qa

Five Happiness is a Chinese Restaurant that was a flooded
after Hurricane Katrina. The building had to be gutted.
In the interim, a second building was up and running sooner –
the Imperial Room across the street. Normally it is used for parties. A mandala relief sculpture hung on the wall in this building.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

My painting is an abstract interpretation of the sculpture. I used colors from the banquet room interior. Details with dots are always tricky. Eventually the refurbished building was ready. That will be the subject of another dot painting.

pa

The only downtown theater left in New Orleans is Canal Place Cinema that is run by Landmark Theaters. It is located in Canal Place. A number of the arthouse films show there. The New Orleans Film Festival takes place there too. The décor in the theater was the inspiration for this painting.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

There are some space age looking light fixtures that consist of a metal covering with antennae shaped parts up and parts down in front of a white circle. The bulb is behind the metal covering. Light hits the white circle and shines around the metal covering. That is the basis for my imagery interpretation. The red, black, gray and white are the colors used in the interior of the theaters and lobby of the space. I currently use this painting as an avatar.

oa

In the fall of ’06 I received a letter from Cingular telling me that my cell phone network would be phased out by February 2008. The envelope included an ad with the plans available. Well, I wanted something very basic. That meant going to the Cingular store to get my new phone (rebated fortunately) using the new network that would be supported.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"

The initial Cingular screen image, that appears when I turn the phone on, has the Cingular logo with a design including blue and orange circles. This painting marks the change I had to make in getting my new phone. I made my own bubble shapes and played with the colors that Cingular used.

Dot Bedspread

The bedspread in my room has a dot pattern. It isn’t quite as exciting as the other dot patterns I posted previously. I didn’t see any other dot patterns when I looked around this hotel. Anyway, moving on to other thoughts.

At this point I’m tempted to interrupt some of my recent dot art back home in order to make some new dot works based on this trip. I figure I should make new art while I’m inspired. Also, I have to finish some 20” x 20” dot pieces for a show in early November. So I have a lot of work ahead of me when I return home.

Hotel Key

Below is my hotel key with some red blooming begonias behind it. I forgot that this hotel’s keys have dot holes in them. Last Thursday I switched to this hotel that is in Memphis itself. It puts me closer to places I want to go. Hurricane Ike will make landfall tomorrow. I’m glad it’s not going to hit New Orleans, but I’ll be happier when it is finished.

Dot Pillow

Last Thursday I moved to another hotel in Memphis. This is a shot of a pillow from the lobby of the first hotel. It is one of two pillows. The pillows were on chairs near a big flat screen television. Folks watched the weather channel as the Hurricane Gustav made landfall.



In the meantime I've been taking a lots of pictures while visiting parks and gardens in Memphis. I've been keeping busy, but I've been too agitated to make any art. When I packed, I did manage to take some color pencils, color sticks and water color pencils. Bringing painting supplies was just too involved. Now I'm monitoring Ike's progress. Tuesday is the day that
the forecasters promise to have a better sense of where Ike will go.

Dot Sofa

This is the pattern from a sofa located near the hotel bar. It's one of those long curved ones. There are lots of cool patterned objects in this hotel.