My Two Drawings

Yesterday, my wife and I visited the Oakland Museum of California. Not only is this the place we went on our first date many years ago, but it has been significantly remodeled, so we enjoyed seeing the changes as well as some old favorites.

The museum has become more interactive. For example, in one section, a wall full of closely-spaced California portraits contains two video screens. Next to the wall is a workstation where you can draw your own self portrait and it subsequently appears on the wall--and in rotation afterwards into the future.

I sat down and tried my hand at it just minutes before the museum announced it was closing. You can see the results above.

Today, at my new job at Luidia, I was experimenting with the company's eBeam technology, which allows you to draw on a video monitor for education and business presentations. My scribbles took on the look of some of the 20th-century "modern art" at the museum! See below for my masterpiece.

Auto Dismantler to Artist: James Corbett

Thumbing through Road & Track magazine, I discovered a man who, while finding a new use for old car parts, gave himself a new career. James Corbett, who was once an auto dismantler in Brisbane, Australia, is now an artist. He gave up the grubby element of the wrecking business in 2000 and now devotes his time to producing works of beauty.

See his website for more examples of his ingenious creations, including, naturally, cars, but also a range of other three-dimensional assemblages, from a cowboy reaching for his revolver to dogs, and, of course, a kangaroo and her joey.

Each piece takes a couple of weeks to build. Corbett has mounted exhibitions around the world. Check out the CODA Gallery in Palm Desert, California if you're in the vicinity.

A Gorgeous World of Water in Motion

I had the pleasure of meeting Rebecca Fogg today. Although, like many of us, she works at a "real job" by day, she is an artist who had made a career of exploring flowing forms of water. Her versatility is manifest in her beautiful work in etching, painting, photography and computer graphics.

Besides the tempting sample to the left, you can view a generous sampling of her work on her blog.

Rebecca has exhibited throughout the United States, as well as in Japan and Venezuela. But I'm looking forward to seeing something locally. She and her husband, woodworker Will Tait, have a show at the Hayward Regional Shoreline Interpretive Center through March 20.