Big Sur and beyond ~ light on the California Coast

Living in Northern California is a true blessing. It was on that same splendid trip visiting the iconic Hearst Castle, that I continue my journey around the Central Coast. To my delight, for that whole trip, I was extra blessed with the ideal companion. 

There is something about the California Coast that just rivets me. Its miles and miles of  sun-kissed rugged coastline are coated in breathtaking beauty. There are hidden coves, remote bluffs and bays, tucked away beaches, protected parks, wildlife sanctuaries, towering sand dunes and tide pools aplenty, and of course grand panoramic vistas as far as the eye can see.

Stay high above the ridges, or come down close to water's edge, or step on a bluff-top boardwalk, and you will quickly feel the cool breath of the Pacific Ocean caressing you and the coast's verdant craggy hillsides; all the while the deep blue sea beyond mirrors back at you.

I love how the painterly elements of Mother Nature come together in this next photo: the moody sky, the choppy seas, and the rough edged rocks. Stepping onto a bluff, we witnessed bold white and blue ocean waves crashing, molding the coastline, and assuredly eroding it without a care in the world.

The Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Pacific Grove opened its doors for us to catch the last glimpse of the butterflies before they migrate back thousands of miles to Mexico. Actually it's the fifth generation of them that reaches Mexico! After the obligatory gallery stroll though cute-as-a-button Carmel-by-the-Sea, we continued with another quintessential touristy moment; lazily winding through the world famous 17-mile-drive in Pebble Beach, with its frail but regally located Lone Cypress tree.  Later that day, the legendary Nepenthe Restaurant in Big Sur beckoned us for a refreshing apéritif on its terrace. 

    

I loved how we took a random turn-off off Highway 1 to discover a small windswept cove with purple and golden sands wiping our ankles. Perhaps a morning venture would have given us a moment to sit and make drawings in the sand, but not on that blistery afternoon!

    

   

We wrapped it all up with lounging elephant seals basking in the late afternoon light on the San Simeon Bay sands, before the perfect finale a little further south in that very laid-back beach town of Cambria with its mile-long Moonstone Beach Boardwalk meandering along the coastline for the perfect ocean-front stroll. Not to mention a stop at Cambria Glassworks in town, to see Ted Emrick's fantastic art (see my blog on his work). 

Another beautiful sunset was in store. Heading home we headed inland to sample local wines and native olive oils from the sloping hillsides of Paso Robles~ another picturesque area to come back to and explore at length.

On this getaway, the beautiful expanse of the Pacific Ocean was at our fingertips at every turn. We were in awe. We lingered. We admired. We breathed in the air. We dreamed. We savored. We smiled.

As always, I realized one thing, the same exquisite thing ~

… how good this is good for the soul

Enjoy, Adeline

And then there's TALENT ~ the art of Ted Emrick

I suspect we have all fallen in love at some wondrous point or another. I, for one, can easily fall in love with a lonesome tree on a hillside as it reaches for the sky; I can fall in love with a thick luscious apricot home-made jam; I can fall in love with the soft moves of a sensuous gesture; and I must say that falling in love with the art of Ted Emrick was not hard to do at all. Ted Emrick and I go back to our college days at the San Francisco Art Institute in the mid-eighties. It only took us a mere 27 years to get back in touch. 

The time had come.

Back then, his reverse glass paintings were on a scale that blew me away in their effortless and mind-boggling intimidating creativity. I knew he was not done. I knew then he would go on to great things. 

I was right. I held on to a secret. Today there are sculptures in Ted Emrick's world made of unique materials that seem so stunningly unrelated. 

He molds and shapes these materials. 

He blends colors into them that dance joyously together. 

He slices glass with undulating grace. He stacks it.

He paints between the lines. 

He sees what we do not see. 

He inspires the textures he touches to reveal themselves. 

Twisting Orion's Belt ~ the first photograph he sent me after 27 years...no wonder!

The power of the glass. The power of the waves Ted sees in the glass.

I am moved beyond words when I look at art like this ~ the stacked glass, the sliced shells imbedded like fossils of long ago; the human body standing strong against the ripples in the ocean.

Ted's front yard at his home on the Central Coast. 

~ even there he creates in the light of all that sea of glass. Does he see it as I see it?

Ted's latest reverse glass paintings are something for the eye of the beholder. 

The technique might be a secret. I know I must find it out.

Ted's most recent artistic endeavor ~ life size pods - seed pods, light dancing from within, the female figure eager to reveal itself ~ all floating in an ethereal world. 

Deep breath... these leave me in awe.

Ted Emrick's world is before anything else a world of surf. Back in the 80's, he would often disappear from the Art Institute for days on end. He would look at Alcatraz from the balcony of the Institute and the waves would call his name; the waves would call him home. He would then head south to the energy of the rolling waves of his Central Coast, only to return invigorated, ready to release new gemstones of art, new gemstones of incredible art.

After 27 years, in our very first correspondence,Ted sent me two photos. The first one is at the top of this blog - divine to say the least; the second one is this one of him surfing - to me, they epitomize the man I can truly call my friend ~ an amazing artist, an amazing inspiration. 

Reach out to him you must ~ at tedemrick.com

These are the words he attached to this last photo.

"Sometimes you just have to let go, close your eyes and let life flow from around you!"

 By now you must know my closing line ~ take a deep breath and repeat after me:

"It's good for the soul"

Create ~ Adeline