Private Parking X, Don Eddy, 1971

In this painting, I especially like the throwback signage, Blue Chip Stamps and Bank Americard, and the classic yellow-orange California license plates. My first car was a VW Bug with plates like those. I understand that California is reissuing this iconic license plate scheme as sort of a vanity plate. Here is the Saint Louis Art Museum’s write-up on this painting:

A chain link fence extends across this composition, preventing access to the lot where a gleaming red Volkswagen is parked. Don Eddy, known for his paintings of automobile show rooms and parking lots, masterfully portrays reflective surfaces and employs traditional techniques of depth perspective. His visually complex work is built from layers of imagery and text from American car and consumer culture. In Private Parking X the patterned overlay of metal fencing adds an element of abstraction to an otherwise realistic depiction.

It rained this morning, spoiling our planned organized bicycle ride. It was one of Trailnet’s community rides. This one was called Bicrobrews and as the name implies constituted a combination bike ride and tours of several microbreweries. Yes, beer drinking would have been involved and since the ride started in the morning that old adage, “beer’s not just for breakfast anymore”, would have rung true. alas it was not to be, because of the rain. Later, in the afternoon, Anne and I did mange to squeeze in a wee bit of a ride, between the morning and afternoon thunder-boomers. I’m willing to accept all this rain on the weekend, because of the low temperatures that they bring. It is humid though.