ALL JOY, ALL THE TIME....

Saturday, January 16, 2016

ALL JOY, ALL THE TIME....

…Beginning with Tai Ling Wong coming to pick up the cards she ordered for USC Pacific Asia Museum’s Gift Shop. Of course she’s old friends with Kita and they had a fine time together with Kita actually behaving herself.

Tai Ling, Manager of the Gift Shop, had been working on inventory (ug) at the museum with sweet Susan….

Time to visit the studio again and this time it’s the Christmas tree and toys…..

Now this is where life gets really interesting and ‘coincidental’. Pamela Tom has been working on a documentary about the life of Tyrus Wong, our National Treasure and Disney ‘Legend’. I recently blogged about going to a screening for it. Wonderful to see and hear Lisa See who did the narration. Anyway, do you get the connection? Tai Ling is Tyrus’s daughter! In one day, Tai Ling WONG and Pam Tom. Pam had left her car at the house for a couple of weeks and that evening I picked her and daughter Asia up at the airport. I had not seen Asia for some time and my memory of her was of a little girl visiting the studio. She’s quite the lovely young lady and an accomplished violinist!

I wanted to get a picture of Pam and Asia when we got to the house and they noticed Kita…wanting to see her. 'She’s going to want to jump on you’ says I. 'No problem, we love dogs!' Little did they know what they were in for as this went on for over ten minutes…..

Pure JOY…...

Puppy finally calmed down enough for a photo op….

Dear Carol O’Toole has been a supporter since the early 90’s when she asked me to do a Serigraph for the Pasadena Showcase House. we’ve been good friends ever since. It was great fun spending a day together at LACMA starting with a delicious lunch at Ray’s. Carol had mentioned wanting to have a ‘Water Bar’ and I didn’t quite ‘get it’ until we saw the ‘water menu’ at Ray’s. We had a big discussion with our server about it and I settled on my favorite….Voss.

I had the most amazing Steak Tartare with Avocado, Pine Nuts, Bernaise and some beautiful cheese. I’d go back just for that!

Carol had gotten tickets in advance (a necessity) for The Rain Room. This exhibit is a specially ticketed, time-entry experience that has been extended through April 24th. If you haven’t seen it I really highly recommend you do so. It’s remarkable and great fun.

Anywhere you walk in the room, it stops raining above you. You walk through all this rain, moving slowly and the rain stops right where you are. I promise you will not get wet but do wear rubber soled shoes.

See, I’m dry as can be!

I also wanted to see Richard Serra’s ‘Band’ which should be considered one of the wonders of the world. It’s accurate to within a millimeter and more than 70 feet long!

How this steel was fabricated is beyond my comprehension….

I had promised Melody to go to her event at Pirch that evening and as it’s one of my happy places I was sure to go….

How that little fence contains Kita is beyond me especially when Sweet Lynne has a Greenie for her….

Lynne was working with Nikka in the office…...

Nikka, Tomiko and I saw ‘Star Wars’….great fun…..

….Afterwards we fed our faces at Katsuya….note the half full bag of movie popcorn…..

Haven’t I been saying…”Just say yes” all year!

Sunday I went to Carol Soucek Kings 'Salon on The Spiritually Creative Life', a series that Carol has conducted on the second Sunday of each month for the past twenty years. This year, instead of having a guest speaker each month, everyone in attendance with make a short comment on the days theme based on the ten chapters in Carol’s book ‘UNDER THE BRIDGES at ARROYO DEL REY”. I was privileged to speak at the Salon twice, once on the book I illustrated, ‘Suma the Elephant’ in November of 2006. That talk, ‘May You Always be Free’, will be the theme on Sunday, March 13th under the broad topic of ‘Possibility’. Let me know if you would like to go with me.

Duchess, Carol’s faithful dog was the subject of a Christmas card I painted for her.

O.K., let’s just give the Oscar to Leonardo di Caprio right now and get it over with. Plus one for the cinematographer! don’t miss this movie. It’s rough and tough but a must see.

Have you tried the pork dumplings from Din Tai Fung? No??? Well just get on over there and don’t let the hours wait stand in your way. The Green Beans are also sensational.

Well, Katsuya was so great Trudy and I went there for lunch.

Afterwards we went to her house to see photos of their trip to Japan…..

What a delightful couple and both so talented….Geoff and Trudy!

The sky has been so incredibly beautiful I thought I’d end this blog entry with some photos I took…..

This was worth getting up at 5:00 A.M. for!

Wishing you beautiful sunrises, beautiful sunsets, and golden days in between!

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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.