Jack's Dragon

This is a painting I made for my friend, Jack, for his birthday this year. It was actually an assignment for my illustration class – we had to do a zodiac sign (any culture) and originally I was going to do a snake but Jack said I should do a dragon (because he’s a dragon, obviously) so I decided to make it for his birthday as well as for my class assignment. The Chinese characters on the lower right are his name. Someone drew it out for him a long time ago and he gave me a copy to incorporate into the design.

Seasons

So many people (mostly people who have come to live in California from somewhere else) tell me that California has no seasons. The trees know what season it is. Watch the trees - they'll tell you.

Waterfall

I think it's interesting how we spend a lot of time and money building shelters to insulate us from nature then spend more money recreating nature inside our insulating shelters.

Liger Fish?

This is a Lion Fish. But it has stripes, so shouldn't it be a Tiger Fish? Maybe whoever named it thought all those poisonous, spiny finns look like a lion's mane? Mabe it should be a "Liger Fish" instead.  I'm just sayin...

No Tresspassing

Sign in the train station - the first two say "no trespassing" and "no loitering". This is a train station - how can you trespass in a train station? And no loitering? How can you tell if someone is loitering or waiting for a train?

The reflection on the floor is very cool. I need to go back and shoot this photo again on the other side of the sign.

Waitin' For A Train...

"Busted Flat in Baton Rouge, waitin' for a train..."

"...Sittin' downtown in a railway station one toke over the line."

"He's leavin' on that midnight train to Georgia..."

Lots of songs out there about trains. For any of you that remember the song One Toke Over The Line by Brewer & Shipley, did you know that Dick Dale sang it on the Ed Sullivan Show? It's true http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3ecDYxOkg (if the link doesn't work by clicking on it, just copy and paste it into your browser).

Apparently they thought it was a Christian song and had no idea it was about smoking pot.

Ahhh, the 70's. So innocent for some

Looking Up

How much time do you spend looking up? We spend a lot of time looking ahead and way too much time looking behind - but what about up? It's really quite amazing how many interesting things there are way above our normal eye level. Try looking up more while you're going about your daily routine.

Where Does It Go?

Where does it go? Does it lead to opportunity, danger? Looks like a long way, doesn't it.

Fountain

They look like brass bowls sitting on a colorful snake. The lights in the water give the bowls a warm glow in the early evening. I wanted to try to shoot very slow to get the wispy, smokey quality to the water but the battery on my camera died. An experiment for another time.

Is It a Flying Saucer?

Metro Red Line

When I first heard about a subway for Los Angeles I thought it was a crazy idea. Nine years later, I almost never drive into L.A. any more. Almost everywhere I want to go downtown is within walking distance of a Metro Red Line stop -Hollywood, the Music Center, the Central Library, Grand Central Market, Disney Concert Hall, China Town, Little Tokyo, etc.

It takes about 30 to 40 minutes to ride end to end on the Red Line (North Hollywood Station to Union Station). I can't even drive into Los Angeles in less than 30 minutes most days. I've taken the connecting Blue Line to the L.A. Convention Center and the Nokia Theater. I don't like the Blue as much as the Red Line, but it gets me where I'm going. I haven't taken it (Blue Line) all the way to the end (Long Beach) yet, but that's on my list. I've read in the news that they plan to extend the Wilshire/Western line all the way out to Santa Monica. That would help a friend of mine who lives out there to get into L.A. more easily.

Times Gone By

Once upon a time this whole area would have been full of travelers buying tickets for parts east, north or south. I'm not sure what they use this room for now (if anything). It's been blocked off to the public for as long as I can remember. This is the original lobby of Union Station in downtown L.A. This is one beautiful building! It has been used as a location shoot for many movies and TV shows: Most recently it was used in the last two episodes of Monk. The train station Stottelmeyer was chasing the bad guy through was here in L.A. (not in San Francisco). And the plaza where Mr. Monk met Trudy's daughter in the final episode was right next door at the DWP.

Marble floors, beautiful wood paneling, elegant chandeliers - it's just a beautiful place to wander and look around, take photos, people watch. There is a restaurant and a couple of snack bars there if you want to slow down and enjoy the place. If you're in L.A. and haven't been here, you should take the time to see it.