The Radiance of Oblivion  ~ oil on wood panel

What is it about the color of Blue? The color of our World, the Sea, the Sky, and True Love. It is the color of a butterfly's wings, the color my baby's eyes. In my past posts, I have extolled my Blue Happiness of the Great Blue Pacific.

Yesterday, The Color Blue had a different meaning in one of the exhibitions at the Oceanside Museum of Art.  An incredible Blue Painting of immense power and energy which stopped me, my awareness, of a great power, it reached deep into my soul. Floating on this field of a most intense shade of blue was a black vibrating cloud of black, its form changing and dispersing as you walked around the space. The title of this work of Artness, 'The Radiance of Oblivion' .

Yes, this is what it is all about...We dare to think of the unthinkable, and yet it is always there, a perpetual miasma whispering in the back of the head, seeping down the back of your neck, you know it for what it is...the unknown of the ever after. I see this painting as another shade of blue, the shade of knowing. It is seductive, and beautiful, this knowing, and I thank the artist.

 To view this painting is an experience—a truth from  Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio. 

The text of her work was written by Lara Bullock, Ph.D. I wish that it had been written by the Artist, for would have let me enter the door of the Blueness of her Truth. This link will take you to a story that tells her story of her Daughter and the disability of her interaction with time. Her work is also in the pstairs gallery.  

"Fire Raiser"  Rupinder "Rupy" Kaloti

Artist Rupinder "Rupy" Kaloti has a solo showing in the upstairs galleries titled The Gathering. She has transformed her paintings into sculptural forms, giving the viewer a time-space historical story of her family and other Punjabi families of how and why they immigrated to America. Her story, so lovingly told, brings to the viewer a recognizable truth of our own families and how all of our histories have blended together to make our country: Out of Many ~ One.

My past work as an artist included sculpture. I worked in bronze. Because of that, I was taken by a very small sculpture using a large stone, copper, and wood by artist Kevin Perrault. As a woman, I appreciated the metaphor of smallness juxtaposed with a cactus in close proximity to the woman. Kevin Perrault has the imagination to create in a small artwork, a huge commentary of our women's world of being "the other." The cactus with the thorns exemplifies fighting a hurtful struggle in our daily lives—the political wars and religious control over our existence. We stand with our soft woman bodies, looking up at this dominant, thorny future, and hope...

 The Feminist Image Group

Women Artists

The WE of our Planet

                WE are not pink. The soft hazy hue, diluted shade of the Primary Color Red. We are the Primary colors of Power, Truth, and Integrity of purpose in the Creation of our works of Art.

Red, the color of birth, the color of pain, the color burn of being the Other.

Yellow, the sun color, our heat, the color of our compulsion, the color of Change.

Blue, the color of our Truth, the color of our love, the color of our Planet.

We play with these colors working in our drive to explain, to communicate, and perhaps to invent through our art, a challenge to the system we live in.  

So it is, the new exhibition at the Techne Art Center in Oceanside California.

There are 28 women artists contributing to an experience that is overwhelming, and I went back a second time to review and experience the truth of these art works. I will speak of two exhibitors.

On the second visit I met an artist whose name is Ruth, my name, and we both love trees. We spoke about the Giant Sequoias, and the way the air vibrates around these wondrous trees, the largest of trees, and the oldest 3,266 years old. We spoke of touching the tree, and she asked the tree for permission, I, just thew my arms around the tall giant life and listened, for the vibrations were musical.

Ruth Wallen is a multi-media artist and writer whose work is dedicated to encouraging dialogue around ecological and social justice. After working as an environmental scientist, she turned to art to pose questions beyond disciplinary boundaries, address values informing environmental policy, and contribute to the developing field of ecological art

Kelly Clark

Her photographs of her friend Chiara D'Agostino are hauntingly beautiful. Sometimes when I visit a gallery, I take away an image that imprints on my soul's mind. I will always remember these images, for they speak to our mortality in such a mysterious manner of the here now and the here after. The art works are located in a small upstairs hallway, and these images glow of a lost life, staying forever in our collective memory of how women feel when the Time comes...

Kelly Clarkis an accomplished fine-art photographer based in Vista and professor of photography at Rancho Buena Vista High School. Yearly unsolicited notes and comments from her students herald Kelly’s knowledge of the medium, the gadgets and the software.

The entire exhibition is documented in the exhibitions catalog

The Historical Power of Yellow

• The Suffragette Yellow: In 1867, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton adopted the yellow sunflower as a symbol of the women’s suffrage movement. Yellow became the universal color of the fight for the vote.
• The "Yellow Ribbon" Campaign: Suffragists wore yellow ribbons, sashes, and pins to signal their demand for a voice in the system of government

 

This Morning the local paper's indicator of Air Quality was in the 30's on the scale of good air quality. In my view, our air today is like Champaign for the best part of the day. The air is infused with saturated oxygen, you breathe pure happiness, the Blue Kind we have here in Oceanside California.

Super Girl: Our celebration for the female grace on the blue waves of the Pacific and give a shout out for the Feminine...we are the originators of the way of the waters of this world...

The Three Day of Girl Surf Festival...Dates: August 21 – 23, 2026

• Location: Oceanside Pier and Junior Seau Pier Amphitheater

• Weather Forecast: Expect comfortable, partly cloudy coastal conditions with daytime highs around 75°F to 83°F and overnight lows near 66°F to 67°F, making it ideal for outdoor beach events. 

Festival Highlights

• Surfing Competition: World Surf League (WSL) WQS 4,000 women's event and long board contests.

• Concert Series: 20 free live performances featuring artists like Iration, Hippie Sabotage, B.o.B, and K.Flay.

• Action Sports & Fitness: Skateboarding, beach volleyball, soccer, flag football, and free yoga or Zumba classes.

Join us here in Oceanside CA for the finding of the Art of Blue Happiness...It is free.

 

Mongolia the eternal blue sky

The Planet Earth

An Art Place of Life and Wonder

This Morning the Union Tribune paper wrote about the expansion of the Iran War, and that the U.S. is bombing civilian targets....

Tonight I will go to the Oceanside Museum of Art to celebrate our City's Place of visual arts and Community. I love this place that I envisioned so many years ago. The City has changed in attitude, accommodations, flavor of life experiences and our place in the world of Art.

In the grand scheme of things, our Art place is so very small in relation to the beauty of our Earth Planet. I see the grand expanse of the deserts, the misty forests, oceans, the vast and unknowable steeps of the Mongolia colors, the infinity of the visible.

When we think of the grandest of the Museums of our Art World, the thought of setting fire or bombing them is unthinkable, but that is exactly what is happening to our planet, the grandest of all Museums...The love that we have for human accomplishments in the arts should have the same care and protection for our Earth Planet.

The Colors, The Scale, The Loudness, The Streams of Life Force is beyond putting these elements in a man made place, yet we do not have the same belief of importance that we do for our human creations. Our Wonder of the cosmos is one of our collective human frailties. We see the stars and think that somehow, we will conquer this infinity to save our human species.

We Live! In the most wondrous of place in our known universe of possibilities. This Planet of the grandest of all Art Creations is ours to preserve, to care for, to save from the savage capital greed of the human species.

I look at the planet in space and see our place in all of cosmic creation, a small round blue ball spinning on a canvas of black infinity, and ponder the impossibility or possibility of living organisms on this ball of aloneness. This vast museum of our earth, that embodies the past, present and our future echos the historic museums of human created art works, but this Earthly place, this life place is real, and for now a livable place. Can the Human species walk the place see the place that is far more important than any built Art space of our human selves.

Will we do this, or listen to the false projections of people like Elon Musk who promises that he will save and survive our humanity on Mars where everything wants to kill you.

Our Planet Earth, the Place where humanity can live, breathe, make love, and bare our progeny, is where the Art of life is thriving and for now, the only place where we can live. This Wondrous place, this giving place, this life place should be thought of the as most scared of all created Art space we will ever have, to keep and protect. Cosmic Art, Our Earth Museum of Life...

The Children of the Futrue

 

Ahavani Mullen

When Summers Are Endless

A State of Mind

I happened when I was 16, at the Beach with my tennis boyfriend. It happened when I was 26 and coming home to California when I lived in Montana for a year, and was beguiled with the Northern Lights. It happened when I was 36, and teaching the 6^th grade* in Hacienda Heights CA . And, when I was 46 and a empty nest-er, becoming a singular person once more. The endlessness of summer's White Light, blinding in it's ferocity. The Summers of our being is a mind rapture of the wonder for our discovering the awareness as an artist.

The decades which were marked with 6s have been like sign posts in my life by the Sea.

In each of these decades there has been summers with unsurpassed events of the lightness of being. This feeling of expansive freedom comes for me with the rhythm of the Sea. This feeling of oneness of self, to create the endlessness of the time when our lives are tuned to the silver strands of the universe. The whisperings  of the atoms of beings long gone, resound in our circulatory system to just Be.

This summer is one of exploring in the 6^th month of this year, 2026, is one of gratitude. The exhibition at Techne Art Center in Oceanside CA opens the endlessness of the creative minds of Artists of Oceanside CA and San Diego County. Each artist rides his/hers wave with exhilarating expertise and we attend them with delight and thoughtfulness. 

John Dillemuth

One of the Artist showing her works is Ahavani Mullen. Her works are mystical and mind expanding. They invite one into an infinite space of wonder and time. When I contemplate the orange movements of some of her paintings, I sit on the white beach consumed by the Sun Star, losing the self into a place of warmth and completeness. It is a summation of what it is to Be. When this state of completeness comes, then there is indeed, an eternal state of mind, an awareness of our energy when we are at the apogee of our physical and mental self for creating work.

The whimsy of John Dillemuth's sculptures is a delightful departure from our world's constraints of the real world's problems. The pretzel like twisting sculpture is made of socks...in my world, taking off the socks for a summer mind stroll in the Blue Pacific is a welcome fantasy.

The Endless Summers dwell in our minds here, close to the Sea. With the air filled with saturated oxygen, the vibrations of the waves never ending, the making of possibilities of the now, creating the work that make us tick, our mind's feet pounding the blinding white shores of Summers.

May 30th - August 1st Join us for this Endless Summer Exhibition, and then take a walk without your socks in the Blue Pacific...

* Every year for my students for the final field trip, we would go to Corona del Mar to research the tide pools. To set the mood for the Ocean and the excitement of Summer, we would show the Film, The Endless Summer. It is my belief that the Zen of surfing, and the exquisite flow of the artist's immersion of his/her creative endeavors have a similar transcendental sensation ... 

 

 

Architect Irving Gill

and the

Oceanside Museum of Art

In 1992, I was tasked by the Chairman of the Oceanside Arts Commission to find a place in downtown to display Visual Fine Art. A columnist in the San Diego Union Tribune had described Oceanside as a vast cultural wasteland.

In 2026 The Oceanside Museum of Art shines as a beacon on the Hill for our City's inspirational guide into the World of Culture and Art. Sometimes the Whiteness of it All becomes a place of otherworldly wandering as a stranger, to become another self. We become an other entering into the world of the artist. We stand, enchanted, beguiled with the possibility of entering into the mind world of another. Such is the magic of entering through the door of Imagination.

OMA is such a place. Stepping up to the grand courtyard our walk becomes lighter, expectant with the excitement of the what ifs. It has become this Community Place of Culture and Art due to the professional and empathetic work of the Staff and the unending generosity of our donors and supporters through the years.

Gill painting of Fire Station

Irving Gill was an Architect. Beyond that, an engineer, and an Artist. In the Art/Design World we have a saying, KISS. (keep it simple stupid). The simplicity of his construction* methods made it possible for him to design buildings like sculpture. The repeats, the combing of elements in the simplest pure forms made his projects unique. The “Whiteness”, was amplified by his whimsical of splashes of color. The Primary colors, used for musical sparkle, his favorite being blue for the Ocean. 

Rudy Van Hummick  

On March 1, 2026 the announcement of the  Gill designed Fire Station to become the third element of the Museum has become a reality. This final  phase of the OMA Campus covers one entire block on Pier View Way. Now, the Gill City Hall, the Beautiful Pavilion and Gill Fire Station have become One.

OMA, the past, present and future, Perfect! Gill, our heritage, our community, our world of imagination and the What Ifs of Tomorrow. He always knew...

                                               

  

* His building method. This page hows many of his designs and the beauty of pure form.  

 

I Could Stay Forever

A Place of "Blue Happiness"

One of the most splendid of all of the Arts is our place of great gastronomical reward. Such a place is where my Daughter and I were yesterday. The sky was blue with puffy clouds dancing, the harbor was still waters, and the Blue Pacific was sparkling with joy, waves softly singing the sounds of surf.

This is a place of memories of my late husband who was sure that the best burgers were only to be found at the Lighthouse Restaurant. 

As we lounged on the warm sunny deck, memories of yesteryear flooded within me. I could see him, smile huge on his face, with the burger and fries before him and the day was complete, the place of fulfillment only to be found here at the Oceanside Harbor.

The Burger Gone with Gusto...

We humans all have our "Place of Blue Happiness", the place where we return over and over again. The warmth of the owners knowing you and the remembered chairs we always sat, and we were once again carefree. This place of happiness does not have to have a Michilin Star, it has only to has to have the love of bringing you sustance with human warmth and smiles and rememberence.

The Art of a great chief is one which makes you feel that here, and only here the rewards of his/her art of wonderful enjoyment of your ordered choice is found. The Lighthouse menu is a plethora of offerings to make you want to stay forever to sample it all...The Lighthouse brings all of this to you and us, we say Thank You, and our return is forever promised ...

 

 

The Sea

&

Dear Tomorrow

The Magic of the Happy Blueness of the Pacific Ocean. It's hard to explain this aura of a place where all of our angst is taken away, and replaced by a gentle calm that is so entrancing. We sit at the edge of a creative force which is compelling, and succumb to its rhythmic heartbeat . Hours we play, gather, work, and live with this magic. The Sea, the crucible of life.

There is an Art House in Oceanside which lives by the Sea. It is 117 years old. This historical house is one of a very few which has survived the redevelopment in Oceanside. The House is yellow, the color of the Sun, One of the primary colors, the Sea is blue, the Sunsets, the red. We, the artists are primary, the issue of the salty sea.

As I walked through this vintage structure, I wondered how many children had climbed up these stairs, how many women had stared out the front window watching the sea to bring back the husband, how many artists had found this place to create their works birthed by the music of the Blue Surf Singing the song of creation.

Painter Resident

This place, “DearTomorrow”, is located at 216 Tremont St. Oceanside. The captain of this endeavor of Artists Residencies,  is Ryder England. An artist, Poet, and ceramicist, he walked with us into an intriging  adventure of the possible. One room was the residence of a Painter, another a softly lit room of poetry, another a wondrous non-profit place of such incredible possibilities, that I'm still after a week, finding out the works they bring to the Children in our area. Un Mar De Colores, An Ocean of Colors.

Un Mar De Colores,  the Ocean as a Relative. When I read this on the card that Mario gave me, my heart skipped a beat. Here was a young man who is indeed a sympatico soul for humanity. I was captivated by his truth of purpose. The Children of our area are so fortunate for this truth of caring.

Lessons from the Sea

At the back of this Art House is a workshop. The artist resident, Chase Ryan, a man who loves wood. I too, love this wondrous form of life given to us for oxygen, homes, furniture, toys, and shady days of summer. Chase creates original works of art we call furniture. As I touched the kiln dried 4 x4s, I remembered the days of my father's creating works of art. The vibes of the yesteryear when this kind of workmanship was valued, was intense and welcome. Here was an Artist true to his passion and gives his senseiblities to his craft regradless of monetary compensation.

Chase Ryan

At the end of our Tour, I was beguiled. Wishing that I was 20 again, living by the Sea, drinking in the air filled with possibilities of creating the art that was so deep within my soul, finding the Art House of the Yellow Sun, finding the rythum of the creative force of the Sea, my relative the Blue Pacific...

 

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The Arts and the Artist

The one irrepressible truth about the Arts is that No One owns the Artist! What makes an artist is that their independent voice is their own. They write, paint, compose in their solitude, and never, never will give this process up to anyone.

As I watched the Oval Office Occupant's name being attached to The Kennedy Center, I caught a sob in my throat, for this vile man's name to be on top of Kennedy's name, was like robbing our collective reverence for a President who gave everything for our Country. Stealing the spotlight by inserting his name   over Kennedy's name on this memorial building of a fallen President, for the Arts, is unforgivable. This person has contributed nothing for the Arts. It is a discernible fact that his idea of aesthetics is plastering gold painted artifacts looking like Walmart whimsy stickers all over the Oval Office.

In many ways, the Artist is as powerful as a king or president. His/Her works are conceived without any input from an outside agency, the process is singular, the making is singular, and the result is a product of original thought. The Movie, The Fountain Head, with Gary Cooper's soliloquy is one of the best description of an Artist's duty him/herself I have heard. Sometimes when a commission structure is involved, the artist still has the option to walk away, or destroy, and sometimes that happens and No One can stop Him/Her.. The original inspiration is solely owned by the Artist. The Artist listens to His/Hers Truth, and it is that truth which makes an effort become a work of Art. 

The Artists of the past and will in the Future give a voice about the world we live in and will, tell truth to power, whatever the price may be. The Arts give us beauty, musical rhythms of our day, challenge our possibilities, thoughts about the what ifs in our world, and ask us to stop, listen, read, and to consider our conditions of life's choices. The Poem, Chicago, by Carl Sandburg makes us aware of what our lives are made of and what we take for granted. I read yesterday that in one of Tyson's butchering plants, they kill 500 cows a day, this is just one plant. If this potential picture was displayed on TV commercial, it would have an impact of horror. Art describe acts of horror, writes stories, sing songs about it, and it also tells about our wondrous world and gives us reason to be hopeful . The Artist can tell these stories and songs, with truth about our real world. 

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was designed for a lasting memorial for President John Kennedy. The dominate element, of the project was to give the building a legacy of strength and integrity for a man who was loved and respected for his courage and his truth of being. To have someone who is the antithesis of this legacy insert his name over Kennedy's name is blasphemy of the highest order.

The Artists who have declined to perform on order of this would be king are in my view, heroes. They are facing a potential threat for their works to be defamed and destroyed. They walk away from this would be king, with their truth of purpose intact and honoring their own purpose of being.

The Cookers walked away...

The Arts belong to everyone, the Artist belongs only to Him/Her self, and will always, always, tell stories of truth for it is,

                        Truth that creates Great Art.