Cradle of the Sun

This painting is a real treat.  I’ve kind of headed into it the way Trevor’s Treasure Island developed, more every day and in an odd direction.  With absolutely no foreground but rocks going into darkness I have all of a sudden added a chair and desk on the top of a peak, some kind of Greek ruins on a sandbar, a turquoise-lavender pool, stone gargoyles and seahorse, a writing desk, and steps…many steps.  I’ve decided to go with it, do not know what the hell I’m up to but up for the adventure.

It’s the sort of freedom I felt with your portrait which is a rare experience. Certainly possible with what you allowed, and unique in that only with historical portraits of my own devising have I ever moved into such a myriad of things.  Yours is the first portrait I let myself and you let myself do that with, and I am liberated from previous constraints as a result. 

It IS getting interesting.  I keep moving the waves and clouds around.  The very clouded sky reveals a reticent sun.  I’m calling it The Cradle of the Sun, or The Sun’s Cradle, which I find very exciting in and of itself and not sure what I’m up to.

The Cradle of the Sun

There’s a storm coming in from far away places ~~ sweeping up water, spray marking its path ~~ dark and fierce on a gentle cove.  Still visible inside fast-moving formations, the Sun is cradled by its cloudy banks. The golden strength hits boulders and quiet foreground pools which will be next to feel the crash of wind and sea. Large birds take frenzy flight. And a viewer’s ready chair says ”Come to me”… a kind of magic seating  … a match to the heady seascape beyond, and below, and around it.

NEW PAINTINGS ~~ SPARHAWK

  

IRIS, PAINT BOX, VARNISH, PAINT TUBES AND BRUSHES
New painting, Oil on Canvas. 14 x 11 inches

I can’t help it, I get a lot of pleasure painting the every day view of my environs. And the tools of my trade, the artifacts. I’ve got enough ego to suppose it is of some historical value to see the stuff (and sometimes nonsense) of the lusty endeavors of a lifetime of such pursuits. Here it is at its core: Aroma. Color. Texture. I cannot imagine a life not including the earthy pungent smell Damar varnish or stand oil, of halucination-worthy pigments.
No it’s not a yacht parked in the Mediterranian aglow with chunky bottomed oiled up overpaid celebrities, manicured lives and awash in Veuve Clicquot..

More a life where the dreadful spectre of eating pigment, wearing canvas, and drinking smelly flower water lurks ever.

But a good life, nonetheless.

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BIG SUR ~~ 2 SEASCAPES:  (one with sky and one with rock)  Wild Sky, High Tide  Big Sur Ocean Storm

Waterlilies Under the Bridge  Large Meadowside Calla Lily Yellow Tulips in Glass Pitcher  The Bridgeside Cafe

  Backgarden Silver Rose

SPARHAWK original paintings are available for purchase. If any of my works interest you, please email me

sparhawk@barbarasparhawk.com

to inquire about availability, size, more photos, etc.

Thanks for visiting

THE FARM CENTER ~ Carmel Valley Magic – 5 miles inland

WARNING  ALL ,  SUMMER   2016

This blog below was written over five years ago.  The Farm Center has so dramatically changed nothing about it is recognizable.  Everyone who made it beautiful, including me, has moved out.  I had a remarkable four years there. It was once all magic. There just isn’t anything left.

You’ve been advised.THE SPARHAWK GARDEN HAS NOW BEEN VIOLENTLY DESTROYED AND PLOWED UNDER AND THIS IS ALL YOU WILL SEE:  there is NOTHING LEFT LIVING

is a charming small magical island with more wide-open space around us than people ~~ between the ocean.  It’s half way, only miles inland, sun-filled and delightful. There’s a huge, welcoming meadow for walking next to the Carmel River (path next to the bridge) where Steelhead run, ducks bob. Condor, Hawks, Heron, Seagulls, Wrens, Blue Jays, Crows fill sky and tree….the ancient live oak, the Redwood, Aspen, Willow trees. Every side road is decked with reeds, flowering trees, Magnolias, Cherry, Pear, Apple, Plum. Deer roam in day and mountain lions stalk nights along the river banks.  Before heading further out to the Village for vineyards and wine tasting, before the cattle of Cachagua and just past the shopping center, is THE FARM CENTER and GRANGE.

   THE FARM CENTER just before this the oldest building in Carmel Valley (And Jack London Slept There)  It’s closed right now, used to be occupied by a wonderful sculptor named Paul, some of his sculptings and his gardens remain on view. THE FARM CENTER is a small group of fabulous little SHOPS just a few feet off Carmel Valley Road beyond the Safeway Shopping Center. In it you will find Char ETIENNE ANTIQUES FOR HOME AND GARDEN(she also designs landscaping) with exquisite things and has a spectacular back garden to wander through.

Then THE HAWKS PERCH GALLERY, the only art gallery in mid-Valley and the best on the Central Coast!  And I also carry Ron Wohlauer Photographs. Run by the  EXPRESSIONIST PAINTER ~~me~~ BARBARA SPARHAWK.  I accept portrait commissions of people and animals, SIGNS of any kind made to order.  I sell my own beautiful oil paintings of FLORALS and LANDSCAPES and PORTRAITS, WATERCOLORS, PEN & INKS, and imaginings at unimaginably low prices!  I want everyone in the world to own a Sparhawk Original. 

Next to THE HAWKS PERCH gallery is the most extraordinary. In their huge backyard gardens and fountains, a walk through will lea

 

Hthe meadow is BOB MATTSON’S SADDLERY.  Bob has been here over 25 years.  He’s a master craftsman with leather.  He’ll not only repair your saddle, or sell you a spectacular one for a great price, he’ll make you a belt or knife-sheath, soften up old reins, sell you a saddle blanket.  His shop is an incredible delight to all the senses, a step back in time, a feel of the world of horses before cars. SEE WHAT YOU’VE BEEG! 

THE F used to be all grain and feed and the best place to get your Levi’s.  We still get visitors looking for jeans and hay. It’s gone through a lot of transforming over the years, and it’s better all the time.  Stop in for a visit!  Worth the trip and the sun is always shining.THE FARM CENTER SHOPS, MID-VALLEY

 

JUCARMEL VALLEY BINSANYON ROAD

Original Oil Paintings by SPARHAWK

EXPRESSIONIST ARTIST BARBARA SPARHAWK is famous for being the only female scaffold hauling BILLBOARD PAINTER in the world in the ’70’s (mostly over Times Square) and painting the ROLLING STONE’S WORLD TOUR BILLBOARD ALBUM COVER ‘MADE IN THE SHADE’. She was commissioned to paint a portrait of WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR from sittings; her work has been exhibited at QUANTICO ACADEMY.  She is the author and illustrator of a book of short stories (THE GANDY DANCER) and a children’s book (COCO NO!) with more to come! In a NY career of journalism and politics, SPARHAWK wrote evening news for CBS, ABC, FOX TV, produced ROCKANDROLLA and TALK RADIO shows for WABC and WOR; and was PRESS SECRETARY TO US CONGRESSWOMAN GERALDINE FERRARO, and family CHEF to the Beach Boys Jardine Family.  That’s the short version.

SPARHAWK ORIGINALS STILL AVAILABLE:  EMAIL thehawksperch@outlook.com

 

 

YOU NEED ART! SPARHAWK ORIGINALS

T H E      H A W K S     P E R C H     G A L L E R Y

T h e      H a w k s     P e r c h      G a l l e r y

on Carmel Valley Road is filled with beautiful paintings.  Everybody needs a painting in their lives! And~~ I can’t help the feeling~~ the more the merrier.

OPEN NOON TO FOUR DAILY TIL LONGER HOURS IN SPRING EMAIL    sparhawk@barbarasparhawk.com  for appointments at any other time, glad to make it your day

There is no wall in anybody’s life that is too small or crowded that will not benefit from another painting.

   ALL MY PAINTINGS ARE MUSEUM QUALITY ~~ IN RICHLY PIGMENTED OILS ~ STUNNING COLOR ~ STRONG IMPASTO POTENT EXPRESSIONISM !!A good painting produces a powerful connect in us, straight to our interior ~ to explain the heart’s undescribed beatings ~ fix the eye on color that excites or reminisces ~ clear a path to untried places.  Here is the unmet friend. And you will also find beautiful PEN & INK drawings,

PORTRAITS (great commission prices)

Plaster Renaissance Sculptures, Handmade Redwood Frames, Turtle-shaped Drawer Pulls.

Hand-Painted SIGNS ON WOOD, Garden Light Garden Light Fixtures, Tibetan Necklaces       USED BOOKS – NOVELS and ART BOOKS,  beautiful GREETING CARDS, great chairs to sit and look, read….and Inspiration in every direction! The whole place is alive with beautiful things. Come add to that……………..

The Hawks Perch 

6 miles in from the Ocean

9700 Robinson Canyon Road

COME FOR A VISIT

OPEN NOON TO FOUR DAILY TIL LONGER HOURS IN SPRING

EMAIL sparhawk@barbarasparhawk.com for appointments at any other time, glad to make it your day

The Gallery Bell

The Hawks Perch of Big Sur

Long day yesterday. Around 9 I was starting dinner and glad for the respite from business in the gallery. I was up to the third Poirot mystery on the set of 3 from Big Sur library and looking forward to watching the remarkable Belgium detective do his stuff, all symmetry and little gray cells at work.

I have installed a doorbell on the gallery downstairs that rings upstairs, and a bit of a peculiar contraption that urges visitors to ring if the shop’s closed. PUSH ME printed on a big yellow wooden one-time cart handle, that adjusts to the ringer’s height and predilection. It’s been a delightful solution to painting in the studio and not missing customers.

Around 10pm as Hercule Poirot was solving murders in 1939 near Egypt’s pyramids, that very same bell rang. I trotted out and peered over the balcony.

A fine young man, reveling with buddies at The Maiden Pub next door, glass of beer in hand, wanted to go through the gallery and buy something. Sweet. I went down and opened the doors to him and turned on the lights.

He was all bright-lit himself with cross country adventure, the kind of glow I’ve seen often from voyagers to Big Sur who can’t believe they made it or believe how perfectly wonderful it is. Tall and strapping, looking like transplanted mid-America farm and ranch. A total delight whose name is Dylan. He hadn’t seen his parents for close to a year and his mom was on her way for a visit and he wanted to get her a present and he was up front right away, he had ten bucks for it.

We did some searching and negotiating and came in on budget. I gift-wrapped, we hugged, Dylan returned to the pub, an ebullient spirit of good nature and fine character who is clearly finding answers to his liberating dreams at the blossoming start of youth.

As for this painter, it’s become the kind of experience that never ceases to amaze or sweep me with strong emotion. The pleasures found at the other end of a small red bell on a chunk of yellow wood with PUSH ME writ large on it are awesome and sweet.