Magic Carnival Ride
When we moved into our house in L.A. I stored a few portfolios in the spare bedroom that I hadn't gotten to until recently. I just found these pieces that I did when we lived in San Francisco.
Our first year in SF we lived in the Haight, and the second in North Beach. A bus ride to either location can be a freaking carnival ride. The Haight is famous for its hippy days, and there are 1000 tourists an hour (literally? I can't be sure) riding those old creaky buses. It's like something out of Beetlejuice.
North Beach is a straight shot through the crowded streets of China Town. I dont even know where to begin witht this ride. There is a mixture of all the tourists heading from Union Square to Fishermans Wharf and the China town shoppers and merchants traveling to and from. Everyone has a pink bag full of chickens (w/ the feet hanging out! ick.) and fish and veggies. I should stop, because I could go on for days. Give me a sweaty subway ride through Manhattan anyday over a crowded bus to North beach!
I always saved my bus passes. The bold numbers and striped edges are so graphically pleasing. They just reminded me of a circus. The passengers didn't hurt the vision . . .
So of course I had to glue them down! Thats what I do. I glue.
These are so different from my portraits. I love the simplicity of them. The spots on the Fun House where painted using the wine cap that I eventually glued down, and the Ferris Wheel rays where painted wusing the wire I then bolted to the canvas.
I just bought an All-In-One so that I can start doing more work in this vain. I have sort of strayed from anything other than the portraits in recent months. I cant wait to start experimenting!! Thats my plan for this summer.
(These pieces are available in my Etsy store. Get 'em while their hot!!)
May 25, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
aren't you clever! the ferris wheel !! You never cease to amaze me!
these are cool! would love to see them n person! they are subtle...!
oh gosh michelle, you are too funny. i've taken the north beach bus, i know exactly what you mean. you see it all. my husband and i stayed in s.f. for 14 days during our honeymoon, refusing to rent a car, we took public trans all over. once on the north beach bus, we sat across from the cutest couple. so in love. then, when the bus stopped, she kneeled in front on him and he just 'jumped' on her back and she carried him off the bus like a backpack. guess he couldn't walk. i watched, in AWE, in shock, as they made their way down the street after our bus rolled off. i must have watched her walk with him on her back for a block. i still recall it so clearly. he was twice her size, maybe around 6' and she was about 5'5" and 100 pounds wet. he was at least 200. the funny part was that they acted like it was so normal, so routine, and she had this 'god this takes no effort to carry a man on my back' look on her face. all i could do is laugh in my duffle bag. sheesh, i know i must have looked rude and dumb, but i couldn't get over how he just pounced on her fragile frame and they rode off into the sunset...
another ride on the same bus was a man with major funkage going on, he smelled like 100 day old trash - onions and chicken combined. he kept harrassing the bus driver and sitting on everyone's lap and freaking out. i was terrified he'd kill one of us. i was white, i just know it.
gosh, see what memories your post brought back? clowns and circus galore on north beach bus rides.
xo
holly
Ha ha Holly-you make my cheeks hurt! The bus ALWAYS smells like that. Like a bottle of BO just exploded! And in the Haight, just add Patchouli!
Post a Comment