Bloom

"When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God made object like a tree (that is) flowering.  If it clashes, it is not art." Paul Cezanne 1839-1906
Crab Apple Trees in bloom in Denver.

Wow, take a look at this balcony, isn't it delightful?! Doesn't it make you smile?! (look closely to see: Mickey Mouse, a hula hoop, and other small treasures) Perhaps it is an altar honoring the life of a small child?? It has to be in Latin America or Italy, maybe Spain.  I can't seem to find any information about who did and where.  But it's so festive and happy and you can tell whoever did it put lots of love into it.  Happy Valentines Day everyone! "Love is all you need"
via 

Picasso in his living room in Paris. Isn't it so cool to see his paintings everywhere?! 

In my kitchen, the first tulip for this year really brightens things up. Go out and get yourself one!  

Thanksgiving came and went...

My sister's Puritan Thanksgiving table decor detail. Leaves and pine cones found around her  yard.

To get the Puritan 'look' she used wood, white and iron. Traditional Italian Olive Salad in wooden bowl.

My niece photo styled this shot of us as we walked off the Thanksgiving feast  on the Highline Canal.

Bringing Autumn In

This shot was taken at sunrise this morning. There was a soft amber light (thanks to the trees outside my window that were ablaze in yellow) and I was attempting to photograph the beautiful rustic leaves I had gathered over the weekend. Kind of hard to see them here, they are glowing in real life.  Photo did NOT capture it as I had intended. I think I need the photography class on "how-to-capture-a-glow-in-pictures."

For these branches I combed my parents yard for a small gathering so that I could bring a bit of Fall inside my apartment. I think it was Leo Bascalia (remember him?) who during one of his inspirational lectures talked about how he would rake the leaves in his yard and then bring them all inside and dump them all over his floor. It was a sweet story about how much he loved the Fall and wanted it in the house as much as he wanted it outside. What an inspiring soul Leo Bascalia was.  So, here's to bringing in the Fall, and here's to Leo Bascalia!

I couldn't resist bringing Fall into the office today either! These berries were gathered on trees and bushes around the office building I work in.

Chimayo

Just back from another wonderful trip to Santa Fe.  Here I am with my mother and sister at Chimayo which is about 30 minutes north. Chimayo is a wonderful old village, very small, with a few dirt roads and a Catholic church that has a history for healing visitors with it's sacred soil. We loved it there. It was so quiet, so many stunning views. The scenic by-way you take to get to Chimayo is breathtaking.   And this year I remembered to photograph some of the exquisite jewelry I saw and decided to focus on my mother's beautiful creations. She was such an easy target! My mom has an artist's knack for arranging and designing and making it her own. Sometimes she'll attach pins to beads, or wear a cluster of pins, and other times she'll go for the simple statement of one sculptural piece all by itself.  All of her beads and pins have sentimental meaning to her. Many were given to her by her mother or her kids. It's a celebration when she wears jewelry, it's a celebration for everyone. Countless people come over to her to admire what she is wearing and tell her, with a big smile, how much they love it!  She's spreading the joy of living and inspiring everyone, everywhere she goes. Everyone who knows my mom loves this about her!

 

Red Pear and Tomato Salad

I'm still cooking up a storm in my kitchen, but at least now I can say that I'm painting in between meals. The tomatoes and pears in this photo are history. They made up a lovely salad (sans the lettuce) when I sliced them and added feta cheese, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, lemon juice, Celtic salt and pepper. Delicious fuel for an afternoon at the drawing board!

Meet Chaucy

I found this sweet bowl at a craft fair over the weekend. The potter is smart because her creations have charming imperfections. So happy I found this artist! You can visit her here.

Old Mexican Tourist Pottery

Once a year our small library hosts an antique appraisal fair and this year we took advantage of this free event. We were allowed to bring 2 items each and I brought in these two pieces of pottery that I've had for quite a while but have never really known much about them. I thought maybe they were Native American but instead found out the pitcher is Mexican, circa 1930's - 40's and the bowl is probably from Peru, 1950's; both were made specifically for the tourist market. The expert that looked over my items said they were very nice examples and gave a dollar amount of about $50. each. Considering I bought them for a buck at the Goodwill, I'd say I did OK (big grin). We had great fun watching all the characters (and I'm sure they were watching us too!) and couldn't help but feel like we had landed on an episode of Antique Roadshow. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more of this fancy Mexican tourist pottery, you never know when it might show up at a garage sale, flea market or thrift store. 

New from Shabby Chic

 My on-line catalog of the new Shabby Chic Couture Shop arrived today. Beautiful stuff! The Shabby Chic line has always reminded me of the comfortable English homes I've seen on Masterpiece Classics, a Jane Austen novel come to life, but with ruffles, pastels and pretty accents that they didn't have back in the day. I love the well worn look, makes me want to pour a cup of tea and relax. And I especially adore this new catalog for the original art it sells; floating, dancing garments = haunting paintings (see below by Laurence Amelie). Everything is feminine and pretty in this shop. Give me a guy who can live with some pink!

Visit Shabby Chic Couture here.

Painting by Laurence Amelie - Tutus

Lunch

This is a make-shift pasta dish I invented over the weekend. Was so delicious, I wanted to pass it onto you! If you look closely you will see that I used two kinds of pasta, no fancy reason for that, I just discovered I had a little penne left in one bag and threw it in with the new bag of rigatoni. The rigatoni is a slightly heavier noodle than the penne, but the cook time didn't change. I like my pasta firm, usually 10 minutes in a high altitude kitchen and I always add salt to my pasta water, seems to bring out the flavor of the noodle more. While your noodles are cooking, heat some olive oil in a shallow pan, add grape tomatoes that are halved, thinly sliced garlic and scallions (with some of the green part) and some chopped fresh parsley (I had a tiny bit of zucchini, about a 1/4 of one, that I cut up and threw in too). Cook this until the vegetables are soft but still colorful, this will take about 10 minutes like the pasta. Let vegies cool while you strain your noodles. Let the pasta cool slightly too. While everything is cooling off, wash and dry and trim a bunch of watercress greens, and by a bunch I mean a lot of it! Watercress is the latest food I am crazy about. It has a distinctive bite that reminds me of a radish (watercress is in the mustard family). To plate your lunch place a bunch of watercress onto a serving  plate. Place the warm pasta over the watercress, top with the sauteed vegetables, add some chip-like slices of asiago cheese, drizzle with a little more olive oil, sprinkle on some Celtic salt (the only kind I use), and give it a few turns from a pepper mill. A few weeks ago I made something similar but added chicken strips to the vegetable saute. That was good too, and more filling. This fresh pasta salad is super easy to make. I can whip this up in my studio, when I should be painting, I'm cooking and eating instead!  

New Art

I've been in a void lately, as far as producing art goes. But recently this painting came as a memory of times spent in our Rocky Mountains during autumn. If you haven't been to Colorado in the fall, it really can be this colorful and vibrant. Granted, my artist eyes see things a little differently, but it is spectacular. On a typical autumn day in the Rockies the pine fragrant air is light and crisp, a cool breeze is blowing, the high altitude sun is summer hot, not a cloud is in sight, snow fall from last winter lingers in the distance. (Our colors are dazzling and bright, sunglasses are required!)

Colorado in the fall. Acrylic on canvas. Copyright Thea LaVigna 2011

Why we love our 50's!

Turning fifty is like being popcorn, someone turns up the heat and suddenly you become something much larger than you were before.
At fifty dress rehearsal ends and the real story begins.
Fifty has the guts to say what she thinks, wear what she wants, and be who she is despite who she was.
Fifty makes you a good listener and someone who is worth listening to.
After fifty all the little things become beautiful and all the big things become small.
When you're fifty crows feet fly south and laugh lines say you've lived strong.
At fifty Love becomes the most important thing in the world.
After fifty your nest gets bigger and there are new eggs to hatch.
When you've hit fifty bold becomes your middle name, and adventure is always hyphenated.
And most of all, fifty defines success as how happy you are and how happy you make others.

**Summer Vacation

You can drive from Denver to Santa Fe and back to Denver all in one day, but why would you?!
I was looking for adventure last week and I found it in the form of this grueling day trip.  Six hours getting there, six hours spent there, six hours back. I know.  Loved ones discouraged me but I wanted adventure with a wide open road ahead of me, and I got both with this awesome trip. I'd do it again in a heart beat but next time I'll bring along a few more heart beats to share the drive and the panoramic vistas.

**I've been visiting Santa Fe every autumn for the past 18 years so I know my way around this wonderful place like the back of my hand.  When I pulled into town I felt I had arrived home away from home for the afternoon. First thing I did was visit all of my favorite bakeries. Santa Fe is known for its food and it's no wonder that some of the countries best bakeries (or so I hear) are in this Boulder-like New Mexican town. I knew I probably wouldn't be back until October so I snagged as many goodies for the road as I possibly could. Boxes of the huge and impossibly good Cinnamon Melts from Sage Bake House and delectable Butter Cookies from Clafoutis found their way into the back of my CRV.  Early the following morning I delivered these pastries to my Colorado people so they could enjoy them with their breakfast coffee. Service with a smile.

Community tables are a super fun alternative to dining alone!
I don't know about you but up until this solo trip to Santa Fe I had never dined alone at a restaurant community table. I had my chance last week in Santa Fe when I was hungry for lunch and found myself right in front of my favorite Cafe Pasquals. Those of you who have been there know that this place is an institution. Pasquals is a farm-to-table cafe over flowing with New Mexican decor and flowers and filled to the brim with diners from all over the world.

** I decided to take a chance and try a seat at the community table. Luckily several others were seated at the same time so we actually shared a meal together. Once we were all seated there was a shout out from a gentleman who smiled at us "I'll be your Uncle for the next hour" that's when I knew I was in the right company! Also at the table was a young woman who is a chef at the Swedish Embassy in Rome, along with her adorable brother who was in from Sweden, both here for a pending family wedding in Pecos. Then there was the silver smith from San Diego with her mother from Phoenix, the ladies from Crested Butte; our temporary uncle and his wife were from Amarillo. 


What do you talk about with strangers? We talked about the food of Santa Fe compared to the food of Rome and the fact that our chef friend was so tired of pasta! pasta! pasta! all the time (I've never seen anyone happier to see chilies and avocados). We talked to the young Swede about how he wanted to move permanently to the american southwest and snag a job in finance as he was so determined to do. Our 'uncle' from Amarillo must have told us every one-liner joke he knew, he also showed us a photo taken while he served in Vietnam in the 1960s. My mind declared him the character 'King', he was endearing and enthusiastic in every way possible. There was chit chat about the pending wedding in Pecos, the profuse wild flowers of Crested Butte, and the upcoming Indian Market. There wasn't a moment we didn't learn something about each other or Santa Fe. Time flew by, good byes were said. What an amazing experience.    


**I started writing this last week. My week off was actually the week of July 4th. It is amazing all the things I squeezed into my 'stay-cation'. The day trip to Santa Fe was a highlight, for sure, but there were many other bright lights too!
  

Coyotes in Littleton

Saw a coyote in my front yard this morning. Exciting indeed. It's nice feeling like I have a bit of the wild outside my door. Sometimes, however, that nice feeling is interrupted by concern for the safety of our dogs and cats. Encounters with coyotes have become legendary in my neighborhood and now the folks who walk their small canines do so with rocks in their pockets and whistles around their neck. I've been told stories that were pretty scary, especially the one about the time a lady grabbed her Chihuahua in her arms and ran home with a coyote following her. He was obviously not giving up. She was fortunate that a man driving by saw what was happening and stopped his car to help her. The coyote finally gave up and ran off. This morning even the squirrels were scared as they ran in numbers from the bottom of a Spruce tree in my direction. I think they thought I could save them from being breakfast. I was glad that they felt safe with me.

Chicken Poop Lip Balm?

Every once and a while my friend Kristie and I like to tell each other what the other has found to be their current favorite products. The three in the photo above are my recent picks, and I wanted to share them with you too.

* The Hazelnut Oil is not as pricey as you might think. I found it for $4.99 at Whole Foods and if kept refrigerated it will last a long time. This oil gave a perfect nutty flavor to my salad on Easter, everyone loved it! A nice change from the Olive Oil that I usually use. I'm going to do an Internet search for more recipes that call for Hazelnut Oil so I can add it more often.

* Wax Paper Bags, boy do I love these! They are even cute. Cute?! Yeah, they are cute little waxy brown bags. I like to try to be environmentally conscious so they are a perfect alternative to plastic bags for packing up snacks and sandwiches for the road, and for wrapping up things for the fridge. This Natural Value brand has a few products to pick from using the same waxy paper. I bought mine at Natural Grocers but Whole Foods also carries this line.

* And are you on the look-out for a sunscreen for your sensitive face like I was? Well, I've found it with MyChelle Sun Shield. This is such a great product! They use Zinc Clear so you get the natural coverage that zinc provides without looking like a chalky ghost.

Now, Kristie has some explaining to do since she casually wrote me a note saying her next favorite product is "Chicken Poop Lip Balm". I'm curious, what must she mean? I'll let you know when I find out!  

Small Town Girl

It doesn't take much to make me happy and these new signs posted all over my small town definitely put a smile on my face! Wow, I just love the design of this sign. It's such a charming reminder that Spring has arrived in my historic village. Now I will know where to walk, bike or drive to get the most of these 40 year old trees while they are flowering, which isn't for very long! Makes it much more precious, don't you think?!

Annie's Glass

Take a look at this beautiful glass by my 17 year old niece! 

Thanks to her parents, she and her brother went from pre-school thru12th grade in an arts based school.  This school has a rigorous but fun curriculum that focuses on the arts by preparing students for life in college (in high school they are doing college level math) and beyond (in early childhood they learned math and science by baking bread, knitting, gardening).

Once they are seniors in high school these kids are so appreciative of the arts and sciences and so confident with many subjects that you can literally feel their enthusiasm. 

And last Friday night we all watched 

as the seniors presented their final projects to family, faculty and friends. For senior project each student (Annie has 10 classmates!!) picked a subject that they wanted to study in depth. We saw presentations on Stone Carving; Fashion Design; Photography; Mind & Body and Spirit;... and Glass Blowing. Annie picked Glass Blowing because she loves the work of Dale Chihuly. Her adventure began last fall when she found a local mentor who she took private classes with. The pieces she made below were on display while she gave her presentation which gave us a glimpse into her experience with this craft. 

I am awe inspired.

March is Green

Spring arrived on Sunday and green is on my mind. The grass outside my office window is beginning to wake up and stretch toward our high altitude sun and I do believe I see some green! I feel like celebrating this moment of green, so I've found some Spring green on Flickr that is as fresh as the green outside my window.

Bottom row, center: The glass wall makes me want to build one like it, and I know just where to go for my supplies. When I was in Rocky Mountain National Forest a few years ago I found a secret little rock shop tucked away in the small town of Estes Park. It was there that I discovered they not only sold rocks but also big chunks of industrial glass. I remember digging through a big huge box of the stuff looking for just the right pieces and colors. I was wondering why they had big, heavy worker gloves next to the box but it wasn't until later when it was too late that I also saw a sign that said "must wear gloves to handle glass". That was AFTER my hands had cuts and were bleeding. But it wasn't so bad, I just washed my hands off and put on some band-aids and traveled home with my treasures. Next time I'm there I will be a seasoned buyer and use the gloves to find my glass chunks. And by the looks of this wall, I will need the gloves in order to survive.
Be sure and click the links below for more information and a closer look at these stunning images.

  1. macro art , 2. Green Top, Booties and Ushi, 3. The Green Fairy, 4. Green., 5. Art Glass, 6. Green Eyes Folk Art Angel Painting