If Only…..

If the VP of Finance had kept his promise to me, we would never have gotten divorced. The condition of our reconciliation was that we leave California all together and we move to Chicago. His 2 sisters wanted him home, my sister was there and needed support, my Nephews & Niece were there and his Niece & Nephews were there, it made sense for us to repair our marriage with the support of our families.

We reconciled in Chicago in August 2001. He had moved there in May 2001 when we separated because he could not bear to be in the same city as me. His youngest sister took him in and he was repairing his life. By August when I flew out to visit my sister, he had been in therapy for 2 months and was working part time. We met in Lakeview on the North Side of Chicago and walked the tree line streets. We went to Wrigley Field and walked around a street fair. I still have the wax gargoyle, the book of poetry and the scarf/halter top be bought me in Chicago.

He was a changed man. He had returned to the VP of Finance that I fell in love with 7 years prior; the man who saved my life, who took care of me and who loved me. I fell in love all over again in those few days with him. We agreed to move to Chicago by October at the very latest ahead of the Winter Snow. His sisters were screening houses for us in the Lakeview area. I insisted we move to that neighborhood because he was obviously himself there. I got my husband back. If keeping him in an environment where he was happy and himself meant that I move to Chicago to keep my husband and save my marriage, then so be it. I loved him dearly.

Three weeks after my return from my Chicago vacation, the VP of Finance returned to California, returned to my bed, returned to our marriage. The purpose of him returning was to help me pack up and move the house to Chicago. His sister continued to screen and view houses while we packed and I found a job out there. Our target date was October 1, and we were both scheduling phone interviews with companies based in Chicago.

On September 11, the Twin Towers were attacked and destroyed in New York City. It changed everything. The Aerospace Industry crashed due to the use of Commercial Airlines in the attack. The downstream effect this had on the Manufacturing Industry at large, and the trickledown to Suppliers was overwhelming. Jobs were drying up, unemployment skyrocketed and we did not move to Chicago.

I kept pushing through January 2002, but it was useless. There were no jobs, the housing market in Chicago was booming – it was impossible. We remained in the green house in Manhattan Beach, we remained in California. We went to Chicago again for the Christmas and New Year's Holidays in December 2002. I tried pushing again to move back to Chicago, but by then he had become resolute in remaining in California. By February 2003, he had gotten into an argument with his youngest sister's husband and it caused a rift in his relationship with his family. Ho no longer wanted to move back, he wanted us to remain in the green house in Manhattan Beach. Where he was miserable, angry, and depressed.

When I broke my ankle in March 2003 it was the final straw. He snapped. In 2 short weeks he returned to the nasty mean angry emotionally & verbally abusive man I through out of my bed just one year earlier. In April, with a cast on my foot, I left him and drove to my mother's house. I stayed there for a week. She convinced me to return home and I told her it was pointless. She begged me. He begged me. So I went home. Within a week we had another fight. I called my mother and told both her and the VP of Finance that when the cast came off I was leaving. Period.

The cast came off in May and we attended the Renaissance Pleasure Faire with my Family on closing weekend. I was still looking for apartments; he was sleeping in the office; mom was telling me my ankle was too weak for me to move out.

Then the Audio Thief emailed me the first week of June.

I had used Divorce Wizards to draw up the divorce papers in 2001. I revised them, updated them, and we had them Notarized. On June 30, 2003 I went down to the Los Angeles Superior Court and I filed them. I called Divorce Wizards from the court house steps and gave them my Case Number.

The next day, July 1, 2 things happened. The VP of Finance moved out, and I received email confirmation of the legal separation pending divorce with a final decree date of January 20, 2004. I handed him the legal separation papers as he carried the last box out of the house. He had 30 days to contest the Divorce, otherwise it would be awarded by the courts and the decree issued as stated. He took no action. We were legally divorced 6 months later.

If only we had moved to Chicago.

We never would have gotten divorced.

We would have stayed in love and stayed married.

If only he had kept his promise to me.

This past January we have been divorced 7 years. We were married for 10.

My Main Obsession

July 4^th weekend 2006

I was invited to Las Vegas for a Jazz & Wine Festival at the Mount Charleston Lodge.

The Jazz was fantastic, the wine was mediocre (Las Vegas was just getting their Wine Tasting’s off the ground), and the afternoon was mild and pleasant.  The local vendor’s who were invited up for the afternoon included an emerging Las Vegas artist, Jennifer Main.  She had the original oil on canvas Playin’ Footsies on display.  I ordered a Matted Print of  which she mailed to me.  I later had it professionally framed, and it became one of the first pieces of art work that I had discovered on my own and loved in it’s own right.  It wasn’t the result of a class or a study, there was no outside influence.



I have had a fascination with Magical Realism in art for as long as I can remember.  It has taken many forms over the years, Fairies, Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, Greek Mythology, but one artist has remained with me for the past 20 years.  Michael Parkes.  His collection is very expensive so I have only two pieces.  One is a poster of Creation of Man which I had professionally mounted several years after I had the courage to take it out of it’s preserved state.  The second piece is a very small print of Last Flight 1987 which was originally a gift card given to me with a Birthday Present in 1993.  I have come across an oil on canvas back in 2003, but it was bought and I have not found anything that I could afford since.

Jennifer Main’s art work gave me the same feel of a magical space occupied by visions and color.  No, my discovery of Jennifer Main was purely the result of Life’s Meanderings.  When you just let go and wander.  I literally Stumbled upon this find and I was very proud of myself for my accomplishment.  Little did I know that 4 years later Jennifer Main would take Las Vegas my force and stake her claim as THE artist of the Las Vegas Valley.

January 2007

I moved to Las Vegas for work and in the process of settling in to the new City, I discovered First Friday’s Art Walk in Downtown.  I attended my first “First Friday” February 2007.  It was small, and seemed to be the “excuse” for the under 21 crowd to have a reason for “going somewhere”.  I was in the process of walking out when The Wanderer Whispered to me that the formidable warehouse up ahead might be interesting.  As always, employing the Adventure Model to discovering new places, the real find, the secret, to First Friday was at the end of the street, the very crowded and very hard to navigate Arts Factory .  To my amazement, after following my nose down this hallway and stumbling down that corridor, I found Jennifer Main in one of the Galleries.  I nearly cried with joy when I rounded the corner and saw those vibrant colors and broad strokes splashed large and loud “Hello Friend!”.  I bought 2 more Matted Prints that night, The Thinker Series Meant to Be and Story Behind the Couple.



I introduced myself to Jennifer and to my surprise she remembered my order from the Jazz Festival in July.  I could tell she was surprised that I found her again literally by chance.  Compared to her Gallery at the Arts Factory in Las Vegas, what I saw at her display in July 2006 at Mt Charleston was paltry.  She was literally bursting with color, emotion, beauty, and the visual experience.  I don’t ask her about her inspirations, I don’t care what they are.  I sometimes read about them or over hear at the Gallery, but her work, for me, is intensely personal.

Sounds horrid, no?  Not really.  Not if you truly understand Magical Realism.  The Artist is the Messenger.  Their use of visual material to deliver to you, the Audience, that experience of being taken to another place/time/space to experience something so intimate and personal is the only purpose to the Art form.  Magical Realism is, at it’s very core, a self centered indulgent journey through one’s own Psyche.

September 2007

I had entered into a silent auction for Never Alone, and surprisingly I won.  When her Gallery contacted me, I at first thought it was a joke.  The assistant was rather upset that I didn’t believe I had won.  It was very exciting to me – picking up the piece on a Saturday afternoon, when no one was around, the Arts Factory rather quiet and surprisingly empty.  It was really odd to be in the Gallery with no one but the artists around.

This piece is a perfect example of how personal the interpretation of Magical Realism truly can be.  My view of this piece has nothing to do with Jennifer’s official entry on it, and it is again different from another person – all three interpretations completely and vastly different – personal.

I could never, ever afford Jennifer’s originals.  I mean, I would have to save for 3-6 months to even begin considering a piece.  So the fact I won the Glicee on Canvas, one of only 50 (I think, I’ll edit it later), was huge to me.  An artist I discovered all by myself, in the same genre of what I like and what appeals to me, sophisticated….. and I had a real canvas.  Serious!!!

Every time I looked at Never Alone, I could not help but look at Creation of Man.  In fact I had them hanging on the same wall for a while just so I could look at them both when I walked into the room.  The two most important pieces in my collection.

2008,

I picked up 3 more matted prints, Vino Rosso, Mariposa, and Up to Something.  I spent sometime looking for these prints because they were bought specifically for my “Craft Room” in the Las Vegas House.  My wine collection and the wet bar were both in that room and I wanted the wine theme to continue.  I also had these prints professionally mounted.

2009,

I had to put a moratorium on all things Main.  It was becoming quite disturbing.  I am only grateful someone else bought Dance of Passion before I could.

I have not been able to find any other artist who captures color so vibrantly, and who maintains the essence of Magical Realism – well, other than Michael Parkes.

As of now, 2011, I am contemplating a lift on the moratorium so that I can justify the purchase of an Embellished Glicee Print on Canvas of Dance of Passion.  I mean…… I haven’t bought anything except a Calendar since 2010.  Seems reasonable, right?

If you are in Las Vegas, make sure you stop by Jennifer’s Gallery.

A Return to the Castle

For as long as I can remember, I have referred to Bunker Hill in Los Angeles as The Castle.



I think it is because, when my Grandfather had retired and was a Tour Bus Driver 3 days a week to curb his endless boredom and to fund the cost of the bricks for the fireplace at the Cottage, he told me that Bunker Hill was the real life version of the Disneyland Castle, also known as Cinderella's Castle.    

Keep in mind that this was the story he told me when Disneyland was sitting in the middle of nothing but Orange Groves.  The Disneyland of 2011 is nowhere near the look and feel of the Disneyland of 1972.  And neither is Bunker Hill.

Over 30 years after he told me that story, the Disney Concert Hall makes the fantasy a reality.

At the moment I am dreaming of a return to the Castle on Bunker Hill.  Specifically California Plaza I & II .....





LA Museum of Contemporary Art (*drool*) ....

Disney Concert Hall (yes it's worth it) ....

Dorthy Chandler Pavilion/Mark Taper Auditorium (worth it only if you pay for Valet).



If you are a corporate drone, grinding away at the 9-5, M-F life that is the Project Manager, Bunker Hill is far and away one of the Top Two - yes I said 2.  While you are grinding away for the Corporate Beast, you are surrounded in Beauty.

The view from Cal Plaza in every direction above the 10th floor is simply amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, the hassle of traffic and commuting is completely removed with the Metro - The Rd/Purple lines connect to every Metro Line in the system, including Rail, making getting to Bunker Hill very easy.

I have never been happier than when I spent 60 hours a week on Bunker Hill!