Author: Frances

Printing this week with @ianrobertsartist in Santa Barbara and just completely humbled anew by how flipping hard it is. #somuchtolearn! But what a joy to be out doing it. Oil on panel, 6×8, by moi. #pleinair #pleinairpaintingisnotforsissie #goletabeach #santabarbara

Yesterday’s afternoon walk, ventured over to #zacamesa vineyards. #afternoonwalk #rancholazaca #losolivos #santaynezvalley #santabarbarawinecountry

Home again… ahhhh. #rancholazaca

My sissie’s pretty guest room. #lovemysister Thank you so much @duvallfuqua Design by @johnoetgen

A few friends for dinner in our library/sitting room/and sometimes dining room. A little crowded is cozy and somehow a little more fun… And those ranunculas! Thank you brilliant @carolynenglefield #afewfriendsfordinner #homwsweethome #diningroom #tablesetting #dinnerparty #multitaskingroom Pillows by @artemisianyc

Detail of lamp in my New York bedroom, beside the chair where I sit every morning. The lamp was my mother’s, and I’ve been looking at it for decades, but somehow I never really appreciated how pretty that butterfly was, and that someone designed and painted it so beautifully. Wonder why he–as it was most likely a he– put him upside down? #porcelain #butterfly #handpainted #urn

Morning sweetpea.

Pages from my India Sketchbook on the blog today. Link in profile. Sketching while you travel causes you to see – and experience – a place in a different way, in a way a photograph does not. Not better, just different. And when you look back, you’re vividly in the scene again, remembering where you were standing, what was going on around you. It’s not about making great art (obviously, in my case), but about capturing a gesture, an impression, a mood. And it’s fun!

Photo shoot at NYC pad today. I do so love the light in this room. #prettylight #homeawayfromhome #delphiniums #topiary

What I wrote in my journal from yesterday’s (March 14) @wall.street.journal piece by Elizabeth Bernstein: “You’re Not Busy, You’re Just Rude.” We’ve come to see busyness as a virtue, which it is not; nor is it the opposite of lazy. What’s important is keeping time for family and friends. If we are overwhelmed, frustrated, behind, etc., we should say so. Then cut back our calendars. Writer Bernstein calls on us to banish the word “busy.” Stop bragging about it. Who wants her epitaph to be “She was busy” ? @ebernsteinwsj #banishbusyness #elizabethbernstein

While the East Coast braces for #snowmageddon, we’re having summer-like weather here in Southern California and have returned to dining outdoors. #donthateus #rancholazaca #homesweethome #mottahedeh @mottahedehchina

Another #enlight app “painting” of John Saladino’s house from the March/April issue of @verandamag. This is his bedroom, and I love how he’s tucked this full size bed into this windowed alcove. It must be like sleeping outside. Photos by @thomasloof Story by moi. @johnsaladino