Thursday, August 2, 2012

50 Shades of Nora

Donna Watson, collage, 8"x8"
 
Note:  I will be teaching a 5 day workshop in San Diego in September 10 through September 16th.
The title of the workshop is Personal Expression: A Design Approach.  This workshop is open to all aqueous mediums including collage... and open to those who consider themselves representational, abstract or non-objective artists.  The emphasis is on composition, design elements and principles and personal expression.  For more information go to sdws.org

Nora Ephron was very, very funny.  Her passing on June 26th at age 71 spurred a flurry of tributes and testaments to her talent as a writer, director, blogger, playwright, foodie and feminist.  She lead the writing world with ardency, wit and example.
 
 Donna Watson, collage, 8"x8"
 
I recently came across some of her quotes from movies that I had seen in past years... but seeing the quotes in writing really struck me with the similarity to my own quirks.
 

source:  mylittlefabric.com/blue-stilton-porto
 
"I'd like the pie heated and I don't want the ice cream on top, I want it on the side, and I'd like strawberry instead of vanilla if you have it, if not then no ice cream, just whipped cream but only if it is real: if its out of the can, then nothing."  Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) in When Harry Met Sally




I do the same thing in restaurants!  When I am ordering from a menu I will ask to leave out this and that and put this on the side and add that...  until there is not much left of the original dish.  My family used to make comments to me about this and now they have given up and just accept my quirks.


"I look out the window and I see lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love and the world's greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance."  --- HEARTBURN 

 image by Donna Watson,  please note the chocolate chip cookie

Again, I do the same thing!  When I am traveling in cities or towns I will search for bakeries because I am always searching for the best chocolate chip cookie...  in the world!  And I have found 2 of the best chocolate chip cookies so far.  One is in the Birdcage Bakery in Soho in New York City.
The other is in Honolulu Hawaii.  I recently visited my mother and found the best chocolate chip cookie at Island Vintage Coffee Co. in the Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki.

my cat Suki, squeezed into a box too small for her, sleeping, put into this blog post just for the heck of it
 
Nora Ephron was a hybrid... she had a journalist's gift for observation and a humorist take on life.
She frequently told the story of the deathbed advice of her own mother, "Take notes".
 
Nora wore her achievements lightly.  And she had plenty of achievements.  With all of my hopes, and dreams, and goals in my art and my life, here is HER most famous quote from the movie WHEN HARRY MET SALLY:
 
"I'LL HAVE WHAT SHE HAD."