tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18266826288897926512024-03-15T18:09:35.773-07:00painting boxLaura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-67479923265432925322024-02-18T10:39:00.000-08:002024-02-18T10:39:57.114-08:00JAPAN UPDATE: TOKYO, KYOTO, ONOMICHI, + MOREThis past fall we headed back to Japan, returning to places we've loved and finding new ones as well. I wanted to share some of these new places with you. I took all the photos unless otherwise noted.TOKYOThis is an update, a bit random...for a fuller range of places in Tokyo here's a link to the original post. Morning CoffeeSounds like an easy thing, but many Japanese coffee houses Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-3417945931746347842023-07-15T14:24:00.004-07:002023-07-16T17:01:13.423-07:00THE ELEMENTS PART ONE...WATERVera Pagava, Sans Titre, (Trois Couleurs) 1982 Water is the most malleable element...existing in so many forms. Each of its manifestations has a romance of its own...the coziness of a rainy day, the sparkle of fresh snow, the mystery of fog, the wildness of an endless ocean, the current of a river, the stillness of a lake, the warmth of a steaming kettle. Not to mention the thirst quenching Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-88289495610080668712022-12-31T16:53:00.001-08:002022-12-31T23:49:24.655-08:00BEFORE THE YEAR ENDS...On the last day of 2022, I'd like to share the work of some artists I've been paying attention to this year, for both pleasure and inspiration. Also a few of my own, and pages from my husbands journal this year.In fall of 2020 I started an online painting class at the NY Studio School. It's the first painting class I've taken, and not a technical class, but rather a class that helps you find Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-67020228797869512512021-11-27T11:00:00.161-08:002021-12-06T13:49:41.924-08:00IN APPRECIATION OF TREESLi Shan, 1974-1978, UntitledA lot of attention is focused on trees these days. Not only do they take carbon out of our atmosphere and store it, as we all were taught in school, and give us shade, helping to cool the planet, but more recently we've learned that a forest works as a community, protecting each other, operating as one huge organism. Through mycorrhizal, or fungal networks, they Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-11441962474344479022021-01-30T11:12:00.005-08:002021-01-30T12:07:35.347-08:00SEEING THE LIGHTLight can make the most ordinary elements feel magical, animated. A suffusion of sunlight fills me with joy, optimism, energy. The first four images are by Uta Barth who is the first person I think of when I think of capturing a tangible sense of light. These images of light caught by drapery, are from the series ...and to draw a bright white line with light, 2011.And music toLaura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-40972947423838156912020-04-18T16:44:00.000-07:002020-04-19T17:59:32.542-07:00I GO WALKING
David Park Boston Street Scene 1954
I thought about what sort of post I wanted to make during this time of social distance. It's become clear that one of the real pleasures that makes our current situation more bearable is walking outside. So many people found getting out into nature alluring that the trails and beaches became packed and had to be closed off. So now our walks are limited Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-37175559002931587342019-12-29T17:40:00.000-08:002019-12-31T17:24:56.169-08:00TRAVELS IN JAPAN: KANAZAWA + THE NOTO PENINSULA
KANAZAWA
Kanazawa is known as a beautiful city, well preserved having come through through WWII without damage. Kanazawa is north of Kyoto on the Sea of Japan. It's famous for Kenrokuen Garden, considered one of the three greatest gardens in Japan. In the 1600s crafts people and merchants were incentivized to come here to meet the needs of the Samurais who'd made their home here in service of Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-6224154709402041002019-12-07T16:41:00.000-08:002019-12-16T09:05:15.585-08:00TRAVELS IN JAPAN: THE HILLS OF ONOMICHI
Photo by Hisao Suzuki in El Croquis Studio Mumbai issue
When we planned our latest trip to Japan we asked some friends who write for the Japanese magazine Casa Brutus for recommendations. They thought we'd like the port town, Onomichi. It's a hill town on the Seto Inland Sea, an industrial port, in Hiroshima prefecture. The town is a little faded, but there are a few people who love Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-20567204380053856802019-04-20T17:39:00.000-07:002019-04-20T18:08:19.874-07:00KNOTTED, WOVEN, LINKED
Vija Celmins Web #2 2000-2001 Oil on linen
We caught the last day of Vija Celmins' retrospective at SFMOMA recently. Her spiderweb depictions started me thinking about their structures and the wide range of structures based on them. Also about webs and nets and how they have a fluidity of form that allows for distortion that can encompass so much variety. Net patterns are also Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-15987338630462829782019-01-13T13:39:00.000-08:002019-01-22T18:21:24.755-08:00THE SURPRISING POETRY OF BRICKBrick is one of the oldest building materials, used as early as 7000 BC. Associated with traditional structures from Victorian row houses to Gothic churches and elegant icons like the Doges Palace in Venice, new ways of exploring the material are continuing to evolve. It's a wonderfully cheap and ecological material, available everywhere and with no toxic qualities or by products...just clayLaura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-33775917825588455272018-07-29T20:06:00.000-07:002018-07-29T20:06:16.137-07:00WEST CORNWALL + KETTLE'S YARD
I've always wanted to visit Cornwall. I pictured long walks on grassy slopes above the ocean. I planned the trip for the end of May hoping there would be an abundance of wildflowers then. There were! I've been curious to see St. Ives, a town at the far west end of the peninsula, where a community of artists gathered starting in the late 1920s. They were drawn by the ocean and harbor views, theLaura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-18790841946278409652018-05-05T18:05:00.000-07:002018-05-08T20:46:22.074-07:00BIRD WATCH
Birds are some of the most ancient creatures on this planet. They have inhabited roles of spiritual messengers and omens for many indigenous cultures. They have the ability to see magnetic fields that guide them on their yearly cycles from north to south and back again. They're quite decorative, assuming a phenomenal array of colors and patterns. A frequent subject of painters their quirky Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-75958038270802240062017-12-16T21:06:00.000-08:002017-12-16T22:12:30.933-08:00HAVE A CUPPA TEA
Photo: Tony Ray-Jones c. 1967
Tea is what wakes me up every morning, what settles me when I'm anxious and what calms and revives me at the end of the day. I'm not alone in this. Not a surprise that so many cultures have strong tea traditions. Associations with, and rituals around tea are strongly tied to so many places....Japan, China, India, the UK, Turkey, Iran, Morocco, Russia come to mindLaura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-2005272139734447392017-08-26T08:52:00.000-07:002017-08-26T10:46:32.571-07:00COOLING GREENS...SEA GREEN, CUCUMBER, MINT, + ALOE
Photo by Laura Clayton Baker
Above: A lotus pod at Lotus Land. Looks like friendly alien eyes.
Above and below: Inside a wave... "Green Room" screen grabs from this video.
Above: Jane Wilson, End of Winter: Watermill, 1985
Above: Winifred Nicholson, Sound of Rhum from Isle of Eigg, 1950s
Above: Georgia O' Keeffe, Sun Water Maine, 1922
Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-12148900093025118352017-04-30T10:56:00.001-07:002019-01-12T16:46:35.087-08:00NOTHING BUT FLOWERS
All the rain this winter here in Los Angeles has made for a very wonderful wildflower season. Every roadside and hillside is colored by yellow mustard grass, daisies, coreopsis, and others. I've taken all the photos in this post unless otherwise noted.
Above and below: Locally, at the wet lands near Marina Del Rey.
Above: Alex Katz, Goldenrod, 1955
Above: DetailLaura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-23539114489315153972016-12-11T11:21:00.000-08:002016-12-16T09:38:49.353-08:00LIKE STONES ON THE BEACH: NATURAL FORMSWalking along the ocean I am always struck by the beauty of stones...worn by millennia of waves. The imperfect curved edges are so human, edges drawn without geometry or right angles.
The photos of the beach rocks and rock pools are ones I've taken.
Stones, and some of what they bring to mind...
Above and below: Carpinteria beach, just north of Rincon. The long runs of rock remind me Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-12305902720429462072016-09-29T21:50:00.000-07:002016-10-10T08:29:19.850-07:00LAST DAYS OF THE BARRY BUILDING?
I've worked here at the Barry Building for almost 23 years, and have loved the open courtyard, the abundant light, and the exuberant mid-century design. The photos in this post were taken by me, unless noted.
The Barry Building, on San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood, was commissioned by David Barry, designed by architect Milton Caughey, and built in 1951. You can see the influence of Le Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-31117993734840728442016-06-19T08:01:00.000-07:002016-06-19T11:16:44.949-07:00WATTLES MANSION DESIGNERS SHOW HOUSE: UPLIFTERS GUEST SUITE
Wattles Mansion, a historic house in Hollywood owned by the city of LA was selected as the location for a designer show house (each room done by a different designer) that was on view this spring. Angeleno magazine sponsored the event, and will publish the interiors in an upcoming issue.
Wattles Mansion was designed by Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey, the architectural team responsible Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-34230337485724979302016-03-26T15:20:00.002-07:002016-05-04T19:13:42.930-07:00SEEING RED
Varieties of red have wonderfully evocative names such as Vermillion, Venetian Red, Crimson, and Scarlet. Red stones such as garnet and rubies conjure a treasure chest overflowing. I've chosen to consider a range of colors, orange red, earthy red, pinkish red, and pure red for this post.
Above: Pierre Boncompain
Above: Jacques Henri Lartigue, Florette, Vence, May 1954, Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-32317105431699098482015-12-22T21:00:00.000-08:002023-11-21T15:45:48.099-08:00TRAVELS IN JAPAN part three: KYOTO
We spent a week in Kyoto, renting a house in the northwest part of town. In my imagination Kyoto was a small town with rustic houses and shops, and lots of crafts people making things. In reality, although it had all that in places, it was also a fairly big city. There were multi level shopping centers in glass and steel buildings just like Tokyo, but also large areas of the old Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-51057792568337409092015-12-07T20:50:00.000-08:002015-12-13T12:43:32.211-08:00TRAVELS IN JAPAN part two: NAOSHIMA
photo courtesy Benesse Art Site Naoshima
Naoshima is an island in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan. In the past 25 years it's been developing as an art destination thanks to the vision of Tetsuhiko Fukutake, founding president of Fukutake publishing, and Chikatsugu Miyake, mayor of Naoshima. Fukutake Corporation, founded in 1955, was renamed Benesse Corporation in 1995. I've taken all the Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-40570120617516467602015-11-29T16:54:00.000-08:002023-11-21T14:34:27.731-08:00TRAVELS IN JAPAN part one: TOKYO
We just came back from two and a half weeks in Japan. This is a little bit, of a very random view, that was my experience. I've taken all photos unless noted.
The drawing above is from my husband's sketchbook, showing me waiting in line at Omotesando Koffee.
Above and below: Omotesando Koffee. The proprietor, who spent time in southern Italy and uses a 20 year old La Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-90153765787954638282015-07-05T15:22:00.000-07:002015-12-13T13:15:29.183-08:00BOATS AT SOUTH WILLARD + CREATIVE GROWTH
About a year ago my husband, Steven, came across a couple of intricately detailed ceramic boats at Creative Growth, in Oakland, on the desk of Creative Growth's director Tom di Maria. Steven brought them home, and showed them to our friend Ryan Conder, who has a gallery and clothing store called South Willard, on 3rd St., in Hollywood. They thought this work, by Robert Rapson, would Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-42865775564391606432015-05-18T21:57:00.000-07:002015-12-13T13:18:13.090-08:00LOST IN A BOOKI was reading "To The Lighthouse" today, and thinking about how Virginia Woolf writes about the way what our mind is occupied with imprints on our surroundings, and those surroundings then become reminders of the original thought. The room you're in, the buzz of sound, the objects and the distant view become part of the story. The act of reading ties in the moment and place you exist in with an Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1826682628889792651.post-19950685351209544002015-02-21T14:22:00.002-08:002015-12-13T13:40:23.234-08:00MEXICO CITY JOURNAL
We just came back from a few days in Mexico City. It was our second visit...the first time we were there, about a year ago, I was completely surprised by it. It has fantastic areas for walking. It's a place for exploring, way beyond the wide array of museums, many of which I have yet to visit. The galleries are set in unique spaces that are a far cry from the classic white box. Laura Clayton Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00054549949505184487noreply@blogger.com0