One of the perks of working for a resort client is being able to stay on property. When I was creative director on the Sea Island Resorts account, I had many such opportunities and it can spoil you after awhile. Confession: I’m a toiletries hoarder and each time I stayed at The Cloister I would bring home the goods. This was how I was introduced to Bvlgari – specifically the “White Tea” line. A scent so clean, fresh and a tiny bit mysterious, it has become one of my favorites.

The retail experience is exquisite, from the store’s interior to the product lines, all the way down to the way they “package” your receipt in a little black, branded envelope (yes, I did indeed end up purchasing the perfume).  And while I’ve yet to visit any of their hotels or resorts, I imagine the experience would be out of this world.

I stay connected to the brand on Facebook. Last year they posted an invitation to “make a wish”…it was one of the best uses of FB connect I’ve experienced. The design, music, and user-experience really pulls you into another world. Your wish is preserved forever here and if you choose to do so, sent to friends within your FB network. Great digital branding.

Just finished another piece that will be showing in July at Alicia Blue Gallery. This painting was originally a fallen bird…that chose instead to be a boy. It’s always fascinating to me how the piece evolves.

From "Bharti Kher - inevitable undeniable necessary"

I love how you can be (seriously) searching a topic online and get completely derailed, landing on a site that has absolutely nothing to do with what you were searching, yet presents you with something you maybe needed to find after all.

I’ve never heard of this artist, Bharti Kher, but am floored by her work. She uses bindi’s to create astonishingly beautiful pieces of art. I can only imagine the added layer of experience of standing in front of the mirrors and viewing your obscured and distorted reflection.

I’ve downloaded a few camera apps to my iPhone and haven’t spent too much time on them. Until now. It’s kind of addicting…the unpredictability between what you see and what ends up in your photo. So many lenses, so may film-types…but what makes it really interesting to me is that at .99 cents an app, the “preciousness” of what you’re doing is completely gone. It’s uninhibited exploration and play. Much like when you were a kid simply enthralled with the act of creating and no formal expectations of what the final result “should” be.

All these were taken with one of these two apps:

Hipstamatic

Camera Bag

I’m starting a new series of paintings. These follow the last body of work “evidence of being” in that they are concerned with dreams, journey, and our hauntingly imperfect memories of childhood.

The first work (above) is titled “fawn” and was a journey in and of itself. It started over a year ago as a forest of deer antlers, progressed to a child draped in a cape in the foreground, to a boy in a forest winter scene holding a fawn, to simply….the fawn. The final painting is quite heavy. Many layers of wax and oil, scraped and carved, pushed and pulled…from a deep alizarin crimson beginning to its current deep blue, the piece has an unusual glow.

Some fun beetle illustrations I designed for a personal project.

Ford’s Filling Station

When I first heard about this restaurant, I was in seat 26b, with my husband to my left and an L.A. photographer on my right whom I quickly came to realize I knew. Our flight was quick and painless due to the conversation surrounding Culver City, dining, and art. He was raving about the restaurant down the street from their offices…Ford Filling Station. He mentioned that the chef was Harrison Ford’s son and I made a mental note to check it out.  Mental notes being what they are, it was a full three years later that  I happened upon it (thankfully) with a friend while looking for a restaurant in Culver City. I wish I had looked it up earlier!

Wonderful place to hang and people watch. Culver City is amazing anyway, with all the studios in the vicinity it’s fun watching studio execs, would-be’s and pretty people. But leave your diet at home. With tempting morsels such as Pig Candy (yes, !!!bacon!!! that has been marinated in brown sugar and maple syrup) and amazing deviled eggs, it’s all about the eats.

Fast Facts:

Chef/Proprietor | Ben Ford

Emphasis |  Fresh, seasonal ingredients , artfully crafted.

This Foodie’s Take:

Equally open and intimate, the restaurant’s ambiance is an invitation to linger and enjoy. Simple, industrialized interior boasting high, wood-beamed ceilings, exposed brick walls and concrete floors. California casual with style. Indoor or outdoor dining (we opted for the bar, as usual).

As someone with a creative bent, I really appreciate the details. And the menu was fab. Pressed wood, laser cut logo with daily menu attached via elastic bands–it was evidence of thoughtful design, beautifully executed and relevant to the restaurant’s theme.

But let’s talk about the food. Food was–simply–great. We ordered one slice of the Pig Candy, Deviled Eggs and Charcuterie plate, and finished off splitting a mini-Pub Burger (which was smart, given the previous consumption).

Gluttons. But happy gluttons, nonetheless. Highly recommend this place to meat-lovers everywhere.

New Year’s Day. 2009. Overcast, windy, teal-streaked sky and leftover offerings to the sea.

Rome….cradle of civilization, fashion and fine Italian gelato.

It was years ago that I traveled the 15-plus hours to reach Italy, barely surviving the cracked-out-on-sugar 8 year-old swinging from the ceiling next to me, mother conveniently hiding under a flimsy blue airline blanket.

Never having been to Italy, my mom and I decided a tour was the best way to see it.  Three days in and we were ditching the group whenever possible. While we couldn’t avoid the bus as it was our means of transportation, we could avoid the pre-planned restaurants that were unbelievably disappointing–watered down Italian dining seemingly focused on appealing to a bland, American palette.

We had an otherwise wonderful trip and happened upon the “real” Italy through our escapes. Including an other-worldly moonlight concert of a lone violinist playing within the columns of the Pantheon. Away from the group, my mom and I discovered the perfect Bolognese, stuffed squash blossoms and Sangiovese in the tucked-away cafe’s scattered throughout the city.

We wisely opted out of the Leaning Tower of Pisa tour for our own side excursion to Siena. Our reward? Seeing the Pope drive by not 15 feet from us, safely ensconced in his Pope-mobile.

While I have, literally, hundreds of photos from this trip (including the Pope waving), the photos I enjoy the most are of the found art scattered throughout the city on walls, buildings, overpasses and bins.

A few years back, The Designory held the annual Director’s meeting in San Francisco. One of the side trips was San Quentin. It was a strange place.

I was experiencing some issues with my camera inside, and unfortunately don’t recall all the settings I ended up with, but the photos were astounding. These are unretouched images. shot with a Nikon D50.