Evening with Wayne Thiebaud

Re: Taco Truck

This is just TOO cute! What an awesome job this committee has done...I can't wait until tomorrow night!
Linda

On Nov 17, 2010, at 3:44 PM, Tina Home wrote:

> This was made out of cardboard from the US post office. Thanks to Sandra Machado and Lori Nelson. We are ready for tomorrow's Day of the Dead event!
> Celebrate and remember.

Last leg

Final departure from Las Vegas. Lauren was awarded a flamingo lamp for
being such a great guide in Zion. Las Flamingas love her!

Our bags arrived!!

United. Airlines came through and our bags arrived in St. George, Utah
at 1:00 (Central Standard Time) this morning. YIPEE!! We were
mystified how the dried "mint tea," Iberian ham and half wheel of
cheese cleared customs. Haven't opened the slippers suitcase yet...
Off to hike Zion in pink Flamingo feathers with a flock of women from
all over the USA. It's our patriotic duty.

Back to the States in One Piece!

Long Ago and far away

We woke up at 3:30 some morning long ago in a country far away, packed ourselves (and a charming, vagabond Backroads friend who was returning home to spend a month looking through his "stuff" and making soup)into a taxi towards the shiny, modern Barcellona airport. Zipped throught security, but delayed take-off put us into Brussels very late. Lauren ( having been throught four other security checks) was busted while the other inspector had to read ALL my 3oz. cosmetic bottle ingredients. BARELY made the flight (we were driven out to the plane waiting on the tarmack). After a 2 1/2 flight delay (I have no issue with fixing mechanical problems if we are going to be over an ocean) they gave us an assurance that our connections would be "protected." No mention of what would happen to our luggage. Somewhere in the world there is a backpack and two suitcases of Moroccan slippers, art books, Iberian ham, cheese from Montserrat Monastery, Sahara sand and our clothes for our Flamingo Fling (don't ask) weekend in Zion National Park. O'hare airport is a nightmare: 45 minute security lines, five frenetic terminals, surley staff and mistyped Boarding Passes. Lauren is convinced that United is becoming Untied.

Off to Vegas...in a center seat flanked by 300 lb gamblers

Heard Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer, and Giants won! Our problems are a hill of beans compared to historic victories.

Welcome back to America! We may have to go to Walmart to celebrate.

Goodbye Gaudi!!

Goodbye Gaudi!
Done with Dali!
Bye Bye Barcelona!
See you soon!

Custom designs

There is a thrilling shop here in Barcellona called DESIGUAL that
makes "custom" clothes. The basic coats, pants, vests, dresses, etc.
for man and women are wild combinations of patterns and textures then
you can choose the buttons, trim or accents and they attach them right
there. It's like the best on anthropolgie and WICKED.
A totally fun experience!!!!

Dali-Doodling

Sometimes placemats make the best canvas. Inspired by Dali, we drew on our placemats at lunch. Here is a drawing of Tina by Lauren while waiting for Tapas :) Did you know that Dali would carry around a glass cup in his pocket everywhere he went so that he would see like the impressionists?

Virtual Cheering!

Craig, my brother in law and Lauren's uncle is doing the NYC Marathon,
half way around the world!! Corre Craig Corre! Wish him luck!

Unexpected Art Surprise?!?

The Art Surprise? Well, it's one piece of art from well known Spanish
artists and a collection of Egyptian mummies....hmmm?

Two minutes too late

Back in Barcelona and fully rested, we decided to take the train and
tram up to the monastery at Montserrat. Alas... we walked to the
station and missed the train by exactly two minutes, waited an hour in
the Parc Joan Miro then caught the next train out of town. The
monastery is perched on the serrated (serrat) mountains up so high one
can see the snow-capped Pyrennes and even Mallorca. Remembering that
Lauren just rode over them and into France last week we offered a
prayer of Thanksgiving to the Black Madonna and lit a candle for one
of the Backroads leaders.
The vertiginous tram down was two minutes late for the train back to
Barcellona, but hot chocolate was a delightful compensation for yet
another wait.
Back at The Market Hotel (a hidden treasure in the city) we met
Lauren's host,Gabrielle, for a Metro ride to an authentic tapas dinner
near the Cathedral. Of course, we missed the Metro by two minutes.
All in all, these six critical minutes actually ended up not in
disappointments but in new friendships, walks in parks and some
SERIOUS digital photo editing.
Blog readers will, however, have to indicate their interest in
reliving our adventures by commenting on our blog. We're happy to
share any of the 667 photos with anyone. ( Most of Morocco looks like
an Anthropology catalogue)

Tomorrow is our last full day in this glorious and friendly country -
the thought of leaving is truly spainful.

Miro Miro on the wall

We are now staying in Hotel Residance in Cadaquez in Northern Spain in
the Costa Brava region. It just ooooozes art history. Miro, Picasso,
Lorca, Mattise and their favorite surreal son, Salvadore Dali, "slept"
here. The lobby is filled with dog-eared art books, essays,
overstuffed chairs, worn oriental carpets and old Christie's auction
catalogues. "Original" Dali prints and 100's of photos line the walls.
It's a bit of a shrine to the art gang in a town that looks and feels
like Carmel - only with cobblestones, muchas casas blancas on the
hilly streets and the smell of paella everywhere.

A Day of Dily-Daling

Hello Dali!!!!

Hello Dali!!!

Just finished exploring the Dali Museum in Figueres in Northern Spain.

There are no words...so Spectacular will have to do!

Off to Cadaques to see his studio and where he hung out with Picasso,
Matisse and the gang. Rumor has it that Picasso stayed in our hotel.
Hopefully our noses will be in the same place when we wake up in the
morning....

L & T

Smiling and Stylish

We got out of town without a burka but do have an entire suitcase full
of Aladdin slippers!

Back in Black! :)

Hotel Review

After our night in the desert in tents that smelled like camels and
the nights at the riad in Marrakech, I've determined that students,
adventurers and folks who are "voluntarily unemployed" are better
suited to sleeping ( I think the term is "crashing") in hostels and
curling up on airport floors. Not that I don't like a night of
blinking or constant neon light, but at this point in my travel
journey I am quite content to have a a bit of quiet, no bed bugs,
fewer hookers outside the front door and no need for triple locks on
the doors.

Don't need a Hilton, just a 3 minute hot shower.

Travel Day to Spain!

We love Ryan Air! For less than 100 Euro, you can travel from the
desert of Morocco to the coast of Northern Spain!!

Drawing of the carpet salesman

Here is a drawing of the man who sold us a magic carpet in Morocco.
Okay, it wasn't magical but the experience definitely was!

Arabic Lesson!

Back in Northern Spain

While we loved the colors, excitement, smells and food of Morocco, we
have to admit that we are relieved to be back in Spain. Lauren's
fluent spanish, a recognizable alphabet and fashions we could consider
wearing to work make this feel like home. I was always more than a bit
uneasy and when Lauren went out by herself on the last night, even our
host was nervous. She returned having bumped into one of her Backroads
buddies.

Got up at 4:30 a.m. scramble through the alleys to the taxi, took a
cheap (25 euro) plane to Madrid, another to Gironda, then train to
Figueres - the apex of the Dali Triangle. The Theatro Dali is two
minutes away!! So tomorrow we go there and then, hopefully, out to the
tip of a peninsula on La Costa Brava to see his studio. When the
fishermen painted their boats, he encouraged them to clean their
brushes on his front door. Do not try this at home!

Off to get tapas and my first glass of Spanish wine. A person can only
drink so much mint tea.

Sugar and spices

Our host, Ali, has prepared a traditional Berber dinner for me. He
uses 44 spices just for ordinary meals. Lauren's taken off to the
Internet cafe to print our Boarding Passes ( if you don't have them,
it's 45 euros extra at the airport).
The blue and white container is the sugar bowl. One vizar of old
wanted marble for his palace so he traded it pound for pound for
sugar. The palace is astonishing- as is the diabetic rate here
Du hibouk
Tina

Hamming it up in the Hammam

Ali sent us off to the neighborhood Hammam where we were led into a
huge slippery tiled room to be steamed, lathered in black moroccan
beldi soap, exfloiated with a rough kissa glove, coated in local
ghassoul clay, scraped with pumice, hair slimed with henna, rinsed in
hot water and swaddled in scarves to wend our way home. Some women
happily go there 3 times a week to relax, gossip and be cleansed "hair
to toes." At 60 dirhams (one dirham is twelve cents) it is cheaper
than a Starbucks habit and certainly much healthier.
We read an inscription in the Marakesh Museum: "For my life, I choose
to be happy because it is good for my health."
Here's to Health and Hammams

Cooking with Ali

Tonight we are staying with chef and jazz extraordinare, Ali Iaazane
in the Medina. We have the honor of staying at his Riad, located in
the center near the famous Djemma El Fna. We met him through a carpet
salesmen down the street and have been having a wonderful time. He
shared his inside knowledge with us by introducing us to an authentic
16th century Hamam down the street and cooking. No tourist Hamam for
us! He is a musician for the British Council and the Master Drummers
of Africa. So cool! We are now sitting down to a home cooked meal of
Tagine in the courtyard of his Riad. If you are planning a trip to
Morocco, be sure to put Riad Iaazane on your list. (www.riaddariaazane.com
)

Terrific Tagine

We've swapped Internet fame for an authentic Moroccan dinner and
cooking lessons with Ali Iaazane at his Riad. You must come to Morocco
to meet him. He's got a site and extraordinary hospitality: www.riaddariaazane.com

The color of Marrakesh is red

Experimenting with B&W

Our first hours in Africa

Here's the first sculpture we've seen in Africa and Lauren with HER
own personal powerful, magical talisman. However, for the next few
days we're going deep into the heart of the center of Medieval Islam
and possibly out to the dessert and land of the Touregs.

Medina

Just returned to our hotel after an exhausting day in Marrakesh. We got up at 3:00 am to take a flight from Madrid and arrived in Morocco a bit peckish and discovered that Lauren made a hotel reservation at a "rait" ( one of the private homes converted into a sort of B and B)in a town that was 120 km away. She was mortified, so to add salt to the wounded ego, we were compelled to jump in a rattle trap, smoke stained, dented cab with an "I-only-speak-Arabic" sinister looking driver ( I use the term "driver" generously- evidently they ran out of paint for traffic lanes many years ago and we have seen only 3 stop signals in a city of 750,000 motorists). He dropped us off in a maze of alleys, donkey carts and kaftans in the Medina (the old, old, old walled section unchanged since 1127 - not some sort of cute OLDE TOWNE but a dark but colorful, narrow, covered rabbit warren of blacksmiths, leather workers, woodcarvers, silversmiths, ceramic vendors and the ubiquitous hawking rug, spices, dried fruits and nut sellers. Everyone has a 5' wide by 8' deep stall filled with their particular raw material, tools, inventory and a little stool or bench and are busily working, working, gossiping, working. The sounds, smoke, smells are overwhelming. The wall-to-wall/stall-to-stall crowd is forced ahead by unexpected and impatient motorcyclists. Clarke would LOVE it!!!

Found a place to stay and then, pretty atypically, we hired a guide who took us by the hand, introduced us to his many "friends" and spent a good part of the day hitting on Lauren. We saw many famous extraordinary sights but the best part was going behind closed doors, up hidden staircases and down narrow alleys. If there is a Moroccan Mafia, we are convinced that Shafik is a major player. He confronted the snake charmers about their unprofessionalism (we'd asked him to inquire about the rumor that some of the owners sew the cobras' lips together - they don't sew them, they GLUE them), he poured mint tea from a height of 18" like a pro and got us a great deal on tomorrow night's rait -a room in a private home owned by an excentric Berber adventurer and his British wife. At many points today, I turned to Lauren with a look that said "this is the part where the mother and daughter get kidnapped and randsomed" but somehow Allah was watching over us.

We heard the call to prayer very moment that I thought we would never be seen again. We were led back down into the twisted alleys of the medina, which smelled of spices, teas, dried fruits, leather, machine oil, wool. So, of course, we bought a rug, but we also exercised some good judgement when it came to trying and buying "herbs" at the Bedouin herbalists. Also politely declined to have our teeth pulled in the Djemaa el Fna - a HUGE outdoor market that is filled 24 hours a day with food vendors, musicians and performers.

Tomorrow we're off to arrange a trip to the Atlas Mountains with Touregs as our protectors or, not any less ambitious, go back to the Medina to get those slippers we've promised everyone.

Inshallah,

Tina

P.S. Sorry the blog isn't being fed as regularly as when we were in Italy. This adventure is MUCH more unplanned and internet access is HIGHLY irregular. Suffice it to say that since it IS travel2art.blogspot.com, we spent all day yesterday in Madrid at Sorolla's home/ studio/museum and at The Prado. Art on the walls was nothing like BEING a part of it today. Pictures when we return for those interested.

Getting ready for Morocco

Greetings from Madrid,

We just arrived after a wonderful, entertaining and memorable day in
Barcelona. We visited Gaudi's Casa Batllo this morning and were blown
away by it's beauty. (Clarke, you would love it and it's astonishing
woodwork! Remember Hundertwasser?)

We are now here in a youth hostel in Madrid and are set to visit the
Prado tomorrow!

Here we are being silly in the lobby getting ready to head to Marakesh
on Sunday.

Con carino,

Lorena y su mama

Road Scholar

The magic of technology! Lauren just called ("skyped" actually) from half way around the world. She's taking a break from the Backroads http://backroads.com leaders' trip to say that she's booked travel for us from Barcellona to Madrid, Madrid to Maarakesh, a possible two day camel ride into the dessert (something about a place called Wazat - I keep hearing Whaaaaaaa-zaaaaaaaat?!) with sleeping under the stars on oriental carpets. Then we go to Granada to see the Al(silent H)ambra, back to Guidi-land and home via the dessert again - this time Zion National Park where Las Flamingas are flocking for their 25th Reunion. Don't ask...

I'm arriving Thursday and getting myself to the hotel to let the adventure begin.

Off to Barcelona

Lauren has been invited by Backroads Bicycle Tours to chart a new trip from Barcelona through the Pyrenees, so she is leaving Thursday to meet the other leaders in Spain. After their "explorations," I will fly over to Barcelona to meet her next Wednesday and we may retrace the route NOT ON A BICYCLE. Right now, our plans are a bit unplanned, but we're bringing camera, computer, spanish-english dictionery and a spirit of adventure. We might even go down to Morocco. So stay tuned.

Clarke is off to Texas to visit his 92 year old grandfather then spend some time in NYC. Chuck and I have just returned from the SOciety of Illustrators Educators' Symposium. IN addition to being welcomed to the hallowed halls behind the shiny red door on E 63rd Street, the weather was spectacular, the people fashionable and everyone so very kind. I've never had a more delightful time in the BIG APPLE. One tour we highly recommend is the backstage tour of Lincoln Center - a small group gets to go behind the scenes at the Vivan Beaumont Theater, sit in on a rehearsal of the Metropolitan Opera, walk the halls of the divas, check out the New York Philharmonic and generally be at GROUND ZERO for the Performing Arts in America. What a thrill!!! And, since this IS Travel2Art, we can avoid mentioning the Museum of Art and Design (Columbus Circle) and the new Highline (an elevated subway line that has been transformed into a walking, viewing, gathering place filled with greenery, performances, food and (late night) spontaneous striptease shows in the windows of apartments overlooking the Hudson. The energy is like getting a major transfusion of intelligence, culture and innovation. I felt like I was on a four day ART DATE.

Someone in Germany

According to my mother - who folows my blog regularly, there is someone in Germany named Tina Hittenberger. IF you are that person, please reply (in English or German or Italian or Spanish). IT would be fun to meet a Doppganger on-line.

Travel 2 Art

IMG_1750

in front of  "The Sailmakers" 2010, venice reference fotos

333 pounds of Apples = 261 pints of Applesauce

Returning from Italy, I was invited by the SLOW HARVEST folks to help turn 333 pounds of gleaned apples into 261 pints of yummy applesauce. We took over the Relish Cooking School Kitchen in Healdsburg and on THE HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR and peeled, chopped, cooked, and canned apples from 9:00 until 3:00. Everyone was in good spirits and we left knowing that all the jars would be going to the Food Bank and Food Pantry. Economic slides downward bring out the best in people who are willing band together. The spirit of both my grandmothers - who canned every summer - were on my shoulders all day.

September 16 we take on TOMATOES!!!!!!!!!!!

Launching of the Butterflute

Beautiful Victoria Collella WON a sailboat in a raffle. Afer all her work, love and affection for boats, she so deserved it. The Butterflute was launched with music, poetry and a blessing on Sunday, August 29 at 1:30 from the Arquez Marina (home to the building of the Liberty Ships in WW2) in Sausalito. Victoria had purchased the raffle tickets for her nephews and, being the honorable person, signmaker and lover of handcrafted boats, she gave the dighy to them with great joy to to sail immediately and into the future. It was a glorious day and a fitting celebration of all things romantic, wooden and familiar (the origin of the word being FAMILY). It was such a delight to see her sisters, her daughter and all the family she has created around her love of boats and righteous causes.

Fashion pays off - blogpost finale

Even the sparkling water manufacturers are getting hip. Pellegrino water on a table looks so much more stylish draped in Missoni knits, don't you think? Quite fashionably frizzante, I'd say.

So "Il Professore" and I dressed up again for our transatlantic flight and the lady at the check-in counter conveniently overlooked 3 HUGE suitcases of extra overweight baggage.

Chuck, however, did not overlook the opportunity to draw sleeping passengers and not so sleep-inducing young ladies (remember the formula from the last blog post: "Old + Italian= not necessarily good. The corollary: Young + Italian+ female = consistently GREAT). They are trained to walk in stiletto heels on those absurd cubes of lava that we call cobblestones and they call "ciottoli." Sounds like chocolate gelato to me. Everything reminds me of gelato in some way or another.

I'm sure there is a GA program in America. We'll be attending meetings regularly when we return. If you don't hear from us in a while, it's because we are in serious withdrawal from five weeks of pasta, friendly people, two hour lunches, walks after dinner, afternoon naps, everything at its peak of ripeness and all the time needed to completely concentrate on art and enjoying life. Will do our best to recreate it here. But will need help from friends. So stay in touch and come to our rescue whenever the mood strikes.

Arrivederci, Roma

Did you know that ITALICS were created in Italy?.. also lots of memorable, singable songs. We promised NOT to hum any in public, but after the requisite coin toss into the Trevi Fountain (could barely get near it with all the tourist hordes), getting Papal Blessings and imagining driving a large car again, we took our last leisurely two-day La Dolce Vita stroll through Rome with a few tunes begging to leap from our lips. All the shops, secret spots and great restaurants are CHIUSO for August - why cater to unappreciative tourists and naive college students? While I didn't get a chance to purchase my Cardinal Socks, we saw enough churches to last a lifetime and picked up a few singularly tasteless religious souvenirs. We went out of our way to not get involved any conversations about Mosques and World Trade Centers. By Friday, we were definitely ready to head home. We'd seen ruins, palaces, palaces built on top of ruins, ruins woven into every aspect of architecture, politics and morality.

I've come to the conclusion that just because something is old AND italian, doesn't necessarily make it good. We have 1673 photos to demonstrate this thesis if you are interested...

Mercoledi Madness

It shouldn't be difficult gathering up students and luggage in a walled village. It's wasn't. Everyone was ready, and the bus headed out of Corciano promptly at 10:00 a.m. There was one last chance to purchase Italian housewives dresses or to grab a "brutti e bouni" ( a good idea) and scratch the mosquito bites on the henna knee caps (perhaps not such a good idea).

We are leaving for rome - BY OURSELVES - tomorrow.

See you in San Francisco on Feragosto.

Jose became Italian

Jose Enriquez is a prolific painter. He is also the student who COMPLETELY engaged himself in the culture. He volunteered to help in the evenings at two "sagras' - local festivals where all the foood is cooked and served by the community. They LOVED him in Solomeo - one of Brunello Cucinelli's workers would come and pick him up every night to bring him to the village. The worked 5:00 until well after midnight. In recognition, Brunello invited him to dinner at his home.

Word travels fast in small towns. The organizers of the festival in Corciano asked if he would help at their sagra at the Taverna. He saw us last night and stopped to say hello to all of us. His energy absolutely contagious.

I've never seen anyone take advantage of an opportunity with such enthusiasm. It is a privilege to know him and watch him work in the kitchen, paint the field and create in the studio. I don't think he ever sleeps but certainly keeps his word when it comes to working with joy.

The Last Supper and Last Night in Corciano

After the painters had their final critique in the S' Agostino Monastery and the all day cleaning, inventorying and scrubbing of the Print makers' studio, all the students returned to their accomodations to pack, sleep, clean, cry and generally get ready to leave. Bus to Rome would be leaving at 10:00 the next morning.

At the Slow Food dinner at Taverna Del Duca, Jason Bowen - who has organized the program fro the last three years - received a hearwarming toast from faculty, Italian friends, family and students with Aqua Mineralle and much emotion. The night concluded with walks about town to partake of art, art book exhibitions, concerts, gelato, music, fond farewells and a realization that the experience in Italy would soon be a memory.

Zanzare Tigre

Farewell

Tiger Mosquito!

It has been fun to memorialize our experiences with these enormous dive bombers (the drawing is to scale). I was happy to sell many prints of my Zanzare Tigre to faculty and students. Chuck was my "artist agent" for the evening and with a handful of euros in our pocket we were able to enjoy a wonderful medieval dinner at Taverna Del Duca - a community "sagra" of grilled and roasted meats, risotto, desserts that were cooked and served by the townfolk. Now I know where crab feeds, spaghetti feeds and all those wonderful seasonal community endeavors got their start. This one, however, goes on every night for fifteen days!

Farewell Corciano! The students leave Wednesday and we'll drive circuitously back to Rome (via some new to us hilltowns and perhaps even find the Prada Outlet) on Thursday. Home to San Francisco with paintings, prints, books and memories to last a lifetime. We will leave some supplies here with the hope, prayer and toss of a coin in the Trevi Fountain that we will return.