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)

Blue Containers By The Blue Sea & Winner

Well, thoughts have definitely turned to spring and someone has requested some plant
containers for a deck by the Pacific.  As we get closer to summer the ocean areas take
on a very distinct crisp blue aura...the sky and sea seem to become vibrant in shades of
blue.  This particular house has three outdoor decks and a patio area (Gosh, I wish I
could say it was my house!!!  No such luck). The decks are white against a white house
and white sand. For the most part the furniture is white with both white and blue cushions.
Because the sky and sea are also quite blue, I thought I would add blue and white
containers with palms and succulents and some white flowers. Keeping with a crisp look.


I have found wonderful large white vessels so now I am on the lookout for some blue
pots. Not as easy as one might think!  Finally I found a variety of blue containers and
have been told I can order any of these shades in large sizes and shapes also.  I think I'll
probably order the deep blue color in the lower right corner because the hot California
sun will eventually fade even the deepest blue.

The colors are so pretty...

The shape I've decided on is a tall square hour glass shape... narrower at the bottom
and wide and square at the top...

Most containers will be white but I think the addition of some blue to the decks will be
perfect...especially by the deep blue sea.

What do you think?


For the Giveaway I did a very casual draw.  I put all the names in a straw sun hat and let
the little girl up the street pick a name.  She has just completed her third heart surgury
and hasn't been able to do many things so this was very exciting for her.

The recipient of the giveaway is Good Life Of Design.  Congratulations, Kathysue!

You have a wonderful blog and you continue to educate and inspire all of us.

Please send me an email with your mailing information.

It looks like I may be doing another giveaway soon so be on the lookout for it.

As most of you know, I have been having major blogger problems.  I have a very

special post that I have been trying to post but it either disappears or publishes too

early and incomplete.  I would like to introduce you to an artist I know you would

really enjoy meeting, so hopefully I will be able to publish it in it's complete form in

a day or two.

Wish me luck!

See you then.

Lovely Orchids And Giveaway

I recently visited the Los Angeles Arboretum to see a display of  Cymbidium Orchids
and attend a demonstration on the care of these beautiful flowers.

It was a very overcast and chilly day and I thought seeing beautiful flowers would be
perfect for a day like this.

You might remember that I was at the Arboretum last August and showed you the
house where the television show Fantasy Island was filmed and later the first
Meet The Fockers film was also shot. When they finished production on the “Fockers”
film they painted the house back to the original Fantasy Island colors. You can visit
that post and read about it HERE.

When I arrived I was greeted by an old friend...

After greeting the peacock(who wouldn’t leave me alone)I went inside to the Orchid
display. It wasn’t a huge fancy show but the orchids were gorgeous!

After the care and planting demonstration, I went back outside where my feathered

friend was waiting and ready to show its beautiful peacock feathers...

Because it is too early in the season for much garden color and it was chilly outside,
I didn’t wander around as much as usual.  However, there were other feathered friends
who insisted on saying hello....

Geese....

And a family of Ducks...



Visiting the Arboretum is always a delight and I look forward to later in the spring and
summer visiting the waterfalls again and other flower displays.



Now about the giveaway,
I love having both of these books in my collection and I thought you might like having
them in your collection, as well.   They are,  Mary Emmerling’s Beach Cottages...
At Home By The Sea.  A beautiful book.

And, Seaside Style by Seaks and Taschen, another lovely book. If you would also like
to have these books in your collection please leave a comment and let me know you are
a follower. I will announce the winner on Sunday, April 10th.

Have a great week and I hope you are starting to see some beautiful spring flowers in
your area.



More Blogger Problems. I'm So Sorry!

Hi Everyone-

Well, I was trying to post pictures again and all of a sudden it said the post
was "Published"!  However, I had not published it.  It did it all on its own
and the post was far from ready or complete.  I hit delete as soon as I could
get to that page.
So, as you can see, I am having major blogger problems and I will not be
posting tonight.  I am so frustrated!
Hopefully I will be able to post within the next few days.  I'm so sorry...this
is beyond my control.

Many thanks.

Sorry!!! Blogger Problems

Hi Everyone-

I am so sorry but I have been having Blogger problems.  I tried to post yesterday but
my pictures kept disappearing.  I tried to post three different times.  First I had trouble
accessing my pictures and then when I finally got them on the post, they would
disappear about 10 minutes later!  Then everytime I would click on the "Insert Image"
icon the "Link" icon would appear and get stuck. And finally, it published without
me clicking on "Publish Post".   What nerve!  It was a mess and I had to delete it. 
I'm exhausted!

I will try to post again later today or tomorrow.  

Thanks.  See you later.

A Mermaid Gave Birth To New Friendships!

Because I have spring fever I have been thinking a lot about my garden and what I
might want to add this summer.
Over the last several months I have shown pictures of many statues, figures, sculptures
and shells...most of which would be wonderful in a garden...

This cherub is already in my garden and was adorned with violets for last Mother's Day...
they were my mom's favorite flower...

This sculpture is over 20 feet tall...

Some figures really might not work in a garden but would be better displayed inside...

Actually, it's the lamp I really like in this picture...

Some are wonderful water features or at least make us think of water...

There happens to be one particular figure that has ended up bringing new friends together. 
It is this lovely mermaid.  The lighting was difficult that day but can you see the dolphin
under her arm?

I found her at Country Roads Antiques in Southern California and showed her to you on
my blog.  A couple of months later I was looking at La Dolfina's lovely blog and saw that
she was showing the same mermaid but up in Northern California.  It turned out to be the
same exact mermaid but she was now located up north.  Terri and I exchanged emails and
laughter and a long distance friendship was born from this mermaid.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting and spending an afternoon in Malibu with Terri of
La Dolfina and Jermaine of French Kissed. We had wonderful conversations and lots of
laughter. They are both fabulous women and have fantastic blogs.  French Kissed is one
of the beautiful blogs featured in the current issue of Romantic Homes magazine.
Oh, and by the way, Terri’s gorgeous husband Chris joined us and put up with all our
“girl talk”... talk about being a good sport!!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful week. Are you making plans for your garden this
spring?  Do you have any statues, sculptures, fountains or shells in your garden?


And, our hearts go out to everyone in Japan as we continue to hold them in our
thoughts and prayers. This has been an overwhelming tragedy.

Are You Ready To Spring Forward?

I recently stopped at the Santa Monica Antique Mart and could not escape the fact that
there were clocks ticking everywhere. Maybe I noticed it so much because I am aware
of the time change happening this weekend.  We are going to set our clocks forward
one hour at two o’clock Sunday morning...but I’ll probably do it before I go to bed on
Saturday night.


I think the picture above of the clock table is quite fun and unique. But maybe we don’t
need to be that aware of time passing so quickly. I would constantly be thinking of all
the things I had to get done before the end of the day.


Here are some other clocks that were making their tick tock voices heard today.  I
was not always able to get a full length picture because the antique store has so many
wonderful things and often there just wasn't enough space to stand back and take a
full picture. I know the overhead lighting causes a reflection on some of the faces in
the pictures, but when you are in the store it is perfect.

Here is a better look at this clock's sweet face...

This table clock is one of my favorites...

If you collect plates...

A sweet little Swedish clock.  She has a darling face and a little drawer...

A little more fancy...

A pretty little cloisenne clock

I wonder where this octagon clock lived before?  Maybe a school or market...

I believe they said this one was Danish...

 

There are so many styles of clocks.  It would be fun to know where each of these clocks
has lived before.  These are just a few of the many clocks in the store.
I love the fact that we are setting our clocks forward. That means more daylight hours
and spring is definitely around the corner.

Happy Spring...Forward!

 
PS...I apologize for taking so long in doing a new post.  I have been working hard on
decorating a beach house for someone and it has been taking all of my time.  The good
news is, he's very please with the beach house...so far!