Where You Headed This Weekend?

via L'Affiche Moderne

If it's France, can I come too?

Occupying Wall Street - The L.A. Flower Mart

This is the other Wall St., the one in Downtown L.A.

The Los Angeles Flower Mart and the Southern California Flower Market

straddle Wall St. between 7th and 8th St.

It is steps from L.A.'s skidrow, which makes for a stark contrast.

So much beauty and simplicity alongside so much sadness.

A friend had been telling me I needed to come here, from the moment I moved to L.A.

but she also told me I needed to get there by 8 a.m. LATEST!  (For the bargains, presumably.)

Well, I am not such a morning person.  Sooooooooooo

It took me awhile to get here.

WORTH THE TRIP THO'!

I'll let you in on a little secret - the more interesting flowers are at the Southern California Flower Mart.

The "local" growers will take more risks with interesting flowers than will the industrial growers from Ecuador and Mexico.

Here's what I brought back from the Southern California side.  I think I did well.  What do you think?  I'll show you the arrangement I made soon!

Corner View - Light

Winter light?

Dust storms over the central valley?

Rainbows?  I wasn't expecting the last two!  For more Corner Views, check out Francesca here.

The Kitchen Reveal - Ta-Daaaa!

Remember my post about orange and grey?  And my kitchen project???????

So ask me if I feel sheepish?  (This was the original situation:  all white walls, an alcove bench upholstered in an orange windowpane check that I would NEVER EVER have chosen for myself.  We inherited a red formica table with the house that was really too big for the space, and which tipped right over if you put too much stuff on one end or the other of it.  There was a dead wall that never really seemed happy with anything that I hung on it.  And instead just collected refuse from whatever other household project was pending.  Oh did I mention the seriously grimy also inherited pendant lamp?) 

I DO feel sheepish!  It's taken me over six months to show you this!  I started painting in June!

Shall I say it was a story of stools and art walls?  My original idea was for those aluminum stools on the left.  But they didn't go on sale until November!  I tried to make do with CB2 stools spray painted colors that were not grey, because the right grey was not to be found.  But I do prefer the gleam of the aluminum, so I'm glad they ultimately became available at the right price, and now with four stools a small group can gather on either sides of the counter for pancakes and coffee.  Ikea pendant - a cliche, but so pretty and ingenious (inexpensive!) and it echoes the "stripes"of the stool backs.

And the art wall??????  SO HARD!  This one went through four iterations before it settled into this.  I did enjoy making my poufy pinboard which Mr. Paradis frowned upon.  He thought it was not in keeping with the clean neutral spirit of the room.  A little too granny chic.  So says he.  (But there are hints of orange in it - subtle ones.)  I WAS and AM very thrilled to bits to incorporate Suzanne's wonderful panthers, who's happy tangle I get to gaze upon daily.

Well.......I was inspired by this.  Which actually, I find a little TOO grey now.  And I'd still love to figure out a way to showcase white dishes in this room.  But living in an earthquake zone......I might have to spend a little longer brainstorming and testing.........especially with my quarry tile floors.

The bottom picture looks a little curvy cause that's the angle of the door frame.  Well.  It's done for now!  Maybe some very light blinds eventually.  But mostly I'm just enjoying having easy access to my window and opening it REAL WIDE!

Sepia - Spring Whispers

This is a very old postcard that I brought back from France once.  It speaks of spring, doesn't it?

Happy Weekend

from my talented neighbors, their animal friends - and me!

More Sunshine? More Sunset Boulevard?

Thanks everybody for your nice comments on the walks.  So glad you liked them!  Shall we resume the sunny adventure?

Anybody ever seen the Laurel Hardy Movie, the Music Box?  These are the stairs it was filmed on.  It has changed a little since then.

At the bottom of the hill, you will still find "pink palaces" but on "the Flats" they are usually inhabited by many families, not just one.  A native of L.A., like my neighbor Bobbi, might tell you that in Los Angeles, it has always been that way -  the rich people live in "the Hills" and the poor people live on "the Flats".  

This sweet little alleyway is named for, I'm guessing, a Latino family.  Along it are teeny little houses with yards full of roses and songbirds.  

When you come out in the end you find yourself in a very colorful world.  Angelenos seem to take great pride and pleasure in their cityscapes.  

Whether by accident or by design, "color is better".

This is a very latino stretch of the roadway.  But then think about it - "Los Angeles"?  Why shouldn't it be?

I am not always crazy about graffiti, but (since the discovery of those groovy German spray paints in fab colors - I guess), the standard of graffiti has unquestionably improved.  I like this one alot.  The graffiti seems slowly to be morphing into mural art - very consistent with the Mexican tradition.

Don't let this fool you - you're still in L.A.

Despite the New York style security system.

Coming along this stretch always puts me in a celebratory mood.  What's cheerier at the end of a sunny week than a long neck bottle of Dos Equis and a big pile of tortilla chips?  (CRUNCH/SWOOSH.)

I guess since I'm an artist, I'm able to find a little art wherever I go.  How about this color-block abstraction?  Any gangstas out there?  Am I missing some significance in shoes abandoned next to a "hoodlums" tag?  (They do make for a more dramatic art piece, no?)

Should I just leave that whole conversation alone?  

And concentrate on the sunshine?  Did you like Part II of the walk?  Where to next?