Wabi Sabi, Dwellings for Imaginary Civilizations, Nightverses

Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional. From Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers Charles Simonds began building clay villages, ruins and what he termed ” dwellings for imaginary civilizations of little people” in the [...]

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Work in Progress/Process

Almost finished with my city of felt. ArtWalk in Little Italy provided the inspiration and urgency to come back today. Good people and my new San Diego coffee love, Caffe’ Vergnano, provided the energy. Happy May.

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It’s April: New Shoes for Everyone

History of Coffee   Ethiopian sheperds discovered coffee when they realized their goats began to dance.   Michelle Ramadan From Coffee Poetry          

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Creativity! [dedicated to you!]

Everywhere I turn these days i see the word Creativity..could this be a sign …cause I have not been posting that much??? This post is more like…four…but so be it. A dear student let me borrow this fantastic book: The Creative License: Giving yourself permission to be the artist you truly are. What a wonderful [...]

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Drawn on Coffee

One more post before the month is over. I still have a lot of sketches to share and  am working on finding time to do some more collages (wow, the previous sentence needs to have more conviction to it!). Lots of changes going on around the world…. I am just sitting and seeing it all turn. [...]

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Oh! Comfort and Joy {Sweet Nothings for an Espresso}

Sensory overload for the coffee fiend at Whole Foods. Can I take you all home with me? A short, sweet poem for you today, like the piece of dark chocolate my friend Susan at Chi Chocolat used to place at the end of her black, strong espressos. A small indulgence, a titillating surprise. Enjoy with [...]

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Imaginaire : an evening with Magritte (and colors)

After some meetings today I stopped by the library, Futo coffee in hand, and indulged in my favorite Architecture periodicals: Domus, Architectural Review and Harvard Design Magazine. An article on Surrealist Houses launched an expansive search on the Architecture of René Magritte; will share some of the findings here. I am also thinking about watercolor [...]

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Art on the Run

  Posting from the road, The Gipsy Cafe’ in Los Angeles. The surrealist drawing is by Amina Alkandari, part of her series ‘Love behind the Seen’. This bohemian cafe’ is located within the alternative Anti Mall in Costa Mesa.. a place uniting local businesses, local artists and designers and clever public space. Love at first [...]

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Art and Poetry

Perhaps if we all had, every day, time for art and for poetry, just a daily dose, perhaps our lives would feel a little less hurried, a little less hectic, and time would slow down for that cup of tea in front of a vintage art book. Perhaps we could squeeze more out of our [...]

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Sections of the Brokenhearted [Find another Sun]

Soundtrack of  ‘Apart’ Soundtrack of  ‘The Center cannot hold’ Soundtrack of ‘Spooning (one. is broken)’ More on Gordon Matta-Clark

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Coffee is my Aeroplane

I too am having one of those days weeks.  Monday with Les Misérables. Something about the number 17, a confounded number that brings misfortune and mishaps in Italian lore. Coffee is one of those rituals that encourages pondering, aids concentration–perhaps even mindfulness– and never fails, at least for this aficionada, to lift the spirit.   Sometimes, some [...]

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Waiting for Godot

What have you been doing? I’ve been reading about Utopian Architecture and speaking Art with my wonderful students. I’ve been breaking LCD monitors and buying inferior ones on Craigslist (which does not have a return policy). I have decluttered my place, simplified my life (hello facebook/Big Brother withdrawals), embraced yoga and precariousness. I have been [...]

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Artuesday: An Ode to Coffee| A New Water Bottle

I wanted to share some of the things that make life better: 1. A  water bottle that makes you happy and keeps you cool for hours. 2. a coffee mug that offers you coffee at ideal temperature with new technology … or just looks thermally  good (mine is orange) 3.  Beautiful Pantone Mugs to brighten [...]

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{Blogging Artist Tutorial}: How to make a customized ‘Buy me a Coffee’ micro-donation button

For many artists/designers endeavoring to build an online a presence, a blog is an incredible way to show up to their work and share new projects. Still, designing a high-quality blog and content is not enough. You have to get the word out ( is a blog still a blog if nobody reads it?) So [...]

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Women, Flowers, Photography and Politics

February 1st, Monday. I like it when a new month, sparkling with possibilities, starts on a Monday, a beginning of a new week. This February finds me physically incapacitated ( I have been down with a bad cold since last week)-  but my spirits are up, because of the things I have been reading, the [...]

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A [visual] parting note…censored

This was my small parting gift to my art-sister Ghadah. I went to Kuwait without a proper gift for her, so I thought I would leave her with a low-tech collage, on tracing paper, of my trip. In keeping with the theme of censorship, which fascinated me- and was the basis for a project of a [...]

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Starbucks’ Indiscretions

I stole took this beautiful knitted giftcard holder from Starbucks the other day. The cards are also art objects in themselves- i love the micro-cards and their micro-holders.

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Coffee Culture

San Francisco – Cafe’ De La Presse Legendary Literary Cafe’ a stone’s throw from the French Embassy.  The staff’s uniforms were très French, the atmosphere European, and the cappuccino was ….flawless. All photographs taken with Lumix (Panasonic) camera, Leica wide lens. San Diego: Newschool of Architecture and Design – Cafe’ A la Carte Bringing coffee, culture [...]

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