 

Look for that post in about an hour!

The Horror Master, Stephen King, Understands Me

"The three types of terror: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it's when the lights go out and something a green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it's when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel it's breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there... "

~Stephen King

What is terror? Terror is being awakened from a deep sleep, by the sound of your home security system, alerting you that an intruder has attempted entry! That happened to me yesterday, at 7:23 AM. My phone was lit up red. My alarm system was lit up red. Both were screaming, loudly, both saying someone had tried to come in through the back door, off the living room. I couldn't function. I am not sure if it was because the sound of the alarms terrified me, or if it was because I was barely dressed. Or if it was because I had no idea what the intruder wanted. Was it an attempted robbery? An attempted rape? Someone itching to commit murder? What did they want?

I will never know the answer to that question. By the time I could function, about 3 or 4 minutes, they were gone. I never got a chance to see who they were. A man? A woman? A wacky child? A ghost? A vampire? I have no idea, which makes the whole thing a lot worse, because I will play the "whatif's" the rest of my life. Or, more realistically, at least for the rest of the time I spend in this house! What if we had never installed an alarm system? What if the back door hadn't been locked? What if I had seen them? What if the fur babies had been hurt? What if? What if? What if?

It's terrifying not knowing if they spent time watching the house, waiting for Alan to leave. It's a terrifying thought that I will have to spend Thursday and Friday of this week, alone in the house. Do I sleep? Can I sleep? How do I face this fear? I guess I have no real choice. I will face Thursday and Friday, and every other day, going forward, alone. Alan can't do the work on the fear for me. That's mine. I suppose I will be okay. Alan is going to run a couple errands in the middle of the day tomorrow, which will give me a chance to be in the house alone. That will be a healthy thing for me, I think. I hope. If only I could shake the feeling from this morning...

"... It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel it's breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there... ".

 What if the "nothing there" terror comes back?

Autumn Leaf Of The Day

#10 Leaf Of The Day

October 2nd 2019

Stockton, California

Nikon

~Mood: Scared

~Me

 

The Last Saturday Of Autumn

"I cannot bear to waste anything so precious

 as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."

~Nathaniel Hawthorne

October 10th 1842 

The American Notebooks

Last Saturday was beautiful. It was the final Saturday of September, and there was no way I was going to miss the beautiful clouds dotting the sky or the warm autumn sun. One thing I have come to really love about the Central Valley, is the ease of which photos of the sky can be accomplished. There are lots of cool rural roads, that provide an awesome open sky. I miss the hills in the Bay Area, but once I got used to a new system of photographing my chosen subject, I found the new way of doing things really rewarding. Last Saturday was a really good day with the camera, I was happy with the results, I found lots of leaves, and it felt good to step outside my head for a while!

Hey look... a puppy dog!

 #8 Leaf Of The Day

October 1st, 2019 

Photographed October 28th, 2019

Sacramento, California

Nikon

~Mood: Happy
~Me  :)

The Laurie Strode Of Flowers

"It looked like the world was covered

 in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon."

~Sarah Addison Allen

First Frost

This is the upper board, of an old fence, that sits in one of my favorite parks. Weeds have taken over, killing off the last of the spring and summer flowers, and there is such a autumn finality to it, that made me happy, so I photographed it. I would paint this one I think, if I ever do keep my promise to get the paint box out. A brand new clean canvas awaits, as does inspiration, so, like last year, I can't help but wonder... will this will be the year I finally do the painting? Shrug. Anyway, this pic reminds me of a ghost of a summer flower, who knows it's already dead by the hands of it's stalker, autumn, but is hiding behind the fence anyway. Maybe I will call the flower, Laurie Strode. Why Laurie Strode? Because Laurie, was scared and injured, but fought back, and I can identify with that these days. She's been my scream queen hero since I was 15. Why stop now?

I'm feeling creative. 

#8 Leaf Of The Day

September 30th 2019

Cull Canyon

Nikon

~Mood: Happy

~Me  :)

Beautiful Things Are Coming My Way

"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day, "come to the meadows with me and play. Put on your dresses of red and gold; For summer is past, and the days grow cold."

~George Cooper

Last weekend Alan and I took a drive west, to the East Bay, to check out the leaf progression. Yesterday, it was north to Sacramento! Both destinations provided a lot of beautiful leaves. It's early in autumn, but so far, all signs are pointing to a  the likelihood of a gorgeous autumn this year! I am feeling pretty optimistic! Next weekend is the official start of our vacation!

#7 Leaf of The Day

September 29th 2019

Cull Canyon

 Nikon

Mood: Encouraged

~Me  :)