Add a Comment

It feels great to be back in my studio (now and then, not nearly enough) making art again. I moved a year ago up into the hills of Berkeley, and these paintings, a few of which I've put up here, reflect my new surroundings.
 I love living up here, surrounded by trees. A cute little fox has been hanging around, I think to check out the chickens in the garden behind me. Almost every day I see him and deer, crows, hawks, and so many other birds I can't keep track of. I walk my dog on the most beautiful trail at the end of my street every day, sometimes twice.
 The view of the bay that I see while driving up and down the mountain is astonishingly different every time I look. Amazing! I live here? WOW!
And, I have this wonderful new love in my life, that is just the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. I never could have imagined a few years ago, that I would be here right now.
Living THIS life.
So, lots to celebrate!

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

My aunt Jane Taggart was a prolific landscape painter, an astrologer, a collector of crystals and all sorts of eclectic passions. And could she talk. She'd leave a message on my answering machine, run out of tape and call back to finish her story. Here we are a few years ago at an exhibit of my work. She was a big supporter of my painting, always encouraging me to keep working and putting my artwork out into the world.
My blog is named after the picture book she gave me, 'The Tyger Voyage",

written by Richard Adams, illustrated by Nicola Bayley. She gave it to me for my 14th birthday. I cried because I loved the illustrations so much, and some part of me knew this was an important moment. I wanted to make books. I still do.

Well, Janie passed away yesterday, at 84 years old, after quite a few years of failing health. I will miss her dearly.

Add a Comment

Last night I fell asleep to the sound of helicopters circling overhead, and sirens wailing. I had taken BART into the city to see my friend, Christine Marie 's shadow performance, Four Trains, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Sadly, it was her last performance. She'll be back - what she does with shadow and light is amazing!

 But I digress. Waiting at the BART station, we heard an announcement that the Berkeley station was shut down temporarily, due to protesting. Yesterday morning I read Caille Millner's column in the SF Chronicle. Yes, she is right, I thought. Protest to make change happen is inconvenient. We don't like it. It scares us.


Our country desperately needs change. I do not know what is the best way to make change happen. But I know it will be uncomfortable and painful.  I support those who are protesting. I do not support those who are throwing bricks at cops, or looting stores. I do not support tear gas and rubber bullets being shot at nonviolent protestors. There is so much fear out there, what will it take to stop this?

I've gone through an enormous, scary change this year. I got divorced, after 24 years of marriage.
When I was in the darkest, deepest hole, I started drawing mandalas. They made me feel better.
I taught my students how to make them. There are two kinds of mandalas, geometric, drawn with rulers and compasses, and organic, which start with a dot, or a seed.  Take a look at this: how to grow a mandala
Today I will be drawing another mandala. Maybe it will make me feel a bit better.

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

 I have been looking forward to The Monuments Men film opening. I saw it last night and was somewhat disappointed, for several reasons.

 But first, a bit about this amazing woman. Rose Valland had degrees from the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris, and graduate degrees in art history from the Sorbonne and the Ecole du Louvre. She worked her way up the ladder at the Jeu de Paume, to assistant of the museum. 
During World War II, she was the only French person continued to be allowed to work there when the Nazis took it over. They used the museum to store stolen art, mostly from Jewish collectors. She had a front row seat to what they were doing, and, being very unassuming, the Nazis didn't pay much attention to her. They didn't know she spoke German. And they also didn't know she was keeping track of every single piece of art that came and left the museum. She had spies helping her everywhere: drivers, guards, and packers who helped her follow where art was being taken. Eventually she showed her detailed records to one of the Monuments Men, who, once the Allies invaded Germany, took her notes and used them to retrieve much of the art.


Rose did not receive much recognition for her bravery and detailed work. But it wasn't until 1953, after 20 years, that she was at last given the title of curator. She was the inspiration for the film, 'The Train', starring Burt Lancaster (1964), about a train full of stolen art sitting at the station in Paris. She was given the Legion of Honor, the Medal of the French Resistance and was made Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government, and was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the US and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. She died in 1980, virtually unknown, but one of the most decorated women in France.

So, back to the Monuments Men film.
Cate Blanchett plays Rose Valland in the film. Really? Why not a French actress? And why did they change her name to Claire Simone?
George Clooney wrote the screenplay. As a friend said, it sort of 'Disney-fies' this story. Yep. Too clean, sort of Hogan's Heroes style. Jokey boys group of actors, bumbling along, looking for art. The script doesn't flow, it's just one disjointed scene after another, with lively marching music.
It could have been so much more.

Still, an incredible story. And it's true. Stolen art continues to be found in attics and basements today.

Add a Comment

 Anita Lobel is one of my favorite children's book illustrators.She has written and illustrated many gorgeous books. I just love her style of illustration. Graphic, colorful, with wonderful pattern and texture.

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

 I'm excited to announce that I'm now represented by the Herman Agency in New York. 

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment