Saturday, September 8, 2018

A BEAUTIFUL WEDDING AND SOME AUGUST BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS


Beautiful Lissi and Doug, her Prince, were married and we all celebrated at ll Cielo Restaurant in Beverly Hills.  A perfect venue! The bride and groom were surrounded by a forrest of flowers created with love for them by Amy at Le Jardin Prive!

How's this for party glamour.  My beautiful and most talented star....Lisa Bowman.
We arrived a bit early to see Amy's brilliant floral display created for the bride.
Bravo Le Jardin Prive!
When it got dark the crystals in the vases glowed and it was absolutely magical!

I absolutely adore Lissi's sisters!
Well, Amy & I were a few months late but finally celebrated beautiful Lisa's birthday at Le Grande Orange in Pasadena.  And yes, there was a 'cake' but I just shot a video of it so no photo!
What an unmitigated joy to celebrate beautiful Marine's birthday at Prosecco Trattoria in Toluca Lake with precious Amy.  Here's the birthday girl with her oh so sweet sister, Eliza.


You can see how joyful it was for me!
Awesome Amy (yes, another one) is the owner and hostess with the mostest at Prosecco. It's like 'Cheers'. everyone knows your name and you feel like you're at home!
On to a little surprise birthday party for Nikka at Bistro Garden with Amy and Maria.





But wait, there's more!
The Brush painting class in the studio celebrated Nikka's birthday!
Awesome Kc baked her a delicious blueberry pie!!!  Sooooo good!!!
More presents....so cute!
Let's have more  birthday cake for Nikka....This one at lovely Maggie's...
What a fun evening with Maggie and Diane...
Even more cheers for Nikka...treated by dear Kc and Sweet Lynne at Bar Verde...

There's another birthday girl.  Lovely Maggie! We celebrated at The Athenaeum...

                                          I wish you lot's of cake and happy days!


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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.