Blooming Mondays: Painter's Delight (iris, 05.14.12)

Van Gogh would be in seventh heaven, don’t you think?

Celebrate Mother's Day Well!

I’m celebrating mine with a stunning raspberry pastry from Bottega Louie and a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea in my favorite tea cup. How are you celebrating yours?

Downtown Los Angeles

Look up. Look down. Look around. What do you see?

Blooming Mondays: Explosions of Color (gerber daisies, 04.30.12)

It’s spring. Really, is there anything to do but laugh and spin?

pearls of wisdom

Many times in my life, I have navigated situations with the grace of an elephant in a candy store. I have felt the need to prove myself with all the subtlety of a brass band in a library, afraid to be silent or still long enough to learn from others. I have shrunk from the risk of failure rather than embrace its power as a catalyst for change, and have then found myself shrunken.

Recently, however, I’ve found myself breathing a bit more deeply, giving myself a bit more space and looking for something other than all the answers or the magic pill or an authoritative nod of approval.

What I seek now are pearls of wisdom, as small as grains of sand and as valuable in their natural, accidental state as in a well-packaged strand.

Have you discovered any recently that you treasure?

Dark Chocolate S'mores Muffin

I have become somewhat obsessed with this little smores-like muffin invention. There are various imitators but Gotta Have S’more is the best maker/baker/evil-doer-who-wants-to-make-me-fat manufacturer of the treat I’ve found. My favorite flavor is the dark chocolate, of course, but I haven’t tasted a single one that is anything less than divine.

marshmellow, chocolate, graham cracker, oh my!

I had my first taste of this little bit of heaven at an arts fair a few months back. It literally stopped me in my tracks and I proceeded to accost every person who walked by for the next 5 minutes to insist they try a sample as I weakly gathered my bliss-shattered wits about me. Seriously, these things are that good.

Blooming Mondays: Never Boring (tulips, 4.23.12)

Isn’t it funny, the stories we hold in our head about what’s exciting, how things should be, the way the world is supposed to look. I’m discovering that I really dig this process of discovering the fictions I used to hold as fact and the opportunity to create new stories, better developed ones.

What stories are you rewriting, whether inconsequential or profound?

Trees by Wolf Kahn

I won’t lie. The COLORS grab me too. But there’s something so very dreamy about smudged edges.

"Dark Clump of Trees" oil on canvas, Wolf Kahn

A lack of clear boundaries frequently gets me in trouble in real life but in a painting the result is mysterious and joyous. This reminder of the beauty and benefit of imprecision is crucial for me. Perhaps for you, too?

"High Trees" by Wolf Kahn

I urge you to explore Kahn’s extensive body of work but start by watching this incredibly inspirational video that will make you question what it means to be an artist, how to overcome obstacles and the value (or lack thereof) of color.

And in case you didn’t take the opportunity to jump on the Kate Moriarty link above, or you simply can’t stop thinking of Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis every time you type read her last name, check out the below taste of her work.

"Expansion" by Kate Moriarty

Isn’t that the coolest title?

Orpheum Theatre, ceiling detail, lobby

I revisited the golden era of Los Angeles this weekend; the Los Angeles Conservancy sponsored an event at one of the famous movie palaces in downtown L.A. – the Orpheum. At this sumptuous example of bygone glamour, they held a screening of Chinatown, one of my all-time favorite films.

Written by Robert Towne. Directed by Roman Polanski.

I’d never seen the movie before on the large screen. The impact of its themes – water rights, land issues, racism, misogyny and incest – is that much more powerful when the imagery is projected three stories high. The beauty of the venue made me yearn nostalgically for the days of white gloves and men’s fedoras.

Opened in 1926.

Is there some bit of architecture from a bygone era that is evocative for you?

Blooming Mondays: Wild Flowers (04.16.12)

Bare feet and flouncy short skirts are the weekend uniform. And the hillsides are crowded in wild flowers. No need to wait for May.

What’s your favorite harbinger of spring?