My friend Gina created the most beautiful one-of-a-kind leatherbound journal as a Christmas present for my son. He loved it – and I wanted one, too, after I saw her incredible craftsmanship. She combines the best paper, her own original acrylic paintings, and original touches such as pocket between the signatures that are lovely and useful. There’s only one problem – it’s almost too wonderufl to use, but use it I will and do my best to sketch and write inspirational things that are worthy of this journal. See for yourself in the short video below. Thanks, Gina!

. . .starring a styrofoam cup with tire marks and a very nice magnolia leaf.

i meditate in

random access memory

save to soul’s hard drive

~LB

I started this series of photos two days ago when I was coming home from the track just at sunrise and saw three or four dying (but still soft and velvety) magnolia blossoms along the edge of the street. As I picked them up to feel the texture, I saw some other great partial plant shards and pieces and took them home to photograph. Here are the first two results – the rules are that they have to be found on the same day at the same time in roughly the same spot and they can’t be over analyzed in terms of composition or quality – just picked up “because.” No precious tacky metaphors on the meaning of life and death and faded beauty are allowed 🙂

What a thrill to meet one of the most famous chefs in the world, Diana Kennedy, at La Vida Gallery tonight. I have many of her cookbooks and have counted her among my cultural heroes for decades. She is a good friend of gallery owners Matt and Carole Weissler, and although she does few book signings these days, she did agree to come to La Vida and sign her wonderful new definitive book on the food of Oaxaca. I can’t wait to look at it -the photos are amazing, and her anecdotes read like chapters in an adventure novel. It’ s a rare glimpse into the cuisine of Oaxaca – she was charming and funny and gracious – she even asked about my artwork that was hanging in the gallery. What a remarkable woman. Viva Diana Kennedy!

I found a painting of a young boy holding an arrow in one of my art books – Children of the Golden Age, I think – and then decided to look through an old song book for some sheet music to use as a background. The first page I opened was titled “The Song and the Arrow”- really a strange coincidence. That became a somewhat collective theme, and this collage is the result. I like the unusual strongly horizontal composition.

I was rushing around doing errands and getting frustrated when the thought of “dove gray and silver” came into my head. I walked to the studio, took off my silver bracelets, added a dove feather that I had found yesterday morning in the garden, and took this shot – it’s one of my favorites now. There’s something good about stopping everything to take a break and listen to whatever muse is calling :).

Last night a group of old friends met at my house for a craft evening – it’s an Herb Society subgroup called Lotions and Potions. I have not been involved for a long time because of commitments at school and studio, but it was great to see them all again. We did a project with dried herbs and printed backgrounds, all pressed under glass.
Each person brought the dried herbs and a short quote or info about the plants – there was a good assortment, done in advance-and then we experimented with fonts and placement for the backgrounds. I printed them out on my computer. Then the paper was dyed with tea or coffee. Great results! I found clip frames that worked perfectly for the project. See for yourself in the video:

I went to a bead show last weekend (wow – stimulus overload) and came away with some interesting beads for Kindle closures. On a whim, I choose four of them to represent the four elements (water, earth, sky and fire) and strung them together as a little protection circle charm for a Wiccan friend. On the card, I put some drops of Clary Sage essential oil for clear psychic vision! She liked it a lot.
*Bright Blessings*, MJ!