Monday, December 28, 2009
happy new year
After a lovely Christmas with the dear Parks Family, it is now on to New Years Eve.......I will be having my annual Celebration with dear dear friends, wonderful food, a fun game, and with all the hope that this coming year will be a truly blessed time.......
Let us welcome this new year with open arms and an open heart.........
Happy New Year to all of my Blog friends and to all who happen to stop by here for a visit......See you next year.......More To Come.........
| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 12:07:00 AM
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
happy holidays
A Very Merry Christmas to one and all.....May your Holiday be filled with family and friends surrounding you with much love and lots and lots of chocolate!
And some beautiful flowers, too.........I hope your Holiday is a truly wonderful one and for all those traveling---fly/drive safe. I send you all Big Hugs........More To Come........
| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 1:50:00 PM
Monday, December 21, 2009
i love flowers
Some more soothing beauty from Nature.......I don't really have much to say, except, Enjoy!
Another view----same flower.....Beautiful!
Sooooo Very Pretty.....I love when one color slowly fades into another color or two......It's everything I like to paint.
Another beauty above.....There is also the very pleasing look of the petals just kind of gently hugging each other while leaving a little space to breath....Luscious!
Another close look at that powder center. That top of that 'stamen'(?) is shaped like a Heart, isn't it? At least in this picture above it is.....
Another picture above a rose and another example of "Natures Perfection". Above, that Beautiful tannish Rose from my last post......I just never tire of looking at the amazing way that nature has of creating---in this case, a Rose----that is such total perfection! Everything about it is absolutely perfect! (Sometimes I feel like a broken record---repeating and repeating myself....) In truth, I just can't get enough of these flowers....!
Above, another Rose that has so very many colors happening.....I know I would not have really noticed this if I hadn't made a point of looking closer......
And here is another magnificent view of that flower I can never remember the name of....Alstroemeria. Again, such a beautiful combination of colors.....Wow!
And above, a fuller view of that Alstroemeria....I know there are a number of varieties of these because I have taken some other pictures of them and even posted them at some point......
Oh, this flower above....Yum, Yum, Yum....It looks good enough to eat! Again....the variations of color just knock me out.
Above......sublime, sublime, sublime. Breathtaking. And, another below.....with subtle colors that seem to surprise.....
Look at that slight bit of Light Peach-Orange deep inside there...Wherever did that come from? Well, there's no more to say except, enjoy, my dears, enjoy!
More To Come.........
Note: Betty G. will be home for Christmas! Everyone is so very excited, including of course, dear Betty....Her sweet granddaughter Maddy had said to her mother (...the wonderful Karen Culliver Parks---Garrett's wife,) "Grandma just has to be home for Christmas......I'll go to the Rehab Center myself and drive her home...!" Maddy is not quite 13 years old and doesn't drive yet....But that's how much she wanted her beloved Grandma to be home....And with the Rehab Center's blessing, she will be! There really is a Santa Claus after all.
| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 12:03:00 AM
Thursday, December 17, 2009
beauty that sooths
I am in need of the beauty of flowers...So, I thought, maybe some of you are, too.....I know it's not very 'Holiday Spirit', but it is so pretty, I'm posting them anyway because they lift my spirits......
This Rose above, was such an unusual color.....Not tan, not white, not pink.....but a touch of all three and so beautifully pale......It is just perfection in every way.
Above....Oh, that is so pretty...! I am ashamed to say I can never remember the name of this beautiful flower---forgive me Judy, you have told me more than once, and fir some reason my brain just doesn't retain it----I love this picture. The colors are stunning.....It looks like 'Spring' in December.....It's so warming.......
Oh, how I love these petals....Talk about soft, and the colors....! I love getting in close on the details of nature----especially flowers. I just realized that this photograph reminds me of some of my paintings....Well, at least I'm consistent.....lol.
Talk about a close-up......I love that you can see so much powdery stuff in this picture above. Like I said, I love to see the details.
Like an abstract painting.....the petals seem to be like some kind of beautiful soft cloth--a velvet or a velour or a silk....and the colors....Oh My!
I love the angle of this picture above. Like looking deep into the soul of this flower....And again, the details and the colors. There is a dimension to this picture showing us things that maybe we don't always see because we don't really look closely enough to see them. We look in such a casual way, we kind of take nature's miracles for granted.....
Lush, Luscious and Lovely---beyond words.....also somewhat dark and mysterious with some light touches.....Once again, for the umpteenth time I say, you cannot beat nature when it comes to breathtaking beauty....This really cheered me. I hope it cheered you, too.......I feel there may be some other 'flower' posts on the horizon......
Above---just one more extraordinary look at a combination of flowers and colors that is so very soothing.....it's like getting a really wonderful massage. Only it is a massage of the soul and the spirit---at least it is for me......More To Come........
| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 1:39:00 AM
Monday, December 14, 2009
days gone by
More of the 1978 Art Show.....Above, the Brochure that was sent out.......It was called "Excessives Abound".....and it reflected all kinds of inner feelings that were rolling around in me at that time....Sometimes 'art' cannot be explained in words......
Here is another picture from that same group of photo's taken before my 1978 Art Show at Ankrum Gallery....that is Joan Ankrum, the wonderful truly special Gallery owner, where I showed for over 30 years--until she closed the Gallery. There she is with her back to the camera, and Daddy Joe and me. It's funny, I never noticed his plaid suit before....No, it wasn't really plaid, it was a plaid design....He truly was a unique character, with his signature Bow Tie.....We were in the Gallery and some professional photographer was taking pictures of us, for what, I honestly don't remember.......
Here is Joan with one of the 'greats' of show business. Gus Schirmer...He was an agent and a producer...I first met him back in 1951 at The Sea Cliff Summer Theatre....He loved talent! I mean....LOVED talent.....It was always an honor to audition for him because he wasn't afraid to show how he felt; a most unusual circumstance in 'the business of show'.....This picture above was taken, if memory serves---and it may not---at the actual opening....Joan had been an actress 'back in the day'...at Warner Brothers and I think that is how she knew Gus. She had opened her first little Gallery in late 1960. I met her in early 1961. She was a true 'original' as they say.....
Above...Joan and Gus Schirmer...(Yes, the Schirmer Music Family..), once again, with Joan's life-partner and business partner, too...Bill Challee. A wonderful dear bright crazy man, and an amazing actor, who had been with The Group Theatre back in the 1930's, and even while they ran the Gallery, Bill still worked as an actor. Some of you might remember him from "Five Easy Pieces"...He played Jack Nicholson's mute father, and brilliantly, I might add.....Joan and Bill were unique in the Art World and I think it was because they brought a theatrical sensibility to the Gallery scene....They were unpretentious 'real' people with a real relation to 'art'. All kinds of art. Over that thirty year period, they moved from that first tiny gallery on La Cienga, up near Santa Monica Blvd., to a second space down the street that was larger, to a third and final space---the one in these pictures----It was a huge wonderful building, which they bought and then lived in an apartment above they gallery, where they remained until Joan closed the Gallery in 1989. Bill, Joan and Gus, all gone now.
Above....here is Betty and her younger son Andy....Betty too, has always been so very supportive of my 'art'....she has quite a few of my paintings covering many years of my career.....And as an update in her health, Betty is doing very well....I spoke with her today and she sounded really good. Everyone is hoping she will be home by Christmas.....
And above, here we are together.....This particular opening was a very sweet evening in so very many ways. In fact, the whole weekend was special because so many of my immediate family were here......The night of the opening, I had a party afterward and that made for a lovely end to that particular evening....Here below, a picture of The Three Sisters, at the party.
Gene was wearing a rather revealing blouse for the time, though now it would seem quite chaste and tame....lol...but she looked very pretty.....It was nice for us to all be together on such a happy occasion....
Above, a picture of Betty and my sister Robin at the 'after-the-opening-party' that I gave....It is always sweet to share your friends with your family, too.....Betty knew both my mother and my father---she knew Daddy much better because my mom died in 1966......
Oliver and Betsy Hailey gave a party for my family the next night and it was just lovely. Great food, great people, and in the picture above, that's me on the left and Robin on the right. Another reason why photographs are so precious. They capture a moment in time that stays in the memory much longer because you have this special image you can see at any given time----images reminding you of special times like this one above. And this one below, too.........
This picture was taken at The Haileys. That's Daddy with Oliver and Betsy's two daughters. Brooke, over on the left side of the picture and Kendall, over on the right, now both married and with their own children. And, incidentally, it was Kendall and her husband Danny Miller who started me blogging.....Danny has a wonderful blog called "Jew Eat Yet", (over on my sidebar.....), take a gander when you get a chance......
Here above is a picture of Oliver and me at my opening. This dear kind and generous man had volunteered to sit at a table during the opening, selling my 'limited edition' book---"Excessives Abound". He sat there writing invoices and taking money.....What a special thing to do for a friend to do. Especially, and award winning playwright.......
And here's another picture above of my father and myself at the opening......And below, Daddy Joe and me at The Haileys party......
Photographs such as these, help you to remember the better times and in some cases the best of times, as opposed to those other times that only break your heart..... No, one doesn't forget those harder painful times, but, in point of fact, I'd rather remember these good times of sharing, and photographs have always helped me do that in such a fabulous way. And, in my opinion, these are the memories and the images that sustain one over the long haul of this thing we call 'life'.......More To Come.........
| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 10:40:00 AM
Thursday, December 10, 2009
memories
With the Holidays almost upon us, I got to thanking about earlier times and family and friends.....Above, that's me with my father. The occasion was the opening of one of my One-Woman Art Shows at The Ankrum Gallery, here in Los Angeles....It was the only show of mine that my father ever came to and both my sisters came, too.
And here above is Daddy Joe and is harem...lol....Well, not really. But my brother couldn't come to this opening so it was just us girls----including Daddy's wife, Olga. That is my sister Gene over on the far left. Olga next to her, Daddy; then my oldest sister Robin and then me. Both Daddy and Robin are gone now---Daddy died the end of August, 1981 and Robin died the beginning of February, 2005.....
And here we are above....The Three Sisters, though not really anything much like Chekhov....! (Well, maybe just a little.....). Everyone had flown out from the east coast---Gene from New York, Daddy and Olga from Washington, D.C. and Robin, from Boston. It was really wonderful that they all could come!
And above, two of Robin's children joined in the celebration, too. Danny and his lovely wife Nancy---over on the far left, and Debbie, right next to Robin over there on the far right.....Danny and Nancy had flown down from Davis, California, and Debbie had come from Boston with Robin. It was really great to have them all share in the excitement of this opening.
When I found this picture above, I was reminded of the fragility of life and how fleeting it can be. Both these very dear friends, John and Hanna are gone now, too. Hanna died in May of 2008, and John died in May of 2009.....Here they are above looking so young and alive.
Above, good and dear longtime friend Lee Grant over on the far right....And next to her, Barbara Bain, who, along with her then husband had been members of Theatre West.....and on the far left is Lila Kedrova, a wonderful actress that Lee had brought to the show. Lee was in the middle of pre-production for a beautiful film which she was directing with the brilliantly talented Lila Kedrova and and the equally brilliantly talented Melvyn Douglas called "Tell Me A Riddle". (Worth renting from Netflix, believe me.....). I was thrilled that Lee brought Kedrova with her and honored to meet her, I might add......Lila Kedrova is gone now too, having passed on in 2000. Below, Lee's husband Joey Feury with the wonderfully talented painter, Morris Broderson......
That is Joey over on the left---hair everywhere...lol, and Lisabeth Hush in the center there, and dear Morris, who has always been so very supportive of my work. Morris' paintings hang all over my home---I began collecting his work in early 1961.....And I turned Lee and Joey on to his Art and they have a large number of major works by him....I'm happy to say, Lee & Joey and Morris and Lisabeth are all still alive and all still good friends!
And above, the incredibly talented and very dear dear Ron Rifkin....I think it was the year of 'the beard'.....lol! Another good old friend who is still very much with us, I'm happy to say. If you watch "Brothers & Sisters" you see him every week playing a very lovable character, and before that series, he was on "Alias", playing a rather evil character. He and his dear wife Iva have always supported my work as an artist, too, and I am deeply grateful to them......One more picture below....Pat Crowley, Earl Holliman and Oliver Hailey.
Oliver was an incredibly talented playwright who died much too young...There were so many lovely Holiday party's at The Hailey's...every Christmas Eve they would have a wonderful open house with gorgeous food, all made by Oliver's talented writer-wife, Betsy Hailey...If you have never read "A Woman Of Independent Means", you have missed one of the dearest books ever written! And dear Earl---well, in fact, I just spoke with him yesterday. We talked about New Years Eve--a tradition here. And dear Pat...well I am still in touch with her, too....And you know how long I have known her? Well, here are two pictures below.
That's me in the hat. And Pat is on the far right.....And below, I am in the upper right hand corner, still in my hat, and Pat is looking up at all of us.
It was the summer of 1952 and the play was "My Sister Eileen", and the place was The Sea Cliff Summer Theatre! Pat played 'Eileen', and I don't even remember the name of the character I played....But, what is so nice is that I re-met Pat around 1964 here in L.A., at Theatre West....And here we are below at my art opening in 1978......
Pat was here for one of our 'Ladies Who Lunch' in the fall of 2008 as I recall.....and we speak on the phone every month or so....So, there are some lovely memories of times past that seem to crowd in around this time of year.....And it is very nice to re-visit those lovely times. Poignant, of course, but, that is life, isn't it?More To Come........
| posted by OldLady Of The Hills at 3:11:00 AM
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