I love storms, the evocative sensations of thunder and lightening and the eerie colors and ozone laden scents that prevail all combine to ramp up my creative impulses. (Ok, I admit I am not so thrilled when the power cuts out, but that’s a frustration that thankfully doesn’t occur with every strom.) I even have [...]

Green is the color for August gemstones. Peridot, the modern August birthstone includes several shades of green depending on the amounts of iron and trace elements nickel and chromium. The best colors seem to be for amouints of iron below 15%. Peridot is the name given to gem quality material of both fosterite (Mg2SiO4) and [...]

Years ago, when I was still in school, I met a young woman from Hawaii who told me that one of the hardest things for her to get used to, living on the mainland, was the association of certain colors with certain seasons. “In Hawaii,” she told me, “we wear whatever color we feel like [...]

So not an art post. I spent the morning at the dental surgeon’s office and the afternoon trying to recover from it. I am undecided which is worse: the itchiness or the agony. Might mean Wednesday’s regular art inspired post will be a tad late. Imagine: we pay for this pain! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ah [...]

There is history here, and elegance. There is a beauty that is more than fine workmanship and pretty design. There is an emotive quality that captures and transfixes the eye and the mind and the heart. It is the play of light; its refraction spinning colors from clear white light and its scattering that sends [...]