CALIFORNIA GOLD
Mentor Huebner (c) 1959
Oil on Masonite 30" X 24"

CALIFORNIA GOLD

BY

There is a six year span between Mentor’s paintings, “Mojave Gold” and “California Gold”. He created a lot of paintings in the interim so I wont excuse his titles as they are not redundant even though he used “Gold” twice.

In "Mojave Gold", he was referring to the golden hues of the mountains and the gold buried beneath them. In "California Gold", he addressed the Sunflowers that are wildly scattered throughout the California hillsides.

Vincent Van Gogh was Mentor’s favorite artist. But that isn't why Mentor painted “California Gold". Mentor loved Sunflowers. And even though our home is located in an area where Sunflowers exist in profuse abundance, sadly, we could never grow one.

Sunflowers even grow out of cracks in dried up abandoned parking lots. We'd see them
everywhere; along the highways, the side streets, peeking through fences in the barrios ~ but never ever in our own garden.

Mentor would return from painting, carrying handfuls of flowers. He particularly made an effort to bring home Sunflowers. “Honey, try these. Maybe they’ll work”. But they didn't!

“Maybe there’s arsenic in the soil”. But there wasn't.

Since everything else was blooming, invited or not, we never stopped trying.

Then on Christmas Day, nine months after Mentor had died, way out back, almost to the edge of the property line, I spotted two very tall, very graceful Sunflowers, swaying in the breeze. They seemed to have sprung up over night. I gaze out over the terrain from my writing room window, daily. They weren't there before.

Of course I take it as a sign. It makes me wonder.

I wonder if it means that Sunflower seeds can lie dormant for decades, or that Mentor and Vincent have met.

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click links to view larger images and see individual intimate stories
OR
click here to view a slideshow of the paintings in sequence

"MENTOR" Self Portrait Mentor Huebner (c) 1963 Oil on Masonite 30" X 24"	"MOJAVE GOLD" Mentor Huebner (c) 1953 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"	" A PALACE OF FUN" Mentor Huebner (c) 1955 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"
"THE BISTRO" Mentor Huebner (c) 1962 Oil on Painter's Board 22" X 26"	"SEXI BEACH BAR" Mentor Huebner (c) 1962 Oil on European Painter's Board 22" X 26"	"SAINT MARKS IN VENICE" Mentor Huebner (c) 1962 Oil on European Painter's Board 22" X 26"
"THE GRAND CANAL IN VENICE" Mentor Huebner (c) 1958 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"	"THE FOREIGNER" Mentor Huebner (c) 1969 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"	"HENRY FORD BRIDGE" Mentor Huebner (c) 1963 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"
"MORTAL WOUND" Mentor Huebner (c) 1957 Oil on Masonite 24" X 30"	"BOURBON STREET" Mentor Huebner (c) 1953 Oil on Masonite 22" X 26"	"CALIFORNIA GOLD" Mentor Huebner (c) 1959 Oil on Masonite 30" X 24"