Evening Musings

Potic was the perfect place to end a busy 2009. Its solitude gave us the quiet space to reflect on the past year and on our goals for the coming one. I took these sunset shots of the house for some potential paintings, and although one 2010 goal is to put proper siding on the building, I confess I've grown fond of the black thermal wrap, especially with the contrast of incandescent glow in the windows. Perhaps it's the voyeur in me, but I am drawn to the shadowy world of nighttime exteriors, the hidden lives now exposed in the illuminated panes of glass.

Hibernation

Heading upstate for a couple of days of hibernation and reflection. Packed with food, books, journals, sketchbooks, meditation cd, and a case of wine, I think we're set. See you when we get back. And if you are in the Catskill area, please do stop by.

Christmas Zen

A good morning and Merry Christmas! Celebrating Christmas with children in the house of course means that we've been up for a couple of hours already, the kids enjoying the excitement and anticipation of Santa's arrival. Before we dove into the gift-giving, we sent up a prayer of gratitude-- for our health, our family, our friends.

The other day on Diane Rehm's show on NPR, Harvard chaplain and Humanist Greg Epstein discussed the secularization of Christmas, which he argues has moved from a religious holiday to a cultural holiday, where giving and acts of kindness give light to the darkest and coldest time of year. Certainly spending time with one's family and sharing what one has is truly a wonderful way to celebrate, as long as the focus remains on the giving and not the getting.

My best wishes to everyone who reads this blog, even if Christmas isn't your holiday.

Northport Begins

As Bouler Architecture takes a vacation for the holidays, it completed its year with these renderings of a new house on Northport Harbor. The client, looking for a modern home to capitalize on his spectacular views, will hopefully find that his home becomes a highlight on the harbor's shoreline.

'Tis the Season

The circulars barely hit the table when the kids whip out their pens and begin circling what they want for Christmas. Each year the toys change, but the desire for acquisition remains the same. French theorist Roland Barthes analyzed toys in his collection of essays, Mythologies, and argued that toys are a means of indoctrinating children into their socialized adult behaviors. E-Z Bake Oven? Army Soldiers? Doctor kit? All toys conditioning children to fulfill their future roles by training them to be users of objects rather than creators.No movie typifies this thirst for toys more than A Christmas Story, by American humorist Jean Shepard. Shaped around a boy’s quest for a Red Ryder BB Gun, the film conveys the longing, the pathos, the memories of childhood without the cloying sentimentality. The object embodies the boy’s desire to become a man by protecting his family from marauders, not to mention that his friend Flick is getting one, too. The quest for the air rifle, which Shepard properly calls his holy grail, is ultimately less about the rifle and more about the universal anticipation of a fulfilling a desire.

Treehouses

Is it wrong to buy myself a gift when I should be focused on the joy of giving right now? Well I simply couldn't help it; I had to buy this 2010 calendar of treehouses by Pete Nelson. I had seen the book version but passed on it, so there was no way I was going to pass over something as practical as a new calendar. My recommendation? Buy it for someone before they buy it for themselves.

Christmas Rituals

A few weeks ago, James took this image of the annual Christmas fair in Trier, Germany, a town which has been in existence since 16 B.C.E. As he walked the cobblestone streets with hot mulled cider, he envisioned the many generations who have attended this Christmas market in the medieval town square.
I've always postulated that we spend much of our adulthood trying to recapture or redo our childhood. And there is no time of year where this is more evident than in our holiday preparations. Rituals become all the more meaningful as we attempt to bake Aunt Conchetta's cookies or hang the ornaments we've accumulated over the years. For children, these rituals offer a connection to their family history. To my delight, instead of eschewing the annual family parties, my children look forward to the continuum they offer from one year to the next, from one generation to another. They hear the same stories, watch the same movies, and enjoy the same music, thriving in the stable predictability of the season.

Seven on Sunday

Bing on the stereo,

Flipping through Dwell,

Black sharpie and sketchbook,

A fire and a cup of tea

Multi-colored lights twinkle on tree

Snowbound

Rumor has it, the blizzard dropped 17" on Islip, NY. The kids dashed into the meditation garden for sledding and snowballs, while James and I plunked away at clearing parts of the driveway, taking breaks to warm up with cups of coffee and to snap a couple of pictures.

Holiday Cheer

Last night's cocktail party at Ripe Art Gallery was yet another fab event thrown by Cherie, a girl who knows how to make the ordinary seem fantastic. It was especially fun for me since the show did so well. I even overheard Cherie whisper to her assistant, "Be nice to her, she's sold a lot of artwork." It's also been fascinating to see which paintings people want to take home. But my favorite part of the evening was popping into Cherie's bathroom. With its electic collection of pictures, postcards, and tchotchkes, it may beat Maroni's for the best bathroom in the area; my quick snap simply doesn't do it justice.

Captree Update

The trio of houses on Captree are moving forward, though in different stages of construction. James took these pics for me on his last site visit, just in time before tomorrow's predicted snowstorm.

Reading Tea Leaves

My uncle Victor Ferretti is celebrating his retirement from a career as a tea importer. Having started in the profession fifty-one years ago working his way from taster to president of Kentea, he has certainly seen the development of globalization and international trade, as well as watching beverage trends. A couple of years ago, he sent my students and me a series of different teas to taste-- from black to green to oolong-- and via a conference call, explained not only the tastes we were experiencing, but also the harvesting and fermenting process. It was a revelation to us all that tea leaves are all the same, but it is in the processing after being harvested that creates the variation. Seems like an important metaphor about life to me.

This morning I woke up extra early to put together a special gouache based on House in Flight to commemorate his departure from the tea industry for points unknown. May the journey be blessed.

Music in Film

We all know that when 'that scary music' starts up, another frightful moment is lurking around the corner, and anytime the "Chariots of Fire" theme starts up we can't help but picture the present moment in dramatic slow-motion. How does music influence the context in which we understand a movie? Composers and film-scorers have become increasingly more sophisticated in manipulating tone, mood, tension, emotion, drama, and irony by selecting and creating sound to influence their audience. Jazz trumpet player (and former guest blogger) Jesse Neuman presented his MUSICWORKS workshop on the use of music in film , offering students an insightful look at the importance of a soundtrack to a movie's meaning.

ARTitecture

The integration of color and line in a building's appearance is nothing new; however these images show how complete an aesthetic vision can be. The image of a Gaudi building in Barcelona, the Abu Dhabi airport, and this mural on 11th Ave, NYC, push the architectural experience into bold and expressive territory. Subtle? No. Unique? Absolutely.

Transformation

When I look back on the books I've written and the images I've painted, it's clear to me that I love transformations. Heck, I don't even think I've had the same haircut twice. OK that's an exaggeration, but I don't think I'm alone here with my appreciation of a good makeover. How many television shows feature an overhaul of either a home or of someone's appearance? We all wait for the big reveal, and voila, you've got a new and improved decor or a better-looking version of a person. Maybe that's why I'm in education. I like to be a part of a young person's transformation. As a teacher, I never know if I'm going to say something which will resonate with someone, allowing him or her to see the world in a new light. I'm sure many lessons go by without that 'ah-ha' moment; however sometimes the effects we have on one another may not be realized in the initial moment.

The World of Windows

One of the key elements to an energy-efficient home is a high-quality window, so it was with particular interest that James toured the Unilux factory while he was in Germany. Their Ultra-Therm window, trimmed in either coated aluminum or in wood, has an excellent energy rating. Better yet, their products are really well designed. In fact, James has used them on a few projects, including one of their doors in the Verace project, where everyone was impressed by its quality and finish.

Beach House

When Jane of modernemama asked if I would paint a portrait of her Andrew Gellar modern home, I decided to dive headlong into the task. It was made easier after a terrific meal (and several bottles of wine) at Crew since I had a better fix on how I was going to represent their already interesting home in a surreal painting. I knew Jane to be a cat lover and The Guy, a fan of the butterfly, but I wanted to make the images more complex than that. After looking at some works by Italian painter Georgio de Chirico and Belgian Rene Magritte, I decided to develop two different images. The top image, a symmetrical facade, became an open book, with the chimney serving as its spine. The ground started as a chess board, since The Guy soundly trounced me in a game, but the image needed something to alter the scale, hence the blue jay feather. I love blue jays, not just for their color, but for their ability to transform their call to sound just like a hawk. The second image was more straightforward, except for the topiary shrub on the right, a dog peeking around the corner to check out the cat and the luna moth. It was a great exercise to try to capture both home and homeowner in such a symbolic way.

Old Meets New

One of the things that struck James as rather unique about Mainz, Germany, is the melding of old and new architecture due to the extensive damage the city suffered in WWII. The city, which is 2,000 years old, was hit by 30 air strikes and lost 80 percent of the town center. The sequence of pictures above takes you from the old side of town to the new section, where the buildings, although completely modern and brutal, match the scale of the older part of town. As buildings from two eras stand side by side, it becomes a perfect microcosm of German architecture.

North Fork Holiday Cheer

Last night James and I went to the J. Petrocelli Contracting holiday party at Raphael Vineyards in Peconic, NY. Founded by John Petrocelli, Sr. to honor his father, Raphael, the night had a distinct family atmosphere, not to mention the Cabernet Franc was outstanding.

John Petrocelli, Jr, seen here catching some fresh air on the terrace, has been working with James on the Verace project. From electricians to steel fabricators, all who worked on Verace noted that retrofitting that sweet brick building was great for the restaurant's character, but a challenge to fit everything necessary for a modern restaurant. Ultimately everyone agreed that the results were well worth the effort.

Opening Pics

Got a couple new pics of last week's opening from Cherie Via, director of Ripe Art Gallery in Greenlawn, NY. The show, Homes for the Holidays, which will run until January 2nd, has been a great inspiration for me to get back in the studio. I've also been thrilled to discover that many of the 'homes' in the show are going to some new homes themselves. As always, a thank you to all who have been by to the show and a double thank you for those who bought paintings.