"Bust of Belisarius" (Sculpture by Jean-Baptiste Stouf)

This emotion rich sculpted bust in white marble reflects the bold golden walls
that almost seem to impose on it's emotions and the bust shifts it's meaning when viewed from
different angles as the light changes and the shadows move.

"Found Heart"

So often the best romantic moments are the ones we stumble upon. On New Year's Day my husband and I were out on a light hike when we discovered a subtle heart in the branches of a leafless tree. (I hope you will see it too. ;-)) To make meaning out of what I see around me and maybe create something from it, is one of the joys in my life and often where my creativity starts, it is ideal to be able to do that with someone I care about. (That's my nod to Valentine's Day, may the day treat you well. )

"Desnudo Reclinado" (Sculpture by Francisco Zuniga)

I'm very drawn to this statue. Of all the statues at the UCLA sculpture garden this one holds my interest again and again. While this angle of the statue is dynamic I feel like I am robbing you by only letting you see one side of it. This statue is so low slung that I find myself compelled to crouch down and inspect at close to its own height. The proportions of the figure are dynamic with a large body solidly placed in a crouch supported by feet that are settled in position like elegant paddles and hands that offer just as much strength. And her head, though small by comparison has a strong presence, a dignity. And with all this strength and dignity portrayed through her body that seems to say something about her character she is crouching down almost as low as she can be to the ground. And she draws you down to the ground as well. There is a lot to consider there. I'd love to know what other people see in her.
(I may have to share a series of photographs of her, so that everyone can experience her more fully.)

"Undulous Leaf Leather"

It is an odd time of year for leaves to fall out of trees. This leaf seems to have been on the edge of dropping for months, which gave it time to dry into a leathery solid sort of reminder of life with a strong undulating form. While I was sitting on  a bench thinking, it landed solidly on my shoulder and slid making a skittering sound to rest on my seat. Every quarter or half an hour another leaf fell solidly in the small sitting area I was spending time in, but the tree above me still held on to a large number of its leaves. Many of those leaves half green and half browning gold holding onto life in a confused state. The tree never got cold enough to make a decisive drop of leaves, so the leaves hang on until they just can't. Until new leaf buds are already forming. 

"All the Cracks and Broken Bits"

On a campus that has the air of being expensively well kept, in LA where so many things aren't that old and certainly don't have the elegant patina of centuries of wear, it can be surprisingly humble and real to find signs of something beautiful showing its age and developing character. And, of course, my aesthetic sensibilities are always drawn towards patterning and how that can be broken down or convey meaning, so the bricks' regular pattern divided by cream grout and slabs of concrete then broken down by notches of freed grout and dark lined cracks running throughout draws me in and gets me thinking broadly. I hope you can find a trail of thoughts in this too.

"Light Infused Pear Blossoms"

Many pear trees are blooming white halos around the UCLA campus right now.

In this image I am interested in the comparison of two different sorts of gradients. The brick building with it's light striping at the base that gradually moves upward to other light architectural details until there is more of the darker valued brick and the light shining through the pear tree creating an almost solid white glow on the right and slowly allowing our eyes to pick up on the green foliage around the blossoms as they move away from the light. 

"A. Rodin Imprinted"

I'm fascinated by signatures. It is not that I claim to be able to read anything into each slanted line or big loop that tells me something definitive about the person who created it, but still a signature does seem to carry more meaning than the name itself. Perhaps it is that combination of the intimate and public in one act.

The act of writing our signatures is unique, practiced, and a moment of natural focus that we all experience. It is in its way artful. And while so much of a signature is just about the person writing it, we more often pull that signature out for public use than private: on checks, receipts, credit card machines, and important documents. We are aware of our signatures' public presentation of us.

So, I guess that is why with the glory of a larger than life expressively wrought statue in front me I couldn't help but have a special private delight in honing in on what felt like a personal detail from the artist's life when I spotted this dirt laden signature.

"These Two Touching the Sky"

In this image I find myself noticing how two very different trees can merge and seem to create one mottled pattern when stared up at from directly below. But while we stare at the satisfying blue versus green patterning we can't help but start to see their overlap and then each tree separately. In that longer stare to puzzle the image out I like how much we can discover about their individual difference in color, small and large shapes, and overall structure.

"Fig's Embrace"

I couldn't help but want to be drawn in by these roots, to be supported, almost in a hug. I found my thoughts exploring animism today (after wandering among statues and gazing at controlled nature for several hours of the day), even before sitting amongst these roots in the cool afternoon with the moist ocean air creating a vague impression of fog.

"Vivid Moment"

The Getty Center's white stone structures can be glaring in midday Southern CA sun,
though at the same time that white shows off a striking collection of structures.
But in the late afternoon the white surfaces are glorious.
They serve as a solid surface for the golden sun to reflect on and the carefully place trees
to cast their shapes onto. This image was just a moment brilliant color and then it shifted.
 It makes you want to just be in yourself and stare and stare to see every moment.

"And the Sky Softly Came Down to Join the Earth"

I'm fascinated by how despite the full value range in this image there is a subtly, a softness in the transitions so that it feels as if all the elements are melting into one another.
This was photo was taken a few weeks ago in the Ramona Grasslands preserve looking towards Mount Woodson in the twilight of a chilly early January day.

"Three on the Balcony"

There is something powerful in the physical space occupied by pieces of sculpture. The way physical
space, light, and living people, animals, and plants influence the sculpture their is some sort of life that
exists.  I'm quite curious about this enlivening of the inanimate. At some point I hope to do a series
of art that focuses on that unexplainable imbued spirit.

I took this photo at The Getty Center on my recent visit. This balcony was almost empty except
for my Mom, me, and the sculptures in the late afternoon light.

"Layered, Divided, and Intersecting"

There is something in all the lines and layering of space in this image that conveys a sense of possibility. 

"Growing Contrast"

Sometimes all I need is for an image to be filled with so much texture that my mind is engaged in just that image and creates a world out of it.

"Margins"

I captured this image, because it makes me think about something I can't quite describe. Something in this image is about edges of of things lost and found, strong and dissolving. This water and leaf are removed visually in this image from their original context at the divide between street and sidewalk, so there is even an edge here that is not shown but influences the image.

"Situated"

"Winter Growth"

I'm interested in the strong rhythm of the silhouetted tree trunks on the right and the softness of most of the
 growth by comparison as it layers subtly one branch or leaf on top of another.  Then there is one area of
 bold foliage, the remnants of a sycamore tree's leaves leading my eye down to the gloriously bright
yet tiny spot of orange where the two retrievers stand.

"Seeing Together"

Two gentle but curious souls I met on News Years day.
I was intrigued by their subtle and seemingly considerate social interplay.