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Archive for September, 2009

Sketchbloom has bloomed!

Posted in art,poetry,writing on September 30, 2009| 6 Comments »

During the past few weeks, I have been working on completing  my portfolio tabs, and I am so happy to announce that now SketchBloom is’open for business’!

I understand now why people refer to ‘building’ a website= lots of work! Feel free to explore.  The portfolio tabs comprise of my work up to Feb.2009- recent work can be viewed through Recent Musings, Categories and the Archive.

Check back weekly here on the blog, bookmark it and sign up for RSS feeds on top of this page:

… so you will know about new postings and news.

[Want to know about RSS feeds? click here ]

There is a lot more in my ‘digital trunk’, and lots of new projects and art waiting to be shared. I am looking forward to this creative journey and to read your comments and feedbacks.

Please pass me along to fellow creatives, and let me know if you would like any info on any of the works shown. I put some of my favorite creative websites in my blogrolls, feel free to add me to your site and let me know of all the amazing art and creativity out there!

The next step for me is to head on over to archistdesign and post/ready my architecture portfolio and post-graduate work. (wish me luck!)

Welcome, welcome, welcome- and thank you so much for visiting.

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Berkeley Diaries 3

Posted in art,poetry,writing, Berkeley Diaries, Poetry, Watercolor on September 30, 2009| 2 Comments »

The Sun, the Moon, and on there being no abstracts in life. Pencil, ink, watercolor on 4"X5" canvas.2009

The Sun, the Moon, and on there being no abstracts in life. Pencil, ink, watercolor on 4"X5" canvas. 2009


Looking For Your Face

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it.

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for.

Today I have found you
and those that laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did.

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you with a hundred eyes.

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold.

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine.

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow.

My soul is screaming in ecstasy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you

Your effulgence
has lit a fire in my heart
and you have made radiant
for me
the earth and sky.

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer.

–Rumi

from  http://jaibhakti.blogspot.com

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Berkeley Diaries 2

Posted in art,poetry,writing, Berkeley Diaries, Drawing, Painting on September 22, 2009| 1 Comment »

These orchids smelled like bakhoor .
I had to get them down in my sketchbook before they wilted away.

Orchids and the Happy Mistake. Ink and watercolor. Sept. 20, 2009.

Orchids and the Happy Mistake. Ink and watercolor. Sept. 20, 2009.

Caffe’ Strada in Berkeley has- in my humble opinion- the best cappuccino this side of Firenze. The foam (crema, really) is so thick it actually lifts up from the glass Strada baristas serve their famous cappuccino in. On a whim, I strayed from my usual cappuccino habit and ordered their regular coffee. Well, they do not serve drip coffee, so I got an Americano. You might ask what prompted me to ask for drip, or ‘Regular American’ Coffee….well, it is my recent obsession with Twin Peaks and Agent Cooper.
‘That’s a damn good cup of Joe’!

Americano at Caffe' La Strada, Berkeley. Ink and pencil. Sept.20, 2009.

Americano at Caffe' Strada, Berkeley. Ink and pencil. Sept.20, 2009.

Americano at Caffe' La Strada- Berkeley. Pencil, ink and photoshop. Sept. 20, 2009.

Americano at Caffe' Strada- Berkeley. Pencil, ink and photoshop. Sept. 20, 2009.

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Berkeley Diaries I

Posted in art,poetry,writing, Berkeley Diaries, Drawing, Painting on September 20, 2009| 3 Comments »

The respite from teaching means more time to dedicate to looking around and showing up daily to my sketchbook.  I have been experimenting with watercolor, a medium that I am enjoying more and more since my Rendering and Delineation class, and the coffee paintings. I have been visiting Ghadah’s website daily and leaving what probably are too many comments ;). Seeing her work inspired me to compose art as in a journal, and I did always enjoy words and illustrations.  So here it is, my first in the ‘Berkeley Diaries’ series. I love leaving San Diego and visiting San Francisco when we are in between quarters, and this time of year is perfect for sailing and for long plen air painting sessions.

Her Lady in Red. Ink and Watercolor. Sept.19,2009

Her Lady in Red. Ink and Watercolor. Sept.19,2009

Berkeley Bay. Pencil and watercolor. Sept.19,2009

Berkeley Bay. Pencil and watercolor. Sept.19,2009

Amina's BCBG Shoe. Ink and watercolor. Sept. 19, 2009

Amina's BCBG Shoe. Ink and watercolor. Sept. 19, 2009

Amina reading. Ink on paper. Sept.19,2009

Amina reading. Ink on paper. Sept.19,2009

Amina Reading II. Ink on paper. Sept.19,2009

Amina Reading II. Ink on paper. Sept.19,2009

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Cappuccino in Piazza Repubblica [my heart blooms anew]

Posted in art,poetry,writing, Photography, Quotes, Writing on September 15, 2009| 3 Comments »

Cappuccino a Giubbe Rosse. Piazza Repubblica. Firenze. Photograph. Nokia phone. 2007

Cappuccino a Giubbe Rosse. Piazza Repubblica. Firenze. Photograph. Nokia phone. 2007

When I was six years old I had a journal for notes (‘dediche’) my classmates would write me at the end of the year. It was a sort of summary of the things they liked (or did not) about me. We don’t have yearbooks in Italy (or proms, or school mascots- or cheerleaders). We just study. The seriousness of the Italian school system is reflected in these sober writings, coming from first graders.
Children’s greatest gift is honesty, and my dediche range from innocuous/benign to decidedly prophetic (your rambling result in interesting information sometimes), to right down ambivalent (I like you when you are nice to me. I don’t like you when you don’t share your comic books).
They are a treasure to hold.

Well, on the cover of this little journal there is a quote, a simple quote, I have always loved:

There is a rose in memory’s garden
That grows because of you,
And whenever my heart wanders there
Then that rose blooms anew.

The rose that blooms constantly for me is the memory of my magical year in Firenze.
There is a caffe’ flanking the expanse of Piazza Repubblica– a large square situated on the site of the ancient Roman forum: Giubbe Rosse.
Giubbe Rosse has been called a ‘a forge of dreams and passions’, and is an historical literary cafe’ opened in the 1900’s, with important ties to artistic movements such as the Italian Futurism. The waiters wear red shirts in memory of Garibaldi’s Red Shirt army , a symbol of liberal Italians (this was before red was associated with communism).

Giubbe Rosse was where my classmates and I would congregate, late at night, to take a break from architecture, sip the delicious cappuccino (the best in Florence) and sit outdoors, contemplating the starry florentine sky, the palazzi surrounding the square, the poignancy of time inexhorably ticking by.

I miss squares. I miss the feeling of being enclosed by the city. American cities are made of streets, avenues and boulevards. Not squares. Energy flowing, never resting. Restless? I have longed for the contemplative feeling of a piazza, the restful period at the end of streets like sentences. Perhaps the lack of squares means that american streets are sentences with no periods. Stream of consciousness cities.

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Of Fragments, inspiration, and being remarkable.

Posted in art,poetry,writing, Digital Collage, F R A G M E N T S, Portfolio of Work, Quotes, Writing on September 6, 2009| 4 Comments »

Starshaped. Digital Art- Photoshop(2001). Revisited 08.09

Starshaped. Digital Art- Photoshop(2001). Revisited 08.09

F R A G M E N T S is a series that I am starting to ‘salvage’ pieces of artworks in my digital trunk.

I sometimes find old artwork that, while it may not work perfectly on the whole, still contains interesting textures or details. The image above is part of a larger digital piece I did in college. It is a poem i wrote: #1.  Eventually these  fragments could all be composed in a collage of their own.  Salvaged Art.

I have also been reading and researching  art and design blogs, and learning about writing copy (especially here on copyblogger ).  Copyblogger inspired  me to write in short, incisive sentences ( Hemingway style).   As for the deluge of design and art I indulged in, it Really made me understand what is ‘delicious’ to the eyes!

The amount of incredibly talented folks out there is source of enormous inspiration, and  I have been compelled to start my very own blogroll to pass on the love 🙂  Speaking of inspiration, you probably know that the term “inspired” comes from the latin inspirare, to breathe in or unto.  But , did you also know it  has roots in the Greek word Theopneustos which means “God breathed” (Theos, “God,” pneo, “to breathe”) ?   Both ‘passionate’ and ‘enthusiastic’ have similar soul connections.   All art has spirituality, in one form or another, as its source.♥

Completely unrelated, or maybe not:  I recently found a quote that really resonates with me –from the title of a  current marketing book, of all places:

‘Stop being perfect and start being remarkable’.

How many perfect people do you know that stay unknown?

Then think of the greatest artists, or architects, or even the greatest people you know:

are they perfect,or are they remarkable?

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California and Califia

Posted in art,poetry,writing, Drawing, Photography, Writing on September 3, 2009| 6 Comments »

Queen Califia's Garden, Totem/Sculpture. Ink, color pencils and markers. 2009

Queen Califia's Garden, Totem/Sculpture. Ink, color pencils and markers. 2009

Recently I had the chance to revisit one of my favorite places in Southern California, Queen Califia’s Magical Garden by Niki St. Phalle, which is located in the Kit Carson Park in Escondido.

The sculptures and the garden are breathtaking and the setting -within Escondido’s botanical park- makes finding the garden a bit of a treasure hunt. And what a treasure it is.

Niki St. Phalle’s sculptural garden is one of the few such structures in North America. It is dedicated to Queen Califia, the mythical black warrior queen of an enchanted, bountiful island- inhabited only by women- described by a 16th century Spanish novelist.  It is said that one of the first Spanish explorers to reach California, proclaimed it to be ‘Queen Califia’s land’ (California) due to its bounties and lush vegetation.

Niki, who recently passed away, was a French American artist famous for her Nanas, voluptuous, gigantic female figures reminiscent of earth goddesses. Her application of mortar and tiles in organic mosaic patterns reminds me of Antoni Gaudi, and his benches in Park de Guell.  Few of Niki’s works can be found in San Diego: nanas in Balboa Park and a monumental piece by the Convention Center.  Niki came to La Jolla to recover her health, which was poor due to years of exposition to toxic art materials. Rejuvenated by the balmy ocean breezes, she fell in love with California, her oceans and her deserts. She dedicated Queen Califia’s Garden to California and to children. The garden is a place where the public is encouraged to interact with the art, and the inspiration -and craftmanship- are incredible.  Niki did not live to see the Garden completed.

During this visit I was able to do a rendering of one of the sculptures, part of a series of marker and pencils exploration.  I would like to eventually draw each ‘totem’ and put them together in a poster, postcard, or stationery set:)

Below are some photographs – part of a shoot from a previous visit. The ones in the gallery can be clicked and enlarged. You will see that some of these photos are by Amina Alkandari…Thanks go to her for letting me borrow some of her beautiful work.

Queen Califia. Detail. Photograph. August 2009.

Queen Califia. Detail. Photograph. August 2009.

picture-1093

Queen Califia. Detail. Photograph. August 2009.

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