A Short list and description of people I have met while plaining En Plein Air in Golden Gate Park
George - who after a successful career in real estate, wrote and illustrated a book about the origins of “The New Thought Movement” that the New Though Movement then paid him 700,000 dollars not to publish.
Annie, an elderly woman who visited me with her dog Charlie every single morning. Charlie almost always had a neon yellow tennis ball in his mouth
A young man running for mayor. We discussed the housing crisis at length.
Countless lost tourists looking for either the bathroom or for directions.
Chris - a “willfully homeless” man who claimed to be a founding member of a “semi-well known hard rock band” from the 80s and 90s. I didn’t find out the name of his band because he was soon chased out of the park by a gang of troublemaking youths on scooters.
Two small boys named Chris and Evan (6 and 3) who had recently moved from St. Louis. The younger one (Evan) was obsessed with me and wanted to see what I was doing but was too short. His older brother kept having to lift him up so that he could see my painting.
The former financial aid advisor from the San Francisco Art Institute. We gossiped about people we knew from our time there.
Countless older white women asking me where to find art classes in the city.
Tons of people who also claimed to be artists. Or, people who want to tell me about their friend who is also an artist.
Charlotte, a recently retired art teacher from Chicago visiting her best friend in San Francisco.
A woman who was passionate about felting. She was wearing a sweater that she felted her self while explaining the process of making it to me.
A young homeless guy who, while stripping down from winter coat to gym shorts, advised me on how to market my “images” to DJs.
Robert, a fellow painter who makes large scale portraits of Steph Curry shooting 3s.
Simon, who to my great pleasure, chatted with me at length about the difference between painting from life and painting from a photograph. I later found out he was SimonBullArt on Instagram and if I had known that before I met him I would have been starstruck.
Cyrus, a well meaning but very twitchy young man who paced a lot as he chatted with me. He wanted advice on how to market his mothers “tribal mask” art and and kept saying that he didn’t want to “ramble on” but kept circling back to talk to me more. He left going the same direction he came.
Outside the DeYoung I was approached by a several dozen children on a field trip. It started out with just one or two but I quickly had a group of 20ish elementary school age children watching me paint, asking me questions and giving lots of compliments. Their teacher kept trying to shoo them away from me, clearly uncomfortable with his kids talking to a stranger. They ran around the area for half an hour before they went into the museum for their field trip. When they got out an hour later they approached me again and complimented my progress. One of them told me that my painting was better than the ones they saw in the museum!
A young man who told me he traveled up and down the coast, visiting different towns and cities making videos of his adventures for TikTok. As he took my picture, he said he might put me in one of them. I told him I only had Instagram. He couldn’t have been more than 20.
Bill, who asked me if I had heard of this guy on TV called “Ross”. You mean “Bob Ross?” I asked. “Yes!” he said, then told me all about how amazing he thought “Ross” was.
There are lots of people sneaking up behind me to take photos of what I am doing. This doesn’t bother me as much as it used to (the first dozen or so times it felt like a violation) now I often just turn to face their cameras and give the goofiest smile that I can.
A man who was wearing the exact same outfit that I was! (Blue Jeans and a grey Colombia brand fleece) He also turned out to be a painter.