blog
Got Paint?
The challenge I posed myself in This is Not a Tree was to create a work of art that was durable and eco-friendly. The papier-mâché process gets you half-way there. To date, the fly in the ointment has been the paint and the final finish, both of which are, well, “not green”. While you can purchase […]
This is not a Tree
In Cradle to Cradle, Michael Braungart and William McDonough ask people to rethink the way things are made. Rather than recycling things designed for single use like plastic bottles and newspapers, which is detrimental to the environment (downcycling), he suggests that we manufacture items from ingredients designed to be reused multiple times without harming the […]
Vanity on Display at Los Angeles Valley College
Ever challenging her students, Carol Bishop instructed us to depict the concept of entropy. As background, I read an utterly confounding treatise by the artist Rudolph Arnheim called Entropy and Art: an Essay on Disorder and Order. After that, a scientific explanation of entropy and the expansion of the universe by my husband left me […]
The Jungle Book leaps off the page
From the moment I could read, I lost myself in books. Exotic worlds opened up to me from between countless pages. It was my escape, my joy, my education. Many years later, I am making the transition from print to digital. While I embrace this brave new world, it is not without a sense of […]
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Free Pups!
We’re not talking Chihuahuas; we’re talking Agave Tequiliana (aka Blue Agave) pups. This handsome Mexican native anchors my Los Angeles garden and produces prodigious numbers of offspring with no help from birds or bees or me. The pups are the genetically identical baby plants that spring up from the base of the parent. While the plant can […]
Hug some trees, have some fun: Arbor Day events at LA Valley College
Come Celebrate Arbor Day at the LAVC Arbor Day Festival on April 26 at Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC). Did you know LAVC was awarded Tree Campus status by the Arbor Day Foundation last year? It is the only community college in California and the only college in LA with that honor. The LAVC Associated […]
Mama’s gotta brand new bag
Do not underestimate the power of shame. I have none, but one of my friends (RK) was so appalled when I pulled out my Ziploc bag wallet at a coffee shop that she took it upon herself to rectify the problem. (Turns out, even Daily Candy was on to me.) When she couldn’t buy the ideal […]
Put your art where your heart is
As a direct result of information disseminated by the National Marfan Foundation, I was able to diagnose myself with the condition. This information saved my life. Marfan Syndrome is a genetic disorder of the connective tissue. People with Marfan Syndrome tend to be unusually tall, with long limbs and long, thin fingers. Because connective tissue is found throughout the body, Marfan Syndrome […]
Sealed with a kiss
A kind assessment of my gardening style is “Desert meets Country Cottage.” Others might call it chaos. This speaks to a complete lack of restraint on the part of the gardener. No time is this more evident than in April when California poppies, tall pink Clarkia, Blue Flax, and Lavender “Spanish Dancer” all but obliterate […]
Joel Linares in his studio: Learning from the master
Most of the time, artists admire the sources of inspiration from a distance. Many are already dead. Lucky are we who have a chance to work, even briefly, with the master. Yesterday I was able to spend a couple of hours with the artist who has carried on a family tradition of celebrating the Day […]