Please Meet Artist Jennifer Lanne

This past year I was introduced to the wonderful  work of artist Jennifer Lanne.  I have
been awestruck by her beautiful and amazing paintings.

The person who brought Jennifer to my attention was my friend Stephanie Lloyd.  You
see, she and Jennifer are also friends in upstate New York.

Jennifer and her husband Dick Lanne, also an amazing artist, live on an old farm where
the house dates back to the late 1700's.  Her studio is in their centuries old barn with
views of orchards, farmland and her beloved animals...chickens, roosters, pigs and
goats to name a few.  I'm quite certain these artist's creativity is fueled by the beautiful
and inspiring surroundings and environment.

Jennifer has been featured in the magazine Where Women Create and also Country
Living magazine.  She is going to be featured in a coming issue of Where Women Cook
where you will be invited into her home and kitchen and see some of her fabulous
cookie art!  I will also be giving you a peek at that in a future post.

But today I want to show you a few of her amazing and beautiful paintings...

 

 

Dick Lanne is an artist in metal works.  His art of blacksmithing forged sculptural
displays for many of Jennifer's paintings which creates the perfect marriage of metal and
canvas.  I am also hoping to be able to show you more of his work in a future post.

They truly are a creative couple...

Stephanie Lloyd's beautiful home holds a wonderful collection of Jennifer's work
including entire walls that Jennifer has painted as murals.  Stunning!

And paintings...

As you can see from the picture above, Jennifer is absolutely adorable!!!  But, don't
think for one minute that this beautiful artistic woman is a shrinking violet...

I will be showing you more of Jennifer's studio and home and animals in future posts.
In the meantime please take a look at her wonderful site HERE.  You can see more
of her paintings and read her charming blog.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week.

(Photo of Jennifer and Dick Lanne from Country Living magazine)

(All other photos courtesy of Jennifer Lanne and Stephanie Lloyd)

I Really Do Know It's October!

I know it is the beginning of October but in Southern California we have been
having some very warm weather after what has been a very cool summer. 
It's really not so unusual for our area that we are warm at this time of year.

I have been away for a few days and when I returned home today the lovely warm
weather was emphasized by these beautiful new rose blooms to welcome me.

I was going to do a post on more antiques but the weather has me experiencing
a bit of spring fever, so I will post the antiques at another time.  Please enjoy a few
more blooms from my garden this morning.

As you can see, the warm weather has made it nearly impossible for me to accept
that it is October and I should be getting ready for fall!


Debbie of  Love Of The Sea has asked a few of us to answer the following questions.
I don’t ordinarily do this kind of thing but Debbie is so lovely so I thought I would
go ahead and play along with everyone.  Here goes...

• Do you consider yourself a city girl or country girl?
Well, I think I am a country girl at heart. I love living near a city and I do tend to
make use of everything a city has to offer...cultural offerings such as museums,
galleries, all kinds of concert, etc.  Also, I love trying new restaurants and things like
that. But, if I had to choose between living in a big city and living in the country on a
daily basis, I would say I am more of a country girl at heart...but I want to have a
city not too far away.  Oh, and I would like an ocean not too far away too!

• Besides where you live, where is the one other place you would like to live? Why?
I grew up on the East Coast and when I first moved to Southern  California
I lived in Santa Barbara. I loved it. I think it is one of the most beautiful
places. I also love New England and its charm. If I had to choose somewhere
outside of this country it would be Paris or some place in Provence.

• What is your favorite thing to do on a Saturday night?
Hmmm. That depends on the kind of week I’ve had. If it has been extraordinarily
busy I would probably choose to stay home and relax. If it has been a normal
week then I would definitely want to gather with friends for a nice meal and wine.

• What is the one habit that you really want to break but know you never will?
I wish I could simplify more. I keep trying but I do love to be surrounded by
pretty things and I appreciate their beauty. So it would be difficult for me to live
a life as a true minimalist(I so wish I could). I also love the fun of the hunt...I love
antiquing and thrifting.

• If you could spend the day with one famous person, who would it be and why?
That’s a very difficult question for me because with my work I am surrounded by
well known people on a daily basis. There are many who are very interesting and
are great fun. However, I guess if I had to pick one well known person to
spend the day with it would be Neil Simon, the playwright. I have had the pleasure
of spending lots of time with Neil and we have had wonderful conversations.

• What is your favorite pastime or hobby?
Antiquing, photography, reading, designing, catching up with my wonderful friends,
trying new restaurants, traveling...and the list goes on!

• If you could choose any place in the world to go to - all expenses paid - where
would it be?
I love to travel so I would go to France, Italy, Tahiti, Scandinavia...and the list
goes on!

Now, my instructions were that after I answer the above questions I should pass
them on to other people. But instead of that I think I would prefer that when you
leave a comment,  maybe if you want, you can tell me a little something about
yourself.  Oh yes, if you are a minimalist...do you give lessons!?!

Hope you are having a lovely weekend.