The painter John Stahl (on the right in Manuel’s dual portrait, above) and his wife Jan were great friends of sculptor Manuel Izquierdo, R’s current subject of interest. Their friendship with Manuel started early when John was a student at the Museum Art School and Manuel was a faculty member, and lasted until Manuel’s death in 2009. We recently went up the coast for a visit with John and Jan in John’s studio, and spent a wonderful afternoon hearing stories and looking at art. The drive up offered some breathtaking views…
The Stahls came from rural Michigan in the late 1960’s…farming, fishing, hunting…and their garden is wonderful…vegetables all the way…
In John’s studio there is much evidence of the hunting/fishing part of life too…
he’s a duck hunter and there are a FEW decoys around…
which include the very beautiful ones he has hand carved, and USES…(though they seemed too beautiful to use to me)…
and multiples everywhere…
but, in spite of the beautiful view, it IS a working studio
John showed us his recent painting called “Warriors at Rest” which is an homage to Manuel…sculptor of so many warriors, but a warrior himself in John’s view…
the painting changed daily as it emerged, and John made a photograph of each day…here are a few…
Jan made us some coffee and a piece of cake with fresh raspberries served up with rollicking stories of midnight beach walks, parties, making art work…the fun of their long friendship with Manuel was there in the room. We finally decided we really HAD to leave this beautiful place, gave our sincere thanks for an afternoon of magic, traipsed past the wood piles…
and headed back down the coast to the bay…
On The Way 
Oh me Oh my. I am speechless. You are indeed a lucky lady to have such wonderful friends. But then, they are indeed lucky to have you as a friend.
Ditto Mary”s comment. This was a marvelous sharing of your afternoon w/ these remarkable people. Thanks for including the day-day evolution of the painting. And the multiple multiples, down to the orderly wood stacks, are great.
Wonderful photos of a magical place. Thank you for your great blog.
love their place, so glad you featured him, we are excited to be showing his work again next year in june at 12x16gallery
An inspiring piece, bonnie. Your eye and your sharing what you see is a gift to us all. Thank you once again. (sloy & nic)
Hi, Bonnie. I always enjoy dropping by because you pack so much variety into a post. Nature, garden, Oregon, home, artist and artwork. Great post!
Hope you’re staying cool–I’m not.
best, nadia
This is a perfect example of why your blog is so beloved. Thank you once again for taking us along on a Hull art adventure.