BNSF Daily Painting #646

BNSF / Oil on Panel / 6 x 6 Inches / ©John Farnsworth

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Montana Street in Santa Monica had a street sale today. All the merchants for several blocks moved their merchandise out onto the sidewalk. Well, on tables and racks, on the sidewalk. Huge turnout!

I found a good “blind” and shot hundreds of street photos and everyday people research images. Took off a little after one o’clock to meet my friend Jay at the Beverly Hills Outdoor Art Show, where I was hoping to meet one of my favorite painters, Raymond Logan.

On the way, I pulled over to phone Jay, and left a message on his phone to call me. When I started to pull out into traffic, I saw a pair of prescription glasses lying right in my path. Apparently they had been dropped by the person who had just pulled out ahead of me.

I stopped, half way out of my parking spot and halfway into the other, engaged the parking brake, jumped out and put the glasses on top of the parking meter, where they would be easy to see. Somehow, when I got back into Betsy, I managed to kill the engine. Guess who refused to start. After two days’ exemplary behavior! After sitting there for a half hour or so, and catching up on my reading, I got a return call from Jay. I explained that I would be late, and that I didn’t know how late, but that I would keep him posted. I hung up the phone and hit the ignition. Bingo. She started just like nothing had happened.

I finally made it to the show, and met Raymond and his lovely “spousal unit” as he refers to her. It’s always a little scary to meet someone whose work I admire, but Raymond proved to be as warm and delightful as his work. (Hey, most artists are great people! But you never know.) There was a great big, blue ribbon on the front of his booth, as he had been judged Best Painter for the second time! Congratulations, Raymond; well deserved.

Good News! Betsy has performed beautifully all day. Again! Well, almost!

CADDYSTACK-BLUE AND BLACK

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TWO APPLES AND BONE Daily Painting #645

TWO APPLES AND BONE / Oil on Panel / 6 x 6 Inches / ©John Farnsworth

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Another fairly uneventful day. Spent the morning in Starbucks, charging the battery again on my laptop. I really don’t need it anymore, as I am able to do everything I need to do in my iPad2. I do still have a lot of my research on the laptop, though, and need to keep working on organizing and transferring those images, or at least the better ones, to the iPad. Also, I realized that I can change the names of images in dropbox on the laptop, making them much easier to find on the iPad.

I still haven’t been able to resolve the problem with constantly losing contact when tethered to my iPhone. I find this minor problem frustrating and time-wasting, but I’m still convinced there is a simple solution lurking somewhere in plain sight. Besides, it sure beats not being able to tether at all!

 

FIN III

Can you tell I had a lot of fun among the Caddies, recently.

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ABSENT MINDED Daily Painting #644

ABSENT MINDED / Oil on Panel / 6 x 6 Inches / ©John Farnsworth

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Maintenance Day. Cleaning out and reorganizing the van. Laundromat. Rechargeing the laptop’s battery at Starbucks. Email. Managing Images. So not a lot of adventure to report today.

Good News! Betsy has performed beautifully all day.

FIN II

One more from the lot filled with Cadilacs.

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THE CRAFTSMAN Daily Painting #643

THE CRAFTSMAN / Oil on Panel / 6 x 6 Inches / ©John Farnsworth

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I climb into bed in Betsy and pull the covers up over my head. An ear to ear grin spreads across my face. I can’t help chuckling. I feel just like a little kid with a sheet draped across two kitchen chairs. Or pulling the flaps closed from inside a cardboard box.

I sleep really well in Betsy. Of course I sleep really well just about anywhere. It’s one of the things I do best.

Betsy serves as well when “urban stealth camping” as she does when elk hunting or stalking native trout! She,s fine on the highway, although a bit slow sometimes. She’s highly visible when moving, yet virtually invisible when parked. About the only thing she lacks is a shower. And I’m seriously thinking I May get a solar one for when we finally get out of town. This stalling and not starting thing that I’ve been telling you about is really just a minor inconvenience. Most of the time.

The thing that has me scratchin’ my head is the expense. I’m not sure how all these repairs are going to stack up against, say, flying somewhere, renting or house-sitting for three months or so and either renting a car or using taxis and public transportation or both. That would certainly lend itself to travel outside the U.S., but it could work out at home, too,

Maybe Betsy should be saved for short fishing trips and other more close-to- home adventures. There’s a lot to think about in the coming days and weeks, but, thank goodness, no need to hurry. I think I’ll get in bed, now, and pull the covers up over my head while I think about it.

FIN

I came across a bunch of vintage Cadilacs while walking to dinner last night. We had some amazing cars back in those pre PC days! Truth is, we have a few pretty amazing cars these days, too.

SNOWCAPS Daily Painting #642

SNOWCAPS / Oil on Panel / 6 x 6 Inches / ©John Farnsworth

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Springtime, but the clouds are moving in almost like monsoon season. But there, off in the distance, the snow capped Sangre de Cristo mountain peaks, reminding us that winter may not be done with us, just yet.

IT’S A DOG MEETS DOG WORLD

Calfornia Street Photography Series

All sizes, colors, breeds, dispositions; they’re everywhere. Southern California truly has gone to the dogs.

Now, at long last, the latest on Betsy:

Continued from May 13…

Betsy finally starts, once again. I start researching VW mechanics. I find one. He’s nearby, and has lots of rave reviews. Then I notice he also has some real scorchers. So I find another. He has a lot of favorables, no bad reviews. I decide he’s the one. On the way to his shop, we pass through the Sepulveda Tunnel that crosses under the runways at LAX, and I think this is definitely not a place I want to be in the next time Betsy decides to just stop. We make it through, though, and soon after find the shop. The shop is a mess, but it is surrounded by VW vans. The old guy who owns it listens as I describe all the symptoms.

Sounds like your computer’s shot, he said.

She’s an ’86! She has a computer?

Oh, yeah.

How much are we talking about?

About three hundred and sixty five bucks, and that’s for a rebuilt. They don’t make new ones anymore.

WIth that he looked under the back seat for a minute, muttered something I couldn’t hear, and said, See if she starts.

She did, immediately. He suggested I keep trying and let him know when she refuses. I had spotted a UPS store three or four blocks before his shop. So I walked up and bought a couple of boxes to put the daily paintings in, and grabbed a hamburger next door for lunch. Back at the shop, I got set up, and started packing, while trying the starter every couple of minutes. Started every time! Back I went to UPS for bubble wrap.

More easy starting. More packing. Back for packing tape. More starting. Back to ship the paintings off to Thea. Yet more starting.

At five, the owner came out and said, I can’t do anything until she refuses to start.

I suggested I camp there in front of the shop and try again in the morning. He said OK, but we don’t work on weekends. I drove around the neighborhood until I found a place to have dinner. After dinner, she started right up.

I went back and camped, but the next morning, decided to chance a run back up to Santa Monica. (We went around LAX, this time.) No problems. Found a good place to park, and decided to get in some walking. For two days I moved Betsy only as much as necessary, and went exploring on foot.

I had a very good Spanish octopus salad the first night, and the next day, for lunch, far and away the best fish tacos ever!

Yesterday, after painting, I met a dear old friend, Jay, for dinner at a Peruvian Restaurant, Picca (nibbles) on Pico. Mmmmm. The food was quite good, but first, since I had had more than my share of Pisco Sours when in Peru, and since they don’t serve vodka at Picca, just Pisco, rum, and mezcal, I decided to try something new, and thus was born the mezcal martini. No wonder the food was so good! Then it was off to Jay’s for a night of fascinating art and travel conversation and reminiscence.

Today, Jay and I spent the afternoon at the Autry Museum, carefully picking apart and putting back together each of the paintings in the impressively large Howard Terpening Retrospective, and browsing through the rest of the collection. A couple of large Maynard Dixons that were like running into old friends, and a couple of Blumenscheins, one of which I had not seen before. Then a hurried run through some of the memorabilia from Hollywood and the West until the museum closed, just in time for me to dash off and paint today’s offering.

So far, since leaving the mechanic’s in Manhattan Beach, Betsy has only failed to start once, and that briefly, and hasn’t stalled at all. I’m learning to drive with my fingers crossed, and to avoid freeways and tunnels whenever possible, and I’m trying to avoid driving at night.

Could it be that the mechanic somehow bumped the computer just so, or rearranged the junk stored all around it in a way that somehow helped? Am I a wishful thinker? I’ve seen stranger things happen with computers. Maybe I should cross my toes, too.

In the next installment, I will share some of my thoughts regarding how to go forward with this journey.

Stay tuned.

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ALMOST HOME Daily painting # 641

ALMOST HOME / Oil on Panel / 6 x 6 Inches / ©John Farnsworth

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Coming home from college, maybe? Or from visiting cousins? What do you see?

Glancing up from her book, she turns and looks out the window of the train. Seeing a familiar landmark, she realizes that she’s almost home.

FLAG

Click on the image to see what the flag is made of.

Betsy update: She’s still running. Sporadically. But seemingly less so. After a nice dinner and a great visit with long-time friend Jay, though, I’m really tired and ready for bed, so will try again tomorrow to fill in the rest of the story, along with some of my thoughts concerning how to proceed.

 

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TIN CRITTERS Daily Painting #640

TIN CRITTERS / Oil on Panel / 6 x 6 Inches / ©John Farnsworth

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What can I tell you. I saw these characters and had to paint them. So I did!

THE HAPPY SHOEMAKER

As for this guy, who could resist? I couldn’t, obviously.

Wouldn’t you know it? I just now got ewll into a long winded sequel to yesterday’s story about Betsy’s condition and something, I suspect the app I’m using, crashed and I lost it all. I,m going to hurry and publish before it happens again. I will continue the Betsy story later, and in a more secure way. Thanks for your patience.

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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

 

Ima / January / 1943

Thanks, Mom, for having me. Love, Johnny.

And to all you great Moms out there, Happy Mother’s Day.

FRIENDLY FRED Daily Painting #639

FRIENDLY FRED / Oil on Panel / 6 x 6 Inches / ©John Farnsworth

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OK, yesterday’s big adventure. Betsy has been acting up for a few days, now. First, there was the time a couple of weeks ago, when, in a parking lot in Poway, she refused to start. Finally giving up, I called AAA. The tow truck came, and I demonstrated to the driver that she wouldn’t start.

A couple of minutes later, before the driver could get in to a position for towing, she started. Then, a couple of nights later, on an isolated hill somewhere in Aliso Viejo, following dinner, she suddenly stopped running. I coasted to the side of the street and turned on my emergency flashers. After a good long wait and many tries, I gave up and called AAA. As soon as I hung up, she started. i had to call again and cancel. Embarrasing.

 

Then, on the way to the picnic at Camp Pendleton with Roger and Jane, we stopped for ice and guess what? She wouldn’t start! Convinced that my battery was about to give up from trying, Roger returned home to get his charger. Just as he was pulling back into the parking lot, she started! it happened again, on my way North in, I think, Costa Mesa. Maybe Newport Beach.

In the middle lane of the busy Pacific Coast Highway. I was able to coast to te side of the street, where I read four chapters of the book I had been wanting to get a crack at since beginning the trip. Then she started. I get to Santa Monica and decide to take a drive through to see how things have changed since my last visit, and she stalls me right in front of a fire hydrant on teeming Ocean Avenue, for about an hour and a half. Oh, well. The people watching was pretty good. and I got caught up on my email and some reading.

 

Sometime after dark, I was leaving Downtown Santa Monica to find a motel, when she stranded me in a metered parking spot. I didn’t have any quarters, and didn’t want to leave her to look for some, so I just sat there. Researched hotels on the internet, and did some more people watching. Finally, along came a meter maid-man in a little tricycle, golf cart rig. I leaned out the window and said my car won’t start.

 

He said Uh Oh! And took off like a scalded duck, down to and around the corner, never to be seen again. I guess he thought he might have to give assistance of some sort.

 

Betsy, finally, starts, once again. I start researching VW mechanics.

 

To be continued…

VIEW FROM TONIGHT’S CAMP

This is the scene outside my window as I am writing this post. I’m off to bed, now, as I have to move Betsy by eight in the morning. If she starts!

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ROAD INTO INDIAN COUNTRY Daily painting #638

ROAD INTO INDIAN COUNTRY / Oil on Panel / 6 x 6 Inches / ©John Farnsworth

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I’ve got a room and a bed, and i’m dog-tired, so the words will be few for now, i’ll tell you later about today’s big adventure. Stay tuned.

 

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’37 FORD ABSTRACTION