Art a la Cafe

I’m not a coffee drinker.

I did, however, develop a taste for a good cappuccino while I was living in San Francisco. One requirement, in addition to a good blend, of a good cappuccino is that the top layer of whipped milk be creamy, not full of airy bubbles. Then, no matter where I was living, I enjoyed late afternoons at the cafes with fellow artists or a lady friend.

I would always bring my drawing pad and color pencils with me. Then, while sipping my caffeine treat, I would create. Drawing in cafes became part of what I did. There was no down time for this artist.

After countless hours and many cappuccinos, I had amassed a body of work over the years—most of them at a nearby Starbucks.

When my mother would come to visit me in Los Angeles, one of her favorite excursions was driving down with me from my Hollywood Hills home to a busy Starbucks across from the Beverly Center on La Cienega Boulevard. I would draw and she would people watch, listen to music piped in from a CD, read, and soak up the ambience.

Then, before leaving, I would show my mother what I had done with the art so far. She was in heaven. And so was this artist.

My mother, Adele, one day in a summer long ago, in Bucharest, or was it Paris? Only she knows for sure.

She sat on a park bench watching the squirrels, the birds, and other wild things in the oasis of the city.

She was barely twenty, flirtatious, and honestly so.

A handsome young man appeared on the scene as if called to this very spot at that very moment. His eyes made it clear that he was quite taken with this Romanian belle.

The rest was up to Mother Nature.

Does anyone look down to find heaven?

There is a journey before you, one that presents itself at the most inconvenient time.

You soon realize this is a solitary trek. You look upward. The path is strewn with obstacles—a few from dogmatic society, but most of them are of your own making.

After a time, you see a destination. If I reach it, you say to your self, then I will be a success.

Then, if the muses have been doing their job, you reach the summit of your expectation.

Now you can tell what the view is, or is not.

Are there thrills you seek inside forbidden places?

Do you crave adventure in the midst of paying your bills on time?

There is no doubt about the call of the wild. To break off your shackles, you will have to muster strength from an untapped place of energy deep within your soul.

Then, as you shed your pretense, you see clearly for the first time. You are naked.

Are you having fun yet, or is that even the right question?

Don’t forget to write.

Is it possible that a new freedom of thought and expression will come from a land that knew mostly repression?

Could Red Square one day become a symbol of evolutionary living?

History, with all its lessons, cannot be predicted. When the revolution is over, Red Square will need a sculpture to commemorate the spirit of the individual.

Can you hold it all together all the time?

Be honest, or what is the point?

The point is to be aware.

Enough said.

I had this dream to spend one long summer, maybe forever, in a superb home built overlooking the ocean.

I had thought this dream home would be a variation of Buckminster Fuller’s Geodesic Dome design, which relied on the integrated strength of externally reinforced triangles instead of internally obtrusive traditional column supports. I envisioned three interconnected domes of varying size—home living, studio, plus guest house.

Then, a unique architectural vision came to me. I would live inside this sculpture.

A plaque above the casa would greet visitors with one of Fuller’s most personal of challenges: “Dare to be naive.”

What happens when you haven’t a care and much too much money?

Do you feel you know?

You can only know by having been there. Idle days without purpose are a recipe for self-destruction. Having that all so right tan too often will only turn into leather one day.

Make it your purpose to find your dharma, your purpose in life, then days will be about creating, not the blind worship of consumerism.

Then, as you shift from passive to contribution, you will become a radiant sun giving light to all who appreciate your brilliance.

All this will happen over time and how long is not for you to say.