Francesca Filanc

Category: Art

FREEDOM OF CHOICE

In the twilight of an evening I took a walk from my home. As I walked, admiring the beauty of nature all around me, my mind

Country Walk

began to ponder the words freedom of choice. I marveled at the fact that I have lived in this home for over six years and only just started taking daily walks in this beautiful neighborhood! Now granted, I had my knee replaced a year ago so my mobility is much better than it was for many years, but therein lies the same three little words, freedom of choice! I lived with a bad knee for way too long.

Now as I walk briskly smelling the delicious night air I think WHY? WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG? Why am I just now enjoying nature at my doorstep when I had six whole years wasted on my freedom of choice not to participate in one of the huge joys in life — walking in nature! Now I don’t want to keep crying over spilled milk or should I say complaining because I had freedom of choice and what did I do? — I chose not to have my knee replaced earlier and I chose not to take hikes and walks from my home. I need to forgive myself and move on and enjoy the fact that I am now doing what I did all through my twenties, thirties, forties and early fifties. Take long walks! It is exhilarating as all get-out! The walking lets out endorphins. I smell the night air and my heart sings. These are the same trails that I rode my horses on for fourteen years. I smell the horse manure and then my foot lands in a fresh pile of it on the trail. I don’t mind, as you saw in my last post. I love horses and I love the smell!

At first I was going to write about how lucky I am (as are many of us) to have freedom of choice. But then I started thinking about Mother Teresa working in the slums of Calcutta all of her life, coming from a well to do family, choosing to help the thousands of people whom she helped directly and indirectly. Even people in the most dire of predicaments have freedom of choice. They teach this line of thinking in Buddhism and many other religions.

We may use our minds to help create a better life for ourselves, if only in our minds. It is a truth that we are a mental planet before we are a physical planet. If we can dream it, it may happen. Depending on how strongly we want something and believe that we deserve it in our lives; is the truth be told to our realization of the reality of having that particular blessing in our lives! And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (King James Version of the Bible).

A Walk in the Evening

Opra’s story is a perfect example of this belief system! Opra came from abject poverty and uneducated folks. Opra wanted something different for her life! She wanted much more! And by gum she received exactly that! It says in the Bible “ask and it shall be given you”! I so believe this truth! As I walked along this evening I saw a bat! I have not seen one in years and here it was right outside my property! I also noticed the shapes and forms of the eucalyptus trees in my neighborhood, the twists and interesting forms they take as they climb to the sky. How majestic they were in the evening light. I felt inspired to paint. Francesca’s Gallery

Here’s to the ability we have to make choices in our lives. God or our higher power has given each and every one of us the ability to “Choose Wisely”. We can choose to stay positive and bring good into our lives and to help others along the way as we do so.

Bye for now,

Francesca

The Author Is Ready To Paint

July 24, 2012
SUMMER DAYS –PAINTING AND PLAYING INDIANS

The Author & Artist in her first Studio

My mother, Pat Welsh, realized I had an aptitude for art at a very young age. Gallery of my current work. In the summertime she taught painting to some of my friends, my sister and me. Mother would encourage me to paint on warm summer afternoons when we were tired of playing imagination games or had had enough beach time for that particular day. I recall so vividly painting in the afternoon after lunch as I matured into adolescence.

To this day I actually remember the upwelling of joy I felt when painting some particular paintings at ages six to eleven years old. My Mom thought them special herself and saved these paintings, having them framed for my oldest daughter Yvette when she born.

Long before I vacationed with my husband and children on the Snake River in Wyoming I recollect painting a scene depicting two Indian men with their canoe. One Indian was leaning into the canoe, the other Indian to the side with a thick forest in the background. I took hours to paint this painting in watercolors. I really felt the Indians getting ready to take the canoe out onto the water. Possibly the games I had played as a very young girl influenced my deep emotion in painting this scene. I loved playing imagination games and I believe my mother encouraged us to play outdoors.

Indians was one of my favorite games. I was a squaw princess and my name was Falling Waters. I have no idea where I got that idea! But I loved the name and no other child could borrow the name, Not Even for one day of play. A little bossy I would say! In those days we had a huge area of Eucalyptus and Monterey Cypress trees growing out of sandy soil. It was a great place to play Indians! We also had an area on our property that had solid clay, which enabled us to have fun making clay pots and cups like the Indians did back in the day!

Playing Indians

We were a neighborhood of girls and we all played together. There were at least seven or eight, Barbie, Katherine, Patty, Annette, Mija, Tina, my sister Wendy and me. There were actually more girls, but they were older than we. They played with us in a more in charge role like being mothers’ helpers. We adored these older girls, Joan, Trudy, and Chris.

On some occasions I remember playing at a friend’s house observing wide-eyed while the older sister got ready for a date, dreaming about the day that I would go to a dance all dressed up in a beautiful shiny dress having been given a corsage by a boy!

Painting is something I have enjoyed doing my whole life thanks to my mother’s encouragement to paint! As an abstract artist I paint my thoughts and feelings.

Here’s to lazy Summers Swimming Painting Gardening sipping Ice tea in beautiful environments!

Happy Summer!

Bye for Now,

Francesca

July 10, 2012
SUMMER DAYS – FOURTH OF JULY, DEL MAR

OUT OF THIS WORLD

The 4^th of July is just around the corner and I am reminded of summer days growing up in a sleepy little beach town in southern California, Del Mar. Not so sleepy now, but back then it actually was, despite the fact that it was a Mecca for the movie stars.

Stay tuned for more in my Blog on Movie Stars and Del Mar California once the racing season begins in a couple of weeks. In the mean time, here is a true story about lazy Summer Days Growing up in Del Mar.

My parents had a 4^th of July party every year. My father was a lawyer in Los Angeles. Daddy commuted by train, leaving from the train station on Monday morning and arriving home on Friday night. Orange County was considerably far away to drive in those days. Back in the day, home fireworks were legal. They were illegal to buy in San Diego and maybe in Los Angeles too, but in Orange county fireworks were sold. I remember vividly Daddy driving to Orange County a week or two before the fourth of July to buy fireworks for our party. The excitement my sister Wendy and I felt was palpable! With anticipated glee Wendy and I counted the days till we would be able to light our fireworks!

It was like Christmas in July when he would come home with all the beautifully wrapped fireworks! Packages labeled with the names: Sparklers, Sky Rockets, Black Snakes, Fountains, Roman Candles. Wendy and I adored the sparklers! It was like shooting stars on a stick. In the night air you could write with them and they twinkled like little stars or fireflies. Being California girls born and raised we did not have fireflies. We did experience them when we traveled to see our grandparents in Pennsylvania.

The morning of the fourth would always start with a swim in the ocean. Oh, how good the water felt! After breakfast Wendy and I and the other girls in the neighborhood would have a parade. I think it must have been one of my mother’s ideas. We dressed up like revolutionary war characters and would march up and down the streets once I started playing the flute. I played I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy and other patriotic songs. Wendy brought up the rear playing the drums.

FIREFLY

The evening festivities started about 5:00 or 6:00. So exciting! Wendy and I got to have our Black Snakes on the driveway! For those of you who are not familiar with these fireworks, after lighting a small tablet, the tablet starts smoking and an ash resembling a snake is created via an intumescent reaction. Then it was all we could do to wait for darkness to fall and light our sparklers.

As much as I loved the 4^th of July there was only one part that I dreaded, making it a some what bittersweet experience. Being hugged tightly by the grown-ups! By the 4^th, I had had three weeks of ocean and sun. Back in the 1950’s and 60’s they did not have sunscreen except for the hideous white paste, Mercurochrome. So by the 4^th of July my back was red as a lobster! My front side would be all freckled and brown but my back would be on fire with sunburn. I would try to tell people please don’t hug me because I am sunburned but everyone was drinking and smoking and my little voice did not get heard. So I would wince when the company arrived and wince when they left! Otherwise, hot dogs, hamburgers, potato chips, watermelon —Yummy. J

Once it was dark the real fun began! Daddy would give us our long anticipated sparklers. After that Daddy would start with the big fireworks.

OOOH AHHHH We would sigh — SOOOO Beautiful!!!!

After we finished our family fireworks show, the whole family walked up the street to the top of the hill to watch the spectacular fireworks from the nearby fairgrounds. It was really dark back then so you saw lots of stars. We had lots of bats in Del Mar and on one occasion a bat flew into my hair and I screamed! We sat up on the vacant lot and waited till 9:00 pm when the fireworks started, oohing and ahing at the colors, all the colors of the rainbow brilliantly lighting up against the inky black background.

Artists’ works are influenced by events and emotions of their lives. Perhaps my subconscious mind took the colors and hues of those remembered fireworks into the artwork that I am producing today.

Happy painting and dreaming… Fireworks in the sky!

“Saturday, in the park, think it was the fourth of July.” Chicago

Chicago Performing Saturday in The Park

RED PLANET

I hope you all have a Safe Happy Fourth of July!

Bye for Now,

Francesca

July 3, 2012
WHY THIS ARTIST LOVES TO WRITE

FAR AND WIDE

I come from a long line of writers on both sides of my family. While some research implies talent in families is passed down through the gene pool, equally important are environment, training and opportunities. The environment in which I was nurtured encouraged creativity and artistic expression. In our family we are all artists. My sister is a scientist as well as an artist. Check out my first blog post We Are All Artists.

In my family tree there are writers, actors, architects, designers, gardeners, musicians, and painters.

I was reading an article in Surfer Magazine today about the surfing gene and how families of professional surfers evolve. The author of the article was interviewing families of famous surfers. One statement they all seemed to stand behind is the fact that their children had been exposed to the best surfing from the time they were born. And practically before they could walk they were taken out into the water with their famous surfing parents.

My niece Rebecca has a childhood friend whose family is full of famous baseball players. It seems to make sense that we are born into families where we can excel in the family business.

I love to write because it is so creative. The same energy I experience when putting paint to canvas is present when I write. In the beginning everything was written longhand. Imagine my delight when I learned to use computers. Now writing is effortless and even more of a joy.

A couple of years ago I went to the mountains by myself for a long weekend with my standard poodle Amie. When I got home I sat down with my laptop and just wrote and wrote. I felt like I was with my best friend. If there really are angels like my granddaughter Anushka says, and which I tend to agree with, maybe they are right there with us while we write (Check out my blog about my granddaughters). I believe we are never alone. The idea that our spiritual guides, angels, God are always with us continually is such a comforting thought.

Think of all the authors who have said, I don’t know where a story is going to take me when I sit down to the computer – the story unfolds, the characters tell me who they are and at times the story starts writing itself. In this way my art takes the same form. I’ll start a painting in one way yet it totally changes before it is done.

I am at times beginning to feel swept away with my friends or friend as I sit here and type away. Many times I can’t type fast enough for the thoughts that flood into my heart and mind. Writing is like painting because it is fluid and alive. I love this quote of Maya Angelou’s . . .

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

― Maya Angelou

I view writing the same way. I enjoy the juxtaposition of writing and painting. Here’s to creativity no matter what form it takes.

Bye for Now,

Francesca

June 27, 2012
CYBERSPACE GRANNY AND MARC CHAGALL

I have three granddaughters, two who live in Spain. As a result I have been a Cyberspace Granny since they were born. SKYPE is so great because it gives one the opportunity to relate to the grandchildren even though one might be thousands of miles apart.

Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise

The younger one in Spain is still a baby and I sing to her and play peek-a-boo. My oldest grandchild is her big sister and she is now five and a half. Anushka and I play on the computer. I also read her stories some of which Nana, my mother, has given her so that she has one book in Europe and the same book in the states when she comes here to visit. What my mother did not even think of and has worked out so great is that I can read to her over Skype and she can look at the pictures in her copy of the book. One of these books that we have two copies of is Barbar Comes to America. Barbar is a long story and we talk about what is happening on every page in the pictures. That usually takes several Skype sessions.

Anushka used to get the giggles and move me from room to room in her home in Spain, even onto the balcony that overlooks the horse pasture.

Now this is your home Mimi, and then she would burst out laughing.

It was really funny because little Mimi was in the computer. Sometimes she would take blocks and put them on each side of the computer to show my house and then she would put a towel over the screen.

Anushka, I can’t see!

Anushka would then throw up the towel and laugh hysterically. We have sometimes played for hours cooking and store, plastic horses, little dolls. Anushka used to say,

OK Mimi, I am the princess and you are my husband and I have 3 husbands. Not all at the same time!

I would respond.

Oh yes, Mimi, at the same time! I get tired of one and then I have another prince.

And then Anushka makes her mouth in the shape of an O and then smiles, then laughs hysterically.

On my recent trip to Spain last month, after seeing the Chagall traveling exhibit in Madrid, Anushka and I both bought books depicting Chagall’s art.

After viewing the Chagall exhibit we went to lunch. We also bought in the museum store sketchbook paper and colored pencils. At lunch Anushka and I drew and looked at our books and compared the paintings. Anushka would show me a painting that she loved in her book and then I would do the same. We then talked about Chagall’s use of colors and depictions of scenes and emotions from his life including many brides and grooms. Anushka loved all the wedding paintings. As I mentioned in my last blog post she also loved all the animals in the sky.

Abraham and the Three Angels

After I was home in California I Skyped with the family one day and asked Anushka if she wanted to go get her book with the paintings of Chagall. With a large grin on her face she said,

I’ll be right back, OK Mimi?!

OK Anushka let’s do like we did in Spain, why don’t you show me a painting that you like in your book and then I will show you a painting that I like in my book.

Our books are different and do not have all the same paintings. Anushka’s is a large soft back so easy for a child to turn the pages and not too heavy.

Ok Mimi, I show you, and Anushka proceeded to take her time to look thoughtfully through the book.

Oh this one Mimi, I think this one is very beautiful!

It’s a painting depicting three angels. Then I showed Anushka the one that is on this page. It was also in the exhibit.

We were showing each other our favorite paintings and describing them and telling each other why we liked them and then all of a sudden Anushka said, I don’t like this painting at all!

OK Anushka, why don’t we show each other paintings we don’t like and talk about why we don’t like them.

Illustration for the Book Marc Chagall. Cirque, Paris, 1967

Chagall was so in love with his first wife and then she died. Anushka’s book had a picture that to her depicted the woman dead.

The woman is dead in this picture.

So then we discussed how that made Anushka feel, very sad.

At times life is really sad and great art can depict the sad parts of life. My Mimi, Anushka’s great-great-grandmother, used to say:

If you look at a great piece of art and look in one corner it may look very ugly but if you look at the whole painting it is so beautiful. The ugly part together with the beautiful part is the essence of making a particular painting great.

Mimi was also teaching me about life. Life has its sad and ugly parts but all together those parts can help us learn and grow.

So after revisiting the angel painting that was Anushka’s favorite, she said,

The Angels take care of us but we can’t see them.

About that time her mother came into the room.

Anushka we are going to take a walk now.

We say our goodbyes and blow kisses at the computer screen. I hug myself telling Anushka and her family I am hugging and kissing them.

Hugs and kisses and love till the next time we Skype and have another art adventure.

The world is a much smaller place than it used to be thanks to modern technology.

Bye for Now,

Francesca
>

June 20, 2012
ART IN MADRID AND HOW THIS PAINTER FINDS INSPIRATION

BIRTHRIGHT

Painting as well as other disciplines needs enlightenment and inspiration for the artist to make the opportunity to paint an inspired piece of art. It is paramount for an artist to view paintings in museums. Many artists, some who paint abstract and some who are traditionalists inspire me which can be seen through my art.

The last few days I was in Spain visiting my daughter and her family, we traveled from their home in the town of Izcue by bus to Pamplona and then by train to Madrid.

We stayed in a hotel that I would highly recommend. The prices were good. It was clean and lovely located in a residential neighborhood on a tree-lined street. AC Hotel Carlton Madrid Paseo de las Delicas 26 28045 Madrid. The hotel is in walking distance to all the museums and just down the street from the train station. Which by the by has a restaurant and a beautiful garden. The hotel seems to cater to the businessperson as well as the vacationer. There is a sumptuous buffet breakfast with everything from smoked salmon to deserts. After stuffing ourselves on the delicious repast we were ready to walk it off with plenty of museum viewing!

I was thrilled to learn that we were in time to see the Marc Chagall exhibit at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Chagall’s art is childlike yet sophisticated. He paints cows, roosters, goats and lovers in the sky. Chagall was a colorist and he painted his feelings.

I relate to Chagall because I am also a colorist and I paint my feelings.

We walked to three museums that day including the Prado. We looked at works by Diego Velazquez, larger than life paintings, some looking to be ten stories high. The majority of people were clustered around Las Meninas. Las Meninas is famous in part because Velazquez painted himself in the painting. One painting in particular that I was especially attracted to depicted a magnificent white horse with flowing mane, snorting the air, high-spirited with a regal-looking man on his back. There were many such paintings with a similar theme. Velazquez is a national treasure of Spain. When you go to the Prado you see a multitude of his works.

My son-in-law Iban and I visited Guernica by Picasso, depicting the massacre in a small Basque town during the time of Franco. They are working on refurbishing the painting at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía but it was still on display. It was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, Basque Country, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces, on April 26^th, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.

On my last night in Madrid we walked to dinner a few blocks away from our hotel. We sat on the street, drank good wine and had a culinary delight of several courses of tapas that my daughter took great delight in ordering for the table. We started with calamari and white asparagus, the dishes kept coming including lamb and ending with traditional deserts.

Mikaela had fallen asleep in the stroller next to our table and Anushka stayed awake until we returned back to our lovely hotel. I asked for a cab to pick me up in the morning to take me to the airport. Yvette, Iban, Anushka and Mikaela enjoyed the day in Madrid and then walked to the train that took them back to Izcue, and yours truly traveled home to California. What a lovely memory of my last two days in Spain.

Adios,

Bye for now,

Francesca

PUCCI

June 14, 2012
BIRTHDAY LUNCH FOR A FRIEND

Birthday girl with flowers and Vegetables

May I take you out to lunch for your birthday?

Fran, I’d rather just come over and have a good girl talk visit.

We talk about deep things — things that matter to us, our children, grandchildren, gardening, and spiritual things, about where we have come from, the sad times and the happy ones. How as we get older, we are each more content in our own skin. That is a gift of growing older. Not worrying so much what others think, but appreciating our own gifts, accepting the struggles and being more present in the present moment. After all, it is all any of us have. There is that saying, The past is gone, the future is yet to be and where I am is in the present.

Author arranging flowers

A friend related to me the other day about the book The Artist’s Way. I read the book years ago. This friend reminded me about how an artist should take an outing once a week by herself – An Artist’s Date With Herself. Whatever it is that turns her on. Going to an outdoor market, going antiquing, going browsing down a tree-lined street in the city. In this way we open ourselves up to the beauty in life and how we fit ourselves into it. When we age gracefully in a spiritual sense we are coming more into our own of who we really are and what gifts we give and have given to the world. Some of us are just coming into our own as we mature in years.

As Leanne and I talked I prepared leek vegetable soup, green salad from my garden and locally caught sea bass from the Del Mar Farmer’s Market bathed in lemon juice and cooked in a skillet.

Recipes

Lemon Lime-water with Sprigs of Mint
Fill two glasses with ice, add fresh slices of lime and lemon, squeeze juice of one slice of lemon and lime over the ice. Rim the glass with lemon and lime, add water. Garnish with sprigs of mint.

Vegetable Leek Soup
Slice four large fresh leeks into one-inch sections. Rinse several times in water to remove sand. Using your fingers peel back all layers of sliced leeks to remove any remaining sand. In a heavy cast-iron skillet saute four chopped cloves of garlic in 1 tablespoon Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. Add to this one large chopped onion and leeks. Cook until color is translucent. Transfer to a soup pot. Dissolve 3 tablespoons Rapunzel Vegetable Broth concentrate in hot water. Add about a quart of water or enough to cover vegetables that have just been sautéed along with the vegetable broth. Dice one to two Roma tomatoes and add to soup. Add pepper and salt to taste along with Garam Masala seasoning, Turmeric, a dash of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. (I also added mint, ¼ cup cilantro, chives, oregano and basil fresh from my garden). Simmer for half an hour to forty-five minutes. Spoon into bowls and top with a little grated Parmesan cheese and toasted sunflower seeds.

Salad

Salad
Fresh greens from the garden
Chopped mint, cilantro and basil
1-2 sliced Roma tomatoes

Dressing
in a jar add two whole cloves garlic,
1/2 cup best organic olive oil,
to that add 1/3 cup good quality fruit
vinegar or vinegar with a little jam mixed in for flavor.
(I used fig and currant vinegar.)
Salt and Pepper to taste.
For people not sensitive to garlic, chop up
two cloves garlic and add to dressing. Shake well.

Rim the salad bowl with garlic; pour about 1/4 to 2/3 cup salad dressing in bottom of bowl. To this add your greens, tomatoes, top with toasted sunflower seeds, and feta cheese. Toss just before serving.

Sea Bass

Sea Bass

Sauté in coconut oil 1-2 cloves garlic, add to this the sea bass washed in the juice of two lemons. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté with chives from the garden, leeks, one sliced tomato, and lemons. I cooked the fish with some finely chopped lemon on top. Cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of the fish. Sauté one side and about half way through turn it over to finish cooking. Serve on plates with Gloria’s Pico de Gallo and tomatillo salsa artfully spooned over the top of the fish and then sprinkle with fresh cilantro and sunflower seeds. (See my March 8 ^th 2012 blog for the recipes)

We walked in the garden to collect the vegetables for the salad. We picked flowers for her birthday bouquet. It had rained yesterday morning so as we wandered through the garden and the air smelled fresh and the plants and flowers that we picked had little droplets of water caressing each leaf and petal.

We sipped lemon lime-water with sprigs of mint and feasted at the beautiful table. The food was delicious.

Here’s to having deep conversations speaking of the art of living a fulfilling life over delicious food in art filled environments.

Bye for now

Francesca

June 6, 2012
CREATE YOUR OWN WALL SUCCULENT HANGING PLANTER

My Wall Succulent Hanging Planter

Here’s a project that is lots of fun. Making your own wall succulent planters will also save you money :)

A friend’s husband made the boxes for our garden club, but directions for making a simple frame are available here: Sunset Magazine Article.

How to make your own succulent frame:

1. For a 1-foot-square frame, cut four 12-inch lengths of 2×2 lumber. Nail the corners together for a frame 2 inches deep.

2. Staple or nail a 1-foot square of plywood onto the open back of the frame. Exterior plywood or 1×12-inch redwood works well. You can also channel out a section of the back in order to hang on a wall three months later.

3. Screw ½-inch hardware wire mesh to one side of the open frame. If desired, add trim on top of the mesh to hide it. (If you’re a skilled woodworker, you can also cut a channel into the wood and slide the mesh into the channel, hiding the mesh’s cut edges.)

A friend and I were formatting this project for a group of 30 garden club women.

Soak sphagnum moss overnight in a bucket. Wring out well and generously line the bottom and sides of your frame. Now fill the planter with a 50/50 mix of potting soil and cactus mix. Make a sphagnum moss sandwich by covering the top with another generous layer of the moss. Screw the wire mesh down on remaining two sides.

Co-Garden Club program chair and I had previously bought succulents for all to use. We also suggested people bring succulents from their own gardens to share.

The best succulents to use for this project are slow growing ones. Visit your local nursery for plant material if you don’t already have succulents from your own garden from which to take cuttings. Here are a few suggestions: Aeoniums, Echeverias, Crassula perforate, Senicio rowleyanus, Sedum spathulifolum. Use your imagination!

Check out Debra Lee Baldwin, best selling author, Designing with Succulents and Succulent Container Gardens.

The day of the event was so much fun and everyone’s box turned out differently. Since the beginning of human time women have loved working and creating together. It takes us back to our roots.

If you intend to hang your succulent planter on a garden wall, wait three months for
succulents to root.

In my case, I have enjoyed my succulent boxes as center pieces on outdoor tables that are mainly in shade. I have one that I made a year and a half ago that is a little leggy but still beautiful. With a little housekeeping or should I say gardenkeeping, cutting succulents back, letting them harden off for a week and then replanting; Voila my year and a half leggy planter will look fresh and new. :)

Try to use slow growing succulents or ones that do not get too large. I put in what I felt was beautiful. Succulents are so forgiving that it is easy to change things around. Filling boxes tightly with succulents will give you an immediate show stopper look. :)

Have fun!

Bye for now

Rippin’ Lips

Francesca

April 10, 2012
CREATING A BREATHTAKING CENTERPIECE IS EASY & FUN!

St. Patrick’s Day, last Saturday night, was a leprechaun reason to entertain the neighbors. I love decorating the table for a party. Sometimes, if I am really well organized I do this a day or two before the event.

Creating an enchanting centerpiece
is part of the ambiance for a
successful dinner party.

Many people don’t know where to begin. Remember finger painting in kindergarten? Painting the Centerpiece is right up there with the kindergarten experience, in my book! I get so excited, I am thrilled as I write to you about creating your own centerpieces. You too can have fun creating your own centerpieces, it’s easy!

Growing up, my mother did not encourage me to cook with her.

But creating an elegant centerpiece was different!

I can remember how fun it was to go out into my mother’s garden and pick plants to bring in the house and put on the table in an interesting design surrounded by votive candles. If Pat, (Patwelsh.com -my mom) had a specific idea in mind she would pick the flowers and greenery herself, but then let me have full creative license in culminating the project. So last night, with the candle’s lit I snapped some quick photos with my smart phone, smile on my face. I was pleased and happy.

The table has helped set mood for stimulating conversation.

I always have my dining table set with a centerpiece so all that is needed is to add the finishing touches.

In this case I have a gold tablecloth on the table with two runners of gauzy material, one gold and one purple. I intertwine them, then put 3 large candles of different heights on the table. Then I take 5 elk racks that have a candleholder built into each one and place them over the runner.

Years ago my friend and I bought artistic woodland decorations from Michaels (Michaels.com). That then is the backdrop for whatever theme I chose to create.

Many times I pick flowers and greenery from my garden to decorate the table. On this particular occasion, I went to Trader Joes (TraderJoes.com) looking for shamrocks, but they had none. No worries. They had darling small roses, bulbs in colorful pots and pink jasmine.

Great for a St. Paddy’s Spring Display!

The plants were so reasonable just a few dollars and, by the way, Trader Joes has daffodils this week, just 1.50 a bunch – can’t beat it!

HAVE FUN CREATING YOUR OWN CENTERPIECES!

Bye for now

Rippin Lips

Francesca

March 21, 2012
GALLERY SHOWING ~ COME CHECK OUT MY ARTWORK!

It is an honor to have been selected to be one of 14 artists whose works will be on display in an upcoming show at the Village Church in Rancho Santa Fe California. Please open the attachment to see more information about the show and some previews of the art that will be on display. For additional information about my recent works please visit my website www.francescafilanc.com

MILLENNIUM (48 x 60) Acrylic on canvas

What: A Showing of Fine Art – “Artists in Our Midst”
An Evening of Art, Music, Wine & Hors d’Oeuvres
When: Friday March 23^rd, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Where: The Village Church, 6225 Paseo de Delicias, Rancho Santa Fe, California 92067

Hope to see you there!

Bye for now,

Rippin’Lips

Francesca

March 12, 2012