Cobalt Gift Box
Matthew Buechner
Photo by Jamie Young

Last week as I was planning our Christmas Eve dinner party, giving serious consideration to how to make it beautiful and special, it occurred to me that so much of what we do in our daily lives is either a conscious or an unconscious act of design. Whether one is developing the very special menu, wrapping a present, or arranging the flowers for the table, the creation of an artful life is a spontaneous and perpetual work in progress.

Design is not an intellectual exercise for me. In fact, it is almost sheer emotion. Beauty is so complicated and mysterious that it defies explanation, and yet it is so simple and straightforward that most of us recognize it immediately, intuitively. Something as simple as an artfully arranged vase full of flowers can awaken vibrations of the soul.

I particularly love gifts received from my artist-friends, as these small parcels are conscious acts of beautiful design…another small lesson in how to live a life of grace, creativity, and joy.

The Cat in Art
by Stefano Zuffi

As every obsessive reader knows, books multiply in the night. I’ve tried all kinds of tricks to keep the invasion at bay (only two shelves allowed for cookbooks, for example) — mostly to no avail. My husband only acerbates the problem, as he believes that it is essential to keep a book in every room, just in case one needs to sit down and read in the middle of, say, cooking dinner.

My home office is filled with art books (what else?), so much so that I’ve reduced new art book purchases to the “absolutely must have, can’t live without” rule.

I’ve been doing pretty well with this until last week, when a colleague loaned me a new book titled The Cat in Art. This elegant book by Stefano Zuffi takes the reader on a journey through the centuries of masterpieces in which the image of the cat is depicted.

So, this book manages to combine two of my passions: (1) art, and (2) cats. I guess that means it fits into the “absolutely must have, can’t live without” rule.

Orange Yellow Flower
Dana Montlack

I recently read an interview with Donald Baechler, the well-known painter and printmaker, where he said the “the history of art is all about flowers.”

It is certainly true that there have always been flowers in every period in the art world. From folk art, to Dutch and Flemish still-life painting, to Chinese and Japanese porcelain, to French tapestries, to Pop Art and Warhol’s prints – each and every culture in history has had flowers at the center of artmaking.

Even though the flower is such a common subject in art, artists continually find new ways to interpret its underlying themes of beauty and re-birth. I love that it helps me view these amazing gifts of nature with freshly appreciative eyes.