inbetween art, design & fashion

urban zen

2012-01-20T18:56:00.000+11:00

Urban Zen

I came across Donna Karan's foundation and new label Urban Zen on one of my ventures out into the big world wide web. I was immediately attracted to the fashion, the same thing that used to happen to me in the early nineties, most of what I saw of her work was inspiring and intelligent, made for a woman's body, I was so glad to know she was over there in New York. I feel like with this label she's gone into the core of her style and heart. And then to make things even more enthralling, ten percent of sales from the Urban Zen stores goes to the people in Haiti. It reminds me a bit of the inspirational Anita Roddick. Thank God for powerful, humanitarian, and creative women like this, they give the rest of us such an excellent reference point.

eternal feline beauty and water

2011-11-20T15:15:00.001+11:00

'Tiger, tiger burning bright in the forest of the night...." (a extract from Willaim Blake's famous poem) I haven't put the whole thing here, because this is really about this amazing picture.

That poem and this picture just do something magical to my inward eye. I guess its a little unexpectedto see a cat sitting so happily in water. The fluidity of his body merging with water.

I find this so inspiring and uplifting.

Evolutionary fashion

2011-10-20T13:41:00.000+11:00

This morning I read an article on 'The Daily Beast' titled: 'Fashion's Arab Spring' about my favorite designer of the moment, Haider Ackermann. I read more about him and his life. And then I understood why I feel such resonance with him. He was born in Colombia (where I grew up for several years of my childhood, in Bogota), and he was brought up by French parents, and then proceeded to live all over the place. My parents weren't French, my father Dutch and my mother English, but we did live all over the place, including Iran. (this is back in the fifties!) So I have things in common with his background. But apart from that, I am an advocate of being free to be who you are,

and enjoying your beauty and sensuality.

His work is about freedom. Freedom to envelope your body in beautiful draping fabrics, freedom to be feminine without having to display your body packaged and bound up so tight, layers of stiffening and hype, your flesh sort of squeezes out of the gaps, and you can't breathe, you can't walk properly, because you should done have a course on stilt walking before wearing those shoes, which may make you feel tall and powerful, but compromise your back, and your natural rhythm, and actually disconnect you from your real power, that of being a woman standing on Earth now, in these times. How can this be 'cool' or 'hot'? You're not free to just enjoy and revel in the beauty of being in a feminine body, who's natural rhythm is like that of nature, sensual and gracefully shifting between spaces, the senses alive and open.

timeless beauty never dates

2011-10-18T14:25:00.000+11:00

'The Village Beauty'

From the first generation after Manaku and Nainsukh, 1785
Opaque watercolor on paper

(image from Master Painters of India at the Met)

The beauty in this picture is lifting her right shoulder very slightly as she

flirtatiously gazes at something behind her. Its almost like she knew she was

being watched by an appreciator of her timeless fecund beauty, and ripeness.

She could just as well be a girl today, standing on the tram self-consciously aware

of herself, yet probably innocent of her power: timeless feminine beauty.

Asako Narahashi

2011-10-15T14:56:00.001+11:00

Kawaguchiko, 2003 From the series half awake and half asleep in the water C-Print © Asako Narahashi, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

A friend just came back from Japan and told me that she had to do a whole review about her idea of what 'culture' actually is. She basically had her mind blown by the culture and civilisation of Japan. She hadn't really grown up with the idea that it is actually culture which immortalises a civilization, not Australian rules football, as so many Australians believe I'm afraid!

I always get a really good feeling about a culture/time/values etc from the photographers who live and work in that place/time etc. So I just went surfing on the web, and found this wonderful Japanese photographer who it looks like, has just had a book published called 'half awake and half asleep in the water', from the exhibition which happened at the Yossi Milo Gallery in NY.

Anne Demeulermeester Spring 2012

2011-10-09T13:21:00.000+11:00

I still love Anne Demeulemeester.

Even though there is a darkness in the dencontructed chic of this great Belgian designer, there is a dreaming there too. And lately in my interest in Innana, the Sumerian Goddess of dark and light, this ensemble just makes stopped me in my tracks. Timeless and a classical signature look (this season she showed a lot of chiffons and transparents in amongst the structured unstructures.

Below is my Innana necklace (black/white agate, vintage cut garnet) which I made several months ago.

A friend bought it straight off my bench, I hadn't even snipped off the loose ends.

So I think dark and light is an important archetype at the moment, as we face up to the dark, to allow more light in.

the Goddess alive and well at Paco Rabanne Spring 2012

2011-10-06T18:34:00.000+11:00

Manish Arora says he found something about himself when he explored the Paco Rabanne

archives for his wonderful futuristic Spring 2012 in Paris a few days ago. I think he found something about the female body, such sensuality, power and beauty, even

though there was so much structure, which is not what I would normally associate with femininity.

The above ensembles were the ones which got to me most, but his ending of frill-necked lizard cup-cake style constructions were full of life and humour, and reminded me of the early eighties when Issy Miyake's sculptural ensembles looked like they might take flight.

Lanvin Spring 2012

2011-10-01T16:14:00.000+10:00

There's this dream fashion designers like Alber Elbaz have when

they sit down to explore the muse which will furnish them with their

ideas for the season. Here you could see that Mr. Elbaz went to another

plain of consciousness and found angelic, (which he grasped hold of

and pulled right down to Earth in his office wear set.) I love the ethereal

silvery grey chiffon and the tattoo-like ornament, bringing a slightly diablo

bikie element into the halo.

the beauty of bold colour and resin

2011-09-14T14:26:00.000+10:00

Resin!

I'm very excited to be rediscovering the beauty of resin. It really is such

a delicious material to use, its so generous with its chunkiness and translucent colour, and some of the opacity is so hearty and strong too. Its so much nicer than plastic!

And this isn't even the lovely organic style of Dinosaur designs, its flatter and

probably mass produced, but I am excited about how its giving me a sculptural layering ability.

I can go crazy with the colours. I love the way jewellery is now becoming acceptable as 'big' again.

I got so bored with all that girly-wirly ubiquitous silver charms look...

Woman need to start wearing their power really now..and colour, shape and

boldness is the way in my opinion anyway!

Edward Steichen 'Lotus' and Spirits search for itself

2011-09-11T10:05:00.002+10:00

Edward Steichen 'Lotus' 1915

words from Parabola Magazine

“The struggle to know who I am, in truth and in spirit, is the spiritual quest. The movement in myself from the mask to the face, from the personality to the person, from the performing actor to the ruler of the inner chamber, is the spiritual journey,” wrote Ravi Ravindra in our Fall 2004 issue: The Seeker. "

These words remind me of the daily practice of unlayering what we put on the day before to be in the world, and then need to 'deconstruct' on a regular basis to find that deeper inner self again. And even though there is so much resistance, and one has to discipline oneself to do this it, it is the most

nourishing and deeply restorative practice available, no matter what form it takes (eg Yoga, meditation,

prayer, journal writing etc etc).

elegance in the thick of it ~ South Sudan: The World's Newest Nation

2011-08-04T18:22:00.000+10:00

(Steve Evans, photographer, click on image for link to Life Force Magazine, where I found this image)

How elegant is this beautiful woman from South Sudan?! Even though she's standing in front of a war machine, she holds her own in her beautiful subtle coloured drapery. The combination of prints, which

look like indigenous traditional patterns (but I don't know that for sure), the way she is standing, so feminine and graceful..

And there she is standing in front of the brutish looking tank, on dusty dry ground, probably barefoot (but I don't know that for sure either). Inspiring...

Edward Steichen's photograph of Marion Morehouse (Mrs e.e. Cummings)

2011-07-25T19:21:00.001+10:00

This is surely an amazing moment in time! The photograph by Edward Steichen, the model is Mrs ee Cummings: Marion Morehouse; and the dress is by Louis Boulanger, and taken in 1926. I so wish I could take a time machine back to the twenties and thirties, the fashion, photography, art, design and architecture was extraordinary, especially when you compare it to the late nineteenth century, and Edwardian times, which were pretty interesting. Even the beginning of the awakening in Art Nouveau, however magnificent and iconoclastic at times, doesn't compare in my opinion.

BTW:Thanks to Gatochy on flickr for the shot...

Patrick Demarchelier invigorates and inspires

2011-07-05T16:55:00.000+10:00

I was just browsing around some of the sites I've collected lately,

just quietly in the late afternoon, suffering a little from what I call

'late-afternoon-lag' (not unlike jet lag, only there's no excuse),

when I came across these beautiful pictures of Patrick Demarchelier's,

from his site. I felt like I'd drunk a strong espresso laced with theta frequencies

and the delights of an image which just gets everything right in the fashion

and photography stakes. And that's not even talking about the movement/dance

Spiritual and physical expression!

sunset at North Pole, a rare and beautiful sight

2011-07-03T18:41:00.000+10:00

This is the sunset at the North Pole with the moon at its closest point earlier this year.

A scene we will probably never get to see in person.

The sun is also below the moon, an amazing photo and not one easily duplicated.

I find this photograph quite hypnotic in its silvery beauty. It reminds me of a mystical

or sacred vision of some kind. It evokes quiet and profound thoughts and feels dreamy and

mysterious.

The surprise flowerings from my wandering jew cutting

2011-06-04T17:54:00.000+10:00

"THOSE WHO WANDER ARE NOT NECESSARILY LOST" -- JRR Tolkien

I stole a little cutting of purple wandering jew from a garden in Brisbane, and brought it down to cold old Melbourne. I thought if I just put it in a sunny spot for a week or two in a glass of water, and let it acclimatize to the cold down here, that everything would just work out fine. Well, not only did it work out fine! It sprouted these tiny little beautiful flowers one after another for weeks. They'd only last a few hours, and then another one would come up two days later. I felt like I was being being showered with wandering jew blooms. A friend told me about how when plant is threatened with death it just throws out

as many of its flowers/seeds as it can.

Happy 85th birthday Marilyn! ♡

2011-06-02T11:18:00.000+10:00

She still brings tears to my eyes! When I was a child I thought she was a kind

of Goddess, and ofcourse she was. I was so inspired by her, and cried when

she was found dead in her Hollywood home. I realised all of a sudden that the

world I was living in couldn't accomodate someone as luminous, intelligent, funny

radiant and ofcourse vulnerable as Marilyn. This photo was taken by Cecil Beaton,

in my opinion, the master portrait photographer, amongst other things.

underwater dancer

2011-05-25T18:12:00.000+10:00

I'm not sure where this mysteriously beautiful photo comes from..

I find it particularly evocative.It reminds me of a dream or a scene from another era

or dimension, it takes me back to my childhood when I longed to be a classical

ballet dancer (oh but I'm so glad I didn't go in that direction now!).

I just grew too tall and big boned to be a classical ballet dancer. Anyway,

here she is, and her height and weight don't matter in the slightest.

The metaphor is for 'freedom', the freedom to

do whatever you want, and be whoever you want to be..I love it.

Paul Strand & Alfred Stieglitz

2011-05-07T15:49:00.000+10:00

This is an unusual photograph for Paul Strand, usually his photos seem to be a take on social realism. I think here he had a a more ethereal moment perhaps..

"It is not art in the professionalized sense about which I care, but that which is created sacredly, as a result of a deep inner experience, with all of oneself, and that becomes 'art' in time."

Alfred Stieglitz

Stephen Meisel for Vogue in 2003

2011-05-04T13:12:00.000+10:00

'Mad About You', is the name of this photograph shot by Stephen Meisel for Vogue in 2003.

It is one of those amazing timeless images which moves something other than one's aesthetic values. There's something poignant and delicate, which so suits the mood of this century so far.

Is Marilyn Minter's work even more relevant now than it was when she created it?

2011-04-26T19:22:00.000+10:00

Here is an artist I've only just discovered.

Her work reminds me a bit of Cindy Sherman, because of its lurid erotica or (at times) confronting content. They also have in common that they are not trying to create beauty, but they are both questioning what beauty is.

If you put her name in your favorite search engine and just look at her images spread across the web, you will get a sense of what she's saying.

I find her work important and relevant at this time, when fashion is often a mash of mixed up fads, styles, and genres, and quite often ugly and contrary to our programmed wish for it to wisk us away into a world where everything is beautiful and perfect. When we cannot find beauty in the classical or traditional sense, we have to start questioning what it is that soothes us rather than what is provokes us into a reactive state.

Here is an artist whose mash-up shows integrity and cohesive enquiry.

More about her work is here: Marilyn Minter.

the sub-tropical pool

2011-04-24T18:46:00.000+10:00

The warm sensuality of slipping into a pool in a sub-tropical rain forest....

Alber Elbaz at Lanvin ~ such a master

2011-03-05T13:23:00.001+11:00

The Fall/Winter 2011 collection at Lanvin, is such a beautiful mixture of structure and flow. I always find something which makes me stop in my tracks. He somehow captures that formality of Lanvin, and yet the feminine and intuitive flow of fabric and colour together, which I think is a rare feat.

a London Fashion Week jewel ~ Mary Katrantzou

2011-02-24T13:41:00.000+11:00

I haven't heard of this designer before, and she might not do more seasons, but her beautiful story of a delicate and playful feminine spirit has touched and inspired me.

You can see the whole range Style.com or if you'd rather The Cut at NYT.

In defence of dots

2011-02-14T18:09:00.000+11:00

I've always love comic books, they had a huge influence on me as a child, and I had a pile at least two foot high, which I collected over a period of about four years when I was in my early teens.

I particularly loved the romance, WonderWoman and Superman comics. I wish I'd kept them, I'm sure they'd still inspire me, with their evocative and powerful archetypal images, all made the more emotional because of the dots somehow. (like what one imagines to be swirling molecules or atoms...always keeping one's feelings on the edge and stirred....)

When I went to Art School in the late sixties, I was delighted to find Lichtenstein ofcourse.

I found this image along with some great words and other fantastic edits here

Kabala 2

In Defense of Dots: The lost art of comic books

A photograph is a universe of dots. The grain, the halide, the little silver things clumped in the emulsion. Once you get inside a dot, you gain access to hidden information, you slide inside the smallest event.

This is what technology does. It peels back the shadows and redeems the dazed and rambling past. It makes reality come true.

—Don DeLillo, Underworld (1997)

From the 1940s to the 1970s, comic book art and comic books were the same thing. In the decades since, the art of comics has been carefully separated from the original physical conditions of its reproduction. Elevation of the 20th century art form has resulted in the erasure of the 20th century mechanical processes that enabled comic books to exist and thrive – for ten, twelve, fifteen, or twenty cents, millions of times over.

It was an economic bargain that significantly defined the aesthetic terms of comic books: cheap paper, cheap printing, and four-color separations that could not hide their limitations. These accidental aesthetics governed the experience of comics for generations, were appropriated for fine art in the 1960s, and today fall into the “retro” category of graphic design.

a breathtaking photograph of Istanbul the Bosphorus at dawn before leaving for the inspection of Macka.

2011-02-05T15:25:00.000+11:00

When I saw this picture it drew some kind of ancient memory or dream from my subconscious. Somehow the ancient light and the merging of a casual cafe scene with the sea and boats is so beautiful and unexpected.
I don't know who took the photograph, but here is where I found it.

Dil Hildebrand ~ beautiful paintings about the present

2011-02-01T19:19:00.000+11:00

I came across this Canadian painter Dil Hildebrand, a few days ago when I was signing up to a great blogging site called posterous, where I have now started a blog about my Yoga classes (amongst other things).

I love the illusion of photographs taken in a mirror, or something like that. It gives the feeling of other dimensions, which is always of great interest to me.

I will keep an eye on Dil Hildebrand, and the blog where I found him: collections from the last place.

Inspiration from a master photographer: Patrick Demarchelier

2011-01-24T12:34:00.000+11:00

As nearly always when I see a photograph that shifts some deeper ingrained notion I have about the role fashion, the media or celebrities play in our lives, Patrick Demarchelier's photographs pull the rug from under my feet.

Here we see an image which on the surface could almost be a photograph of 1920's flapper getting her portrait taken on her way to a soiree.
On closer inspection one finds the theatre of a Japanese Geisha girl, or the wild and woolly outrage of a girl today defying her parents wish for her to be the ingenue of their dreams.

I continue to be inspired by his photography as I have for the last twenty years or so.

Piet Mondriaan ~ his influence continues to enrich us ~

2011-01-23T16:41:00.000+11:00

I took this photo at Gemeente Museum ~ The Hague when I was last in the Netherlands a few months ago. I've tried to find it on their site or elsewhere online to find the title and when it was painted etc, but to no avail! And my picture here is not ideal, as the glass reflection undermines the luminosity and beauty of this work. I think it was quite an early piece, before his more famous works, which everyone knows off by heart.

I notice that there's an exhibition on at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and there's an excellent little film clip about that here.

Picture on the left shows the beautiful original Art Deco design of the Gemeente Museum in The Hague. All the interior, fittings and everything are elegantly original Art Deco. The whole building is a museum to that.

Its worth a visit if you're in Europe.

Ellen Von Unwerth and Lady Gaga

2011-01-09T18:51:00.000+11:00

Talking about bunnies! I love the humour and fun of this photograph.

Ellen Von Unwerth takes wonderful photographs of feminine erotica, without it being yucky or salacious.

I have admired her fashion photography for many years and see now that it is another important key in unwrapping female sexuality ~ a liberating and also stylish expose´...

The Year of the Rabbit is coming

2011-01-04T11:56:00.000+11:00

February 3rd 2011 is the year of the Metal Rabbit.

This is image is a nengajō card, which is a card Japanese people send to each other at the beginning of the new year.

I love these sorts of specific traditional customs and the images which serve them, not that I am one to get myself organized enough to participate in a tradition like this.

But I enjoy the sparse yet evokative technique shown here in this vintage card. You can see more these images here.

Helen Frankenthaler and the magic carpet

2010-12-26T19:43:00.000+11:00

When I was at art school one of my hero's was Helen Frankenthaler, American abstract expressionist, and later married to Robert Motherwell.
Not only was she one of the few women working in this genre who was as renowned as some of her male colleagues at that time, but her works have a luminosity and vulnerability I've rarely seen elsewhere.

Whenever I've seen some of these huge paintings, my heart has skipped a beat, as I breathe in the courage and power in front of me.

I am so grateful for her work, she continues to inspire me and nourish my apetite for new frontiers of colour usage and expression.

Tango 1926 by Jacques Henri Lartigue

2010-12-20T11:43:00.000+11:00

Not only to I love Jacques Henri Lartigue's photographs, but I adore the tango.( I got this photo from here).

The tango must be one of the hardest things I've ever tried to learn! Not only do you have to keep all your senses alive and sensing, but you have to rigorously follow the difficult and precise steps and moves which make up this wonderful structured dance.

I truly believe it to be a form of Tantra because the male and female roles are so very clearly defined and to do with those very archetypal actions.

Louise Bourgeois in Venice

2010-10-07T19:06:00.000+11:00

At the Magazzino del SaleWe saw some works which Louise Bourgeois made just before she died at age 98.

I have always been so inspired by the power which quietly is revealed, often in retrospect, when thinking afterwards about you've just seen. Her deep female message, and even the spider has a sense of the intricate lives us women can lead. I didn't realise much she has influenced some picture

I have in my psyche about 'a woman's lot'.
When I was about to start high school and they talked to me about what I like doing and felt I was good at in order to help me work out which subjects to do, they ended up telling my parents that it would be best if I did needlework and cooking.

Louise Bourgeois has healed the wound in me, which thought perhaps I wasn't good enough to think of myself as anything other than a housewife. (which was the subtext of the headmistress' message to my parents I think...)

Yes, its true Venice is sinking...

2010-10-05T14:01:00.000+11:00

I found out that it's not because of climate change or rising sea levels, although no doubt these must be contributing factors.

Apparently, the African cap which is what Venice sits upon is sliding under the European cap.

Its a tragedy, but these things happen. Just look at the civilizations which are being discovered in the depths of the ocean off the shores off Japan, and elsewhere.

It is an extraordinary place at this time. All you have to do is sit around soaking up the atmosphere, drinking in the vibration of the place to get deeply nourished by its deep culture and character.

I doubt my grandson will be able to go there when he is in his forties though...but maybe there will be the vestiges still.

I feel like it really belongs to all of us..that something of its history has permeated into our DNA. As soon as you mention the word 'Venice', people invariably look like you're talking about a long lost love, something deeply moving in the heart and Soul.

I am so very grateful to have floated upon its waters, and drunk in the grandeur, the airs and graces of its ancient Mediterranean energy.

With these odd images, chosen from our myriad of more predictable images from Venice, I am attempting to share the underlying frequency of a place so much of our time, and sinking from our horizon too.

the beauty and sensuality of Saida, by Kees van Dongen ca 1913

2010-09-29T11:40:00.000+10:00

Kees van Dongen (image here) who I got re-acquainted with recently on my visit to Amsterdam and The Hague, was a Dutch painter born near Rotterdam, who's earlier works were way ahead of their time. He was a fauvist, one of my favorite groups, because everything was about colour.

I didn't see this particular painting, but the paintings I did see inspired me deeply. I haven't put them here because the ones I saw are ubiquitous, you just have to google his name and up they come. I haven't seen 'Saida' before, and it did indeed remind me of an earlier time in my life in Morocco where I met one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, even to this day, called Saida, who was the daughter of a family in Rabat where we were guests.
This Saida pictured here has the same quality of serenity, yet sensual femininity, and depth of gaze.

2010-09-20T02:07:00.000+10:00

Oh Siena..a place so filled with Soul.
It's very hard to describe what goes on that makes you feel like you're being held and fed with some Earthy nectar.
And the pictures don't convey it. The only problem was all the other thousands who were there just like us. But it still wove its magic..

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.- Carl Jung

2010-08-22T19:19:00.000+10:00

I've been meditating again, every morning for ten to twenty minutes.

I'm amazed at how this simple thing is transforming my experience of life.

I feel less and less attached to 'being right' or 'better'...

Its beyond words actually.

I can't recommend it highly enough.

Just sit quietly and watch your breath in and out to begin with

Watch your thoughts and say: 'thinking'..

Bring your awareness back to your breath

Allow your consciousness to penetrate

Stop, allow, make space

if only we could capture the scent of daphne on camera

2010-08-12T20:21:00.000+10:00

a sentient being

2010-08-03T21:01:00.000+10:00

I found this picture on a website by a woman called Robbie Kaye. She has it in her 'Portraits' section, under 'self portraits'. She saw herself reflected in this beautiful creature maybe? She has certainly captured the Being of this horse. She writes about 'the beauty of wisdom' on twitter where I found her. Her quotations are inspiring and heartening, and sometimes have made my day.

We are all becoming One with it all, and here is testament to that.

Amsterdam - the late fifties

2010-07-27T18:32:00.000+10:00

This is a photo my father took of his sister Katinka Bruin-van Rood and me when we were visiting 'home'- Holland in about 1959 I think. It was Amsterdam, my grandmother's house, as far as I can remember.

My aunt was also known as Toos, and much loved by all of us. You can see here what a very beautiful woman she was. Full of life and intelligence. She loved her brother (my father, as you can see here too).
She was a great sculptress, and probably inspired my to take the career path I have taken. My parents would leave us in her
studio for a day, and she would give us clay and set projects for us.
I once spent a whole day making 'a glass of water' out of clay. I was so excited that you could make anything, anything out if this wonderful pliable substance. I can still smell that wonderful earthy smell when I think about her studio. And the pale Amsterdam light flooding in through the tall windows.

On the left here is one of her bronze cast sculptures which I treasure. She adored cats, and always had them in pairs.
But even though that's what this depicts, there is a lot more going on, it has something about it which reminds me of the 'Tree of Life', something ancient and magical.

Katinka lives on in all who knew her, she was luminous and unforgettable.

wow in 1936 Edward Weston rocked

2010-07-20T10:39:00.000+10:00

And not only with this photograph or in this year!
I first came across Edward Weston's work when I was at art school (about three hundred years ago..hmmm) and was struck by how his nudes had a painting sensibility about them: his eye somehow stroked every surface, rather like the brush wields paint to bring light and dark to the senses...a tactile surface translating into a vision of the Soul inhabiting the flesh..oh, I can't find the words...
I suggest you just allow your eye to linger over this image for a minute, or any of his images for that matter, and your Soul will be nourished.
The 'design' of this, imbues the elegant, rhythmic minimalism of that time, but could also have been taken today.

Shirin Neshat Montage

2010-07-18T11:13:00.000+10:00

Shirin Neshat Montage from sam neave on Vimeo.

I first saw Shirin Neshat's work in an exhibition at ACCA here in Melbourne. I thought about it for days afterwards. And every now and then over the years her work pops into my mind, the power of images and almost emblematic gestures and actions is transporting and exciting. She's an extraordinary woman who inspires many, as well as making changes to consciousness.

an ode to Matisse's dance

2010-07-07T11:46:00.003+10:00

I first saw this painting 'in-the-flesh', when I visited MOMA in NYC in 1999. I didn't expect to be quite so profoundly thrown and moved...It was a painting I had often soaked in from reproductions in books and on posters. It is so very famous. When I was a child, I thought it might be some kind of tarot card, its magical impact on my psyche had already begun by the time I was about eleven, when I saw a book my aunt, the Dutch sculptor, Katinka van Rood-Bruin, had in her Amsterdam studio.

Her brother, my father had died just months before, and that day my heart was aching and heavy with grief. So when I stood in front of this work, the tears flooded and I had to take deep breaths so that I didn't wail with passion and emotion. I was in front of it for about half an hour. All the wonderful works in that Museum were calling me, their voice faint and easily put on hold while Matisse's dance and I communed.

I felt so deeply held and healed by the Spirit of this extraordinarily rhythmic and beautiful work.

a moment in Paris 1911

2010-06-29T08:13:00.000+10:00

I saw an exhibition of Jacque Henri Lartigue at the Pomidou Centre in Paris when I was last there in 2003.
I loved the life and humour his photos were full of. And in this photo, you could just change the fashion, and it could be a scene from any city today, the rush and movement. And guess the fashion is rather like 'slow food' or 'slow music', it would have taken more time to make, more time to put on, more time to take in all the details. Such was the way of that world.

Corot

2010-06-28T21:30:00.003+10:00

Today I went to the NGV and saw the European Masters: Städel Museum, 19th–20th Century. I hadn't really planned to go, but a friend of mine was down from Byron Bay and hungry for culture, and also very knowledgeable herself.

I was very pleasantly surprised, I got educated and nourished with some wonderful works.

One of my favorites was a small luminous painting of Corot's. (not the one shown here, but of the same ilk).

Also the Bonnard was hauntingly emotive and fine. I also loved the Oscar Schlemmer, very strong. All I wanted to do when we left there was come home and paint...but I had admin to do, my office is a mess etc. I was very glad to go, and will definitely go again to drink it in.

Tommy Spender

2010-06-14T16:16:00.000+10:00

Here is one of the most inspirational things in my life, and I could say my best creation,
my son Tommy Spender. Not only this beautiful man now, but an exquisite Spirit who
has always been my greatest teacher, and with a deep soul, with much talent. (he is a musician,
photographer, writer etc etc...)
And now he is a great father to his beautiful son, Leroy. His partner Jesse is also
a very inspirational and talented woman, I am so very lucky to have these people
as my family, on this great journey together.

Ferry ride from Queenstown '95

2010-06-12T14:59:00.003+10:00

I took this photo with my old Nikon F2 in 1995. Today it feels perfect as a reflection of darkish mood
I find myself in.
It also brings back memories of filling Sundays up with my teenage son somehow, to
keep some kind of connection going, struggling against all odds, as he pushed the boundaries to individuate, cutting his own path, however wild-and-woolly it seemed at the time. I'm sure today he's glad that I was able to let him explore, but I always kept a safety net suspended there (covertly). The dark and the light, the ambivalent tenuous hold one wants.

The ARt of Robert Frank

2010-06-10T08:34:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was my birthday and my brother took me into my favorite bookshop and told me to choose whatever I wanted. So I chose a beautiful little book: Robert Frank - Paris. I wasn't familiar with his images of any European city. I've always associated him with America. (the above image is not in my book). So now I will spend the next weeks dipping in and out of these exquisite minimal images, evocative narratives.

Alfred Stieglitz

2010-05-30T18:17:00.000+10:00

I read an article about Alfred Stieglitz in the Australian yesterday, there's going to be a show of his in Sydney later in the year, I was attracted initially to him, because he was Georgia O'Keefe's husband, and I find her such a remarkable painter, her erotic works of nature. Then I looked into her husband's photographs, I just googled his name and 'images', so I still don't know a lot about him, except for the article and the images I've just been exploring. I realise that he is amazing too, that you can see how his photography has influenced so many other artists, including artists that are better known than him, to the likes of me anyway. (eg Ansel Adams).

flower from out-a-space?

2010-05-24T21:29:00.000+10:00

This is an African daisy and I just searched online for it, because I was looking for something outrageous from Nature, a statement about how innovative and out-of-this-world she can be. I wanted colour and dynamism. This picture delivered!

Brassaii- 'Pont Neuf' still so powerful

2010-05-19T10:27:00.001+10:00

Since I'm on this path of looking at Brassaii and other photographers who were working around the same time in France, when I came across this image of his it took my breath away. I've always associated him with pictures of social life in the cafe's and bars of Paris taken in the early hours of the morning, very late at night. Their atmosphere has I'm sure been one of the most important ingredients in the ideas we have about Paris to this day.

the extraordinary images of Willy Ronis

2010-05-17T20:48:00.000+10:00

Place Vendome, Paris, 1947

I came across Willy Ronis, because I kept thinking about Brassaii today, and how he has influenced the way we think about Paris to this day I believe. I didn't know about this photographer, he was around at around the same time as Brassaii and Lartigue, and had a strong style of his own. More lyrical perhaps, less of social commentary, I'll get back about this, as I need to investigate him more.

'colour dive'

2010-05-05T16:08:00.000+10:00

I found this photograph as I was going through google reader today, the other photos here are also intensely colourful and evocative, but this one has that magic moment quality..the clouds, the ocean, the diver, looks slightly hesitant almost. Its like a dream scene, so perfect, slightly quirky and the colours almost bring tears to my eyes.

Wassily Kandinsky

2010-04-27T21:12:00.000+10:00

Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moskow in 1866. He is credited with being the first abstract painter. He was an intellectual and art theorist as well as obviously being an extraordinary painter. I've always loved his work. I can see Sergi Diaghilev must surely have known about these paintings, or maybe they knew each other, the whole influence they must have had on each other is one of those wondrous synchronicities, which goes on influencing and inspiring others. From dance, costume, poetry, literature, music (Stravinsky)...these people have been giants in the world of art.

'La Maja Vestida' (The Clothed Maya by Goya)

2010-04-25T21:11:00.001+10:00

Goya was such an extraordinary painter, and I think: 'expressionist'. This is an unusual subject for him (or maybe not, but I haven't seen many portraits by him like this..) He painted this between 1800-1803. I think he was so ahead of his time, especially with the more descriptive war paintings he did, they were so freely painted, full of emotion, and the spaces to contain them. And then there's nothing like actually seeing his works in 'the flesh', at The Prado in Madrid. I haven't seen them for many years, but I still can clearly recall the impact they had on me. It was hard to look at anything else that day.
This Maya is so luscious and sexy too, and he achieves this between the spaces of paint strokes. He's was a great master, and still a huge inspiration.

Giorgio Morandi and the Stillness

2010-04-11T19:57:00.001+10:00

Giorgio Morandi - 'Still Life' (Natura morta), 1956

I can't believe that I've been somehow involved one way and another with the visual arts for most of my adult life, and I hadn't familiarized myself with this incredible still life artist, Giorgio Morandi. With the six days of painting intensive behind me now(see last entry), I can look at this remarkable artist's work online, at least.

I found this image at the Met Museum. I gasped, as I experience the Stillness...

Degas and the light

2010-04-07T20:58:00.000+10:00

I am currently doing Geoffrey Dupree's 'From Drawing to Painting' course. For the last three days we have focused pretty solidly on tone, and how it indicates space. Most of us look at colour and shape all the time. I found that I rarely look at tone. And then I thought about the painting of Degas' that I saw at the French masters recently. It's just a small painting which is probably the first painting you look at when you enter the exhibition. I stood in front of it for a long time, just absorbing the light and the space he created with light, and the absence of light. And then ofcourse there's his flawless draughtsmanship. Need I say more. But with very little colour, he allows you to enter into his illuminated world of light and space. Magic.

black swan threesome

2010-04-03T17:09:00.001+11:00

I took this pic in Canberra too, and played with it a little, (using Photoshop ofcourse). I just wanted the eye to take in the relationship between these three beautiful creatures in their domain, the water. Their necks are such a huge part of their expression, and ofcourse their 'signature'.

inspirations from Canberra

2010-04-02T21:42:00.004+11:00

Paul Cezanne - Rochers pres des grottes au-dessus du Chateau-Noir

The soft eloquence of the colours and the paint strokes made me feel like I was being held in the arms of an angel...

Claude Monet - need I say more! This painting, not very well represented here, brought me to tears. I felt deeply that this was painted from his heart, and that my heart was opened by just standing in front of it. I can't explain why...

A beautiful collection of Jude Rae's paintings were at the Canberra Museum and Gallery, the other dimemsions brought forth with her sparse cool style.

I took this picture when we came out of the National Portrait Gallery. (which I highly recommend!) It was bucketing down in Canberra. The cab driver told us that they hadn't seen rain like this for four months, maybe 'years'...

The 'heated heart'

2010-03-21T18:59:00.001+11:00

I made these brooches from the heart for the Heart and
was inspired by an article by Greg Braden which have now posted into my fb page.

Ansel Adams his eye for Nature

2010-03-20T11:12:00.000+11:00

'Roots, Foster Gardens, Honolulu', T .H. 1948 gelatin silver print.

The legendary phtotgrapher Ansel Adams just always inspires and stirs me..I think his influence is not to be underestimated when you consider when he took this photo!

One of the not so beautiful moments at Paris Fashion Week?

2010-03-15T19:44:00.001+11:00

"Dear Anna Dello Russo waiting for the show to start"

Ok, this blog is supposed to be a collection of things which inspire me, but I had to put this in because it shows what I think is a not so beautiful moment at Paris fashion week. This sort of seemingly 'out there' moment, this woman dressed in the so so cool, a revelation in air-kissing anxieties, also feeds something, maybe something political...people always think fashion is only about beautiful, but here is someone whose influences spread far and wide,and she's just got the very latest hottest look happening no doubt, but to me she looks like a victim with too many layers of money and hype protecting her from herself and the truth...(am I being too harsh?)

Hermes - fall 2010

2010-03-11T21:31:00.000+11:00

At Hermes, Jean Paul Gaultier brought his humour and street sense and married it with the classic style of Hermes. There was a lot of leather, a la Emma Peel and the Avengers, and the hats and tailoring alluded to the very British way of referring to historic notions and rituals.

Jean Paul Gaultier AW10

2010-03-08T21:18:00.001+11:00

Jean Paul Gaultier showed his universitality in Paris this week, with his latest A/W collection.

There ethnicity, a Chinese influence, and yet always style, timelessness, and his own take, his signature, which I find one of the more consistently alluring and inspiring...

concrete waves, leaves, dark & light

2010-03-03T08:32:00.002+11:00

I took this photo yesterday afternoon on St Kilda Road here in Melbourne. The light is starting to mellow out and the cooler mornings mean that Autumn is nearly here. I love the contrasts here between the 'soothing' waves of concrete, the leaves, the light...

"Stop buying clothes.." Vivienne Westwood

2010-02-23T09:10:00.000+11:00

Vivienne Westwood is still one of my very favorites, as is Jean Paul Gaultier. I also love what she said!

Charles Anastase AW10

2010-02-23T09:05:00.000+11:00

Charles Anastase only showed 19 things in London a few days ago, and they were all absolutely original and intensely refreshing. There was a style sensibility, and even though there was deconstruction, there was a tailored feel of someone who knows what he's doing with the body and clothes. After paging through derivatives, wannabees and copies mostly, I went: "ahaaa! At last!"

Proenza Schouler Fall 2010

2010-02-18T18:37:00.002+11:00

This was such gorgeous collection of schoolgirl, late nineties style, but with a slight 'lady-like twist, as shown above. All the girls had ragged locks, and dark lips, and that peak of thigh showing if they were wearing the little dresses. Or there were graffiti-ed leggings all the way up to their chins almost, which had some humour and street wisdom about them. Lovely show. You can watch the video here.

'want me'

2010-02-13T13:48:00.000+11:00

Barbara Kruger, one of my favorites, brings emotion into her often dry or sardonic collages.
I am inspired by that ability to merge these two seemingly opposing forces.

does this look wet or what?

2010-02-10T15:44:00.004+11:00

I come across works that make me stop, and gaze and lose myself in the world offered, the three dimensions within the two dimensions. And here he does it again! Gerhard Richter, the blend of photography and paint, the surface is another surface, which mystifies and takes you deeper into the undefinable.

Gabrielle Roth -Embodiment

2010-02-09T12:11:00.000+11:00

the top of the volcano

2010-02-07T18:30:00.003+11:00

Haleakala, the main volcano in Maui, is such an extraordinary place, quite mystical in its bleak other-worldliness. I didn't stay for the sunset, apparently it can change your life. I sat and sent my feelings down deep into it though, and felt the energy of the place. It was awesome. I felt connected to deep in the Earth. I could feel her depths. We were over 10,000 feet above sea level, and it was quite hard to breathe. It has its own weather, and even micro climates differ as you descend through the clouds.

I can never resist sparklings

2010-02-06T19:39:00.003+11:00

On the catamaran in the deep blue waters off the west coast of Maui (known as Lahaina), I couldn't resist the sparkle of the ocean as it slipped under the hammock like structure at the front of the boat (not sure what this is called), and to lie on it, you got gently swayed and cajoled along, with the sounds and deeply fresh air as it came off the water...so divine!

A nest for the heart

2010-02-05T07:21:00.003+11:00

Early one morning, I went for a walk in the rain forest, and came across this nest, it was nearly ground level, which you'd think would be so dangerous for growing birdlets, with Maui's large population of roving long tailed cats...

that Maui sky

2010-02-04T18:26:00.004+11:00

I came to from the deepest Shavasana (last pose you do in a yoga sequence), and this is what was there. That wide blue Maui sky and the palm leaves..Its hard to convey the magic of Maui, but over the next few days, that's what I will attempt to do...Such a soft and lushly beautiful island, right out there in the middle of the Pacific, part of what we know as Hawaii.

Mickalene Thomas

2010-01-19T09:39:00.004+11:00

Another artist I discovered by looking into the exhibition at the International Center of Photography called 'Dress Codes'. These works remind me of the Eighties (again!). I can't help thinking about Grace Jones, and Jean Paul Goude, in this marriage of art, black woman, big cat and graphics. Somehow there I sense a subtext of movement and dance too. They are almost caricatures of those previously mentioned qualities, which I attribute to a particular 'thing' going on in my world, at least, in the early Eighties.

Stan Douglas, precision to the core

2010-01-14T18:41:00.005+11:00

Stan Douglas, Hastings Park 16 July 1955. This picture is also part of the 'Dress Codes' show on at ICP. (see links to these in the previous blog entry). Apparently each one of these people was styled, costumed and made up and photographed individually, then put together like this. I found this a fascinating idea. You can create which ever scenario you wish, so it's almost like theatre. His other photographs are very interesting as well, quite dry and informative, yet with a subtext of investigation and enquiry. I think this picture is aethetically interesting, the shapes and colours give me the feeling of a flock of birds.

OMG Pinar Yolacan!

2010-01-13T17:34:00.003+11:00

I found this exhibition through AnotherMagazine going on at International Center of Photography called 'Dress Codes'. There are quite a few other artists there doing some very interesting stuff, which I will put up here in the next few days if I get a chance. Pinar Yolacan photographs women wearing amazing garments made out of animal entrails. And the person still holds there space, their dignity, serinity, pride and all of that. I thing they're so interesting, and even though it reminds me a little of that famous website 'hats of meat' (which is kind of prosaic and hilarious), Pinar Yolacan's portraits are beautiful even though confronting when you know what's going on.

where can our imagination take us?

2010-01-12T09:36:00.002+11:00

I picked up this image from a blog I'm enjoying at the moment called: Pretty things. There are many pretty and lovely images and sayings here, I find it a soothing place to go. I find it allows my imagination a license to float and roam...no conditions...
In Melbourne the temperature is virtually unbearable at the moment, so we need to float into other realms to cope. Our body temperature is 37.6 degrees I think, so anything above this, must mean we've started to 'cook'.

awakening through dance

2010-01-10T17:36:00.002+11:00

I just googled 'dancer' and got many images, but this one expressed my excitement about going to the Studio Maui 'Spirit Body' retreat which I'm for the last week of January. I know just how much one can engage with one's own Spirit when one loses ones mind to pure ecstatic dance! And I've always wanted to go to Maui, I have only ever stopped off in Honolulu on my way to the States, but could 'sniff' something in the air (yes, even through the pollution!), that I wanted to return to, and nourish my Soul with. I'm very lucky...

what's the opposite of what we've got today in Melbourne?

2010-01-04T19:28:00.002+11:00

I took this pic in the Himalayas a few years ago..I love the coldness and contrasting textures..and it brings back the memories..

Kumi Yamashita

2010-01-01T20:21:00.002+11:00

I've just discovered this artist, and love her work! Check out the Kumi Yamashita
Above is:
Building Blocks, 1997
Light, wood, Shadow
Collection of Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho. Description: The building blocks of various widths on the wall, lit from the right, casts a silhouette of a woman.

Ava Gardner - la plus belle

2009-12-31T18:46:00.002+11:00

I was just thinking about the most beautiful women from the past. I just love Ava Gardner, her exotic beauty and mysterious depths. This picture looks like its from a later part of her career, when she was at her most extraordinary and gorgeous.

Christmas fruits

2009-12-28T12:58:00.002+11:00

Here's one of the fruit salad I made for Xmas! Some people laughed when they lifted the lid off the bowl...(must be with delight!).

oooh deep green forest

2009-12-25T19:20:00.001+11:00

Light in the Green, Green Forest
Originally uploaded by algo

After all the Xmas celebrations, and preparations: hours in traffic, crowds of anxious people (all looking for Love really...), et al...all I felt like looking at this evening was a deep still dark earthy forest, where one's Soul gets
nourished by the greens, the scent of the Earth, the soft sounds of small
living creatures..etc..

Peace, Love + HOpe bracelet

2009-12-19T17:42:00.003+11:00

I made this bracelet in response to the season we are in now, where so many emotions are afloat in the ethers, ranging from ecstacy to despair, loneliness, fear, Love, humility, hope, faith, emptiness and so on. You could add some more in the comments below if you feel to.
The pendant charms are just some little Indian things I found in a bookshop, but they are so beautiful and detailed. I have added fluorite hearts, agate fish, Tibetan turquoise, green turquoise, and Czech glass. Its definitely one-of-a-kind.

Lanvin Spring 2010

2009-12-11T19:06:00.004+11:00

Gorgeous! Alber Elbaz is a genius...he turns voluptuous lashings of sparkling glamour into an emotional rodeo ride..I love the casual chic amazon of this ensemble..

Donna Karan's favorite dress as worn by Demi Moore

2009-12-10T20:54:00.005+11:00

Donna Karan's favorite dress, from a book: 'My favorite Dress - the most influential Designers talk about their dress.
This is Demi Moore, wearing a hand made devore gown...I think its absolutely divine too, and what a perfect woman to be wearing it..

painting the digital - eg Gerhard Richter

2009-12-09T12:41:00.004+11:00

Here we have Gerhard Richter's painting of Ema (1966), which must have been a sort of premonition of things to come. It really looks like he painted this from a digital image, and quite honestly I'm not sure whether digital was around at that time. Maybe only in watches and computers. (if you know, let me know!). Anyway, I love the cross-over. And I admire his work.

honouring the inner feminine

2009-12-08T09:24:00.003+11:00

I took this picture a few days ago of this sculpture which I have up on my windowsill against the sky. I'm not sure where she comes from, it could be one of my aunt (Katinka van Rood) sculptures. I have been going in the last week, exploring the inner feminine. She mostly gets overridden by the overpowering voice of the outer male dominated doer, who needs to earn a living and survive etc. She is a delicate flower, filled with Love and creativity. I am embracing her...

timeless colour gets to us all

2009-12-02T08:59:00.003+11:00

Oh I remember coming across Sam Francis when I was at art school three hundred years ago. I found this beautiful work this morning at MOMA. I always thought his work was a little underrated, I guess he was around with those stellar painters like Rothko and Pollock. But his use of colour has always inspired me so much.

the window dance

2009-12-01T10:06:00.003+11:00

The seemingly topsy turvy figurines which sit in one of my windows, were against a grey water filled sky at the time of this shot. I like the rhythms here, and the strangeness.

rain coming..

2009-11-28T19:10:00.004+11:00

I took this shot a few days ago from our terrace, the rain was moving in, the clouds above the radiant sunset were filled with rain..such a blessing! Its almost been like tropical Melbourne. People are smiling, the moisture in the air refreshing and nourishing!

Herb Ritts just about defined the nineties

2009-11-24T12:51:00.003+11:00

I read somewhere that Herb Ritts just about defined the nineties, and I agree. His images often pushed right to the edge of what we define as beauty and plain raw ugliness. I have his book called 'Africa' in which he photographs the tallest most exquisitely graceful people on the planet as well as rotting animal corpses in the desert. Somehow one still thinks of him as a fashion photographer, I think its because the images are so direct and resonant of the moment.

The beautiful subtlety of vintage costume pearls

2009-11-21T15:38:00.005+11:00

Ah, this is just gorgeous...even if I say so myself!! (and inspired by Coco) I've been longing to use up these beautiful vintage costume pearls, which have been rattling around at the bottom of my 'broken down bits' box for years. Finally, I think I've managed to convey their gentle and delicate colours and patina's. This is definitely not to be repeated! Some of these beads have been in my care since 1986! OMG!

my version of Coco's pearls

2009-11-21T15:33:00.004+11:00

Here we are! This is my third slightly tongue-in-cheek version of Coco's famous pearl necklace.
I love making these pieces, they just come alive in my hands. I can almost smell Coco's parlour, as she sat there languidly holding forth, commanding her empire of style in the late thirties which is when the picture (above) was taken.

Sophia Loren - exotic, glamour et al

2009-11-18T09:51:00.003+11:00

I was just hankering for some pure outright beautiful glamour this morning, so I went to one of my favorite blogs: the impossible cool and borrowed this pic from there. Here she is, must be some kind of Goddess don't you think? She certainly set a bench mark, and inspired a generation or three with her eternal divine femininity and gorgeousness. Wow!

ooh..Prada winter shoes

2009-11-17T10:14:00.003+11:00

I just love the mix of messages here..and the shoes are fantastic, and groundbreaking (literally!)
I got this image from maison chaplin, who seems to have access to things just as they come straight off the press, today's fashion fare...

the avant garde in the mid nineteenth century

2009-11-15T20:32:00.006+11:00

Willain Talbot lace from the mid nineteenth century looks like it must have been way ahead of its time, at the time. To me it has a slight Art Deco quality about it, the clean and elegant curved shapes. I love the feeling of movement and energy.

Bangarra - 'Fire'

2009-11-12T08:35:00.004+11:00

Last night we saw Bangarra Dance Theatre at the Playhouse here in Melbourne. They were just as extraordinary as ever. They dance to the bones, pushing the deepest of emotion out to each cellular limit. I am so inspired by the depth and passion, today I feel nourished and refreshed again by the Spirit of this wondrous place I live in, this huge old dry continent, with all our various stories and lives it holds. The dance last night was a manifestation of one of the better outcomes of how we can create together, maybe bringing resonance and compassion to all our communities.

inbetween art, design & fashion

urban zen

eternal feline beauty and water

Evolutionary fashion

timeless beauty never dates

Asako Narahashi

Anne Demeulermeester Spring 2012

the Goddess alive and well at Paco Rabanne Spring 2012

Lanvin Spring 2012

the beauty of bold colour and resin

Edward Steichen 'Lotus' and Spirits search for itself

elegance in the thick of it ~ South Sudan: The World's Newest Nation

Edward Steichen's photograph of Marion Morehouse (Mrs e.e. Cummings)

Patrick Demarchelier invigorates and inspires

sunset at North Pole, a rare and beautiful sight

The surprise flowerings from my wandering jew cutting

Happy 85th birthday Marilyn! ♡

underwater dancer

Paul Strand & Alfred Stieglitz

Stephen Meisel for Vogue in 2003

Is Marilyn Minter's work even more relevant now than it was when she created it?

the sub-tropical pool

Alber Elbaz at Lanvin ~ such a master

a London Fashion Week jewel ~ Mary Katrantzou

In defence of dots

In Defense of Dots: The lost art of comic books

a breathtaking photograph of Istanbul the Bosphorus at dawn before leaving for the inspection of Macka.

Dil Hildebrand ~ beautiful paintings about the present

Inspiration from a master photographer: Patrick Demarchelier

Piet Mondriaan ~ his influence continues to enrich us ~

Ellen Von Unwerth and Lady Gaga

The Year of the Rabbit is coming

Helen Frankenthaler and the magic carpet

Tango 1926 by Jacques Henri Lartigue

Louise Bourgeois in Venice

Yes, its true Venice is sinking...

the beauty and sensuality of Saida, by Kees van Dongen ca 1913

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.- Carl Jung

if only we could capture the scent of daphne on camera

a sentient being

Amsterdam - the late fifties

wow in 1936 Edward Weston rocked

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concrete waves, leaves, dark & light

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'want me'

does this look wet or what?

Gabrielle Roth -Embodiment

the top of the volcano

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A nest for the heart

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