InSpire

Greg made hair appointments for the both of us on Saturday, thus reluctantly I left the studio with no clue how much fun the day would hold.

Our adventure began with breakfast at a little French cafe in Venice with Greg's art buddy Jeremy who brought along David, another English artist. As we sat sipping our teas and talking art I began to realize why I love LA, particularly the west side so much.

From there we strolled down Abbot Kinney, under the brilliant sunshine and cerulean sky, to my favorite source of inspiration Bountiful. As always the store is deliciously arranged to produce mouth dropping splendor.

Self portrait, before the hair cut.

After our hair appointments we have some extra time before heading back over the hill to pick Eve up. Thus we took advantage of the invitation by David to come see his art. David and his wife live in a refurbished 1940's California bungalow which they refurbished. It's the epitome of Venice Beach, California with a fabulous studio in the back.

David and Greg discussing one of the large scale paintings.

One of my favorite paintings, among many, is this one above. It is a portrait of one of the bridges the city wants to tear down. I wish Los Angeles politicians would work on preserving historical sites as much as they work to empowering builders and lining their pockets.

David also has an interest in plants. We spent quite a bit of time in his backyard learning about Cycadeodia, a plant that lived along side the dinosaurs. Among his large collection of Cycads he had New Orleans oak tree moss artfully arranged in several locations. When we realized with great regret we needed to get on the road he gave us two plants to bring home. They are so going like my natives and fit in perfectly with the silvery greens of the artemisia and sage.

It was a really fabulous day and much needed getaway from making and packaging natural perfume, which I need to get back to right now.

Images:
Photos ©Roxana Villa
Cycadeodia engraving from caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de