Nan Rae - Brush Painter: May 2012

Sunday, May 27, 2012

TREES of LIFE & PEACE…..

…..is the name of Ron Pekar’s sensational installation at the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA. I blogged about the creation of this work on March 31, 2012 and titled it ‘Ron Pekar, Renaissance Man’.

Well here they are, the two magnificent stainless steel trees in their garden terrace setting.

See if you can find the dove…..

Or this one…..

This meditative Zen like courtyard is so beautifully conceived, so wonderfully executed and now made perfect by the addition of Ron’s trees (seen to the right.)

Seeing the trees up close….

“ Hope is faith holding out it’s hand in the dark.”

“if we could see the miracle of a single flower, clearly our whole life would change.”

“Where there is love there is life.”

“Learn from yesterday, live for today and hope for tomorrow.”

Following the path of the water….

“Hope is the dream of a soul awake.”

For more information:

www.ronpekar.com

www.2.providence.org

Monday, May 21, 2012

Kirk Douglas, Bo Derek and the Solar Eclipse…..

……almost too much all in one night!

(Click image to enlarge)

Everyone gathered first in the courtyard for nibbles and to watch the solar eclipse with special viewing glasses. If you missed it, the next one will be in 2023.

You know the saying ‘You have to see it to believe it’? Case in point…here’s Rose at the Woodbury guard gate entrance greeting and directing one and all. Cars were backed up behind me but I just had to capture the moment. I asked Rose if she was applying for another job…..

O.K., so Ray Bradbury was supposed to present the ‘Ray Bradbury Creativity Award’ to Kirk Douglas but as he was recuperating from a hospital stay a replacement was called in.

Wait for it………….O.K., you guessed, Bo Derek! I guess I don’t have to tell you the men in the audience (along with K.D.) were not a bit disappointed.

So here’s the lovely Bo with Kirk……

Who will ever forget ‘10’…

Here’s Spartacus……

I took some of the delicious strawberries dipped in dark chocolate to mom and she thought I cleaned up pretty good and wanted to take this picture. Thanks mom!

For more information:

www.woodbury.edu

LET THEM EAT CAKE……

….lots of it….turned out to be the theme of this year’s birthday.

Lovely Carol began the celebrating with this exquisite phalaenopsis. Can you see Kita? Find Kita! Better yet…forget Kita as she’s a very, very bad girl who’s in heat and pees whenever she is happy to see someone. I bet you can fill in the blanks so I’ll say no more.

Meet Sarkis, owner and general major domo of ‘My Favorite Place’. Are you confused?….It actually is one of my favorite places but that’s the name of this charming, very girly restaurant on Wilson in Glendale. Mom took me here for my B-day.

They always have the most delicious home made soup and this was a real winner!

Mom describing her lemonade.

Here’s Alissa, the other half of Sarkis. Isn’t she adorable? Always dressed in the cutest imaginable outfits and wearing heels…high ones…imagine!

Here’s the first of the days cakes.

I told you this was a cute place!

See…more cute!

O.K., after way too much celebrating I straggled home at 6:00 and right behind me were Nikka and Emma with ANOTHER b-day cake and an order of pizza (2) and 20 chicken wings in case we have to go into hibernation and need to pork up!

Kita wanted some pizza so she was terrorizing Emma who is hiding behind Vicki.

Finally….more cake!

Awwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

Make a wish….(It sure wasn’t for more cake).

I love Olga and George….we always have the best, best time and it usually revolves around tea and some sort of goodie.

Here’s the goodie….

Here’s a close up of the goodie before we played ‘all gone’!

Woops…can’t forget Martin, Olga and George’s son. Remember when he worked for me packing cards? Wasn’t that fun Martin? No? Oh come on…Anyway, Martin and Yuki were best buds and Kita is trying her best to be the same.

Hey Laurie Pie…where’s the cake? I’m only kidding…I love the beautiful plant and will take very good care of it!

Kathryn I’m so proud of you….loved your card and have been devouring the yummy cookies. Thank you soooo much!

Heartfelt thanks to one and all for the wonderful cards, e-mails and Facebook wishes…You made this the very best birthday ever and I treasure each and every one of you!

.For more information:

Favorite Place

115 W. Wilson Avenue

Glendale

818.507.7409

Thursday, May 17, 2012

MICHAL, the DOG RUNNER……

……..left this delightful card on our mail box. Of course I wasted no time in calling him as you know my new job is enlisting peeps for Kita.

I know, we’re not supposed to let her do this but Kita went nuts for Michal….even before I opened the door she nearly bolted through the plate glass window….that was a first!

If this isn’t love……………..

And off they go……

Bye bye……………….

You can’t see the sweat dripping off of Michal. This may be more than he bargained for.

But on the other hand…he does look happy. You can’t see his equipment…there’s a little roller thingie for plastic bags and also his water container is on his other side.

Wow Michal, that was some fantastic run!

Time out for a little butt wipe ‘cause we love to sit in puddles!

On weekends Paulina joins in the excursions. She’s enrolled at the famed New York Film Academy’s Los Angeles campus at Universal Studios. Aren’t they the cutest????

The answer is YES!

Oh, thought you’d like to see all the dog walking accoutrements. The blue bottle is for Kita as it has a great lid for slurping.

After her walk, Kita loves to play soccer!

Just so you know….this dance of love goes on every morning…..

She just can’t help herself…..

Just one dance?

For more information:

www.nyfa.edu

Introduction

There is no avoiding the pull of the internet, the blogs, the YouTube imaginings. It's as if we're all 'On the Road' with Jack Kerouac each in our own world of meanderings. When we tell someone to 'get a life' it might be a bit difficult when you're dragged into other people's 24/7.

I've come to realize two foundational principals, there are no accidents and everyone has a purpose. More and more I'm desiring everyone to come into a full realization of their purpose as we all find our way on this little jewel of a planet.

For me, as a professional 'Western style artist', I stumbled into Chinese Brush Painting after a trip in 1980 to Monet's home/garden. Seeing all of his collection of Japanese woodblock prints was an ahh haa moment for me and when I returned to the States I started painting in the Chinese manner and never looked back. The first year was extremely painful for me as I felt that I should be able to master the technique since I was a 'trained' artist. Not a chance ... that just gets in your way.

Now, after teaching close to 3,000 students and having my book 'The Ch'i of the Brush' published by Watson Guptill, I can say that every one of my students does better their first day than I did my first year! Why? Because I insist that they leave their critical parent outside and just enjoy the journey, respecting the work that they do. I never let anyone throw anything away because that just ingrains frustration and defeat.

We really only begin to learn when we stop and figure out how to 'save' a painting. It works every time.I am so proud of my students, their receptivity and eagerness to express themselves is a continuing blessing for me.So, back to finding your purpose. Perhaps it starts with realizing 'it's not about me'. It so easy to want our needs met and to filter everything thru this attitude. When we realize that we're here to be of benefit to every life that we touch the universe really provides the ways and means.

The best part is that it's really exciting to not have yourself on your mind all the time!I'm re-reading a wonderful book about authenticity and in my next meandering I'll tell you about it. In the meantime I'd love to hear about your journey and am here to answer any and all questions about Chinese Brush Painting.