Imperfection

Imperfection, Raw From The Road, February 1, 2018 Imperfection Imperfection is beauty. Madness is genius. It is better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. -Marilyn Monroe As I started to look into this mirror, cracked and imperfect, I started letting go of my need for perfection… from myself and from others. It was […]
Roads

Raw from the Road, January 24, 2018 Roads The drive toward Life is protective, thoughtful, vulnerable, and invested in immaculate love. It is this last that marks the difference between a wise heart muddy with real life experiences in the trenches and a dry heart that functions on rote concepts alone. -Clarissa Pinkola Estes […]
I am Fashion

Raw from the Road, August 31, 2017 My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style. Maya Angelou You may be wondering what in the hell does that mean? I am Fashion. This morning I […]
Proud Mary

Raw From The Road, June 28, 2016 Left a good job in the city Workin’ for the man ev’ry night and day And I never lost one minute of sleepin’ Worryin’ ’bout the way things might have been Big wheel keep on turnin’ Proud Mary keep on burnin’ Credence Clearwater Revival I had one of […]
Ashes to Ashes

Raw from the Road, July 25, 2017 Ashes to Ashes Sometimes you have to burn yourself to the ground before you can rise like a phoenix from the ashes. Jens Lekman I remember going to see Mt. St. Helens the first time when I was living in Portland, Oregon. That volcano blew 14 years before […]
Public Speaking

Raw From The Road, June 28, 2017 Public Speaking Run from what’s comfortable. Forget Safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I’ll be mad. Rumi Live TV Interview with Jeanmarie Bassior on L.A. Talk Live, 2013 (My book was […]
Feeling Groovy

Raw From The Road, June 12, 2017 Feeling Groovy Slow down, you’re movin’ too fast You got to make the morning last… Simon and Garfunkel It seems only fitting to quote a Simon and Garfunkel song about New York since I have just returned from a wonderful visit there with my family […]
Constructive Criticism

Raw From The Road, May 31, 2017 Constructive Criticism Photo by Skye Amber Poet I like constructive criticism from smart people. Prince How I hated these two words when I was younger. No one could tell me what to do or how to do it better. Nope. All I heard was the […]
‘Now’ Trending

Raw from the Road, May 23, 2017 Now Trending The need for an empty space, a pause, is something we have all felt in our bones; it’s the rest in a piece of music that gives it resonance and shape. Pico Iyer Do you notice how many emails you are getting […]
A Day Off

Raw From The Road, May 16, 2017 A Day Off You are like this cup; you are full of ideas. You come and ask for teaching, but your cup is full; I can’t put anything in. Before I can teach you, you’ll have to empty your cup. Master Ryutan Lately, […]
All Over The Place

Raw from the Road, May 9, 2017 All Over The Place We adore chaos because we love to produce order. M. C. Escher All over the place. Yep that’s me. I’m all over the place. And today, I am embracing my all over the place-ness. Sometimes it trips me […]
Nothing To Defend

Raw From The Road, May 4, 2017 Nothing to Defend When all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. Stephen Chbosky (Excerpted from a previous blog entry, 2013) I’m learning that I am just the vessel in which these things flow through and I realize that nothing […]
Into The Woods

Raw From The Road, April 26, 2017 Into the Woods I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, they will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. Henry David Thoreau […]
The Wow Factor

Raw from the Road, April 20, 2017 (Excerpt, March 13, 2013 blog entry) The Wow Factor A person who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that their happiness lies outside them, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within them. Soren Kierkegaard I was so inspired by Destiny […]
Mist Trees

Raw from the Road, April, 17, 2017 Mist Trees I am a great admirer of mystery and magic. Look at this life – all mystery and magic. Harry Houdini The mist is so alluring. It’s forbidding… yet so inviting. When I first moved to the country, in […]
Not One More

Raw from the Road, Las Cruces, April 13, 2017 Don’t Cry Mama Don’t cry mama It aint so bad Come a little closer I can’t see you I know you don’t like to come here much You prefer the cemetery The proper burial ground But you know my soul is right here This is where […]
Straight No Chaser
Raw From The Road, Las Cruces, April 14, 2017 Straight No Chaser I never knew what hit me. Like a shooting star You came out of nowhere. You and me, on the same path, Traveling in the same direction. I was always a little ahead of you. You trailed for a long time, Until I […]
Las Cruces, 18 Wheeler
Raw from the Road, Las Cruces, April 12, 2017 18 Wheeler Oh, my cargo My precious cargo I transport you from state to state How in the world could I lose you in Nebraska? Such a flat road, a light load My precious cargo My precious cargo Robbie Kaye April is poetry month. […]
The Boardwalk

Raw from the Road, April 8, 2017 The Boardwalk Part of the elasticity that you need, in order to continue to try to create, is the foregone conclusion that not all of it is going to be fabulously successful. But it’s all going to be part of a long lifetime body of experimentation. Elizabeth […]
Topanga

Raw from the Road, April 7, 2017 Topanga Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. Marilyn Monroe No. 5 This self-portrait was taken at Topanga State Beach, CA and it’s from the “Topanga” series in the typology, ‘Deconstruction’. This photo was taken early […]
St. Monica

Raw From The Road, April 6, 2017 St. Monica It is worse to stay where one does not belong at all than to wander about lost for a while and looking for the psychic and soulful kinship one requires. Clarissa Pinkola Estes No. 4 I made this self-portrait in Santa Monica, CA. The statue of […]
I Sea

Raw From The Road, April 5, 2017 I Sea I come to the sea to breathe. *Mary Anne Radmacher No. 3 I made this self-portrait in Cannon Beach, Oregon. “Cannon Beach” is a series in the typology, Deconstruction. In winter, while on a 3 week vision quest in Oregon, I drove to Haystack […]
Ojai

Raw From The Road, April 4, 2017 Ojai Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. John Muir No. 2 A beautiful summer day in Ojai, CA and the sun has just risen. Still early […]
Good Grief!

Raw From The Road, March 21, 2017 Good Grief! YOU STUPID DARKNESS! Lucy, from Charlie Brown Good Grief! Maybe Charlie Brown was on to something? Good grief can lead to change. Good grief can lead to self-honesty, contemplation and even revelation. And…good grief can lead to good art. When I’m in the grieving process, sometimes […]
Be Quiet

Raw From The Road, March 10, 2017 Be Quiet My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence. Edith Sitwell A friend of mine recently stopped by after her hike to the lake in our valley that is now filling up with water after many years of drought. It is not quite where it […]
Four Dark Months in Brooklyn

Raw From The Road, March 2, 2017 Four Dark Months in Brooklyn Black and white are the colors of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected. Robert Frank In 2002, I gave up my very stable job at USC, sold my car and loaded […]
Standing Still

Raw from the Road, February 3, 2017 Standing Still If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces. Shane Koyczan Standing Still is one of the first few pieces I painted with ‘well-traveled’ motorcycle tires (used tires). I was born and raised in New York and though I love the paradise and countryside in which […]
Lean on me.

Raw From The Road, January 2, 2017 Lean on me. There is a life in you, search that life, search the secret jewel in the mountain of your body. Rumi As an athlete, now retired, I’ve had several coaches and what I found is that the good ones made me want to work harder, push […]
Infinity

Raw from the Road, December 27, 2016 Infinity If the infinity of the sea may call out thus, perhaps when a man is growing old, calls come to him, too, from another infinity still darker and more deeply mysterious; and the more he is wearied by life the dearer are those calls to him. Henryk […]
Treading On…

October will be an amazing month for Treads and Treads on Threads. My first showing of the paintings will be on October 13th at the beautiful Honey Paper, Gallery and Studio, in Los Olivos, CA. On October 15th, I will have a booth set up to create one of kind treads at Los Olivos, Day […]