Monday, February 28, 2011

WEEK SEVEN...DAY TWO

TIANANMEN SQUARE
This is from a dream I had back in the late 80s.
A naked man brandishing his elongated member like a lasso.
Freud would have a field day with that.
So I suspended the chap wrapped in his glory.
Similar to the Hanged Man in the Tarot.
The invented Asian characters were to honor the historical protest
that took place in June 1989 when the Chinese army
open fire and killed 400 - 800 of the protesters.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

WEEK SEVEN...DAY ONE

PUER ARTERNIS
Perpetual Boy. We all know one or two.
This is my TAPESTRY series.
Large oil paintings 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide.
With grommets at the top for hanging.
Painted for a restaurant in NYC.
When the 12 canvases were completed,
the owner changed his mind
so I called the owner of this fabulous restaurant
Muse on Melrose in West Hollywood.
He came to my apartment and studio in Beverly Hills,
took one look, and announced as soon as
the Roy Lichtenstein exhibition is over, the space is yours.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

WEEK SIX...DAY SEVEN

FETA WITH ROSEMARY PEPPER HONEY
This is my favorite piece in the Kitchen Tile series.
I still have it. But I would let it go for the right price.
I just love the composition and the colors
and black and white squares have shown up in many of my works.
I even tried the recipe!
Delish.

Friday, February 25, 2011

WEEK SIX...DAY SIX

CAFE EN VOGUE
These are but a few of 47 illustrations
I created for a book on Coffee published in Munich, Germany.
They would fax (there was a world before computers) the translated copy
and I would "brew" the perfect image.
 I was paid handsomely for one time reproduction rights
and then sold the entire collection to another coffee chain in Chicago.
Years later, I did some worked for Seattle's Best.
Two of my collages became to-go mugs!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

WEEK SIX...DAY FIVE

PARDON ME...
This two word phrase will forever be locked in our psyches.
It always pops into my head every time I see a Rolls Royce.
This was the first piece I created for the Kitchen Tile series.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

WEEK SIX...DAY FOUR

HOTEL CIPRIANI
I forgot where this place is! Isn't that amazing.
Here we have a luscious sea bass stuffed with tomato and basil
along with a yummy chocolate raspberry shortcake.
The table is strewn with stargazer lilies.
I'd love to go here for dinner, if only.......

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Monday, February 21, 2011

WEEK SIX...DAY TWO

CAVIAR
One of  a series of "Kitchen Tiles",
small food related works - the perfect size for any kitchen.
This a thin blini, with a dab of sour cream and lots of red and black caviar.
Each caviar ball was cut out singularly with a hole punch.
I discovered in earlier works that Avery dots dry and flake off with time.
And I want my artwork to have permanence.
The plate is from Tiffany's.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

WEEK SIX...DAY ONE

GRILL
And we're not talking about those rappers fancy metal mouth works!
Due to the fact I also have a cooking blog (ANGEL KISS)
I thought I'd focus on food this week.
This is a great 3D collage piece that was framed in a deep Plexiglas box.
The white hot coals glow under the black metal grate while
the succulent chunks of beef roast along with cherry tomatoes, slices of onions and bits of green pepper. Smells pretty good!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

WEEK FIVE...DAY SEVEN

PEBBLE BEACH
This is the first time this art has ever been viewed by the public!
It's a fabulous composite of the infamous golf course
up the coast on the Monterey Peninsula.
We've been there a few times. My husband plays the course -
with a birdie on the 17th hole.
We've attended their classic car concourse
(me in a wide brimmed hat and 50s swing coat)
and slipped into a Ferrari parade thru the streets of Carmel with our Testarossa.
The gallery owner loved this but unfortunately,
most golfers are your typical green plaid, conservative types
and this contemporary take is too modern and cutting edge.
Maybe Bubba Watson would like it.
He's young, gorgeous and can hit his drives into the 370 zone.

Friday, February 18, 2011

WEEK FIVE...DAY SIX

THE TOUCH CLUB
This is a very typical example of my architectural interpretations back in the 80s and 90s.
It would show the exterior of the building and then a composite of the interior.
This private club was owned by Hugh Hefner and his old friend from Chicago - John Dante.
It was a nondescript building near the Cedar Sinai Hospital but once inside...
it was pure Hollywood glamour including a caviar bar and private disco.
They loved this piece - hung it in the foyer and sent thousands of the image out every year 
as their greeting holiday card.
Because of this commission,
I was invited to
the Playboy Mansion frequently for lunch
.....but that's a whole 'nother story.


Thursday, February 17, 2011

WEEK FIVE...DAY FIVE

THE LA FREE CLINIC
I remember calling Mimi West when the Clinic first opened
hoping to secure a commission to pay my rent.
After I explained how I transform buildings into works of art
that could be utilized for advertising and marketing -
she said "you're exactly what we want - but we don't pay for anything".
Without missing a beat, I said I'll donate.
Those words changed my life.
Not only did I meet then mayor Tom Bradley, Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert,
the infamous Ted Kennedy (this was a prototype for clinics across America),
anyone and everyone affiliated with the clinic invested in my art.
Moral: Only thru giving can you receive.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

WEEK FIVE...DAY FOUR

opps! I meant LLYOD not WRIGHT!
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
His middle name was Lincoln, but he honored his mother's Welsh heritage
after his parent separated and changed it to Lloyd.
 An architect, interior designer, furniture maker, writer and educator, FLW was in the news
for many of his 82 years. I found his style cold and uncomfortable with functioning  flaws.
One of these collages (a series of four) was donated to the Ennis House Foundation  in Los Angeles, CA.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

WEEK FIVE...DAY THREE

MULLIGANS
This is a bit of a stretch.
It was an antique store on Melrose in Los Angeles.
The owner Molly had these life size plastic animals in front of her shop.
 On a cloudy day she had them dressed in rain gear!
I thought it was brilliant.
We became life long friends.

Monday, February 14, 2011

WEEK FIVE...DAY TWO

HOLLYWOOD HIGH
At it's best, during the middle of the night under a full moon.
I guess I like bas-relief because this building has it, too,
only instead of animals, it's appears to be astronomers or physicists
or someone the faculty hope the students aspire to be.
This is for sale...last in it's series.
The perfect Valentine.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

WEEK FIVE...DAY ONE

DOG + CAT
We begin this week with one of my all time loves...architecture.
I've always admired the structure and design of buildings, studied it in college,
and married an architect.
This is a particular favorite from a series I created back in the 80's
when I first arrived from Manhattan.
This building was originally a veterinarian hospital
but later in became a design house.
It's located on LaBrea in West Hollywood, CA.
 The Great Dane on the roof is too fabulous 
but the reason I loved this building is the bas-relief.
I was a caretaker on a small estate in Massachusetts
and the owners had
this wonderful weimeramer/golden retriever mix dog named Zappa.
Chocolate brown with gold eyes who strutted about like a sexy sailor.
Boy, did I love that animal!
One of the dogs in the stucco looked just like him.
This bold paper piece was one in a series of four hand cut pieces.
I still have one in my collection.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

WEEK FOUR...DAY SEVEN

B MINE
An appropriate way to tend the week of the paintings...with a Valentine!
See the heart in her hands?
Share the love....

Friday, February 11, 2011

WEEK FOUR...DAY SIX

TROPHY
The twin of PRETTY UGLY.
More graffiti from Hamburg.
The rest is up to your interpretation.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

WEEK FOUR...DAY FIVE

She must be PRETTY UGLY to have a bag over her head!
I guess we'll never know. The graffiti and little angel were discovered on a wall in Hamburg, Germany the first time I visited sometime back in the 80's. The aqua pot is something wonderful my husband threw in a ceramics class - he creates the most amazing glazes but never records the formulas. And the scoop inside is this wonderful hand carved piece purchased on this floating island in the Andaman Sea of Thailand...that our little Zabu chewed a bit when she was a puppy. And the girl...she could be anyone. And the guy drawn on the paper bag? The mystery of it all......

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

WEEK FOUR...DAY FOUR

NUBIA SLEEPS
The infamous baseball player Jackie Robinson
had a son David who was born the same year as me
and lived in Connecticut ( I lived in Massachusetts).
Years later, David moved to Tanzania, Africa 
and started a coffee farmer's cooperative.
This is his 3 year old daughter Nubia asleep on his head.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

WEEK FOUR...DAY THREE

BANISHED. There's almost a feeling here of these two being kicked out of the garden. Yet, the hand signals on the left spell LOVE. What do you think?

Monday, February 7, 2011

WEEK FOUR...DAY TWO

RANDY.
My husband in pixels. Six by four feet of him.
 It took me months to finish.
Every time I painted a square, it would change the tone of those around it.
There will never be another.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

WEEK FOUR...DAY ONE

Four weeks and still going strong!
This is my favorite in the last series of oil paintings.
EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED
to celebrate this Super Bowl Sunday and a pancake breakfast
we just shared with our neighbors Sandi and George.
A perfect way to start the day.
I've always enjoyed faces and figures in my art and I especially love the abstract wateriness of the background - could almost push me into non figurative art!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

WEEK THREE...DAY SEVEN

I saved the best for last...
THE DRAGON, was created on a card table amongst floor to ceiling boxes and furniture stored in a room called The Way Back during the beginning of our remodel. I swear it kept me sane.
It was suppose to be a sculpture for the garden, but after days of work, I decided to make it into a lamp and had to tear it apart to wind an electrical cord thru it. All the little stones are from a garden path near the roses. The river rocks were taken from our old stairwell: story goes it originally had a waterfall under the pavers that zig-zagged between floors. By the time we purchased the house, the water feature had disappeared, and lava and river rocks, dirt, plastic and silk flowers filled in the space. Lovely (not). The face, scales and tail piece (originally a holiday ornament) were made in a ceramics class in my local Art Center. Needless to say, once completed, it was too fine for outside. And it's a bit heavy - it takes at least 2 men to move it around.
AND....I was born in the year of the dragon so I have a special affinity for the mystical creature.

Friday, February 4, 2011

WEEK THREE...DAY SIX

Happy Chinese New Year - The Year of the Rabbit.
Hope it's better than the Tiger year, I didn't enjoy that one so much.
Here's another one of my light sculptures.
DOUBLE HEADED SNAKE.
Each end has a silver leather pocket where you can place a LED light.
 The rims are lined with red glass stones and the curvy body has river rocks,
pebbles, bits of semi precious stones and glass embedded into tinted thin-set.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

WEEK THREE...DAY FIVE

RYTHYM LOVES BLUES
This 61 inch tall ceramic tower in made from 14 glazed rings.
It was created especially for a shelf next to our outdoor fireplace.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

WEEK THREE...DAY FOUR

BLACK BODY. This great ceramic sculpture was recently exhibited in the Long Beach Art Museum. I was taking a class with Jan Napolitan at the Palos Verdes Art Center and this grew out of one of her assignments. The marble base was donated from someone I use to play tennis with. I was inspired by the glaze which pulls away from the edges and leaves this great burnt brown color.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

WEEK THREE...DAY THREE

FAUX
The perfect little Chanel bag.....in stones. Every girl should have one.