The Greatest American Poet and a Few Other Things

One of the advantages of having older siblings is that I got exposed to some fucking amazing music at a very young age. I absolutely LOVE Jim Morrison. I fell in love with the Doors when I was about 6 and by the time I was 11, Jim Morrison was dead and the Doors pretty much died too. I still remember the day he died and how much "L.A. Woman" was playing on the airwaves. Many years later, as an English major in college, I fell in love with the beauty and poetry of his lyrics. Although I am not some MAJOR critic of music or literature and poetry, I have always thought Jim Morrison has been the greatest American poet of my lifetime. Although I have a great fondness and admiration for Robert Frost and other great American poetic treasures such as Maya Angelou, since Jim Morrison only lived to be 27, it makes his songs and poems even more important, in my eyes. And as you can see for yourself, he was an incredibly sexy man... 30+ years after his death, there is no one in music who had that magic that Jim Morrison had.

Sounds Like Grunge to Me

Hard to believe that yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the release of Nirvana's "Nevermind" album. This has got to be one of my all-time favorite albums/cd's. Back in 1991, we were living in San Francisco and I heard and played this all of the time. It had such a San Francisco-vibe and since we were living in the Haight, it fit in perfectly. A few years ago, I compiled my "Ten Albums I Would Take to the Island" with me - this was on that list. And today, it still would go with me to that island. "Come As You Are" is my favorite cut on the album. Kurt Cobain, gone too soon just like the guy in my next post.

Thanks to my dear friend, Kelly Kilmer, I am now involved in the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition project.  As part of this project, I will be working on 3 books during the next year that I will be contributing to this project.  For more information regarding the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition, go to this link:  http://www.library.fau.edu/depts/spc/JaffeCenter/collection/al-mutanabbi/index.php.

I know I should be focusing on other things such as opening year 2 of our school and making art, however, I am going to focus instead on fashion... It has taken me almost all of the summer to decide on how to update my wardrobe for fall and winter.  These are the items I recently bought to give my wardrobe a little edge and of course, a classic in the form of the wool coat that will be cherished for years to come.  My closet gets an overhaul several times a year.  Anything that has not been worn in awhile, gets donated.  I tend to stick to classics, so that I can go back to them over and over, and mix them up and wear them in a different way each time to make them look new.  And I have always liked giving my clothing my own little edge by adding something unexpectedly.  A couple of weeks ago, I wore a black sleeveless, v-necked  DKNY dress I bought for peanuts.  I wore it out to dinner with a black feather necklace that I tied and let the chain run down the back of my neck.  I added red lipstick (which is SO rare for me), flat black sandals, and a Chanel leather clutch I bought a few years back on eBay.  I try really hard not to look like an administrator and that is why I added the little handcuff bracelet and red clutch to my wardrobe.

On another note, although I worked at my school all summer, I did get an opportunity to work on some new art too.  I finished 2 (yes, Kelly, 2! ) journals.  I finished my "love" and "Frida" journals.  Now, all I need to do is take photos of my journal pages and upload them to the blog.  With school opening in 2 days, I better move on this...

I am excited to find 2 of my favorite journal pages being plugged on Seth Apter's blog, "The Altered Page"!  Seth's blog can be found here:  http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com.  I created these pages several years ago.  Last year, Kelly Kilmer plugged these same pages on Jenny Doh's blog.  Being true to myself has been my motto as long as I can remember.  It is the way I live my life and it is a BIG part of my work ethic too.  For me, there is no job or title that would make me compromise my beliefs;  I would walk away from the job before I would allow myself to be sucked into something that isn't me.  On a personal note, this is a lot easier for me to live with - if something feels like it will make me feel uncomfortable, I just won't do it. 

Sad to hear Amy Winehouse has died. As you can hear from this video, "Back to Black", she had an amazing voice.

Today was a beautiful day!  The weather was just perfect, especially for the end of July.  Here are 2 more pages from the book I am currently working in.  Although work has been very busy, I have been able to spend time working on this book once my work day is over and I am at home and in my studio.

Yesterday, I got the opportunity to take 1 of Kelly's classes, at Zinnia's.  The class was "Expressions".  As part of the class, we constructed a new journal from scratch.  This is the first class I have taken in a year.  Hard to believe...

 

The second photo is from the interior of my new journal.  I especially liked how the liner pages of the journal came together with the red scrapbook paper I used to cover the spine.  The roses and other flowers look good together.  On the right side, is the first page of this new book. 

 These 2 pages are pages 2 and 3 in my new journal.  After I got home from class yesterday afternoon, I continued to work and actually finished 6 pages in this journal.  I SO wish that I had the extra time that I could work in my journal every day, but that is not an option.  I tend to work in spurts, then I seem to go dormant for months at a time!  I even made a joke to Kelly about me having 2 blog readers!

Once again, Clarence Clemons, the heart and soul of the E Street Band, died today. I have loved and enjoyed Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for most of my life, going back to when I was a kid. I have seen them perform many times and no matter what, the songs always sound fresh and as if they were written in the present. The highlights of so many of the concerts have been Clarence's performances on the saxophone on songs such as "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out", "Spirits in the Night", "Rosalita", "Prove It All Night", "Out on the Street" and I could go on and on. The songs will never sound the same without Clarence.

One of the things that defines who I am can be found in music, specifically, rock n' roll. I am, and have always been, a rocker. I am very sad about the passing of Clarence Clemons, "the Big Man", from the E Street Band. Clarence has been the heart of the band for 40 years. It was hard to narrow down a song that really captures Clarence's magic and so, instead, I picked "Glory Days" because it epitomizes all of the good times the band and Bruce, and all of us have had. The band will play on, but it will NEVER be the same... Rest in peace, Clarence.

Recently, I saw "A Single Man". I absolutely loved this movie! I love, love, love Tom Ford. I am ever SO happy that Tom Ford is back designing women's clothing that is beautiful, elegant, and classic. I love Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, great actors! They are absolutely terrific in this movie. And I absolutely love, love, love, love the black and white dress Julianne Moore is wearing in this scene. It is so breath-taking elegant and the girl can shimmy in those high heels! This scene steals the movie - Colin Firth and Julianne Moore slow dancing to "Stormy Weather", then boogieing to "Green Onions'.

I have been in a 70's mood for the last few months. I grew up in the 70's and although that period is usually defined as the "disco era", I was NEVER into that kind of music or discos, but I could totally relate to the "bohemian" look that was SO popular back then and is once again in vogue now. Jane Fonda's shag and style epitomized the bohemian and haute couture hippie vibe that was very prevalent during the 70's. The top photo is of Jane Fonda accepting her 1st Academy Award for Best Actress, in the movie "Klute", which I recently saw for the first time.

I love this photo of Jane Fonda - I love the pastels and bare feet that seem to say summer is around the corner. This outfit looks very modern - it is hard to believe this photo is almost 40 years old.

A shot from "Klute", starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland. Jane Fonda is wearing a trench coat and a long, black sequined dress in this photo. I have 3 trench coats - a traditional khaki, a silk, dressy version, and a denim version. It seems the trench NEVER goes out of style. And I have a short, black sequined dress that is a classic too! I have worn it only once, but boy, did it get lots of compliments. My husband and I went to a formal that I wore it to - as good as the dress looked, my best "accessory" was my husband in a suit. He looked absolutely stunning and I couldn't keep my eyes off of him! I think it is time to pull that dress out of the closet again...

These are a few pages from the little swatch book I made for Kelly for Christmas. I can't believe we are in April! Where has the time gone?! The last 2 plus months have been incredibly grueling and tiring... in mid-January, I had a very serious fall at work. I got pretty banged up. The doctor had me stay home for 3 days and then, I couldn't take it any longer and returned to work, with lots of aches and pains, but dying to get back to the job. Although we are now in April, I am still seeing the doctor and going to physical therapy. With my schedule, it is very difficult to squeeze in both doctor's visits and trips to the physical therapist. I am most fortunate I didn't break my nose, neck, and more importantly, my head, with that fall. My fall happened at the beginning of the day and only happened because of someone's negligence. Once again, it is a great reminder that life can change in a split second...



Anyway, I haven't done anything that remotely resembles art since early February. I made a very, very special friend a swatch book for Valentine's Day. The book I made completely embodies my friend's life and interests. Soon, spring break will be here and it will be time to break out my supplies and catch up. I hear in the back of my head Kelly saying, "You can devote 10 minutes a day to make art." I know, I know, Kel!

You might remember the pink Christmas tree below. The bottom shot is from this past New Year's Eve. Well, the pink tree has now gotten a second life as the Valentine Day's tree. The little pink tree is all dressed up and ready for February 14! In the background, is a painting I bought from Karen Michel several years ago. I just can't get enough of hearts and love!

The following are pages from a swatch book I made for Kelly as part of her Christmas gift. The top photo is a look at the covers of the book.

These pages are the first 2 interior pages of the book. You might remember that Kelly made me my own swatch book last year for my birthday. Well, many of the images I used for her book
were images she used for my book. I just gave the imagess a little of Roseann's 'touch'!

Kelly and I share a love for hands and hearts! I have been trying to get into the Valentine's Day mood since a couple of days after Christmas. This next Valentine's Day is a HUGE milestone.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day here in Southern California! It was 82 degrees! This is why everyone back East hates us SO much! It was great to be able to drive around town with the windows rolled down and me in shorts - hard to believe this is January and not July! Okay, back to the artwork... these 2 pages are from 1 of the journals I am currently working in, my Frida book. During my Christmas break, I was able to make art almost every day. Consequently, I finished 2 small books of collages for 2 very, very special friends. I will be posting pages from both of those "swatches" books in the next couple of weeks. But for now, I really should go to bed!

My Christmas vacation/break is winding down to today and tomorrow. Today, I spent the afternoon @ the Gene Autry Museum taking in the David Siquieros exhibit. Of the 3 Mexican muralists, Orozco, Rivera, and Siquieros, "Los Tres Grandes" (the Big Three as they are known), Siquieros is my favorite. The exhibit is terrific and it includes not only Siqueros' art, but also pieces by prominent Chicano and Mexican artists and photographers. The exhibit runs until Sunday, January 9th. For more information, go to my "Favorite Artist Sites" on my blog and clink on Gene Autry Museum.

Another great movie! Last night, we watched "Buena Vista Social Club", which was a documentary about several forgotten Cuban musicians. Shockingly, some of the artists were in their 90's when they performed these songs! This documentary was released in 2000 and was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Documentary". Ry Cooder, who is such an amazing guitarist and was named #8 on the "100 Best Guitarists of All-Time" list by Rolling Stone Magazine, went to Cuban in the late 90's to record an album of Cuban music. The recording led to the movie being made. Many of the artists who are in the documentary had performed at one-time, at the legendary "Buena Vista Social Club". The movie is mostly in Spanish, but it doesn't matter when you see Ry Cooder (the guitarist with glasses who is dressed in black) and his son, Joachim, on the drums and congas, perform with these Cuban artists - it is amazing what they do, song-after-song. Art will always transcend any language since art has its own language.

Last post of the day - because I am an artist, of course, I must post photos of my latest artwork! I am currently working on a new journal that is my "Frida" journal. These are 2 pages from my journal.

This afternoon, since it seems everyone and their brother is in Pasadena, in particular, our neighborhood, I decided to venture out to the mall and hit a couple of stores for after-Christmas sales. I have been in love with this jacket since the fall! Every time I would go into the GAP, I was on the look-out for it. Unfortunately, the GAP I frequent didn't have it in stock and after Christmas, they sold-out of it on the website. Today, not even looking for it, I found the jacket, the only 1 in stock, @ the GAP I seem to live in. Not only was it the only 1 in the store, it was in my size, a medium, and it was on sale! Originally, the jacket was $128. Today, it was $99, but after a 40% discount, I walked out of the store with the jacket in my size, and I paid $65, including tax! Over the years, I have become very, very particular as to what I buy in terms of clothing. I love classics and am I willing to pay more money for something that will last me a lifetime.

Happy 2011 to everyone! My first posting of 2011 - we had a nice New Year's Eve last night. My sister, 1 of my brothers, and niece spent the evening with us. We had dinner, I made cranberry pies, and we drank champagne to say goodbye to the old year and ring in the new. This is a shot of me by 1 of the 2 trees I put up. This is near the pink (!) tree. I have been on vacation for the last 2 weeks and by being on break, it has given me a much needed opportunity to catch-up on my life, as well as spend more time with my family and friends. I do not believe in resolutions - for me, they are too difficult to keep. But, I am a firm believer in setting goals. My goals for this upcoming year are: 1) to work smarter, 2) breathe, 3) reflect, and 4) make more time for me. I don't want to run myself into the ground for any person or job. And of these goals are doable.