Welcome again my 2025 readers. The web blog is slowly filling up with new content. I’m making small tweaks along the way to improve it. I’m also learning more about my Affinity Photo software as I do a lot of photo optimizations for a few upcoming birthday celebrations and Mother’s Day. It’s nice to have projects that present you with problems you need to solve with software you’ve not spent enough time with. Some actions are intuitive and some really do NOT function as they should for those of us who like things to make sense. It’s that old KISS principle.

We did a lot more meetings with our financial representatives to keep on top of the wild fluctuations in the market. Normally I just “let it ride” however these are not normal times. So keeping a hand on the steering wheel is advisable. Everyone is hoping we are not driven off a cliff.

I also had an interesting interaction with a human resources representative from a company I used to work with. And I understand that everyone needs to learn their job at some point, so I am trying to keep my perspective positive, however please do me one favor? Set your fonts on your replies so that they do not come back all shapes and sizes within one paragraph! Thank you. That really was a mess.

I managed to escape for most of a day to The Huntington Library/Gardens/Museum for an exhibit by Don Bachardy: A Life In Portraits and take my time noting the transitions from pencil renderings, like sculpture, to pen and ink – more architectural renderings within the same pieces. For readers with children, this is NOT a General Audience exhibit. Adults only please! He was, and is still, amazingly prolific into his 90’s. There will be a documentary coming out about him later this year. His book is available in the gift shop.

I also got to view Mineo Mizuno: Homage to Nature sculptures. There were several school groups touring the outdoor sculptures and discussing the descriptive plaques that explained the artist’s thought process. Some things I agreed with and others, I thought were a stretch. However that is the way interpretation through artistic means goes. It’s good to get the young minds thinking interpretively instead of literally.

Having the time to really read each of the art works plaques was a treat (I was usually leading school groups in the past) and also having time to find a quite spot to do a value sketch in the Jungle Garden was a luxury. I look forward to doing a small painting of the waterfall with giant elephant leaf palms reaching over it. I enjoyed hearing children play (without having to be responsible for them) and families walk slowly with their elderly mother’s and father’s. The rose garden is still blooming and the Bird of Paradise and Water Lillies were abundant. Which brings me to my “buddies” part of this post. Here’s a photo of a group of Bird of Paradise in the Gardens. I like how their blossoms look like animal heads, looking in different directions. Can you find the hummingbird that popped up while I was taking the photo? Wishing everyone a creative and curious week ahead.