Favorite Weekends ~ in Southern California!

I'm taking a break from my Italy posts, to share my two favorite weekends this winter! (I know, it doesn't look like winter here!) One of them was when my nieces came to stay, for an over night, at my place in L.A. They were on their winter break from N.Y.U., where they are both in college. 

We had perfect weather for a visit to the Getty Center, as well as an evening walk to an old revival movie house. It's called New Beverly Cinema,  and dates back to the 1920s. We also made dinner together in my little kitchen and walked to Blu Jam on Melrose for brunch on Sunday morning.

It was fantastic getting to spend time with my smart, funny, creative nieces and being able to do something different, outside of our normal Ojai visits.

The Getty Center

My nieces Rachel and Elizabeth, checking out some very detailed drawings ...

Pretending we were in Florence, in front of a huge photo wall, 

outside of the Italian painting exhibition!

So fun! Thanks ladies for coming to visit!! :)

My other favorite weekend, is when I had my nephew, for the 3 days over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. We stayed at my sister's place in Ojai. It's always great to hang with my favorite 7 year old and see the world through his eyes.

Benjamin, exploring near my parents house, in Ojai.

On Sunday that weekend, we headed to Santa Barbara. We scored on the weather! It was gorgeous! 

One of the loveliest places up there is the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. There are even picnic tables out back, under the oak trees, and a creek that runs through the property. 

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

Chumash Basket

Ben and I like to come up with funny pictures. This is my favorite!

Ben and I met his sister Elizabeth for a seafood lunch, then headed to the pier ...

There is a small aquarium on the pier, called the Ty Warner Sea Center ...

My nephew, has a big box under his bed that he calls his "museum." It's filled with smaller boxes, containing little collections of sea shells, crystals, geodes, fossils ... his own little natural history museum. 

After touring the aquarium, I asked him if he'd like to pick something out, from one of the gift shops, to add to his collection. 

"Um ... Lulu? I think I'd rather look for something myself, on the beach, instead of buying something."

(Yes, he actually said this! How awesome is that?)

"That's a great idea Ben." 

So, we headed down to the beach and started his hunt.

At one point he had a whole pile of various treasures, but then he found ... the big score.

The strange thing is, we had just seem them in the aquarium, or I'd have never known what it was! 

It's called a mermaid purse. Certain kinds of sharks and skate gestate their eggs and babies in these! They end up attaching to kelp and various things until months later, the baby shark breaks out! How crazy is that?! 

I'd never seen one until that very day ... right after looking at them on display, in a fish tank! In the aquarium, with a light shining behind them, you could see the baby sharks inside them! 

Found this on YouTube to show you, what they looked like in the aquarium!

It was very exciting!

Monday, after Ben and I watched the oath of office, we headed to Martin Luther King Day, at Libby Park, downtown. Ben's class sang, "This Little Light of Mine." (You can barely see him, in the middle of the back row, in his plaid shirt.)

I tried to video the song with my phone but at a distance, it was terrible... 
so here's a great bluegrass version! 

Not long after our fun weekend, they had a gallery show at Ben's school, to celebrate founders day.

Each class, at his little school, got up and performed. Ben's second grade class, sang a song that I love.

The song is called, With My Own Two Hands. Here's a video version I found on YouTube with music by Ben Harper and Jack Johnson. So sweet, and beautiful!

My nieces and nephew, at my parents house, before the girls headed back to N.Y.C.

This little light of mine, 
I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, 
I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, 
I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine
Let it shine 
Let it shine!

Ev'ry where I go
I'm gonna let it shine
Ev'ry where I go
I'm gonna let it shine
Ev'ry where I go
I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine
shine
shine
Let it shine!

~Harry Dixon Loes (1895-1965)

circa 1920

More Italy on the way ...

Blessings and light!

Hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Klimt at the Getty Center

All art is erotic.

~Gustav Klimt

Yay! I made it! The Klimt exhibition at The Getty Center ends this weekend but my friend Malaika and I made it under the wire! It was especially great because not only do we both love his drawings (which was whey were exhibiting) but I hadn't gone an done anything with her outside of a group in ... a year? Two? Honestly, I can't remember. Her parents run the Wizard of Art where I teach, so once in a blue moon we all go to happy hour but even that is rare, so this was extra special.

Yay!!! I love his drawings!!! Sorry, I couldn't take pictures!

Here is a film that was shown in the exhibit which includes many of the pieces in the show. Enjoy! If it doesn't work, click HERE to see it on the website.

As you can see, it was a gorgeous day! Last time I was there the garden was closed ... not this time! 

I love museum gift shops but they are quite dangerous. I managed not to go nuts this time and just picked up postcards, from the exhibit, to send to my nieces at school in New York, and a little birthday gift for my sis. Fortunately, I already have Klimt books, including a rather extensive one of his drawings, so it was easy to not get tempted by the catalog, this time. Phew!

My favorite iPhone photo of the day. :)

Whoever wants to know something about me - 

as an artist which alone is significant - they should look attentively at my pictures

and there seek to recognize what I am and what I want.

~Gustav Klimt

Have an amazing weekend everyone!

Blessings and light!

A Day at The Getty

Right now I should be up at Santa Barbara with my new pastel group for my first plein air "paint out" with the other artists, doing pastels all day. Unfortunately, I woke up last Monday and could barely lift my arm. By Wednesday night my neck was so stiff I couldn't turn my head! It's not serious, like bone spurs or a slipped disc, but rather, "left overs" that pop up occasionally from a series of crazy car accidents in the 1990s. (And one in 2003) I have been to the acupuncturist and the chiropractor (going again Monday) and at least now I can sort of lift my arm a little. (Enough to type obviously! :) How many Advils can you take in a 24 hour period?

I am not supposed to be at the computer for hours on end, so I will refrain from my general ramblings, except to say that last Saturday was a beautiful day at The Getty Center in West Los Angeles. And, after all the years that my friend Erin has come to visit me from San Diego, we realized that she'd never been to there! Unfortunately, the beautiful gardens designed by Robert Erwin were closed, but that gives us a huge excuse to go back! (Especially because she is such a green thumb!) As you can see, her five year old, McKenna, was a trooper!

The Getty Center is sometimes known more for it's architecture, views and gardens, than for its collection, but as you can see there is a huge variety of beautiful works of art! It's one of my very favorite places to be in this city.

Upper sculpture garden and seating area ...

McKenna enjoying the central fountain and magnificent views ...

Covered Goblet with Mythological Scenes

German, about 1680

Balthasar Griessmann

Erin and Mackie checkin' out the stained glass

Dish with Saint Clare (Santa Chiara di Assisi)

Italian (Faenza), about 1535

Bladassare Manara

tin-glazed earthenware

The Virgin and Child with Saint Elizabeth

and the Young Saint John the Baptist

Benedetto Cervi

Marble 1520s-30s

The Coronation of the Virgin (detail)

About 1420

Gentile da Fabriano

Tempera and gold leaf on panel

Yep, Van Gogh's Irises

1889

It's so beautiful! I can't wait to read the new biography about him! It's called Van Gogh: The Life by authors Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. It's been called the most comprehensive overview of the painter. After exhaustive research, they maintain he did not kill himself. There were great interviews on 60 minutes and Charlie Rose with the two authors.

Vase of Flowers (detail)

1722

Jan van Huysum

Oil on panel

Wheatstacks (Snow Effect, Morning)

1891

Claude Monet

oil on canvas

Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino

1839 (February at a neighbors farm in Giverny)

Joseph Mallord William Turner

oil on canvas

Mischief and Repose

1895

John William Godward

Oil on Canvas

Amazing views from places all over the museum! Inside and out.

There's a kid/family space where the kids can make mask's ...

And they can recreate an outdoor sculpture ...

And here's McKenna (a.k.a. Medusa) in the gift shop ...

An understated French bed ;)

(Thanks McKenna, for giving us a sense of scale!)

The day was capped off by fantastic, fresh, sushi in West Hollywood at our new find Yoshi. It was a perfect day. Thank you Erin and McKenna for driving in traffic for 5 hours on a Friday to see me!!! You guys are more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

To see my other Getty posts including the gorgeous gardens, click HERE.

To visit the Getty's website and find out more, click HERE.

To see the fascinating Charlie Rose interview with the authors of Van Gogh: The Life, click HERE.

If you look at a thing 999 times, you are perfectly safe;

if you look at it for the 1000th time,

you are in danger of seeing it

for the first time.

~ G.K. Chesterton

Hope you are all enjoying your weekends!

Get out and go to you favorite place in your town, if you can!

And enjoy the Oscars!