Carry Your Own Joy The Abstract Paintings and Life of Hari E. Thomas, A San Francisco Artist

This book is a biography about a San Francisco artist and offers a retrospective of his abstract paintings. It is also a book about friendship, describing a remarkable person. Beloved for his free spirit, humor and incredible counseling skills, Hari E. Thomas (1938-2011) was a gifted and prolific abstract painter who left a legacy of truly beautiful, colorful, mixed media works, mostly on paper. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Hari moved to San Francisco in 1969, the Summer of Love, and he remained a resident there for over 40 years. Always wary of egotism and intent on subduing his own ego, Hari rarely showed his paintings in the later half of his life, hence he is unknown as a painter except with close friends and family. Presented here are 108 painting reproductions, together with Hari’s life story based on interviews with his closest friends and family, and on the author’s memories of him. Harry's paintings add significantly to the art heritage of global abstract painters and to the art legacy of Americans, especially African Americans and Native Americans, since he was a blend of those two ethnicities. His story exudes with love and brotherhood and describes friendships crossing all lines of race, culture and creed. His story therefore contributes to a world yearning for peace.

Asha Carolyn Young is a painter, writer and teacher who relished a close friendship with Hari E. Thomas for over twenty years. Together with Hari’s granddaughter, Asha became curator and steward of Hari’s hundreds of works of abstract art after he passed on. She also manages his painting website at: http://ashari-galleria.fineartamerica.com. Asha is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles and Berkeley (B.A., History, and M.A., Cultural Anthropology, respectively). She now lives with her husband, Ron McMath, and their pet family in the coastal town of Gualala, in northern California. Her own paintings show at: http://asha-young.fineartamerica.com. Born in Chiang Mai, Thailand to American parents, Asha had opportunity at age 15 to study brush painting with a Chinese painting master, Kan Yi Chen, when her family lived in Vientiane, Laos. Later, in Berkeley, California, she practiced sumi ink painting in a small group for five years under the guidance of Japanese master painter, Kayoko Bird. Asha also enjoyed many drawing, painting and Art History classes at Laney College in Oakland, California.