Sam Francis @ the Crocker Museum, Sacramento

Spent another afternoon looking at the artwork of Sam Francis, this time with my friend artist Elizabeth Smith, It was wonderful to hear her excited exclamations as we rounded the corner to see his paintings and then stood in front of each piece, " how exciting!" how beautiful!"... I got a chance to look closer again and enjoy the paint, the color,the process, to notice which paintings were done on large scale then edited down to stretcher size, which were painted flat on the ground "as-is",I loved the dirt and floor crust in his paint. I got to re-read in amazement how ill he was at the beginning (and end) of his career, attending his first museum exhibition in full body cast because of spinal tuberculosis, being wheeled around on a gurney to see the show, and later so sick with cancer unable to use but one arm to paint with (great thick puddles of color here). the show covered 50 years of art-making! (making me realize how short my time has been ).

here are a few images I (secretly ) took  (feel like James Kalm)-