Z is for Zenobia.

September 30, 2014 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

In an effort to recharge this blog, I am revisiting my alphabet. Here goes!

I don’t know what has gotten into me recently. I just really feel like blogging about art. For some reason, Harriet Hosmer’s Zenobia has been on my mind today and so–just for fun–I decided to try blogging each day with an artist, artwork, or art-related subject for each letter of the alphabet. And, because I am Lauretta, I decided to do it from Z to A.

Ahem.

So, here we go, let’s start at the very end. Z is for Zenobia.

So, I can hear you asking, who is Harriet Hosmer and what is a Zenobia?

Well, let me introduce you to “Hattie” who is shown working here in her studio in Rome, c. 1860.

Got your attention? Excellent!

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer was born (1830) in Massachusetts and was encouraged by her physician father to live an active life to overcome early illnesses. He taught her anatomy and she liked…

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L is for Life = Art

September 30, 2014October 4, 2014 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

I think Life with a capital L can be a work of art if it is a Life well-lived. So, how do you define a well-lived life? Well, for me it means my days include something that feeds my soul and my hunger for beauty. This can be looking at a painting by Vermeer, a glass installation by Dale Chihuly, or a natural sight such as Lake Washington. I can get all of these without going very far from home.

Or, for me, it could also be watching a ballerina rehearse. I’ve seen a fair number of ballerinas rehearsing lately for the Pacific Northwest Ballet company and I marvel at how beautiful they are to watch. Their young, gorgeous, attenuated bodies don’t hurt either.

It could as well be reading a great book. Or, eating an incredible meal or drinking a nice wine. Or, walking under a tree in autumn. Or thinking about a person you love.

Here’s a feast for the eyes. It is a photo I took on my last trip to Morocco of a set of matching lanterns on the steps leading from a gorgeous garden to a beautiful hotel in Marrakesh. I want very much to return to Morocco. Sometimes, but not always, beauty is found in symmetry, as with these lanterns.

Uh, whoops. Almost a year later.

September 30, 2014October 1, 2014 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

It has been almost a year since I was motivated to write here. Darn. So much has happened. Some good, some bad; c’est la vie.

So, l wonder if I can recharge this blog. Let me see, I left off with the alphabet from z to a using art. I’ll try to get started where I left off. I’ll think for a few minutes to see what I can dream up for the next letter.

What’ll I do?

November 30, 2013 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

Painting by Winslow Homer. Autumn Leaves lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group

But, I’ll miss you most of all (my darling), when autumn leaves start to fall.

October 24, 2013October 26, 2013 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

Addio, Oscar.

October 19, 2013October 26, 2013 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

One of the people I have held most dear to me was a man I met at the American Academy in Rome in September of 1985. Oscar Hijuelos died last Saturday at the age of 62 of heart failure. In truth, it is not that surprising, for here was a man with a very large heart, or cuore, as they say in italiano, and Oscar used up his heart by sharing it with anyone he was engaged with. It was his charm and ultimately his destiny.

We shared a love of life tempered by the waning golden sunlight of Roma that autumn and by our passion for all things Italian. I introduced Oscar to Firenze and that marvelous citta has never –in a lifetime of visits to Florence– seemed more magical to me, before or since, than in his lively company. We intersected in a time and space that are of course now lost; but, I am witness to an incredible moment that changed us both in significant ways. We were truly “innocents abroad.” It was the best of times.

I shall miss you, Oscar. The world was a bigger, better, warmer, kinder place when you were in it. Ciao, caro mio. Addios.

M is for man, where did the summer go?

September 5, 2013September 5, 2013 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

Well, life went on, big time, at the market. Walking through the market on a Saturday is to move like a snail from stall to stall. So many people!

Here is some of the summer produce abundance, taken at miscellaneous times throughout the summer. Alas the cherry season is over, but man, were they good.

The strawberry and raspberry seasons are also past, but man were they spectacular!

I do so love a nasturtium. I think they might be my favorite flower! At least for today.

Work on the Highway 520 bridge between Seattle and Bellevue continues apace. This is a picture from about a month ago, so more has been done by today. Mostly they work at night, because the old bridge is covered with cars 90% of daylight hours.