R.I.P.

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Deconstruction
© Renee Goularte ~ Sept 2010

Last week my father
watched his son and grandson
prime the pump that would
siphon the fuel from an oversized tank
that had been unearthed the week before.

He watched
from a dusty office chair
three generations at work
dismantling the business
piece by piece, truck by truck.

He said,
This is my life’s work,
all gone now.

We looked at his face, his eyes
scanning the concrete yard,
the weed-invaded pier blocks,
the giant hole where the truck scale
had weighed each load before it left the yard
until the day when it was sold and hauled away.



And so goes the family business....

... started in 1958, closed down in 2010, the victim of urban progress combined with an economic downfall, with no construction going on to keep it alive. In a short period of time it devolved from a thriving business to essentially nothing.... as trucks and equipment were sold, buildings dismantled and demolished, and finally the concrete was ground up into a pile of rubble. And there you have it ....






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thrill the world 2010 ~ chico

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On Saturday, Oct. 23 my friend Sharon and I, along with hundreds of other people, participated in Thrill the World Chico, part of a world-wide attempt to set a world record for the most people simultaneously dancing Michael Jackson's Thriller dance. Our group's performance was in the City Plaza in Chico, California, but there were groups all over the world dancing at the same exact time.

We had practiced twice a week for six weeks to prepare. At first we were skeptical about whether we were going to learn the whole dance (and be able to actually do it) but, as it turned out, thanks to a couple of very good dance teachers and some awesome "learn the dance" videos online, we managed to put it all together.

In our little corner of North State California world, it rained the whole time, and we got soaked to the bone. But we had a great time dressing like zombies and getting involved, and we're both looking forward to doing it again next year.
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retired

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I am an Art teacher.
I was An art teacher.
The Art program was eliminated, and my job along with it.

Last month I retired from teaching.
Now I'm looking for a job.

Contrary to what we read and hear in letters to editors, on television, etc., a great many teachers and other public servants do not have retirement benefits that will support survival. It all depends on how long you have worked. I changed districts after ten years, losing my permanent status and my seniority. But the economy was good and districts were hiring, so I was optimistic about building my reputation in a new place. Then everything went to hell after the 2000 election and I got caught in a series of education cuts that kept me working part-time. With no full time teaching positions available in my area, I was lucky to land a part time job teaching Art to young elementary students. California had sent aside money for the fine arts, and once again things were looking up. Until they headed down again, and the state decided to let school districts use that fine arts money for whatever they wanted.

The money that funded the art program was no longer dedicated to art, and the art program was axed, along with my job.A creatively-thinking principal thought he would be able to add an art program to his school using federal money, something that is supported by the U.S. Department of Education. But the California Department of Education, in its wisdom, says the money can only be used for language and/or math. Those almighty test scores, apparently, are the only things they care about.

It is utterly ludicrous that people in power don't understand that true learning is broader and deeper than what can be shown on a bubble test. While the children of California suffer and are denied a true well-rounded education because of bureaucratic nonsense, I guess I will be taking some naps. And making art. And looking for a job.
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loosening up

I love tall bearded irises and have been wanting to paint some. Or even just draw some. So when they started blooming this spring I took about 746,925 pictures and then looked and looked and looked at the shapes and colors and lines and then I finally did a watercolor painting of three irises.... which I promptly threw away. Then one day in watercolor class the instructor had us do some wet-on-wet "splotchy" exercises and I decided this technique would work for irises.

So I did splotchy iris colors and some green leafy colors on wet paper. And then I looked at the splotches for about four weeks before I was brave enough to add to them. Finally, I decided to just draw the iris shapes over the splotches with pen and ink. Actually, it's not pen AND ink. It's just ink pen. I like those micro pens with the permanent black ink. Anyway, after drawing the iris shapes I looked at the painting again for about a week, and went in and added some background color, darkened the leaf shapes a bit, and quit.

Quitting is the hardest part. But I am learning how to stop while I'm ahead.
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skies

Last week I announced in my watercolor class that I am planning to be the van Gogh of skies. Disregarding for a moment that I am not likely to be the van Gogh of anything, I do have to say that I paint some pretty interesting skies. It seems no matter what the lesson is, I manage to incorporate a sky. This painting was actually a lesson in painting grasses using many alternating layers of watercolor wash and masking fluid, and once I got going on that, I knew it was going to be one of my favorite scenes.... tumbly cloudy sky, sweeping expanse of landscape, and far-away trees. I love the colors, love the sky, and love the way it looks on my wall. I was so anxious to get it framed that I didn't even photograph the last version with the finishing touches, some dark brown and green grasses overlaying the lighter ones.
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painting rocks

I love rocks. I pick up random rocks from sidewalks, from beaches, from roadsides, and even from my own backyard. They find their way to glass jars or bookshelves. I carry a particularly smooth and symmetrical black stone in my purse that I like to touch. I even wrote a poem about that one.

Now that I am taking a watercolor class, I look at practically everything through a lens of wondering whether it would be good subject matter for a watercolor painting and I've started carrying my digital camera in my purse so that I can preserve images or ideas for myself.

My latest watercolor was inspired by a photograph I took on the beach at Asilomar in December. I started with a general layout of shapes using a flat brush and a very watery burnt umber, followed by a series of layers to create the curves, shadows, and depth. I had a good time mixing colors like purples and greens to create interesting grays and browns. It's not finished yet. Or maybe it is. But I think probably it's not.
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