The Process 1.2

I always do a small sketch,in this case about 6 inches high, of any painting I am about to attempt. If it works small scale 9 times out of 10 it will work blown up. I am aiming for the right mood and feeling. This is for a project that I am currently working on.








Greetings All,

I just thought I would post the process of painting one of my sacred images...not that they are sacred but rather they illustrate sacred subjects or rather the subjects were less than sacred when they measured themselves next to God...did I say that right. Huh? Anyway...I usually start with a loose sketch and idea and then I photograph my models. I have found myself blending an Alla Prima approach with a classic rendered finish. I am aiming at the tradition of Waterhouse. Not there yet, if ever, but that's what I am aiming for.

Peggy Gack Session

Greetings Artistadores,

Its been really hot and almost like Phoenix here in Auburn Ca. We hit 104 on Sunday and it felt the same yesterday. Luckily we have the American River and I took my boys along with me not to paint no hands bridge but to enjoy the fresh Sierra runoff that is really refreshing.

I painted a portrait sketch of the adorable Peggy Gack last Thursday. I painted for a little over an hour and captured the light and feeling of the tones on her skin. I took a photograph and finished up the details using my color notes that same day while I still had her fresh in my mind. So much of portrait painting from life is the interaction between the painter and the painted. I thrive on the energy I get from the sitter and work at getting their spirit and character.

This week I will do a portrait demo of Jeremy Elder. He sent a photo of himself . He painted a portrait of himself using the photo reference on his Blog.." Master of None" which you can click on my side bar.

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I am also slowly but surely creating the step by step video for Mr. X...so be watching out for that folks.....


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Me and Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones

Frank Ordaz with one of his musical heroes, Quincy Jones at SkyWalker Ranch July 1982



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Greetings All,

By now most of the world has heard of the passing of Michael Jackson. Part of me has a soft spot for the man/child as I met hm while I worked at LucasFilm. I can't remember what film we were working on but he was with Quincy Jones and he was touring the facility. He was wearing his famous white mask at the time. What struck me immediately as he came by was how soft spoken and shy he was. Quincy Jones, who was with him was definitely in charge as he was asking questions and throwing out the good vibes at anyone present in the room. As Michael walked up to my station he was looking at my Matte Painting and said..." If I could paint like that I would give up singing"....of course he was not serious but it was a kind gesture. ILM was having their annual 4th of July party at SkyWalker Ranch and Michael Jackson and Quincy showed up at the event.

I am a Jazz fan and I had followed Quincy's career . So I boldly walked up to him while he was with his then wife Peggy Lipton ( Mod Squad ) and child as well as Michael and said.." Quincy, I am Frank and I just wanted to meet you and say that I have your album " Walking in Space" and I think the song " Killer Joe" just grooves". He just stopped what he was doing and said " You've got that album?" I said " Yeah"...I listen too it all the time" and I hummed a few bars from his album. Quincy said something to the effect of " I am glad somebody still grooves to jazz dude" He then invited me to hang around with them for awhile. So I spent the good part of the day hanging with Quincy Jones and talking Jazz.

Meanwhile Michael was off by himself while hundreds of LucasFilm employees and their families milled about. He seemed in another world. My girlfriend at the time kept walking up to him and asking " Is everything all right...Can I get you something". He replied " Pay me no mind ". He just wanted to be left alone.

That image of Michael Jackson, alone in the crowd will stay with me.




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Cecilia Beaux, American Figure Painter , Book Review

9 x 12 oil on panel

click on the image to enlarge


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Greetings All,

I hope all is well. Check out my YouTube review of the book " Cecilia Beaux, American Figure Painter" .

I went painting with my bud Silvio yesterday and we painted trucks in Newcastle and ended the day at our favorite watering hole...the Auburn Ale House.

Also, next week I will be demo'ing a portrait submitted by Jeremy Elder, a commenter and follower of this blog from its inception. I will paint his portrait and analyze the steps for those of you who are interested in understanding the structure and planes of the head. Since we will be using a photo, I will show what to look for and what to avoid in using a photo. Its always best to learn from life...but then again all conditions are not perfect...so off we go!

Mr.X Progress

oil 11 x 14

click on the image to see a large closeup






Greetings All,

The posts on " Got Confidence" were very insightful and challenging. I am still absorbing some of the heartfelt responses. I've got so much to digest.

I am going to do another step by step of Mr. X. I am photographing this painting at each significant step. I want it to look like it was painted live so I am avoiding putting in too much detail I photographed this man 30 years ago...man am I old!

Mr. X ...Can you guess a man's occupation just by looking at him?


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What's Up

Greetings from Auburn Ca.,

Its starting to feel like Summer for a change . I hope you all had as good a time on Father's Day as I did. Jana made me a Fillet Mignon wrapped in bacon with a special Marsala Mushroom Cream sauce with twice baked potatoes and an excellent Murphy Goode Cabernet. I think she secretly wants to give me a heart attack!

I will be reviewing the Book " Cecila Beaux , American Figure Painter" . I just finished reading it and there are many important insights that I think you will find not only interesting but also benefiting to our growth as artists...especially of the portrait variety.

I will be starting a painting of another person who made quite an impression on me when I was starting to figure out who I was back in those days in Pasadena Ca. I will call him Mr. X as I have forgotten his name. He displayed both genius and amorality in a fluent life stroke. It is poetic that part of him is in the light and the other half enveloped in the shadows. He reminded me of Barkilphedro ( sp?) who is a rasputinish like character in Victor Hugo's " The Man who Laughs" . Hugo described him as the man who could walk on the edge of a shadow and would appear comfortable in either environment...kinda like a political consultant.

I am attaching the 1928 silent film adaption of the book. The intro is an invention as the book starts with a shipwreck...but you will get a glimpse of Barkilphedro...



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Got Confidence?

Its my strong belief that every neighborhood has a crazy couple that yells and screams at each other and lets the whole world know about it. We have such a couple down the street. When they are outdoors they are usually berating each other about the most ridiculous things in my opinion. They really work each other up and sound like sqwuaking chickens. My son has received the respect of our neighbors as he yelled at them the other day and told them they were an embarrassing display of marriage. And it shut them up....for a while to everyone's astonishment. But one thing the wife yelled out at the top of her lungs toward her brow beaten husband that caught my ear and imagination was... " What was I thinking when I married you..WHAT WAS I THINKING !!!!!!?? " I laughed at first and started to ponder her rhetorical query.

There are times as an artist when I have asked myself the same question . What was I thinking when I decided to make art a career? I mean...everyone imaginable has the same idea don't they? Look at the competition you fool?

There is one key ingredient that is so important that even those artists ,with the most nominal of skills , who have it will become successful. And it is Confidence.

For starters...How does one gain Confidence? Success . How do I become successful at Art? Become Competent! How do I attain competence?...And that is where our search and query becomes interesting as we all have travelled on different paths and we all have found ways of becoming successful at SOMETHING. From the first days when we were complimented on a drawing or painting something inside of us stirred and resonated. The next step was usually training at School and then from there onto the Big Bad Ol World to compete and conquer...or at least to survive. Along the way we were either shattered or were rewarded with success. In either case our Confidence in our abilities were tested.

Consider the baseball player who has graduated to the big leagues. When he gets up to bat , he is surrounded by new faces and places but the game itself is the same. He learns to adjust to his new environment and gets set to hit a 90 mph plus fastball. There are times when the pressure of performing gets inside the head of a ballplayer and the ball, which at one time seemed the size of a watermellon, now appears the size of a speeding quark. He strikes out..then again and again and soon he falls into a batters slump. He starts to question himself and his abilities. In fact, others take notice and some say he is even finished...washed up. He spirals into the game of overthinking his at bat . He no longer is having Fun and getting up to the plate becomes a living nightmare. Will he ever get his swing back? He reconsiders his batting stance and weight of bat..all aspects of his game, which came so natural for him not so long ago, are now up for recalibration. He has now officially lost his Mojo...his mental JUJU ........will he ever get it back or did he ever really have it?

The same thing can happen in this crazy art business, especially in the world of blogging where we now are exposed to so much world class talent and achievement. It is so easy to get thrown off our game and get mentally distracted. It is also extremely hard not to compare yourself to other artists and the successes they have achieved at such an early age. I mean...is it right and natural for some of us to struggle while for others it seems effortless?

My old art teacher taught me a mantra every time I left his studio ( I also heard his voice even while I was an atheist ) for home. He said.. Have Faith in God and Confidence in your abilities. With the skills that you are acquiring, he said, if you continue to grow in your art powers and learn and apply the principles that i Am teaching you...you WILL be Successful...and you Must be confident of this truth that perfect practice makes for good Art.

So, my friends, the end game is not a boastful arrogant shallow confidence. But a sure footed knowledge that the skills that you are acquiring will serve you well and that you will become successful if you remain determined and perservere and run the race.

So Run...Run the Good Race Well!

Mimi Portrait Video

Although this is not a step by step painting in progress, I do explain how I go about painting a portrait with a sitter.

Mimi

Greetings Artistadores,

I gave a private lesson to one of my students today and I had her pose for a portrait after our session. I painted Mimi live for about an hour to get the tones and colors of her face. I took a photo of her for the details and finished the sketch in my studio cave. I plan on doing a whole bunch of these portrait sessions with friends and neighbors.....I really need the practice....


Have a wonderful weekend and life is too short to drink bad wine. Try a BENZIGER Cab ( not to be confused with BenZINGer winery ) from Sonoma County.

PS...For those of you who are local...I have just 1 opening remaining for my oil painting workshop. Get in while you can!

Via con Dios

If " What If"

9 x 12 oil sketch on panel

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Greetings Artistadores,

I am currently working on various projects and also painting some images that have been germinating inside my spirit for awhile now. One of these paintings wanting to be birthed is a painting of my son Isaac after he barely finished running the Sac Jouquin Cross Country Sectionals this past school year. He was sick leading up to the race and disappointingly ran a minute and a half under his best time. He was so crushed. I caught him looking at the next heat of runners across the large pond towards the field. He said he felt like quitting halfway through the race. He threw up and almost passed out after he cross the finish line.

I am still not thrilled about my composition and I was hoping to get some feedback from you all. This is just a small 9 x 12 sketch. What do you think.

And for those who want to see my process, I shot another series of step by step of this sketch and it will be up on YouTube over the weekend.


Via con Dios

The Underpainting on a Bunker

Greetings Artistadores,

Again I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and I know I am remiss on my posting but my Garden was needing some special attention and I plowed all my energies into adding and subtracting plants here and there and getting them all on a drip system. Whew! It's supposed to hit 90's plus here in Auburn this weekend so I needed to prepare and protect my flora.

During ArtWalk a nice couple came up to me and we started to talk about how I teach my workshops and the subject of underpainting came up. I told them that I don't get into too much technique as I try to focus on principles of light and structure and composition. But the conversation did remind me of one of my favorite paintings at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. The painting is called " The Bohemian " by Dennis Miller Bunker who died at the age of 29 in 1890.

There was a group of us that just hovered around this painting. It had all the elements of good composition and it looked like the artist was from the school of Eakins. But as I read a history of him it appears that he was on the cutting edge of American Impressionism. His talent was getting him noticed among the elite art circles. He soon came to be friends with John Singer Sargent , Abbott Thayer , Thomas Wilmer Dewing, William Merritt Chase, and many more of the Boston Colony.

We all started to examine how he painted this mesmerizing piece. What was his technique? As we observed , to the attending guards consternation , at very close proximity we all concluded that he used a dark brown underpainting to cover his entire canvas. He then lifted out the lights for his patternings and worked with triangles throughout the composition.





In fact, if you click on the image above, you can see traces of the underpainting along the left side of his shoulder. There were areas where this underpainting tone showed through as it was thinly painted and the areas surrounding these traces were painted with a thicker application of oil paint. The underpainting helps to tie the color composition together and sets the mood and value tone for the painting. Often times, these artists used flake white, which had lead , to model up the light areas.

For those who are interested in deciphering techniques of the " Masters" may I suggest the book " Techniques of the World's Greatest Painters" Consultant Editor Waldemar Junuszczak published by ChartWell Books ISBN 0-89009-368-7. This book is not overly technical but it does give a great simple and direct explanation of techniques by artists such as Velasquez , Da Vinci , Rubens, Vermeer , Manet , Cezanne , Hopper Jaspar Jones...a total of 50 artists . All the editorial contributors are specialists in their respective art era.

Josh Video Demo

In this video demo you will see the steps I use to paint an oil sketch of Josh. I am going for the feeling of his personality as well as the light. I am not trying to capture every detail of the photograph sam . This is an Alla Prima sketch done in 3 hrs so I want to express the essence of the sitter as opposed to robotic faithfulness to every detail and hair strand.....enjoy

I also used Ultramarine Blue and Viridian

Josh Portrait Sketch

Greetings Artistadores,

I hope all is well with you all today. I am posting this portrait sketch of " Josh" which I painted yesterday. It is a head study for a portrait I will paint of him soon enough. I wanted to get the feeling of his hair and the light on his face just right. He just graduated from the University of Massachusetts and every time that I saw him when he was visiting his folks I could barely see his eyeballs. So it was in keeping with his look that when I asked him to pose for a portrait shot his splayed hair strands curved in front of his eyes. That was the look of a young college graduate that I wanted. I mean...did we not all but something from the army surplus store back then.

Stay tuned. I will post STEP BY STEP how this was done on a YOUTUBE video. You will see this small painting study from start to finish with some commentary.


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A Blast in Auburn Ca

Greetings Artistadores!

What a blast I had last night at the 2nd Art Walk in Auburn Ca. For a small town, the folks sure do come out in droves and support their art types. There was a constant stream of art goers from 6 to 9 PM. It was unbelievably great and I met a whole lot of fine people. The mayor was spotted as well as some city councilmen who were eyeballing what their tax base was up to during this recession . Luckily, I got some great leads and prospects and I look forward to painting your portrait Leslie! It was great to see Marilyn Rose, one of our fine plein air artists in Placer County, as well as many other artists displaying their creations.

The portrait of my mom was a big hit and I will be focusing from here on out on putting together a portrait portfolio. So you will be seeing more "in progress" pieces in the future as well as some plein air to keep me excited about the great outdoors. I will be having neighbors and friends pose for me and you will be viewing and hopefully critiqueing the fruit of that labor. My first patient will be the adorable Peggy Gack......

The painting above is from the children's book " The Star Spangled Banner" which I illustrated last year for the Smithsonian. It won the prestigious 2008 National Teachers Book Award.

...and because I am in such a good mood I leave with a fine song performed by the spatial Pat Metheny Quartet with Michael Brecker...

So You want to be an Artist? huh?

Artistadore,

I have 2 posts for today. Scroll down to see a video of whats hanging at Art Accents during Art Walk....but for now a man who knows the truth about artists..Fr. Guido Sarducci who I actually meet in Fairfax Ca where Don Novello lives....but thats another tall tale....

Tonights Art Walk Auburn

I had some nervous energy this morning and I did this pastel of FX's view in Tiburon Ca. That's the back end of Belvedere Island in the middle ground.



Greetings Artistadores,

I am showing some small plein air paintings as well as some portraits tonight at Art Accents . Its a small venue but you gots to start somewhere. Please check out the paintings that will be in the show in the video below.

If you are local, it would be a pleasure to meet you there from 6 - 9 on Lincoln Way across from the Placer Arts Building.

Should Art teachers touch a student's painting?

Greetings Artistadores!

Over at " Gurney Journey" Jim posted an intrigueing question. How do you feel about Art Teachers working on your painting in class.....I just had to add my opinion to this mix....and I wonder how some of you feel about this as some of you have posted already on Gurney Journey....

Great Illustrated Children's Book

Hey Children's Book Lovers,

Today I post a video showing you some of my favorite illustrated children's books. You will get a sampling of the interiors of these books and if you have children or grandchildren or if you just like looking at the pictures, may I suggest the following titles......check it out........the video will end kinda ubruptly as I had to keep the time frame under 10 minutes....as you can tell I am not bald!

Hey, If you have any good recommendations, by all means please let me know. I would love to see it.

Also...I just received my Cecilia Beaux Book. Just inspiring. Gotta show you that. AND I am waiting for my new book " Sam Hyde Harris" to arrive any day now.

Fathers Day wish list ( that's a hint Jana ) the recent book on DANIEL GARBER!!!!!!!!

Music on the Video by Billy Childs "Lyric" . He just received a Guggenheim Award Grant.


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Seen John Travolta?

Greetings Friends,

Auburn Ca. was put on the map in Modern Times when former Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta came to town to film " Phenomenom". Most of the restaurant scenes were filmed in old town and several orchard scenes were shot on location at " Machado's Pies". Machado's sells some of the best local pies served up fresh from their own orchards which have been an Auburn fixture since anyone can remember. Do you want your dinner guests to feel special? Tell them you've serving a Machado's Apple pie for desert and your guests just might bring along their extended family. Its soooo goood. Anyway, in keeping with the local flavor, Machado's has this old truck that has seen better days doing advertising duty right in front of their property on a frontage road along side the 80 Freeway. The truck caught my eye many times as Machados is about 100 yards from my David's Elementary School. The truck and sign are so iconic and a real part of Americana. Its also a real part of our Auburn past and present.

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Books I recommend

Hey Folks,

Welcome back. I taped this YouTube Video 2 days ago and I show talk about 20 books that I recommend from my library.

Planes on a Sketch

Dear Reader,

Welcome back. We've had some harrowing electrical storms this week in Auburn Ca. I mean Shock and Awe sort of explosions happening in the Heavens above...its like some 80's Def Leopard Light Show on Galactic Crack..it was scary and spellbinding to watch. They predict more for tonight.

Any way, I will explain a bit about planes. This is not the only way to paint portraits, but it is an applied theory of understanding the structure of the face and it will help you establish a likeness quickly as well as paint the face in space with a feeling of light. Another method that is very effective, that I don't employ , is the contour approach. This method was used in the Renaissance. Look at the Mona Lisa and see the contours beautifully rendered. Another master of contours was Hans Holbein.

I needed some reference for a painting last summer and I painted my son David outdoors for about 10 minutes. He is not a patient model and I just needed to see how the afternoon light fell on his face with lawn grass reflecting unto the underside of his face.

Okay, this is very important. Every model expresses unique planes particular to them. We are not all Bob Ross cookie cutter models. Some sitters have wider cheek bones, deeper set eye sockets , longer or shorter noses , larger or smaller foreheads etc. It is our job as artists to identify their salient characteristics that make them unique as individuals. Therefore, when a light source is applied to their mug, they will cast distinct and unique shadowing. In fact you could use only 2 values , white and black , and if you copied the shadows cast from a models face accurately you would be able to identify them! Try it.

Now, I used a plein air painters pallete for this outdoor sketch as I really wanted a feeling of afternoon summer light. Notice how the nose has the lightest light. Why? Because is shiny and because it is faceing the light source directly . Its very close to a 90 degree angle to the source of light the Sun. All the other planes are " Falling Away" from the light source at an angle approaching a parallel to the light source. Sounds kinda complicated? As I have taught students this concept, it takes a little bit of practice, but once you get it , the light bulb turns on and you are on your way.







Now I have drawn lines to mark off the edges of the planes on little David. Look at the nose. This part is tricky but well worth the time to think it through. The front plane of the nose is facing the light. As the side planes move away from the light their value is darker ...but they are technically in the " Circle of Light" ( kinda ripping off Meet the Parents ) . We will se a temperature change. A slight cooling of the warm light. I used white, Cad yellow light , yellow ochre , Cad Red , W&N true Magenta ( more on this Mighty Magic color later...for those fans of getting that Sorolla Look ).

I will add more to this post...just absorb this first. Because what comes next is a marvelous tool to get outdoor light rendered accurately. And that is the color temperature of " Cast Shadows " ...See the color difference in the cast shadow in the eye socket versus the sides of the jaw and under the chin.....?





S signifies Shadow and L signifies Light

Self Portraits in Morph

No Hands Ma!

Dear Readers,

Salutations! This old fart took forever framing and selecting paintings for the show. I still have not finished and I promised the Gallery lady that I would deliver pieces today.... yikes ! So more delays on the portrait plane teaching but I am posting a plein air I did last week. I think I am starting to figure out painting the American River as it winds its way under No Hands Bridge. The color of blue as it also reflects the canyon green is really tricky for me. Too light and it feels washed out. Too dark and it becomes static and fake looking like a travel brochure illustration...wait a minute, I did those! I count my blessings. What a great lifestyle! To be an artist and to make a living at it is a precious gift.

After all these years as an illustrator this is my FIRST show of my Fine Art. It's never too late.

Planes , Trains and Automobiles

11 x 14 oil on panel...this painting will be available at the show.





Dear Reader,

I hope this post finds you all well and prospering. Its going to thundershower today in Auburn Ca. and I am just glad it didn't happen yesterday on my David's 8th grade graduation.

I am going to start writing about planes as it relates to painting portraits but I am going to do something a little unconventional by starting with a portrait of this old Ford truck. Don't you just love how vehicles have personality and have a " face" of their own. I mean, that grill is just radiator heaven!

The light is coming behind me over my right shoulder and it was around 5:00 o'clock in the afternoon. I painted this yesterday in preparation for a small show of my work during ArtWalk in Auburn starting June 11. I will be busy framing paintings today to hang my scribbles on four walls tomorrow at Art Accents on Lincoln Way across from the Placer Arts Building..

This decaying truck is a perfect example of how, if you understand planes and tonal value , you can paint any color in the light. My old Art teacher, Theodore Lukits would always stress that value and tone was key. If you got the concept of it right, the color would naturally follow. That advice has served me well all these years. No better example of this can be demonstrated than of the closeup image of the headlight and fender. Just look at all those variations of color on the fender. I wouldn't want to drive this truck as my " other car" but the colors are pure abstract expressionism thanks to mother nature and lack of human upkeep. But how do you make them all work together and not have them all shout at you like miserable spoiled brats ( its that time of my life where I use alot of kid anaologies ) ? Well...the artist must understand planes and remember the golden rule ...who ever has the gold sets the rule?....well right but not for our purposes here...it is...KEEP THE LIGHTS IN THE LIGHT AND THE DARKS IN THE DARK. Understanding how planes face the light source and how planes are angle away from the light source will establish how you treat the values on any object.

Often times I see students SEE too much in the shade. They have a tendency to make some of their lights in the shade almost as bright as values IN THE LIGHT. What happens as a result is that you break down the form. See how the shadow cast by the head light on the fender is in shade and see how the values are set back. One of the hardest things to grasp in painting tonaly is to "SEE THE OBJECT SET BACK IN SPACE" . The operative term here is "set back". As illustrators, we are taught to make everything pop out at the consumer. Look at me...Look at Me... kinda like a real spoiled drama queen ( a 16 yearold girl ) . But if you want someone to enjoy and live with a painting, the artist must stage his work and let certain elements he finds interesting take center stage and leave all remaining elements as supporting cast, That's why it is so great to be in an orchestra. All the narcissistic elements of me first are sublimated so that each individual submits to a part that supports the main melody.

Notice how the brightest bright is on the shiniest object which is the vertical chrome liner and the highlight occurs where the planes diverge in angle. Also notice how it is brighter than all other values...even on the fender.

Chew on this for awhile and we will talk about how this applies to planes on a Face.

Bay Area with FX 1.2

We'll be talking about planes of the face this week. If you get this right you are well on your way on being successful and competent in your portraits.







Dear Reader,

I will post about portrait planes tonight but for now........I had a marvelous time in Tiburon Ca this past weekend , which is in infamous Marin County , with my longtime friend and bud Francis Xavier Doyle aka FX. We've been friends for over 20 years and we share alot of things in common. Our children are relatively the same age so we are constantly exchanging notes and remedies. We both love art and continue to want to improve in our crafts. And we both remain young at heart.

Funny Story. Many of you are big fans of " Gurney Journey" well.... several years ago FX is on a trip with his family to Ireland. They are waiting to board their flight and he hears a young lad playing an Irish Flute. FX comments to the father of the boy that he is impressed with the lads virtuosity. They strike up a conversation and the man tells FX that he writes and illustrates books, most notably Dinotopia. FX is amazed as he has collected the book and admires Jim Gurney's talent and imagination. FX tells Jim about himself and informs him that he has friends in the SciFi business, most notably Frank ORdaz....me. Jims eyes light up and he tells FX.. " I know Frank Ordaz too" . Small world!


FX is easily one of the most multi gifted individuals that I know. He has restored by himself a vintage AirStream, he builds cabinets, designed his home with a wonderful view of the Bay , most notably Belvedere Island , designs Branding Logos for a living, Invents Unique Clothes , does Pastels and is an avid Viking miniature figurine hobbyist. He is constantly busy and is a wonderful husband and father of 2. I just admire the heck out of him.







We are collaborating on a large mural for one of the 10 million dollar homes with this view of San Francisco.

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Food Alert....Okay, so you want to travel to the Bay Area, Bhagdad by the Bay ( famously coined by Herb Caen ) and you are Jonesing for some good Clam Chowder. May I recommend the world famous " Spenglers" in Berkeley at the mouth of University Ave. The bowl of Clam Chowder is like nothing you have tasted before. Spenglers has been a Bay AREA fixture for years. Right up there with Alioto's in SF.

Two weeks ago David Wilson, who is a frequent guest to this Blog , stopped by the Ordaz Hacienda in Auburn on his way to Oakland from Utah. You never now who is on the other end of the Blogoshere and David and his wife and 3 children could not have been more delightful. What a nice young family. He goes by DWilson and he is a lot friendlier looking than his picture. I was able to turn him on to all the cool things to see in Sf as well as some of the best free stuff to do in Marin. I lived in the Bay Area , in San Anselmo, for 15 years and I am very familiar with all the hidden cool things to see....like the 60's demonstration house in Larkspur.


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