Monday's Mural...

today's edition of the Monday Mural, is the latest installation outside the house along Berkeley Avenue, which I have mentioned before. ride along the street, you will spot it, it is there for all to enjoy.

To draw the bike, one must become the bike...

or something like that. I have noted previously about the banner art for this blog being a little practice board of my mother-in-laws. Adrianne Prober passed away a number of years ago now (more than ten) and we are just now getting around to compiling some sort of comprehensive catalog or her art work, from the large canvases to little sketch books. 

She was an artist in Venice Beach, and Mar Vista during the period of her life when I knew her. Anyone who has visited those areas know that bikes are an ever-present mainstay of the local scene. As such bicycles figure in much of Adrianne's work; sometimes they are prominent, others they roll past in the background, part of the processional of life flowing by. The above ink study is from one of her sketch books, while the one below is a portion from an, obviously, larger canvas work. It is hard to see at this scale, but where the sand meets bike path are written the words, "how long can we keep on rolling?"

To which I answer, "until my legs refuse to turn circles any longer."

Monday's mural...

well, not an actual mural this time, but art anyway. Not sure when I first began to notice these little art exhibitions arrayed outside a house on Berkley Avenue, but it is always a pleasant surprise to come riding along and see the color and creativity on display. The exhibits change periodically, and I wish I had taken photos of all the different ones, but only have these two. Don't know if the young artists live at the house, or if they are from a day care, or what, but it is a very cool little taste of the Claremont art scene.

Cycling art to help cure autism...

So yesterday evening, on my way home from the office, I made a short detour off my regular route in order to visit Boomer's Coffee House in downtown Upland. You see, they have a great little exhibit in there right now - cycling art - paintings and photographs. There is even one signed by the great cycling photographer, Graham Watson. What makes this exhibition even more worthwhile is that it is also a  silent auction, proceeds to benefit the Talk About Curing Autism foundation. Alas the coffee house was all closed up when I rolled on up to the building. 


Oh well, it does give me one more destination for the weekend. Check it out if you are in the area. Boomer's is located next to the Upland Metrolink station at 220 East A Street. Thanks to psyclerider on the STR forum; I "borrowed" the image from him.

the banner art...

The painted work at the top of the page was done in 1997 by my mother-in-law, and Venice, California artist, Adrianne Prober. Aware that my wife and myself were passionate bicyclists, Adrianne began playing with painting bicyclists on a long piece of illustration paper. This was in preparation for making a baby shower announcement held for us upon the birth of our son. Later, we acquired this "practice piece" which I like more and more with each passing year. It is a brilliant mix of chaotic organization, what I imagine a morning on the streets of Amsterdam might look like. The painting, measuring approximately 6" high x 24" long is now framed and hangs prominently in our home.

Bicycle Culture...

Mark your calendar for the 2nd East Hollywood ArtCycle event, scheduled for March 13, 2010. Looks like fun if you are in the area.

Bicycle Culture...

Many cyclists, myself included, have a love-hate relationship with automobiles; we dream of car-free roads, yet use our cars to get to distant trailheads, favorite group rides, or races. Blasting the American auto-centric culture is almost a favored past-time and one that I certainly encourage. I am especially fond of the term "auto-dependant syndrome"(ADS), an affliction of the masses where even simple errands as little as five minutes away cannot be undertaken without driving. The ADS afflicted person becomes oblivious to the damage done by automobiles to our environment, our society, and our communities, the noise, pollution, land use problems, health consequences, etc. A person with ADS must drive, and so they therefore block out all the detrimental side-effects. In this spirit I present the above drawing. It and others like it can be found at this Flicker photostream page of Carbusters magazine.