Fall in Paradise

Yes, this is Paradise... Paradise, California.  There IS such a place and it IS a paradise.  If you haven't heard of it, not to worry.  Just drive about 2 hours north of Sacramento, and between Oroville and Chico you will find this little beauty.  Lots of pines, lots of oaks, lots of maples, lots of sycamores, lots of nice folks.  And lovely colors this time of year.  These were taken on Thanksgiving while visiting my in-laws... in their front yard.  I hope you are enjoying fall while it's here as it's almost over!

Huntington Gardens ... a shared experience

My sister Lucinda and I are both artists, we both have blogs (hers is cobaltviolet), we both enjoy photography and we often go on outings together.  After most of these excursions, I often find myself getting a post together to find out that she has beat me to it and blogged on the same subject with very similar photos.  Oiy vey!  (spelling anyone??)  As we have some of the same followers I sometimes just pass on posting the same basic story.  But not today!  I'm not going to go on about how fabulous the Huntington Library in Pasadena is and how amazing the gardens... I 'm just going to post a few of my favorite images from our day a few weeks back.  If you want to know more about our trip, check out my sister's blog posts....  She took some great photos of the gardens and paintings and is quite prolific on this subject.  But I am proud to say it was my idea that she start a blog...  I'm glad she took my advise for once!

Huntington Museum in Pasadena - American Collection.

Chinese Gardens at the Huntington - Pasadena

Shakespeare's Garden - The Huntington in Pasadena, California

Japanese Gardens at the Huntington

I will say that it's the Chinese and Japanese gardens that keep me coming back.....

I'm cracking up right now....I was just looking for a quote on gardens and I found this one on brainyquote.com!!!

"Eventually my goal is get a place in Ojai where I can have animals and a big garden. Just drink wine all day and hang in my garden."
~Michelle Branch~

.....maybe I ought to call her over for a glass of wine?

Unique Handmade Fine Silver Jewelry for Great Holiday Gifts!

I've been busy using some of my newly acquired (and a few I haven't played with in awhile!) vintage bronze jewelry dies from Afghanistan to create new unique wearable pieces in pure silver metal clay..... still handmade by me in my little Ojai studio and fired in my mini kiln. And I decided to play a bit more with braiding Irish linen for cords in different colors.  It was a little tricky securing the braided cord ends in an attractive way.  I tried several different ways which failed my aesthetically critical eye and was about to give up (for the day, that is) when VOILA!, the Universe came to my rescue and a solution finally came through my thick skull.  I'm excited about the results... and I especially LOVE the braided red linen!

 All items available, or soon to be, in my Etsy online shop.

Tribal Heart Necklace

Floral Blossom Necklace

Floral Mandala Necklace

 

Arabesque Heart Necklace

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist."

~ Louis Nizer

Mad Floppy Hatter

I thought I was impervious to the ploys of advertisers.  Alas, I have been greatly influenced by a beautiful photograph which possibly plays to my dreams of youth.  I am much happier now than I was at 16 so realistically, I suppose it's not the years of my youth but the skin and hair of my youth I yearn for which  I obviously did not appreciate then since I baked in the sun with no remorse.   I wish I had paid more attention to sunscreen.  Nevertheless, I have been brainwashed by a company selling shoes. But, it's not the shoes I desire, it's the hat in the advertisement which they do not even sell!  I have Googled high and low to bring you the Cole Haan ad but it's NOwhere to be had.  Nevermind the fact that no one in my town ever wears winter hats, the problem I have now is to decide which color I want. So, I bring you these lovely chapeaus to ponder.....  Ivory, camel, white, brown, khaki, red, black, taupe ..... hmmmm......

"Grab your coat, and get your hat, 

Leave your worry on the doorstep.

Just direct your feet,

To the sunny side of the street"

~ Dorothy Fields ~

Cleopatra's Lipstick

Can you guess what tree is growing in my own backyard that produces a fruit that Cleopatra once allegedly used for lipstick?  

I've written about them before (Pom Pom Blossoms) when the buds were just forming, but now, my little pomegranates babies have all grown up and are about to begin a new journey turning my families lips pink before they travel into their bellies. 

Whether Cleopatra used the pomegranate seed juice for lipstick or not, we know that she must have drank the juice as the many of the trees were planted at Karnak Temple in Egypt 3,500 years ago!(according to Thutmose III, ruler of Egypt). She may have even had decorative items made in their likeness like the gorgeous silver vessel found in Tutankhamun's tomb (see below) and drank the fabled Egyptian pomegranate wine.... Sounds good to me!

I've been fascinated with Egypt since I was a child and was lucky enough to travel there with my family about 20 years ago and wander through the Great Pyramids, Karnak, Valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel.  Now that I'm reading "Cleopatra: A Life" by Stacy Schiff, a fascinating Pulitzer Prize winning biography, it's exciting to actually visualize some of the places Cleopatra traveled to as these famous monuments were still ancient wonder of the world in her time! 

 I just noticed the fabulous necklace in the carving of her above. Hmmmm.  I think I may have some jewelry design ideas here!

On the subject of lipstick and Cleopatra again, I must let you know that I also read that her lipstick was "made from carmine beetles, which when worked with pestle gave a strong red color pigment. This was mixed with ant’s eggs, which provided the base."  I prefer the pomegranate theory but whatever was used way back then was thought to be powerfully enchanting because in 1770, "England’s parliament passed a law against lipstick, stating that women who seduced men into marriage by means of make up could be tried as witches!"

silver pomegranate vessel found in Tutankhaman's tomb


PS.  If any of you witches out there are jones-ing to try pomegranate lipstick like Cleo, you can actually buy an eco-friendly one with pomegranate extract:  
Korres Raspberry Anti-oxidant Liquid Lipstick

Pom Pom Blossoms

I just listed my little pom pom earrings today on Etsy.  They are made from from an antique Afghani bronze jewelry die and then I embellished them with tiny little dots and lines.  I didn't realize what they were until after several weeks after I made them.  They reminded me of something. Then, I went into our mini orchard and saw my pomegranate trees chock a block full of blossoms and BONK! It hit me...my little earrings are pomegranate babies!  Since the earrings looks like blossoms and Afghanistan is famous for pomegranates (pregnant women drink it for healthy babies ...great source of anti-oxidants) and the dies are from there, the little motifs must be one and the same.  


Twenty years ago, I fell in love with pomegranates after painting many of them in a college art class.  I still hang one of my favorites in our kitchen.  But I never truly enjoyed the incredible flavor (besides sucking on a few seeds as a kid) until I tried fresh squeezed ice-cold pomegranate juice at the Khan Club restaurant in Peshawar.  There is nothing like fresh squeezed Heaven.  When we purchased our home in Ojai with two mature pomegranate trees, I went straight out and purchased a special juicer.  Ahhhh.... a little slice of heaven once more!   


Pom Pom Earrings on Etsy....

Oil on canvas...circa 1990

Our very own pom babies...photographed this morning.

Sucking... painting... juicing... molding... polishing... wearing.  The funny little pom pom fruits just keep coming back into my life. I think it's a good sign especially since they are a symbol of prosperity and abundance, fertility and marriage, rebirth and eternal life!

“Let us get up early to the vineyards; 

let us see if the vine flourish, 

whether the tender grape appear, 

and the pomegranates bud forth: 

there will I give thee my loves.”

~ Song of Solomon 7:12

 King James Bible ~

Arbolada Rainbow - Red

Energy. Passion. Fertility. Blood. Warning. Danger. Aggression. Vitality. Heart. Love. Courage. Sacrifice.

Red....

the longest wavelength of light (that we can see with our eyes).

Originates from the Sanskrit word "rudhira" meaning blood.

AKA.....scarlet, vermillion, burgundy, crimson, carmine, maroon, cerise, alizarin, ruby

"When in doubt, wear red"

Bill Blass