Located within blocks of each other the Urban Grind coffee house here in Portland is located near REI so you can get your outdoor fix along with a jolt of joe. It's hard to miss that green interior.  If you'd rather have a meal, the Daily Cafe serves tasty breakfasts and lunches.

Bruce Nauman's Animal Pyramid is now viewable by guests at the Portland Art Museum. Being as tall as it is and with a certain amount of balance it does attract attention. The fox deer and caribou have an air of the acrobat about them.

Hallways and Walkways

The iPhone was the camera that went out for not a walk, but a run today. Although it saw any number of interesting objects and scenes to take it felt as if its partner the Nikon should come back and take the image. However, this hallway at the Pacific Northwest College of Art was a spot that it thought was within its technical expertise. Take an image and grab a drink of water...

Walking in the Pearl

While walking in Portland's Pearl District today I came across this reflection of the condominium building "Go By Streetcar". That reminded me of the year I spent riding the Portland Streetcar everyday and taking photos in or around it. Good Times!

View of the Fremont Bridge

Tonight I ventured up to my rooftop to take this image of the Fremont Bridge. Its simple lines stood out sharply against the gray rain clouds that had just passed through heading east. 

Counting the Days

Some people cross off each day as it ends on the calendar that they've hung on the wall. Others employ different ways to mark the passage of time. Recently (how recently is a matter of conjecture) I've begun saving the tops of wine bottles. Some of these small circles are embellished with artistic deigns, others are quite plain. They do make a pile an that's what I created here. Not the most unique way to keep track of the days gone by but definitely a bit different.

Portland Timbers Send Sounders Home with a Loss

The Portland Timbers played the Seattle Sounders this afternoon here in Portland. The boys were on their game and held off the Sounders for a 2-1 victory!

After each game the team walks the perimeter of the field to acknowledge the fans. The players who made goals in the game carry a slice of the log with them and take it home as a memento.


Here's a shot of the Timbers Army ~ they're also awesome!!!!

Capitol Hill ~ Gay Pride

Capitol Hill here in Seattle celebrated Gay Pride. The street was closed from Roy to Denny and was filled with concessions and lots of people, gay and straight. The real fun started later in the afternoon after the rain stopped and the sun came out. Sun has a way of doing that. Here was one of the participants with brightly colored pink hair.

Summer Rain in Sattle

The second day of summer here in Seattle and the weather turned cold and wet, not freezing but definitely not the high 60's and low 70's of late. That rain was evident on this window at the Olympic Sculpture Park's PACCAR Pavillion.


An added benefit though of that moisture and the morning light was the softening effect that the atmosphere had on Richard Serra's sculpture Wake. 

A Day at the Seattle Art Museum

The Seattle Art Museum occupies four floors of a downtown high rise. We spent four hours walking through exhibits as well as having lunch. This sculpture is one of the highlights being currently exhibited. Comprised of 40,000 dog tags it is monumental in scale. From above one friend mentioned it seemed similar to a whirling dervish.

After leaving the museum we walked back up to Capitol Hill and went past the United States Courthouse. The outside commons area is an oasis in the city. Here's a view of  a number of people as well as a man and his dog (with tags) enjoying the solitude of the moment.

Dragon at the Asian Art Museum

This nephrite dragon from the Ming Dynasty is part of the collection of the Asian Art Museum in Seattle. It's almost as if it guards the room it sits in keeping it calm and peaceful. If you should ever need a peaceful place to mediate or be alone this is definitely the spot for you.

A Day at the Arboretum

Well actually a morning walk through Seattle's Arboretum and you'll find many trees and plants. At the Visitor's Center, this lovely patio area was set off with just a glimmer of sunlight as we prepared to leave. What a treat to have nearly 300 acres of woodland in a large city.

Metal Fences and Hangers

Yesterday's post of red California poppies is so vibrant that I decided to start today's post with more poppies ~ this time the more traditional orange. As you can see CA poppies are capable of growing almost anywhere. Here they grace the other side of the chain-link fence overlooking I-5 here in Seattle.



Linked metal seemed to be everywhere, including this store window at Nordstrom.

Red California Poppies

One of my favorite flowers is the California poppy. Usually seen in classic orange, it sometimes appears in gardens sporting white heads. Today we found intense red California poppies on Broadway E here in Seattle. They're quite lovely although I'm still partial to the orange ones.

Light Rail in Seattle

This hole is a work in progress. Dug deep to accommodate multiple tunnels, it's part of Seattle's light rail system. Someday, perhaps in 2013, the Capitol Hill Station will sit atop this vast emptiness. Read about the venture here.

Seattle High and Low

Seattle is of course known for the Space Needle. Here's a view that the camera found while on a walk high in the air...



And then much lower to the ground Seattle is also know for its great parks including Green Lake. Here's a duck quietly enjoying the tranquility of a balmy morning...

Familiar Faces

Early morning jaunt to the airport was followed by picking prints up at Pro Photo Supply. These were six of the eight that will soon be hanging with a ninth at Northeast Community Center here in Portland.

Mel at Mel's Frame Shop was quite pleased to get these a ten days before I need them. Planning ahead sometimes actually works...

Portland Cycles

Heading across the Broadway Bridge in the trusty Mini Cooper, I was joined at the light by this cycling commuter. You have to love the boots, the spd pedals, the short skirt... Not an exception, just one of many Portlanders who ride to work, run errands and go from place to place on two wheels.

Bamboo World

Or perhaps water world... in any case, this is the bamboo between the house and the fence. It makes a lovely barrier providing us a view of greens and slanting light. It's planted in a barrier and has pretty much stayed within its boundaries. So all is well here in bamboo world even if it's not in our personal lives.

Outside the Portland Art Museum

Although the Portland Art Museum is closed on Mondays, the coffee shop just off this sculpture court is open until noon. These two women were enjoying some coffee and conversation ~ perhaps not the serenade. You'll have to imagine what he was singing ~ folk, rock or heavy metal ... your choice.

Oregon Wine

The iPhone came in quite handy as the camera of choice tonight at the Red Onion Thai restaurant here in Portland. While we were talking, my eyes kept coming back to the light and reflections on the bottle and table. Enjoy ....

Art City

Part of my class tonight took me to Pioneer Place and this gallery entitled Place. Place is a space developed at the beginning of the downturn in the economy and continues to offer a venue for young and emerging artists to exhibit. Co-Curator and Director ~ Gabe Flores talked with us about the philosophy behind the space, how it has grown and in general about art and life in Portland. My camera knew that it needed to be on the floor and only asked that I push the shutter release. It would do the rest ~ almost random although not entirely so.

Hanging Heads ~ Bruce Nauman at the Portland Art Museum

Four pairs of hanging heads suspended in space have been added to the exhibition area near Bruce Nauman's Animal Pyramid. The exhibition is still being mounted as you can tell from the title stencil being still upside down and in reverse as it lies on the floor. As a result its harder to get really close to these objects. They, however, very much look like the hanging heads at the 2009 Venice Biennale.

Dateline ~ PICA

PICA here in Portland has moved into new quarters after eight years without a home. Tonight my class ventured there and took in this multi-media piece in a darkened undeveloped space. A magical moment that was only surpassed by the rooftop reflection on the third floor...

Read more about PICA here...

Bruce Nauman at the Portland Art Museum

Although some of us thought that the newest exhibition was an extension of Joseph Beuys, it turns out that it's Bruce Nauman's Animal Pyramid. Made of seventeen separate animal forms Nauman had come across these animals are arranged Cirque du Soleil style with the caribou on the bottom, the deer (sometimes referred to as elk in the middle) with fox on the top. The piece is still being installed and the chalked numbers have yet to be obliterated. It is very reminiscent of the bronze version in Des Moines.
http://dsmpublicartfoundation.org/public-art/animal-pyramid/

Reading at the Armory

Today's photo is of a man reading at the Gerding Theater set in the old Armory building here in Portland. The setting sun casts a strong light into the darkened lobby. This man would have definitely been the subject of one of André Kertész' photos of people reading. Reading sets us apart for a brief moment of solitude, one that we should all treasure.

Portland Art Museum through the Trees

Today I had the opportunity to be inside the Eliot Tower here in Portland. There are many views depending upon the floor you're on ~ Mt. Hood if you're high enough, the West Hills on the other Eleventh Avenue side. Here on the third floor you have a middle tree view of the Portland Art Museum.

Francis Bacon at the Portland Art Museum

Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror 


Those of you near Portland really should take the opportunity to see this Francis Bacon portrait of his lover at the time ~ George Dyer. It's also thought to be a composite of the two of them almost as this self-portrait of Bacon has been revealed to be in actuality Bacon's head and Lucian Freud's body. In any case, some say that "Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror" finished in 1976 is as good if not better than most of the paintings in Bacon's retrospective at the Metropolitan a few years ago.

Acupuncture for Dogs

Hawthorne Veterinary Clinic here in Portland offers both western and other modalities to its clients. This is the second time Django has had acupuncture. The first time was when he was just about two. Now that he's seven he's had one seizure and Dr. Wagner suggested acupuncture in addition to medications. Django is fairly compliant but didn't allow needles in some of his most sensitive liver spots.