"Bea's Chair"

The Emeryville loft I lived in was arranged with businesses on the bottom floor and residential spaces on the upper floor. When I was there, all the residents were involved in the arts. There was ten spaces and everyone knew and liked each other making all the creative energy quite exhilarating. There was a core group of us acted like kids, running around the neighborhood eating ice cream and hanging out in the local restaurants drinking coffeee, drawing, playing intense games of Scrabble, and gossiping. Our favorite hangout was Carrara's, a cafe owned by Paul Carrara that is long gone.  There was a seedy but well-known bar called the Townhouse that was a beer-pool-rock venue across the street where Mitch Woods and the Rocket 88's used to play. Prior to my moving out the Townhouse was replaced by a French restaurant. Naturally. My neighbor was a superb photographer named Beatrix, one of our little rat pack,  and this was a chair of hers that I borrowed to paint. Acrylic on canvas, 72" by 60".