Return From Los Angeles

Here's a shot of my new ceiling. It's not finished yet, but it's been put up. I find that it's not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. And I'll get them to paint it pale blue maybe or some similar color. It will be nice then I think, not just the top of a shoe box. I liked the rustic, rather colonial look, but I can still give it that feeling by the colors I choose and the way I decorate. I thinik I'll get an old-fashioned looking ceiling fan, the kind they use to have in the tropics. And I've thought of painting the walls sort of an olive green or khaki, but I'm not sure yet. I'll have to wait until I get all the track lights installed and find out exactly what the lighting looks like. I may be able to actually move in and open for business next week. I'm looking forward to it.

I got back from Los Angeles late this afternoon. While I was there, I went to two bead stores, one of which I had been to before. I found some nice items, ones I don't see down here in San Diego. I also discovered that not only do they have a website, but they frequent the bead shows down here and I have purchased items from them before. I'll pay attention to the schedule for the bead shows and attend them so I can get some more beads from them. They have a good selection and their prices seem to be very good for the most part.

Besides going to the bead stores, I had a chance to visit the Gustav Klimt show at LACMA (the Los Angeles County Art Museum). I'm fond of Klimt's work, but I wasn't overwhelmed by it when I saw it in person. I've experienced that phenomenon before. The artwork is less appealing than in books. Four of these five paintings were not his most significant. There were two portraits and three landscapes. The landscapes were painted en plein air and it's interesting to see that areas of the canvas were left bare. Of course the portraits were more finished. Unfortunately the major portrait was roped off so you couldn't get close enough to really see the brush strokes very well.

The significance of his work for me is his use of patterns, something I have always been drawn to. And I can see that the necklaces that I have made since seeing the exhibit have a certain pattern about them that remind me of his work. It's the pattern and the colors. He painted landscapes covered with little leaves forming a sort of dot pattern, almost reminiscent of Seurat. I tend to think of him in terms of oranges, yellows, golds, olive greens, a little red. I find myself drawn to those colors right now even though they are not colors that I usually wear.