It’s difficult to write an artist’s statement and at best, is only an approximation of what makes up the actual painting. Many painters have refused to describe their work, others merely offer a hint of what their motivation or muse may be. Yet this is required for grants, for galleries and museum exhibits. Even though [...]

So did anyone think this would ever happen? Alice Waters has been pushing for it for decades, as you can see from her 1995 letter to Clinton and Gore. The White House garden plan is very good news for us organic fanatics. Check out the garden map, courtesy of the NYTimes. And for the upcoming UK [...]

I say diversionary, because I’m supposed to be out in the garden digging up violets in my newest plot. Almost finished with digging and planting. No back strain, thanks to yoga and lap swimming. So back to cars. I’m on this tangent after reading that Donald Hall received an English Morris Minor as a wedding [...]

You can watch Ralph Nader on Al Jazeera talking about AIG and the banking bailouts. I’m steamed about this and think we should all be marching in the streets – like angry citizens in Europe -  to protest their shenanigans. I never trusted Obama’s appointments of Geithner, Summers and the other crooks in his cabinet-these were the [...]

I bought a Mother Earth News magazine today just for the article by Lloyd Kahn on ‘Inspiring Handmade Homes’. Read his fascinating blog and explore these magical abodes. I’m impressed by his writing and his travels, and the fact that most of the northern California and Pacific Northwest builders began these structures back in the late [...]

You need a subscription to the New Yorker to read the full article, but Patricia Marx’s ‘Made in the USA‘ gave some great promotion to Etsy. She mentions several shops by name with products.  And…for those of you who couldn’t make the opening last night for the ‘Contemporary Voices’ exhibit at the Woodmere Art Museum [...]

There’s so much bad news out there today, what’s a person to do? One place to find solace and inspiration is in Mary Oliver‘s poetry. Her newest book, ‘The Truro Bear‘  is, as one reviewer states of her work, ‘an excellent antidote for the excesses of civilization’. Does anyone love the natural world as much as [...]

You may not be thinking about investing in stocks, but have you thought about investing in art lately? Ok, so I have a vested interest. All the same, there is evidence that not only is art still selling, but will appreciate well over the next 10-20 years. So while your 401k may run out before [...]

My new garden plot has been covered since early last summer with heavy black pastic and a thick mulch of the year’s NYTimes sunday papers. With our warm weekend, I was able to get out to see how things were going out there. Holy cow, do I have an amazing amount of worms! Our best [...]

…is the title of the DVD ‘A Story of Jazz in Europe’. I’ve been watching a slew of these inspiring disks about jazz, generously bestowed on me by a friend who worked at Rainbow Media. This one featured unfamiliar (to me) European musicians who carry on the tradition of righteous creativity, unfettered by tradition or [...]