Evening Walk…

13 Wednesday Oct 2010

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Charles Simic, Evening Walk, Photography, Sleepy Hollow

You give the appearance of listening
To my thoughts, O trees,
Bent over the road I am walking…
Charles Simic

As I set out for my walk at dusk, it appeared much darker than I had remembered and the streetlights were already aglow. When I lived in Boston, a fall night such as this would bring to mind thoughts of the The Headless Horseman and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and the Salem Witches.

Blue Angels Air Show…

09 Saturday Oct 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Design

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Blue Angels, Fleet Week

You will see the graceful aerobatic maneuvers of the four-jet Diamond Formation, in concert with the fast-paced, high-performance maneuvers of its two Solo pilots. Finally, the team illustrates the pinnacle of precision flying, performing maneuvers locked as a unit in the renowned, six-jet Delta Formation. – Blue Angels

As my daughter and I approached the Marina to see the air show this afternoon, a Blue Angels jet blasted up Fillmore Street just yards above our heads. The sonic boom and the raw power of the aircraft were thrilling! The Blue Angels performed to an enthusiastic crowd of about one million people both on the waterfront and afloat in the harbor.

Rectus Abdominis…

08 Friday Oct 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Art, Design, Photography, Reflections

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Bartolomeo Passarotti, Juan Zambrano, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Oleg Galagan, Rectus Abdominis

The function of art is to represent ideal beauty.

Michelangelo

The classical male torso has been portrayed for centuries in various forms and in different mediums. What captures the beauty aesthetic for me is when the image includes a clearly defined rectus abdominis muscle, that runs vertically on either side of the center of the abdomen.

Sketch – Torso by Passarotti
Model – Oleg Galagan

Maltese Falcon Yacht…

06 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Design, Photography

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Fleet Week, Maltese Falcon, Tom Perkins, Yacht

The Maltese Falcon is one of the largest privately-owned sailing yachts in the world at 289 feet, similar to Athena and Eos. She was sold in 2009 to Elena Ambrosiadou. Wikipedia

San Francisco Fleet Week, my favorite week of the year in the city, starts tomorrow. This week reliably boasts the best weather, air show, and boats in the harbor. Two years ago when Tom Perkins still owned the Maltese Falcon, I was thrilled to get up close and boat around it.

Maltese Falcon Stern

Maltese Falcon Bow

Aquariva…

05 Tuesday Oct 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Design, Reflections

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Aquariva, Cobra, Marc Newsom, Muskoka

If you ask old Riva aficionados, ‘Which part of the boat says the most to you?’ it would be the transom, so it was a slightly dangerous element to take on – akin to a plastic surgeon changing the eyes or nose of a famous beauty. Marc Newson, Industrial Designer

Marc Newson’s redesigned, 33-foot Aquariva is the sexiest speedboat on the planet! It is on display as part of Newson’s Transport exhibit at the Gagosian Gallery in New York until October 16, 2010.

The boat has a special attraction for me in that it is reminiscent of the antique Greavette Ditchburn, Duke, and Chris Craft mahogany boats that toured the Muskoka Lakes in Ontario, Canada where my family owned a cottage for over thirty-five years. A limited edition of 22 Aquarivas will be built in the original Italian Riva boatyards in Sarnico on Iseo Lake at a price of $1.28 million each. The first action item on my Top Ten List is now to drive one!

Cobra

www.portcarlingboats.com

On edge…

04 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Art, Fashion, Photography

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Fashion, Hemlines, Lauren DiMarco, Michael Chichi, Parsons School of Design, Paul Valery

Beauty is at once the ultimate principle and the highest aim of art.

Paul Valery

I like the aesthetic of asymmetrical hemlines in motion. Initial hand sketches such as the ones below, executed at Parsons School of Design, are the first steps toward the creation of a designer’s fashion line.

Model: Lauren DiMarco

Scripps Pier…

02 Saturday Oct 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Photography, Travel

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Douglas Thompson, Fashion Photography, Photography, San Diego, Scripps Beach, Scripps Pier

Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
Marcus Aurelius

Scripps Beach near the Institute is one of my favorite beaches in the San Diego area. The underbelly of the pier fascinates me. Standing at the spot where the posts line up perfectly, the surf sounds seductive – like a Siren-song, and I am lured to the portal at the end of the pier and the sea beyond.

Model – Lauren Currie

Lower Photos – Joan Currie

Birthday Cakes…

01 Friday Oct 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Fashion, Food, Photography, Reflections, Writing

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beautiful, Beauty, Birthday Cake, Fashion, Kristin Gerbert, Photography, Robert Browning

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be…
Robert Browning

I love transforming a simple cake into something spectacular, worthy of a birthday. My favorite cake was one I created for my daughter’s third birthday. It was a white four-layer cake, frosted with a buttercream basketweave design, and dotted with pink sweetheart rosebuds. Candied flowers and swirling candles were the final touches. She was utterly delighted, and it remains the gold standard by which she has judged all her birthday cakes since.

You could let a birthday pass like any other day, and not bother with a cake; you could perhaps buy a cake; or, to really make an occasion of it, you could create a cake that is extraordinary, a work of art – embellished with all that represents the life of the recipient, whether it would be a loved one, or even yourself! After all, a birthday is only once a year, and despite protestations to the contrary, most people would love a cake that was created especially for them. Who knows what may befall us, and how many birthday cakes we have left to enjoy. Why not honor every year with a glorious cake?

Millinery Haunting…

29 Wednesday Sep 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Fashion, Photography, Reflections

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beautiful, Beauty, Hats, Mannequins, Photography, Street Haunting, Virginia Woolf

Passing, glimpsing, everything seems accidentally but miraculously sprinkled with beauty, as if the tide of trade…had this night cast up nothing but treasure.
Virginia Woolf

As I peered in the windows of a millinery shop last night, Virginia Woolf’s voyeuristic essay, Street Haunting: A London Adventure came to mind. My imagination conjured up fantasies about who might buy these hats and to what occasions they would be worn. The mannequins appeared eerily lifelike.