The first month of 2024 is dishing up real chilly temps and pesky expenses. LA winters are usually mild, but we’ve had extra cold nights and rainy days, and will finish out January with 80 degrees today and a return to wet cold by the 31st. I’m not complaining, mind you. The rest of the country has suffered deep freezes and dangerous extreme weather. Even Portland, OR, where our daughters live, had multiple ice events this month that kept residents indoors and stores closed! And San Diego to our south had a flash flood that wiped out homes and forced a neighborhood to flee in five foot deep water. We are thankful for our new roof and distance from hillsides and waterways…and my plants are very happy for the extra watering!
The aforementioned pesky expenses were not unexpected, but still untimely. My car tires were warning me for weeks with “low pressure” alerts. Firestone said yes, you have a nail, but no, the tire is too worn to save. So Costco installed four new shoes and now we’re ready to roll! In fact, we cruised up to Ventura yesterday to take sister BJ to lunch on a gorgeous warm Saturday. We ate tacos on the pier and basked in the perfect sunshine with lots of lovely doggies on parade.
The Ventura Pier, damaged in recent extreme surf event
I’ve had fun school groups to lead on tours at the Getty this month. Kids say the craziest things, and even the security officers get into the act. I’ll include images of some current art on view – always something new to see at my favorite place! Here’s a link to a story about the 3-year conservation project Getty just completed on the Adam and Eve (which belong to Norton Simon Museum): https://www.getty.edu/news/lucas-cranach-the-elder-adam-and-eve-getty-conservation/
Painting of Holy Family by Gerard David, Adam and Eve by Cranach restored by Getty Conservation, Sudanese Man by Cordier is amazing combination of marble and bronze!
In the last few weeks, I’ve gone on two train adventures – one south to Orange County, one north to Ventura. There’s a station just a few minutes from our house (we can hear the whistles blow when the wind is right) with ample free parking. Proximity and convenience are great motivators – now if the trains would just run on time, I’d be riding the rails regularly!
Paola and I took Amtrak to Irvine on a Friday to meet the Getty Galz at the Orange County Museum of Art. We beat the group that carpooled down (they got lost), but returning home was a bust. Our northbound Surfliner was over two hours late and we had to stick by the tracks because they never announced a revised ETA. Then when we finally boarded, the brief stop at Union Station turned into a train change, more unexplained waiting, then the announcement that we were waiting for paramedics! I got home at 11 p.m. instead of the scheduled 7:30!!
The artventure was fun – we saw an excellent Alice Neel exhibition and had a Peruvian lunch – and then dashed over to Balboa Island and did lots of walking. (My new knee held up great – 11,500 steps!! – but my hip not so much.) And I really enjoyed riding the 3-car ferry across to the quaint tourist destination which I hadn’t visited in over 40 years.
Last Friday I Amtrak’ed to Ventura to visit Getty Gal Robin who is in the process of moving up the coast to be closer to her grandkids. We had a wonderful day seeing some local highlights – the botanical gardens, Main Street restaurants and cool shops, the Mission – all in walking distance of each other! The vibe is very laid back, like a mini and less hoity-toity Santa Barbara. I see why Robin loves her new neighborhood, and I’m looking forward to more train escapes up her way.
It’s been a busy month (that’s my excuse for a lag in posting) of visitors – 3 sets of company compressed into 3 weeks! Our daughter and her husband started the month, and it’s always great to have them here, even when their time is busy seeing local friends. Devon spent much of the visit sewing her outfit for the wedding they came for, and her meticulous perseverance in making and fitting a challenging pattern is impressive! She started sewing when she was very young and wanted elaborate Halloween costumes beyond my willingness to attempt!
Our next visitors were Hawaiian friends Claire and Les, stopping off on their way home from a European river cruise. We enjoyed catching up and also sharing favorite local art museums with them – Norton Simon and the Getty! Claire and Mercer go way back “pre-dk”, and Les is a recent re-found friend she knew from high school. Good people, good times.
Our third visitors were our beloved friends Charlie and Donna, who we met in 1989 when our first daughters started kindergarten together. Donna was their intrepid Brownie and Girl Scout leader for many years who instilled a love of camping even beyond what we were already doing as a family. Sadly for us, they now live on the other side of the U.S. so we don’t get together very often. Reunions with Charlie and Donna are always filled with laughter, great reminiscing, and a sense that no time has passed.
Now I need to prepare for all the Leo birthdays among our peeps (including mine), and anticipate with excitement the late August visit from my sister! Cathy and I are planning a mini-road trip to see our brother in Tucson, stopping to see Fran in Chandler, then up to Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon for a day at the Grand Canyon! Here’s hoping the weather gods will take pity on us and we don’t cook. It’s been a very hot summer since the May Gray and June Gloom ended, and excessive heat usually lasts into October here in SoCal.
That’s my story for now. Still reading too much, painting not enough, but happy with my “knew knee” and the joy of friends and family. Stay cool, y’all!
Getty has installed a new set of pastels in their rotating gallery, a selection of portraits from the 1600s-1700s, and as always I’m amazed at the skill on display. I’ve been trying out the medium and subject matter lately, and remembering how fun but challenging chalk pastels are! I’m playing with wild colors not naturalism, so my respect is tripled to see how the artists back in the day created realistic images. There are no photos to check whether these are “likenesses”, but wouldn’t it be fun to know? Step into my time machine (my nickname for the Getty elevators), and let’s visit a couple of French artists…
Portrait of Monseigneur Lous Doni d’Attichy by Robert Nanteuil, 1663Head of King Louis XV by Francois Le Moyne, 1729
Below are my recent efforts at expressive color using soft pastels. I am more experienced (and better) at drawing than painting, so pastels feel more comfortable in my hand than brushes. This week it’s back to watercolor, hoping to improve with practice!
Looks like this will be the year of once-a-month blog posts. And this month of March is starting off with more rain – good for the drought, bad for our leaky roof! 2023 may also be the year of finally replacing our 1938 Spanish tile topper. Its exceptionally long life is much appreciated, but we will have to finally update ye old homestead – maybe even add solar panels!!
“All the elements making up the decoration of this clock refer to the fleeting nature of time. The winged clock face refers to the ancient symbol for time, an hourglass with wings. Surrounding the clockface, the branches of laurel, symbolizing fame, and the garland of fruit and flowers, symbolizing mortality, indicate that time conquers all. The ensemble is meant to remind the viewer of the Roman poet Horace’s dictum carpe diem (seize the day)” – J. Weaver https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/107THY
I’m thinking about time because tomorrow starts a 3-session Getty enrichment series on CLOCKS! I usually overlook these items in our Decorative Arts galleries, but they are important signifiers of 18th century (European) culture. Clocks are combinations of design, technology and craftsmanship, and we have some beautiful examples in the collection. I like this particular wall clock and its reminder to carpe diem.
Time flies is certainly more and more apparent as I get older, and yet I’ve always liked that phrase, maybe because I’ve always wanted to fly! Here’s a quote from the Getty blog by associate curator of sculpture and decorative arts Jeffrey Weaver:
“Museums acquire objects made at different times by human hands in order to preserve the tangible results of cultural achievement for the edification and delight of current and future generations. The objects in a museum serve as time’s footprints—each item reveals something about the time in which it was produced, and our individual reactions to these objects reveal our state of mind at the moment we encounter them. This is magical.”
There was a fashion in the late 80’s of wearing “scatter pins” on vests or jackets, and one of my favorite pieces of jewelry – gifted by my husband – was this pin that feels like a descendent of the Getty clock. Time flies, and we saw it up close in the 90s as our daughters grew and changed before our eyes. I appreciate time in different ways now that I’m retired: no alarm clock, no burdensome schedule to prep/teach/grade. But now my own diminishing time ahead is a daily reminder to seize the day – make art, read, travel, communicate with far flung friends and relatives. Carpe diem is actually a good mantra at every age!
Today is the last of January – oh my! I haven’t been inspired to write, but hate to go too long without adding some thoughts to this journal. So here goes…
My watercolor interpretation of a painting, unknown artist
I’ve been doing lots of wellness checks at Kaiser this month: annual scans, pokes and squeezes! So far so good, and I’m on a new surgery wait list for a partial knee replacement. I was on the total knee list, but second and third opinions recommended the lesser operation which has a faster and easier recovery. Sis and I are still plotting a Scottish adventure and hoping we will be able to do it late summer. Depends on my knee, so no bookings as yet.
We are having a rainy and cold winter, a rarity lately. Cold is semi-normal, but these frequent rain events are very welcome in drought land. Hills are green, our plants and trees are happy, and no leaking roof – yay! However, natural gas rates are through the roof, so heating, cooking and hot water are the latest areas we have to conserve. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. But we are so thankful to have a roof, and retirement income. So many don’t.
Elizabeth Catlett, my drawing from a photo
My British friend Sue is in SoCal for a month, and it’s great to hang out, laugh and reminisce. We are planning an artventure this week, and in this first month of the year I’ve already been to two art collections in addition to the Getty. The Broad has a great show on the South African artist William Kentridge. He does drawings, animations based on his drawings, sculptures, collages, and sound installations. The variety and humor reminds me of Dada and Surrealism, with political commentary underlying all his work.
Next month our puppy Echo will be six years old, and I celebrate my first six years of retirement. And the truly amazing anniversary will be Mercer’s ten years since his bone marrow transplant! We are extremely grateful to still be a team. Life is good.
Seems like this is the hot holiday lately, with neighbors decorating and planning performances. Across the street is a scary house with costumed zombies, etc. We limit our decor to pumpkins and my autumn leaves door banner, and we bought one large bag of candy. But since NextDoor is promoting our area as a trick-or-treating destination, we are now considering blowing town altogether. Echo doesn’t like noises, and freaks out over any departure from the norm, so a visit to BJ before she leaves Palm Springs for her new place in Oxnard may be the ticket.
My Getty tours have been fun this month. Last Monday and this Monday, we are presenting VAE (virtual tours) to high school students in Rio, Brazil!! Their cultural program handles the translation, and the kids were very engaged and full of comments last week. They were most interested – I think – in the contemporary “altered” art by a Brazilian indigenous artist that reimagines the European version of colonization. We will do the same three artworks this week, with a few minor tweaks. And my in-person tours these last Fridays have been 3rd and 4th graders, a perfect age for conversations in the galleries. Week before last the teacher told me I was the best docent she’s ever had there! Music to a school docent’s ears.
Tomorrow I have to find some birthday surprises for Devon and bake her some cookies. And Whit called tonight to tell us she’s the new owner of an old trailer, which she towed back to Portland from Idaho by herself!! She got it for free, and put it on David’s property as her new “tiny house”! It needs work, but David said he’d help and it was his idea that she move out of his house. She’s been very stressed about finding somewhere else to live, so we are hoping this will be a good solution for everyone.
I’m enjoying practicing portraits – learning gouache as well as watercolor – for my online class. This semester we are only doing value studies, no color, a great way to improve my eye for seeing the planes of the face. And I’ve been reading a lot – just finished biographies of two different women artists: Sofonisba Anguissola and Maria Sibylla Merian, both working in the 1600-1700s.
Oops, I’ve let a whole month slip by without an entry – too busy with planning and enjoying my first trip to the Right coast since Covid! Cathy and I worked out a really fun itinerary, friends and family were great hosts, and the weather gods were totally in alignment. That last bit was just barely the case as hurricane Ian was slamming Florida as I flew home! Here are the highlights:
Female Justices and us!
Flying into National Airport in Virginia (I refuse to call it Reagan National) was easy and my high school bud and college roommate Martie picked me up and hosted my first two nights. She and husband Chris live in a self-built (father/son) amazing log house set in a lush green dale with pond, ducks and deer. And totally secluded from the surrounding urban area of Alexandria! Next day we drove into DC and met up with my other long-time pal Pat and my younger daughter Devon who was also visiting her bestie and had timed her trip to join up with mine. We four loved the Whistler’s Women in White exhibit in the East Wing of National Gallery, wandered through the NGA to see some other favorites, then lunched in the sculpture garden before walking over to the National Portrait Gallery to see the winners of their annual (or biennial?) competition. Just the right amount of art and a tad too much walking for my bum knee. Back at Martie’s, she and Chris grilled dinner outdoors, and party included Pat and Mike, Devon and Danny. Good times, with deer photobombing my people shots!
Tuckahoe Plantation, Thomas Jefferson’s boyhood home
Early Thursday morning Martie dropped me at the train station near their house and I was in Richmond by 9:30. Cathy picked me up and we went directly to a plein air painting event at Tuckahoe Plantation. Beautiful setting to wander and sketch, and so relaxing. Back at her house, she and Tim made us BLTs for lunch and we sat and chatted on their porch with entertainment by kitties Inky and Moochy. Then off to meet D&D’s train, fast-food supper and dropped them at niece Julie’s house. Best part of that afternoon was the gorgeous orange sunset as we drove to Chesterfield!
We enjoyed the Tyler clan and having everyone together!
Friday morning was more art-related errands: picking up and dropping off Cathy’s paintings to local exhibits, then some prep for next day’s pre-dawn departure for the mountains! The Dartez crew (Cathy’s younger daughter, husband, and 3 kids) arrived from Chesapeake about 3:30, and we all headed over to Julie’s for the pizza party with their whole family. Good fun and silly antics around a fire pit in their wooded back yard, a group photo, and back to Cathy’s.
Saturday morning Cathy and I were up and out and got to Julie’s by 6:00 a.m. to pick up D&D – still dark out, the sun did some more special effects as we drove south. I tried to spell Cathy on driving, but by this time my knee was not cooperating so she had to do most of it (neither D nor D drive!!). Made good time and were in Bryson City – after obligatory stop at the Asheville Farmer’s Market – in time to catch some of the Harvest Festival, pick up some boiled peanuts (yum), and get deli dishes and groceries for the weekend. As we were unpacking at the Mountain House, Margaret roared up the driveway (too steep for quiet ascent) and invited us to ride up to the top of Hickory Cove in her Polaris all-terrain vehicle for the amazing views. Spectacular afternoon sunshine and long vistas of rolling Smoky Mountains, so green and unlike our mountains here in SoCal! Quiet evening on the porch before early to bed.
Sunday Cathy and I made our traditional Mountain House breakfast, a menu dating back to when we were kids and Daddy and Aunt Ruth did the honors: biscuits, bacon and fried apples!! Cousin Jesse stopped by for some laughter and sharing memories, and brought us some of his chocolate chip cookies. Late morning we drove back into Bryson and managed to meet up (organized by text) with Devon’s good friend Rhye and her family. They hung out at a small brewery on the main street while Cathy and I did some window shopping, then we all discovered a beautiful spot we never knew about: Island Park is just that – an island, reached by footbridge, in the river that bisects town! There were canoes and kayaks practicing in the rapids, and Cathy and I did some watercolors while the kids walked around the park. There was an ice cream stop before goodbyes, then we four drove back to the Mountain House and ate leftovers for supper. Devon and I played some Chinese Checkers, and she outsmarted me twice! After admiring the starry night, crawled under our quilts (very chilly night) and were immediately wide awake as rain hit the tin roof with a short blast of crazy noise!
Monday we decided to go to Deep Creek to see the waterfalls as it was too chilly for the usual summer tubing activity. Again Cathy and I did some sketching while the youngers hiked the trails on another beautiful crisp fall day. Everyone was getting hungry, so we found delicious BBQ from a food truck parked by a tap room in Bryson, and visited the history museum in the old Courthouse. When we got back to the House, Jesse stopped by for another fun chin-wag of story-telling and memories. He and Margaret live on the mountain most of the year, and built their own sweet 2-story house which has recently been visited by local bears!!
That was the coldest night yet, and Cathy hauled in more blankets from her car for us to curl up under. Tuesday morning we all helped close the house up, short version, as Cathy was coming back for a night after taking us to Atlanta. Headed to Ann and Walter’s in Hiawassee for lunch and a nice visit – she made soup and ambrosia – and looking at old family photos. D&D helped them reconfigure wifi on their devices, and we took pix together before hitting the road again. Stopped at Ann’s favorite tourist spot, Mercier Orchards, for shopping (huge selection of decor, gifts, foods) and a gas-up for the road. We paid $2.97 a gallon, half what fuel costs in LA!! Got to Woodstock and Lydia’s house in time for a big family pizza party: she’d included her three kids, spouses, baby, plus our cousin Fred and Sara!! Lots of kidding and laughter, and admiring her big mastiff-lab pup Walter. Lydia is a massage therapist, and worked on my knee with her various devices, creams, and massage. Felt good but too far down the hurt path to fix me.
Ann and Walter
Wednesday morning we relaxed and decided it was too difficult to include a stop at the High Art Museum before the airport, so Cathy departed solo, Lydia went to work, and D&D and I called a Lyft after hanging out with Walter on the porch awhile. Got to ATL with couple hours before our flights, which ended up not being too much: their TSA line was way long! D&D were also flying Delta but not the same terminal as they were going home to Portland! My flight was full, but luckily I had an aisle seat and could stretch my knee during the 4-hour flight.
It was wonderful to spend time with my sister, as well as D&D, and all the nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends!! Mercer and Echo survived my absence, and it was good to be back home after my Great Escape ’22!!
We are so ready for summer heat to be over, but sadly aware that October in LA is often just as hot as August! Thankful for our central AC, our terracotta tile roof, and shade trees front and back, and we’re coping with the killer sun coming into our newly unshaded west side of the house with temporary “black-out curtains” McGivered out of dark pillowcases and a vinyl tablecloth. Bring on fall, y’all!!
My autumn schedule gets into full swing next week, and I’ve already dropped one class because I was feeling overbooked! Between giving virtual school tours on Mondays and leading in-person school groups at the Getty on Fridays, I’m also taking a portrait painting class – my favorite subject matter. And maybe I will finally get into a regular exercise routine…OK, I’m an optimist, remember?
Nice to see 60’s architecture repurposed
Four friends and I did a fun artventure last month: took the Metrolink to Riverside to visit the new Cheech Marin museum of Chicano Art, “The Cheech”! Colorful art in a spacious repurposed library building, the highlight was a temporary exhibition that fills the second floor – “Collidoscope: the De La Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective”. Next stop, lunch at the posh historic Mission Inn next door! And no driving required: my idea of a perfect day!
Giant lenticular mural in lobby!
Lovely hotel that is famous for its holiday decorations
The big Getty staff art show is launched and the party was lots of fun – and I’m feeling a bit rudderless as the pressure to design the graphics has lifted! I still have to “perform” my haiku reading next week, but I only have to design the program for that event and then I’m done. Now I have time to celebrate my birthday and do some artventures and prep for fall crunch. If I get the Getty tours I requested and both art classes at Pierce, I’ll be busy every day of the week except Wednesday!! Yikes – guess I better appreciate this down time.
I’m really looking forward to seeing my Right Coast people in September: friends in DC, sister and nieces in Richmond, then road trip to Smoky Mountains and return flight out of Atlanta. I’m still a bit anxious about Covid – seems everyone who flies lately catches it, and I’d hate to be sick when I’m away from home. I did fly to Portland last summer but this year’s Omicron variation is way more contagious.
I’ve been reading a lot – just finished “The Street” today. Written by a Black woman in 1946, the novel is set in Harlem and depicts one family’s experience of the awful oppression of Blacks in our country, a situation that has not improved much in my 70 years. I’d never heard of this classic (a friend told me about it) and don’t know why it isn’t taught in literature classes. Check it out – here’s the Amazon blurb: “The Street follows the spirited Lutie Johnson, a newly single mother whose efforts to claim a share of the American Dream for herself and her young son meet frustration at every turn in 1940s Harlem. Opening a fresh perspective on the realities and challenges of black, female, working-class life, The Street became the first novel by an African American woman to sell more than a million copies.”
Open Your Eyes! 