Ricardo Legorreta passed away on my birthday December 30th.  In my amateur passion for architecture, he was a hero.  I loved his bold use of color (he was, after all, a student of Luis Barragan), large flat expanses of color, unexpected textures, and above all, simplicity of design.  A few years ago I did a large triptych.  There were two large red encaustic paintings supporting a copper panel.  The inspiration for this work was a building by Legoretta.  I don’t remember the exact building, and that doesn’t matter, as all inspirations are simply a jumping off point to explore, but I do remember the joy in watching his work over the years and going on to create “sol a sol” as a nod to my appreciation of his filtering out the excess and honing his designs down to a zen-like strength.  I tend to see signs and omens in events, and while his life and work continues to be celebrated….I hope the spark of his life was part of the candle on my birthday cake.

For images of his dramatic buildings: http://legorretalegorreta.com/

The four new copper constructions with encaustic paintings are installed in the Executive Board Room of the New Cottage Hospital.  These four non-objective pieces are the result of a collaboration between the talent of Aesthetics Inc. in San Diego, the project architects, a very savvy Board of Directors of Cottage Health Systems, a great installer, and numerous behind-the-scene cheerleaders.  Thank you ALL!  During the first week in January there will be an open house to showcase all the new art in the hospital.  Several Santa Barbara Artists are featured in the public spaces.  I hope you can come and enjoy the beautiful new hospital facility and celebrate.  Meanwhile I offer this quick snapshot of the West Wall.  You MUST come to the party to see the East Wall!

http://www.sbch.org/Portals/1/Skins/CottageHealth/html/HealingArts/HealingArts-Venable.html

To view the creation of this work, watch the documentary, INVENTING SHADOWS

 “A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something”     Frank Capra

I have been a film buff as long as I can remember. Sometimes getting lost in the story, seeing how the music moves the story forward, or just watching the production design.  I love this old quote from film director Frank Capra.  Often we downplay our intuitiveness or instinct…but if the path is followed…something great could happen.  A hunch is our sixth sense telling us to pay attention!  In art, we coax our intuition to guide the concepts in to a form we haven’t envisioned before.  It is always a leap of faith to allow new concepts to seep in to our work.  The above image is one from 1998.  It was purchased on behalf of David Fincher for his film FIGHT CLUB.  I thought you would like to see Fincher’s hunch at work…. selecting “edgy” art for the wall of Edward Norton’s office…a clue to the “edgy” personality that would emerge in the course of the film.