CARMEL MISSION BASILICA STRUCTURAL IMPROVEMENTS

These drawings were prepared for a presentation to the donors to the structural improvements of the Carmel Mission Basilica, who would like to know how their $7 million dollars were spent.  The odd thing about a building's structure is that it is integral to a building but rarely seen--much like the human skeleton.  In this case, considerable work was done--at great expense--to strengthen the structure, and yet upon completion of the project it looked exactly as it did before the work began.

Here's a picture of the structural engineer giving the presentation.  It's embarrassing  to have the crucified Christ hanging over my drawing, saints around it and the grave of Saint Junipero Serra below it.  Did they really have to have the presentation at the front chancel in front of the altar?  It feels disrespectful and a reflection of a media culture.  Still, I'm proud of my graphics (although I wasn't given the time to refine them), which leaves me ambivalent.

'When you feel neglected, think of the female salmon, who lays 3,000,000 eggs but no one remembers her on Mother's Day.'


           --Sam Ewing

Jeffrey Cobb Ewing

1974-1990

9 мая

Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the defeat  of Nazi Germany.  Known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia, it is celebrated with a parade in Red Square, Moscow, where veterans and citizens remember the 27 million who were lost in that titanic struggle.

"С Днём Победы!"

                                                Парад Победы 9 мая 2013г

My Eastern Redbud is blooming.

Here's the same corner when I bought the house.  I designed the garden around the birdbath, given to my by my two sons.

An American Goldfinch visited my backyard yesterday.  It was the first one I've ever seen, and it was striking.

Later in the day, a Western Tanager took a drink at the birdbath.  It's been several years since I've seen one of those.

(pics from internet)

Sam Ewing in the booth.

Nick Lowe-- So it Goes

The Shadow of the Earth.

The focus of this wonderfully composed pencil drawing  is a howdah, common in 1800's in Persia and Mesopotamia--modern day Iran and Iraq.

I was in Chicago year ago for the Centenary of the laying of the cornerstone of the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette by Abdu'l-Baha.

For the sketch, I used Google Street View before my trip to determine a good station point.  It worked exactly as I had planned!




After sketching, I took this photograph walking back to the Temple.

Inside the Temple, I tried to sketch the structure, but I was so disappointed with my effort that I tore out the page and threw it away.  I've only done that once before.

Bombay TV

Personalize funny videos at Bombay TV by Graphéine - Agence de communication

PICTURES OF AWARD WINNING PAINTINGS FROM THE 2012 CARMEL ART FESTIVAL



I've awakened on this beach, or one nearby.

El Estero!  Outstanding!

This is a view from Whaler's knoll at Point Lobos.  It's one of my favorite places, and the artist captured it, en plein air, perfectly.  What talent.

Perfectly framed!

This is the painting that won first place.  I recognize it as the coast in Pacific Grove, near Point Pinos, looking East across the Monterey Bay.  

More paintings and descriptions and the source of these images HERE.

9TH DAY OF RIDVAN




Approximate location where Baha'u'llah revealed His station as the Manifestation of God for this age in 1863.

Illuminated verses of Baha'u'llah revealed for Ridvan.

I had a wonderful lunch at the Mansion of Mazra'ih in 1990 with fellow pilgrims.  It was a joy unalloyed.


I sketched this at the Mansion.  Not my best effort, but here it is.

The redeeming feature of the sketch is that Abdu'l-Baha was very fond of the garden, which was just beyond.

I remember talking to a little Arab girl of about 8 years old while I sketched.  I asked her where she was from.

 "Mazra'ih!" , she replied.

If I was to return as an animal, I'd want to be a duck:  They fly, walk on land, float on water and dive beneath it.  What else is there?  They mate for life, and they have cute families; they're not aggressive, they're humorous and they get along well with others.  They naturally attract children.




And should I find myself to be a duck, the estuary in Monterey is where I'd live.  It's located adjacent to Monterey Bay, near downtown.

The estuary, or El Estero, collects the runoff from the north slope of Carmel Hill.

Looking to the south, toward Carmel Hill.

Looking north toward Dennis the Menace Park.

There was a time that I could readily identify the tree in the foreground of this picture of Dennis the Menace Park across the estuary from its distinctive bark, but it took me about ten minutes of perusing my plant identification books and online images to remember the species being Melaleuca linariifolia, or Narrow-leafed Paperbark (or Snow-in-Summer).  It is an Australian native, and can also be found in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, as it adapts well to relatively sheltered foggy Central Coastal marine environments.  More importantly, it seems, the species tolerates poor drainage and occasional inundation.

Looking north, towards San Carlos cemetery, where my Baha'i friends Marvin Newport, Inez Greeven and India Haggarty are buried.

Know of a certainty that in every Dispensation the light of Divine Revelation hath been vouchsafed unto men in direct proportion to their spiritual capacity. Consider the sun. How feeble its rays the moment it appeareth above the horizon. How gradually its warmth and potency increase as it approacheth its zenith, enabling meanwhile all created things to adapt themselves to the growing intensity of its light. How steadily it declineth until it reacheth its setting point. Were it, all of a sudden, to manifest the energies latent within it, it would, no doubt, cause injury to all created things…. In like manner, if the Sun of Truth were suddenly to reveal, at the earliest stages of its manifestation, the full measure of the potencies which the providence of the Almighty hath bestowed upon it, the earth of human understanding would waste away and be consumed; for men’s hearts would neither sustain the intensity of its revelation, nor be able to mirror forth the radiance of its light. Dismayed and overpowered, they would cease to exist.

Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah

Я желаю всеобщего братства.

What I am trying say in Russian is that I desire universal brotherhood.  The Russians at the market say that it doesn't say that, and they can't suggest  another way conveying the concept.  Do any Russian-speaking  readers of this blog have a suggestion?

спасибо!

Odello Farm and campo, Carmel Valley, California


I roughed this out some years ago as a composition for a painting.

Baha'i Temple, Sydney, Austrailia

I've used this method.  It works!

I was drawing a structural section through the Carmel Mission Basilica.

joan jett

Я желаю всеобщего братства.


Baha'i pilgrims on Mount Carmel.  The Persians are easily identified, but I'm not sure about the man with the headdress.

Юрий Гагарин

On this day 52 years ago Yuri Gagarin (Юрий Гагарин) was the first man to orbit the Earth.

It was a great political victory during the Cold War for the U.S.S.R.  I remember how disappointed I was, which wasn't surprising considering how the "Space Race" reflected national prestige.

Nikita Kruschev, then Premier, is quoted as saying "Gagarin flew into space but didn't see any God there."  He was a good Communist!

I remember a parade in Santa Cruz, California, that included an entry that depicted a Franciscan friar whipping the natives who were hauling him in a wooden cart down the street.  It was obviously a political statement designed to depict the Franciscans as exploiters and masters of the indigenous people.  My first consideration was for the children who recoiled at the display.

Here is a picture of of Father Junipero Serra's opulent "bedroom" at the mission in Carmel.

When the victory arriveth, every man shall profess himself as believer and shall hasten to the shelter of God’s Faith. Happy are they who in the days of world-encompassing trials have stood fast in the Cause and refused to swerve from its truth.          --Bahá'u'lláh

Candlestick Park, 1992



Jack Clark was at the plate, and the Giants were ahead of the Dodgers 3-0.

Virginia Townsend gave me this stone along with the Biblical reference 46 years ago.

“I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.”
– Revelation 2:17

Lighthouse Field, Santa Cruz