The goddess has returned! Magical Michelle guest blogger extraordinare!

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Laura&Tina

michelle dyson in my studio

I am happy to welcome my good friend and “goddess sister” Michelle Dyson as our guest blogger this month! You will love meeting her and hearing her thoughts on the collaborative painting we started last week. My heart is elated and filled with love and admiration….

WELCOME MICHELLE!

I spent the first 4 days of my February vacation with my goddess sister Laura. You have to understand that going to Laura’s is like going home. As crazy ladies in our 20’s and 30’s we spent many nights at the cottage indulging in fine savory cheeses smooth silky chocolates and the best wine we could afford. The conversation lasted all night or until I fell asleep and everyone else kept talking. I feel most at home when these moments are recreated every time I visit Laura. I get to forget what needs to get done and leave the lists behind, I sleep in a room that gives me retreat and my days are long and my jar is filled with contentment.

in progress painting

We had planned to create a painting together but left the subject and approach to chance. We both have specific painting styles and preferred subject matter, so we had to shake it off and be spontaneous. As a painting teacher I had to let my classroom brain rest and not see the outcome but let the painting evolve and grow and challenge me.

painting in progress

I brought 2 old paintings that needed new a new life and Saturday afternoon (we might have done a bit of shopping and eating first) we jumped in head first. Paint brushes dancing and twirling until we could barely stand. This painting was truly an adventure for the mind, body and soul. The trust and respect we have for each other I think is reflected in the work. Laura is gentle and soft and bright and kind; I am in your face, hard, dark and kind. I struggle to pull light into my paintings and Laura works to create a contrast that balances us out. We are both Virgo’s but on either end of the spectrum. Laura keeps the dream alive and I keep it real. I am thrilled with what we have started and hope this will continue to grow and bloom.

close up

laura gaffke & michelle dyson’s collaborative painting 2012 ©the artists

note—> Michelle & I plan to look at this painting together when we see each other next (hopefully soon!) and are contemplating adding another panel. I will be sure to let you know if we do or when we declare it officially “finished”.

Thank you for letting me be a guest blogger and here is the recipe for poached cod:

For 2 people

½ lb of Cod or Haddock

1 summer squash

1 zucchini

1 large can organic diced tomatoes

4 cloves garlic

1 cup leeks

¼ cup pesto

1 lemon

pasta of choice

dill,cilantro or whatever herbs you like with fish

salt and pepper and lemon your fish

sauté chopped summer squash,zucchini, leeks and garlic in 2 Tbs olive oil about 8 mins

add tomatoes

cook 5 mins more

take ¾ of that mixture and put in a blender and puree

add the pesto to the blender and blend again

make sure to boil water for your pasta

add the blended mixture back to the pan with the remaining un-blended sauce

the fish usually has skin on the bottom you can have the fish monger remove it or you can take it off after the fish is cooked

add the fish to the sauce and cover and cook for 8-10 mins until opaque white all the way through

add herbs

put pasta in a shallow bowl add sauce and fish on top and sprinkle with chopped herbs and cheese

very easy and goood for you! Enjoy

1 Reply

The Facet Basket

Posted on November 28, 2010 by Laura&Tina

I have been WAITING to share this very special guest blogger with you for some time and NOW IS THE TIME!

My wonderful friends and I enjoying a little Positano sun (from left to right) Elyse Gibson, Laura Gaffke, Jenny Girardi

Dear Friends~

I met the fabulous Jenny Girardi when I was corresponding with her about my trip to ITALY. Meeting her in person while in Positano was to simply a gift. We hit it off right away and became instant friends. She is a thoughtful and talented young woman who lights up a room with her big, quirky smile. She is not afraid of making an impression and has an uncanny ability of making quick and lasting connections with people from all walks of life. Her enthusiasm for life is infectious and she loves a good (and bad) joke. Jenny is also an art fiend of all kinds, trained in Theatre and Dance and worked in film in NYC. In truth, her heart has always been the stage. She is a huge fan of others who find the courage to fearlessly create and want deeply to lead a life saturated with art (and joy!). I just love her to pieces and know you will gain an abundance of inspiration from her thoughtful story. INTRODUCING……

The FABULOUS Jenny Girardi!

The Fabulous Jenny Girardi

Jenny modeling her fabulous hand made "tiara" while out on our gorgeous patio in Positano.

Jenny!

The Facet Basket

by Jenny Girardi

Last night, as I was being driven home by a friend, on the glorious road overlooking the twinkling town of Positano I now reside in, something hit me rather hard.

(And let me preface this entire realization by saying – quickly – that four months ago I moved to Italy as a three year long-distance relationship was just too difficult to maintain. I gave up my career and ludicrous schedule for a much more peaceful existence. At times I cannot comprehend that I don’t have to leave this town saturated in magic just yet.)

So… as this drive was occurring, a few things hit me:

This is the most beautiful, TRULY BEAUTIFUL, place I have ever and most likely will ever live.
I wish I could have been sharing this moment with my closest friends and family… or even people whom I was not extremely close to- but the kind of crowd that is prone to celebrate inspiring moments. I wanted to shout “SWEET JEEBUS, THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!”, but found the words lodged in my throat as the throbbing low-bass-pounding music pressed it’s hand over my mouth and silenced me. The passengers were seemingly oblivious to what was surrounding them and felt shouting over the music to remind them would not venerate the moment.

And then…

I remembered my past life in New York and a drive over the brooklyn bridge causing everyone in the van to lose their minds about the glory of it all – The city at night, the miraculous bridge, the fact that we were DRIVING. In attempts to understand why exactly I feel I do not fit into to this town, I realized that in New York, to live there (at least for a solid percentage of the residence of the city) you must want very much to be there. You have to find a way to make the city work for you AND, you must want to be around others who think this way. Others who appreciate living in a city you must work extremely hard to stay in whilst inhabiting a shoebox. Others who want so much to be part of such a wild, lively place that the unpredictability of the day charges you in the morning and makes you go “SWEET JEEBUS, THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!”

And then I thought…

As lucky as so many of the folk who live here in Positano are, without leaving it’s splendor to explore other parts of the world to experience different cultures and ways of life, one cannot truly appreciate what they have. Or perhaps one may even miss an opportunity to find another part of their country or even world that charges them in the way I describe. No one can understand what they do not experience (and as an artist, using these moments of self and global discovery only makes my work better) and I believe we should strive more often to seek the unknown. Even if this means taking the right stairway to the beach as opposed to the usual left, so be it! You never know who you will meet or what you will see.

SO…

This post honors moments of fearlessness: that moment you actually say YES to something that might not make the most sense at the moment you agree to do it, but something you truly deep down want. The moment you think “what am I doing?!” but go along with it anyway because there is a part of you that absolutely believes in your choice to take a chance. You are pushing yourself into the unimaginable to experience things that may change your entire perspective and discover a new facet of life. It’s like plunging into a facet basket. The BUF, if you will.

The Basket of Unknown Facets

What if we did this every day? Reached out into the universe and pulled out a new facet of life? A new experience? As quickly as trying a new gelato selection or perhaps moving to another country (a bit more time consuming). The universal banquet is as endless as the possibilities our lives hold. I say feast!

To me, art is a personal, honest and fearless experience. It has been said that even conversing with someone else can be considered art as you open yourself up to do so (which I agree with to an extent). I believe that art is putting your heart into every moment you can thus evading conformity.

This is all such a simple concept, but I am shocked by the compliance of so many in this town. The acceptance of a stationary life and the audible sighs that accompany the resignation to a permanent life in Positano.

As we have the power to lead any life we choose, I say dip into your basket, Bella and see what happens!

I will do a dip and report my findings soon.

Go-go gadget Facet Basket!

GORGEOUS Jenny!

THANK YOU SO very much Jenny for sharing your unique perspective on art, creativity and LIFE!

Have any of you “had moments of fearlessness” or experienced ”that moment you actually said YES to something that didn’t make the most sense at the moment but agreed to do it anyway”? If so, how did it turn out? Did it change your perspective? We would LOVE for you to share your leaps of fearlessness with us in the comments below. Let us inspire each other…

xoLaura (& Tina too!)

2 Replies

Italian day dreaming…part 2

Posted on October 10, 2010 by Laura&Tina

This was the view from our balcony at La Fenice. The papers we painted are hanging to dry.

Dear Tina & friends,

Millie (our fabulous guest blogger) and I are back for the second part of our three part blog series about our AMAZING Italian adventure!!! We have been having so much fun reminiscing and reliving the most special parts or our trip and are OVER JOYED to share these intimate moments with you!!! So here we go…

Treasure hunt in Positano…

Laura photographing treasures. Photo credit: Millie Donovan 2010

Millie & Laura's "treasures" from Positano

Reflections from Millie’s journal:

Our task to mask our lives felt big and confusing. We all embraced the opportunity to play this little game, a scavenger hunt in Positano. So we went out, searching for items on a list that we had to create. This list quickly became too difficult and contrived to fill. This little fishing village on the Mediterranean is full of treasures; some are bought, some heard, some are tasted, some are observed. Laura and I made little notes on a large sheet of brown paper. We collected lines of words that seemed like poetry, if only we could write them and say them in the melodic, Italian we heard all around us. We layed out our treasures upon our return to the garden by the sea and were a bit disappointed by how humble our piles were in relation to others.

Millie getting help from a stranger doing a rubbing of a mosaic.

But, as the day progressed I realized that the collection I had decided upon was not one of trinkets but instead, included the memory of a day where a complete stranger instructed me how to do a rubbing of the mosaics, where a street vendor pinched my cheeks and proudly talked about the Murano glass and coral beads he used in his exquisite jewelry, the bride being led down a long alley by her parents, glowing in her antique gown, the trail of little paper hearts that lined the via that she must have emerged after pledging her vows to her new husband.

"Coral Beads" Laura Gaffke 2010

Later that night I took a midnight swim and drank red wine with Laura. We talked about love, life, friendship and about being blessed with all of these treasures. We talked about our freedom and how empowered we felt after conquering this day. We talked about having seen the face of heaven on the steps of Positano and we realized that all we had to do was look within.

Got to love the Italian vino! Photo courtesy of Millie Donovan 2010

Thank you for sharing part two of our Italian adventure with us. Stay tuned for part three, soon to come! xo Laura & Millie

2 Replies

Italian daydreaming…Spreading our Wings

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Laura&Tina

Millie & I giddy after climbing over 200 stairs to the beautiful Country House in Positano where we had a magical dinner overlooking the Mediterranean Sea with friends. We were sitting in this FUN hammock admiring the view before dinner--SUCH a wondrous night!

Dear Tina & Friends,

This is the first of three in a series of reflections from my FABULOSO Italian adventure. I will be collaborating with Magnificant Millie Donovan, my good friend and travel buddy on this trip. Together we will be sharing images, insights and reflections from our journey abroad. We hope you enjoy the revelations we gained from travel and would love to hear how travel inspires YOU!

This was the first of many delicious meals in Italy. Millie & I sat outside and toasted the beauty of our surroundings at La Fenice.

Reflections from Millie’s journal:

As artists we are forever observing what goes on around us and interpreting what we see so that the world makes sense. We task ourselves with the responsibility of defining beauty and some of us are able to live that creative life, to see beauty in all things and to be able to write, sing, paint, and draw it so that it communicates and touches and connects. I knew very little about the artist teaching our Positano workshop and thus I had very little expectations for what the week was going to be like. All I knew was that I had an incredible opportunity to travel abroad with a friend and that we were bravely going to expand the scope of our little worlds with a plane ticket and possibilities.

The giant piece of linen that we all swam with in the sea and then painted on collaboratively. I loved how the umbrella's shadow cast itself on the linen.

What I did know about Sabrina Ward Harrison was that her chosen path was rich and messy, full of dimension and complexities. In her book “Brave on the Rocks,” Sabrina spoke of her previous Italian adventure. She wrote about traveling, the smells, colors, the humidity and how it affected her hair. She made lists of items she needed and even longer lists of the people she would miss. Life was and is messy! So it was no surprise to me that the very first thing we did was trek down to the sea and swim with what would eventually become a tarp to paint on then a canvas to work with. We mixed paint with our hands in the hot afternoon sun of Positano. We were encouraged to think only of the process and not the end result. We were told that by living and thinking creatively and through this messy uncensored process the art would reveal itself. The thing about revelation is that it requires patience, persistence, practice and dedication so, really, the only thing we could expect from a workshop such as this was to catch a glimpse of how an established artist works. But perhaps there are no answers, instead more questions because the process of creation is unique to the individual. We are so conditioned to have something to show or prove. We are so product driven. We have a need to check things off lists and be able to count how many things at the end of the day so that our day can be considered meaningful. How do we find meaning and purpose in our work, our life, our art? How do we live a creative life? For me, my work and my art comes from the connections I have with people, the conversations I have, the reactions I get, the people I meet, the people that decide to include themselves in my life and those that have blessed it. For me the opportunity of making connections and learning from an exchange of ideas was much more revealing than the process of mixing primary colors on linen cloth. ~Millie Donovan