San Francisco treats

While both he kids are at camp...

My summer will begin with a trip to San Francisco with my husband. Wow! I’ve forgotten how much fun it is to spend time together. The city is as magical and fun as I remembered.

We landed and easily caught the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) directly into the city and our stop, the Powell/Market station were steps from our hotel. We stayed at The Palomar, it was wonderful. They have this fantastic wine hour every night. The wine they served were not bad, a Beaujolais from France and others all of them were delicious. I must confess that were had several. The location was supreme. We were centrally located near Union Square, Financial District and most of the best shopping you can imagine. We were also within walking distance to the Embarcadero, Chinatown, and North Beach. I highly recommend the hotel.

We went to SFMOMA, which had a special Frida Kahlo exhibition, it was nice but most the work was shown at the Contemporary Museum in La Jolla a few years ago and was in fact more impressive than this abbreviated show.


My all-time favorite time was our visit to de Young. They had an absolute divine exhibition of Chihuily works. I was awestruck by the sheer quantity and mass of the work.
and I was inspired by the Jane Hammond exhibition in one of the smaller museum galleries. I loved her use of paper and construction.

I can't forget to mention the food, I think my favorite meal was when we gathered ingredients for a lunch at the Ferry Building. We got fresh baked bread, the most delicious, creamiest gouda and handmade sausage sandwich. We ate sitting on a bench on the dock watching the ferry go by.

Las Vegas

My daughter and I went to Las Vegas after she got out of school and had a blast. But as the saying goes what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But imagine what kind of trouble can I really get into with a nine year old little girl. She definitely kept me sane. But we had fun in the sun – she was in the pool with her cousins and I was in the cabana reading. We also saw the world, Paris, St. Mark's Square, New York and best of the the other world, M&M. How did I know I was going to match the M&M.

Began in Paris

It’s been a long time since my last posting. I forgot how much time it takes to do anything.

Life has been mostly good and definitely busy. I’m been working on a series of paintings that I just installed at my friend’s office at Qualcomm. Some of the paintings have pieces of paper I started during my trip in Paris. I have another set of the series that I hope to include in a show downtown.

Budding Artists

Here's some of the work I saw at the High Tech High exhibition last week. They're from my son's 10th grade class. All of the work were created with tempera paints they made themselves including the pigments as part of the chemistry project.

I've been busy.

These are some of my works in progress, in various stages of completion. Some of them are almost there, but one never knows. The gasoline can is nearby in case I need to burn them. I realize that was probably a bad joke coming from me, but sometimes you just need to keep a sense of humor. The gas can is actually my husband's for the various machinery he uses at the ranch. Add a comment to let me know what you think.

Art from the Heart

This is the collage piece I've been working on with the collaboration of the Frost/Ritter 5th grade class. This is the work in progress ...definitely not the finished product.

The gray space at the bottom will have their I am... descriptions on it. And the original portraits are still not on it.

We should be finished with it by this week.

SEE the finished piece at Art from the Heart.

Green1 - Part of the 20 x 20 Series

Green1 - Part of the 20 x 20 Series, originally uploaded by vehuckins.

This one is almost finished, I think. I added to it already after I took the photo. I'll post the image of the latest version soon.

Golden1 - Part of the 20x20 Series

Golden1 - Part of the 20x20 Series, originally uploaded by vehuckins.

I've been busy. Here's another that is a work in progress.

Blue/Orange1 - Part of the 20x20 Series

Blue/Orange1 - Part of the 20x20 Series, originally uploaded by vehuckins.

A painting that I'm working on. I think it still needs some work.

The studio

I just spent the last two weeks cleaning up the garage and organizing the space as my new studio. As you can see I'm already accumulating STUFF. Once a pack rat always a pack rat. I like to think of all of it as art supplies.

I'm happy to say that I'm already making use of the space. I haven't slept much but I'm not complaining. I'm also helping a mom from one of Explorer's fifth grade class with a class project. It's a collage of students portraits that will be auctioned for their fundraising event " Art from the Heart". It's a wonderful event for a good cause.

On the wall are a few of the paintings I'm working on, I hope to do a series of 20" x 20"paintings and a larger piece for a future show. It's an idea of using the size to represent the 20/20 hindsight theory seeing the "bigger picture". It's very simplistic and that's the idea. Is it too much?

Wild Thing

I just love all the wild flowers popping up all over.

Happy Easter

My daughter, niece and nephews taking a break from swimming to hunt for Easter eggs...only in Southern California.

Happy Easter to all.

A beautiful day in paradise

My husband and I had to meet some people at our property to find out what we can and can't do about rebuilding. It was such a beautiful day I had to get my camera out to take some pictures especially since I can hear the waterfall from the pond right below the pad.

Setting Up a New Studio

It's a new day and I think I'm ready to start working again. My Paris trip has really inpired me. I've had so many ideas floating in my head but I just didn't have the time to do anything about them.

First thing first...I'm going to need a space to work. Since we are renting right now I'll have to use the garage and I will still have to be very careful.

Better go I have to clearing up to do. There's boxes everywhere (future project - I'll post about it later)

My All-Time Favorite Museum in Paris!

The Pompidou is absolutely my fave! The current exhibition is a Louise Bourgeouis restrospective. I would recommend seeing it if you get a chance. It was fabulous.

The permanent collection was just as stunning ...here's a few images of it.

Shopping and then some

I spotted this window display while shopping near the Sorbonne. I enjoyed a variety of window displays and commentaries.


I've always been fascinated by signage of any kind and someday I'll create something from all the photographs I've taken while traveling. Here's a few of my favorites from Paris.

Rain isn't going to stop me

A little rain is not going to stop me from enjoying another day in beautiful Paris.

Can you make out the Eiffel Tower? Suzette and I were at the top floor of the Pompidou on our way to George's for some cafe, the sun was setting and I was feeling pretty lucky to be there. I took the photo to remember that feeling.

Cluny but not George

Just one of the hundreds of artifacts I saw at the Cluny Museum. I wasn't really looking for George but I saw several men that were just as handsome. They were everywhere!


We rode on the Metro, first stop the Cartier Museum but unfortunately it was closed until the next exhibition opening. The love the Paris metro it's so easy and straight forward. Plus it's a great way to get a glimpse of the REAL Paris. They actually have some American associations.
We had a chance to walk around a bit. The architecture were beautiful. Check out this building. Isn't it gorgeous?

Chicken Soup in Paris?

I'm gaining more weight already. We have been eating well. Croissants in the morning and a fantastic dinner last night.

Renee was being a typical nurse and friend. She was going to cook me some chicken soup. I was really looking forward to it.

BUT while in Paris you have to be flexible. She and Gaston went to market to get a chicken for my soup. They got a chicken alright but it was so "fresh and gorgeous" that it was too good to boil. Don't worry I still had soup, it was the most delicious vegetable soup I've ever tasted. Made with fresh zucchini, the sweetest carrots and leek. Yummy! Thanks Renee.

If you were wondering the bird was roasted...in the oven. We had chefs not comedians. Well, our chefs were funny too. They were right also. It (the chicken) was the most tasty, roasted. It will be remembered for a long time.

No, I'm not sick of Paris just sick.

I woke up sick and jet lagged this morning so I decided to stay in bed. I'm being practical, I figure it's better to miss a day to recover so that I could enjoy most of my vacation rather than ignore this cold and make it worse. It must be the mom in me.

Anyway the gang went to Notre Dame, fortunately for me I saw it on my last trip.

I slept all morning and woke up wide awake. I decided to go for walk around the neighborhood. The Centre Pompidou was only a couple of blocks from the apartment. I didn't go in this time. It's such a beautiful day I wanted to stay outside. I took pictures of the Stravinsky inspired Fountain and Kinetic Sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely just outside the Pompidou. It was fantastic. They must have had fun creating it together.

Paris was just starting to wake up also...some of the bistro still had their chairs stacked up.

Paris...are we there yet?

These were some of the clouds outside the plane as we approached Paris. They were amazing.
Here we are... touching ground, I'm so excited I haven't been to Paris since 1989. It's been too long.
Some of the gang. Can you believe all the luggage?

I can tell it's going to be a fun time.