Friend Infusion

This past weekend was infused with lots of friends. Friday night we attended a dinner party our newly arrived friends hosted at their new home in Topanga. Then on Sunday, after Eve and I had did a quick early morning hunt at the Topanga Vintage Market we headed to the Getty Center to meet up with Gregs long time friend Michelle among others.

As with most meet ups at the Getty, we began with a bite at the cafe, which doesn't seem to have the same great cuisine as when it first opened, its become very mediocre cafeteria food in my opinion. Then with full bellies we drifted toward the museum. First on my agenda was the Heaven and Earth: Byzantine Illumination at the Cultural Crossroads, the best part being a very old liturgical scroll from Greece that was only partially viewed.

At that point in the visit our group dispersed a bit as everyone traveled to different galleries. Eve and I headed toward the garden by way of the European collection stopping briefly to gaze at Spring by Alma Tadema (a perennial favorite pictured above), a few Davids and a beautiful pastel and graphite on paper by Odilon Redon.

From there we wondered over to the Ansel Adams photography exhibit, then out the door into the sunshine to the garden!

After a bit of tea and New York in the 80's stories we said goodbye to our friends and headed back into Topanga. We arrived at our destination, greeted by an enormous amorphous head sculpture, to a Summer Solstice party hosted by more art buddies who live and work deep in the oak woods. 

Art image via the Getty blog and exhibitions page.

Natural History: Ornithology

Today we took a little break from our work and headed a half hour north for an open house at The Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, also known as the Camarillo Bird Museum. As we walked toward the building a group had assembled to see and hear details about a few live birds of prey, one was a cute little screech owl and a falcon named Bob. These feathery friends were visiting from the nearby Ojai Raptor Center.

 

After listening to many fascinating facts and stories about the birds we walked to the entrance of the museum which was surrounded by California native plants including this fairy duster, a favorite of honey bees.

The institution is a non-profit with the intention "to obtain, protect, and manage ornithological collections." The facility is located in Camarillo, CA, in a 22,000 square-foot building open to researchers and members of the public by appointment. The vast collection is "composed of more than 225,000 sets of bird eggs representing approximately 4,000 species, more than 20,000 nests, more than 56,000 bird study skins, and a library of over 7,000 books and monographs on birds and natural history. The library also houses more than 400 bird and natural history journal serials, and a large collection of the field notes of collectors and scientists."

Greg and I found ourselves in the vast warehouse space of aviary wonders due to a tweet by the Los Angeles Times. One side of the museum was painted with a large sky mural which provides the perfect back drop for the ornithological collection. Rows and rows of cabinets line the interior of the main warehouse space with taxidermied birds, eggs of all sizes, nests and a few mummies displayed on top of the cases.

In most cases the different types of birds were displayed along with their nests and eggs. Greg was fascinated with the nest of ravens that was lined with what looked like cotton, fabric, string and other soft materials making it look really snuggly.

Japanese artist Mamoru Suzuki was there for the special day conducting demonstrations of museum specimen preparation techniques and a showcase of the beautiful images he creates from observing nature.

 

The founder of the museum and research institute is Ed N. Harrison, pictured here with his cabinet of curiosities.

Image above of Ed N. Harrison taken from Museum website. All other photographs ©Roxana Villa.

Getty Center Garden, July 2013

The Getty Center is one of my favorite places here in LA, as I have mentioned over and over and over here at the journal. I feel completely renewed and rejuvenated when I visit this spectacular space. We headed over there in the afternoon, after the post office drop, with Eve and her boyfriend Walker who was in town visiting.

Eve and Walker (above) went off to the Van Gogh show. Greg and I made our way to the Illuminated Manuscript area and from their split up, I headed to the garden, while Greg went to the Overdrive: LA Constructs the Future show. While making my way back toward the buildings from the garden Greg called me to insist  go check out the Overdrive show, which I am so glad I did and highly recommend. Unfortunately the guard told me that I wasn't allowed to take pictures in that part of the museum. Sad face. The only thing I wasn't too thrilled with about the show is that they left out how the LA street car conspiracy.

No surprise there, after all, the Getty is built on oil and the oil companies were the ones that had a vested interest in the street cars being replaced by individual automobiles.

Anyway, but I digress, back to nature, beauty and inspiration. I love how the museum has a list of all the plants in their garden posted on the website and that honey bees seem perfectly welcome there. We had very little time at the Getty and thus I wasn't able to take in all the splendor the Museum had to offer. Another trip is most definitely a must.

All photos ©Roxana, except for the black and white of the Pacific Electric Red cars, that one comes from Wikipedia.

50 Years on Planet Earth!

Last Thursday we celebrated my birthday, fifty years on planet Earth! Festivities started the evening prior with a pot of deliciously fragrant Stargazer lilies from the Gregster. How I adore the scent of these lilies! When Greg brought them in I was waerning earthy scents like Terrestre and Q, upon inhaling the heavy, sweet florals eminating from the blossoms I craved something similar. I immediately when to the studio and found some Lyra to annoint myself with. Lyra is a sweet, floral, amber fragrance that, to my nose, has a similar fragrance vibe to the Stargazer lily.

On Thursday I spent the early part of the day working in the studio, then at noon Ben came by and the four of us headed to the Getty to meet up with friends Michal, Beth and their daughter Mary. Oh, but before that, look at the cute little card Eve made me at right.

 I was keen to see two shows at the Getty: Gustav Klimt: The Magic of Line and Herb Ritts: LA Style. Both were absolutely amazing and highly recommend them, the Herb Ritts show has been extended. We also spent quite a bit of time wondering about in the garden, take in its beauty and seeking out honey bees.

The zinnias in the garden were in their full glory and a multitude of colors. Every time I stroll this glorious garden I am on the lookout to see what plants the bees are most interested in. As usual they were all over the blue borage blossoms and fuschia echinacea flowers. I witnessed an interesting circular pattern that a few of the girls made while working a few of the flower heads. I'd never seen them work in a circle before, it was mesmerizing.

Here is a montage of photos taken by Eve. The fellow with the colored baseball cap is husband #1, Ben, Eve's father. That's me above with the light brown colored hat. Aren't those ombre shaded flowers spectacular!?!

After the Getty we swung by my mothers home in Encino, she had made fresh ricotta gnocchi with tomato sauce, yum! Later that evening we played geeky games (my favorite) and Eve and I made this delicious Lemon cake. What a grand day, I feel so blessed. xoxo

In the past I've created a Birthday perfume to celebrate the day, Cimbalom was the first, followed by Page 47. This year I've jotted down some ideas and will share soon. My plate over runneth with a multitude of projects at the moment, including getting things ready to launch the Jasmine perfume from last year.

Blooming

Here are some shots from our visit to the Getty Center on Saturday. It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day with views reaching out to Catalina Island.

Since we arrived in the afternoon first thing Eve and I did was head toward the garden to take advantage of the light, knowing we could peruse the galleries afterward. Meanwhile Greg headed over to the drawing room to meet up with his art buddy Marshall Vandruff.


As we began to walk the labrinthian-like path of the garden I spotted some gorgeous blue flowers from above and pointed them out to Eve, stating that I definitely wanted to go check those out.


As we got closer I heard that special hum and saw that honey bees were very busy at work harvesting nectar from the blue blossoms. Must get some of these for my garden! Anyone know what kind of flowers these are?


After our fill of the garden we made our way to the photo exhibit and my personal favorite, the tiny gallery with the illuminated manuscripts.

By that time the sun was setting. We hooked up with Greg, Marshall and a bunch of Marshall's students in the big entry way before heading out.

All photos ©RoxanaVilla

Saturn Day & Night Events

I have been invited to be one of the featured artists at the California Craft and Folk Art Museum Global Bazaar. Here is the text from their website:

"Along with LACMA's annual event, LACMA MUSE ART WALK, CAFAM will be featuring over 15 local vendors, offering the best in handcrafted, fair-trade, and artisan-produced items. Some one-of-a-kind treasures you will find include ceramics, handmade candles, vintage image magnets, jewelry, clothing, hand-blended fragrant oils, hand-blown glass, and more. As always, CAFAMs award-winning Museum Shop will be open with a further array of worldly treasures! Music and refreshments will be provided."

The location is the California Craft and Folk Art Museum Courtyard located at 5814 Wilshire Blvd., across the street from LACMA.

I will be bringing an array of all our scented delights as well as some of the brand new perfume lockets created in collaboration with Lori Patton of Heartworks by Lori.

Please stop by and introduce yourself. Master Gregorio, the illuminator of our perfumes, will also be on hand. We look forward to meeting you and sharing the world of botanical perfumery.


In the evening we are off to a fund raising event for Project Peace on Earth to finance the upcoming June 7-12 pre-production trip to Manger Square in Bethlehem, Palestine. Greg and I met Steve Robertson (the brainchild of Project Peace on Earth) and his loving wife Teresita when we all did the "Heart Virtue" Saturday workshop together. We are delighted to be contributing our talent to help raise funds for this extraordinary event.

I have been formulating a perfume for Project Peace On Earth for some time now. At the event I will offer a short educational presentation about botanical perfumery and the quest to manifest a Peace Perfume. I am looking forward to everyones feedback on what the is the scent we most associate with peace.

In early 2008 Greg began collaborating with the renown T’angka painter Romio Shrestha to create an image together for Project Peace on Earth. The image manifested within a few months and is now available for everyone. Be the first to view an awesome, hot off the press 32"x47.5" limited edition giclee print of the Peace Has Begun artwork!

Created by Greg and Romio this art embodies the spirit of Project-Peace On Earth, and the union of east and west cultures.

There will be two limited edition versions for sale, (300) 26"x39" lithograph posters at $50.00 each, and (25) 32"x48" high end giclee prints at $1000.00 each. These prints will be numbered, signed, and embossed by the Peace Has Begun seal. Available for pre-order at the May 30th fund raising event mentioned above, and online now at the Spalenka shop on Etsy. The editions will be available end of June for pick up at a gala celebrity signing, and for shipping. Order now, as these will sell out fast.

Photograph at top embellished perfume locket, Peace Has Begun Image ©Greg Spalenka.