We Heart San Diego

Seeking to escape the heat and to see some dear friends, Steve and I took off Thursday for San Diego.  He lived there for several years two years after we were married.  You go where you find work and it was a great commuter setup for us.  For two or three years.  It got old after awhile but what never got old was our love of San Diego.  So many great things to do and places to go and wonderful art museums.  And on this trip we had an unusual drive by leaving later in the day.  We were escorted by a terrific storm to our left all the way across the desert.  And as beautiful the desert was with all those clouds, we never had to drive in anything more than a sprinkle. 

 Friday, we headed for our favorite spot in the city - Balboa Park.  After some Christmas shopping at the Mingei Museum we strolled through a wonderful and large exhibition of Toulouse Latrec at the San Diego Museum of Art.  I was thrilled to see so many lithographs and got some ideas for things to try in my reduction linocuts.  We take inspiration from many places and I can always find some here. 

Dr Lakra (Mexico)/Vhils (Portugal) Collaboration

JR  (France)

Saturday, after breakfast at Brians 24,  we took in a majority of the public art included in the Museum of Contemporary Art's current installation:  "Viva La Revolucion," where 20 artists from 10 countries created murals/graffiti art on buildings all over town.  We enjoyed seeing the works - many of them are accompanied by an audio commentary you can reach on your cellphone.  Great idea!  The show will be up until January 2nd 2011. 
Following the trail of art we discovered a couple of wonderful shops in Little Italy, Mixture and French Garden.  More shopping ensued followed by naps.    Gotta go - the day is calling.