Books

Hallelujah

November 28, 2020 By Zola Zeester

“Many different hallelujahs exist.” — Leonard Cohen (1934 – 2016)

It was a cold, early December day walking the streets of the Strasbourg Christmas Markets when my friends and I stumbled upon the 2,000 year old St. Thomas Church and decided to take a look inside. The interior was stunningly beautiful, welcoming and warm, and stagehands were busy setting up while a small choir began rehearsing. We decided to take a seat in the pews and watch. Then, a lovely performance of Hallelujah filled the church and touched us all with its powerful message.

Written by Canadian singer-songwriter, Leonard Cohen, after years of torturous writing sessions and 80 draft versions, Hallelujah has been covered and performed by over 300 singers since its first release in 1984 on Cohen’s album Various Positions, using a mix of different lyrics and a variety of interpretations and tones ranging from the melancholic, inspirational to joyous. [Recommended reading: The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah”]* Here are just two of the 300+ versions, both with the power to inspire and move you to tears.

Information/Resources:

St. Thomas Church Strasbourg Église Saint-Thomas (nicknamed the ‘Protestant Cathedral’ and ‘Die Late Dame’ (the Old Lady) is a historical building in Strasbourg, France, and has been the city’s primary Lutheran church since the Strasbourg Cathedral became Catholic after annexation of the city by France in 1681. St. Thomas today is an impressive example of Alsatian Gothic architecture, and contains the Maréchal de Saxe, a masterpiece of 18th-century baroque funerary art.

Hallelujah – BBC Radio Soul Music – Series 20, a music and lyrical analysis (April 14, 2015), artists tell their personal stories of the song’s affect on their lives

The word ‘hallelujah’ is used in both Jewish and Christian prayer, and often spoken in modern English to express happiness that a thing hoped or waited for has happened.

*Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a book or music purchase you make via the links within this page. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.

Feature photo is courtesy of Zac Durant/Unsplash CC0

We’d love to hear from you! If you’d like to comment on this article, join the conversation, or share your inspiration, and you have not yet registered as an On2In2™ playmaker, please sign up via the ‘Engage page’. Don’t worry, it’s pretty quick and easy (unless you’re a robot).

Cookie Crunch

November 19, 2020 By Zola Zeester 2 Comments

Traditions of cookie decorating can be traced back to the Middle Ages, and got a start in North America during the 17^th century with the introduction of cookie cutters, molds and holiday decorating by Dutch and German settlers. About 200 years later, decorating cookies for Christmas gained popularity in America as more German-imported cookie cutters became available and cookbooks featured cookies cut in holiday inspired shapes sparked creativity in home kitchens. Today, the popularity of cookie decorating continues to grow during holidays throughout the world with all sorts of creations.

This holiday season, Zandy R (@pillbug) has been working on a cookie cookbook and experimenting with different iced cookie recipes and techniques (sugar cookie cut-outs decorated with royal icing). You can do it, too. Here are her cookie decorating tips:

• Use your favorite sugar cookie and royal icing recipes, try something new or go nostalgic with a family recipe. Find Zandy R’s (@pillbug) absolute favorite sugar cookie and royal icing recipes here → Roll & Cut Sugar Cookies. If this is your first cookie decorating adventure, best to do a little research before starting. The Complete Photo Guide to Cookie Decorating by Autumn Carpenter

• It helps (a lot) to have the right equipment. To decorate cookies with royal icing, you’ll need piping bags and/or squeeze bottles (a bunch, if using different colors) and a small offset spatula or rounded butter knife (to help spread the icing). Also, toothpicks come in handy for tiny, precision work.

See Zandy’s favorite cookie baking tools below. The stainless steel rolling pin eliminates the sticky dough problem by keeping the dough cool, the battery-powered sifter is genius, the 4-tier cooling rack is a great space saver during mega cookie baking projects, and the Kitchen Aid mixer—well, that’s really a dream machine. For more information on any item, click/tap on the photo within the in the ad, and there’s a search box to help you find anything else your heart desires.

• Roll out cookie dough with a chilled rolling pin to avoid sticking. Have fun cutting out a variety of cookie shapes Holiday Cookie Cutters

• After cookies are baked and cooled, keep at least overnight (loosely covered with a sheet of parchment paper) before decorating.

• If using royal icing (as Zandy R did for her cookies), there are no quick short-cuts. Let each application dry before applying the next one. Check out Betty Crocker’s advice for decorating cookies with icing ⇒ here

• It’s a creative process of experimentation and experience, and that takes time and patience. Don’t be afraid to try different techniques and colors because you’ll get better and better the more you decorate.

• When something goes wrong and you totally mess up a cookie, eat it immediately.

This page includes affiliate links to a shop website. If you purchase a product or service directly through the link, Zeester Media LLC may earn a small commission. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.

Decorate Valentine Day cookies with these helpful tips

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Cookies decorating ideas and inspiration from On2In2™

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It's fun to bake and decorate holiday cookies with these On2In2™ recipes and tips.

Cookie decorating for Thanksgiving holiday

Feature photo courtesy of Pixabay/Pexels CC0

Activist Arts

October 30, 2020 By Zola Zeester Leave a Comment

“If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him… We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.” — John F. Kennedy

Throughout history, art has been created by people for many different reasons and purposes, both non-motivated (no specific-purpose other than a basic human instinct to create) and motivated (e.g., the artist intends to communicate a specific emotion, comment on an aspect of society, or bring about political or cultural change), and works of art have often been controversial for a variety of reasons, provoking intense debate, criticism and indignation as well as influencing new ideas and shifts in prevailing sentiment.

An art movement is art with a specific common goal among a group of artists for a certain period of time (months, years or decades). There have been many diverse art movements during the 19^th and 20^th centuries, their meanings and objectives explained by the artists involved in the movement or art critics and historians.

In the US, the ‘60s were years of social unrest and cultural change, and contemporary artists responded to the turmoil and addressed the issues by producing creative works of activism. The Black Arts Movement (1965-75), aka Black Aesthetics Movement or BAM, emerged when a group of African American artists were inspired by the Black Power movement to create expressive works of poetry, novels, visual arts, and theater that reflected pride in black history and culture and explored the African American experience as a means of arousing black consciousness. Although it began in New York, BAM spread across the country and influenced a generation of artists.

In Southern California, the Black Arts Movement generated new forms of artistic and cultural expression and the development of community-based arts organizations in an effort to end discrimination in entertainment industries and focus attention on the conditions within black working class neighborhoods.

In her book South of Pico*, MacArthur winner and Columbia University professor Kellie Jones explores how artists in Los Angeles black communities during the 1960s and 1970s created a vibrant, engaged activist arts scene amidst racism and social upheaval. Building on her research and work on the Hammer Museum exhibition Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980, Dr. Jones, along with a discussion panel including UCLA professor Robin D.G. Kelly, will expand your understanding of the history of black arts in Los Angeles and beyond. If you missed the live broadcast of this event, there’s still time to watch a video recording. Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button or the post located on the video player below ↓

Creative Perspectives – artists reveal thoughts and feelings about their work and living a creative life in this On2In2™ video collection, available to watch free & on-demand.

Find out how you can help with art history research right from home, and discover the life of an artist using a very cool, free to
use online tool “AnnoTate”

Information/Resources:

Political Change from the 1960’s to Now: Connections Between Arts and Activist Movements by Andrea Assuf (The Public Humanist, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, October 30, 2009)
On Black Aesthetics: The Black Arts Movement by Candice Frederick (New York Public Library, July 15, 2016)
The Black Arts Movement (blacklist.org)
Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties (Brooklyn Museum)
Wikipedia (Art and Art movement)

*Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a book purchase you make via the link within this page. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.

We’d love to hear from you! If you’d like to comment on this post, join the conversation, or share your inspiration, and you have not yet registered as an On2In2™ playmaker, please sign up via the ‘Engage page’. Don’t worry, it’s pretty quick and easy.

Feature photo is courtesy of Pixabay CC0

The Good Life

September 22, 2020 By Zola Zeester Leave a Comment

Life certainly has its up and downs. How do we make the best of it?

That’s the million dollar question we’ve all asked ourselves one time or another, and there’s plenty of ‘how to’ advice out there: Be a success, Get a better job, Make more money, Start exercising more, Eat healthy, Find your passion, Find purpose, making the solution seem like a long list of aspirations. But, we all discover sooner or later there is no quick fix, and personal or professional accomplishments do not necessarily result in health and happiness. So, what’s the answer? Let’s explore.

Family, Friends and Community

Robert Waldinger is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, Zen priest, and director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest continuing study on adult life and happiness. A valuable lesson emerged from the 75 years of study — Good relationships with family, friends and community keep us healthier and happier, and it’s the quality, not quantity, of the relationships that matter most.

Information/Resources:
Robert Waldinger Ted Talk, courtesy of TED, CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International
Robert Waldinger website (updated Harvard study findings and insights)
Feature photo is courtesy of Derek Thomson/Unsplash CC0

Live in the Moment

When I met Fernando, I was trying to find my way through grief and upheaval, and struggling with what to do next. I’d been told he had been very ill, suffering a heart attack while being treated for cancer, and he was still recovering when he sat next to me at a hair salon. The first thing I noticed was his gaunt appearance, but then it was the look in his eyes — a joyful peace, and I remember thinking ‘this guy has been hit hard, but he somehow manages to look like the happiest person in the room’. I wanted to know how he did it. What’s his secret? During our talk, Fernando asked me, “Have you ever read ‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle?” When I said no (I hadn’t even heard of it), he told me, “It will change your life”. I didn’t believe that, but I got the book anyway and discovered he was right.

In The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle speaks to the topic of personal happiness in a question and answer format, and recommends methods for living in the moment without troubling thoughts of past regrets and worries about the future. The book was first published in the late 1990’s, and remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for years afterward. Some people find the book hard to read, and get more from listening to the audio book. *[As an Amazon affiliate, Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a book purchase you make via the link here. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.]

Laugh Without Reason

Laughter has great short-term as well as long-term effects on both the mind and body that can make you feel happier in some amazing ways.

Stimulates heart, lungs and muscles, and increases endorphins (pain relieving, hormone-like substances that are produced and released by your brain)
Increases circulation and helps muscle relaxation
Releases neuropeptides (protein-like molecules) that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses

Go ahead – Give it a try. Watch the Comedy: People & Phones channel, an On2In2™ collection of short videos about the use/misuse of phones – always good for a laugh.

Martin, a dog with some issues, makes everybody laugh as he tells his story in the comedy ‘mockumentary’ series “Downward Dog”. Watch it here → Dog Speak

Information/Resources: Stress Relief From Laughter? It’s No Joke, Mayo Clinic (April 21, 2016)

Connect to Nature

There’s an enduring belief among many cultures that being outdoors and viewing nature are good for mind and body. But, what to do when you’re trapped indoors?

Research has shown just looking at trees from a window can lighten a hospital patient’s recovery time after surgery, and a study conducted by BBC Earth and the University of California-Berkley revealed that viewing nature in images and video footage triggers a feel good response in people. As a result of these findings, the free-to-watch & share ⇒ Planet Earth video series was produced by BBC Earth. The series consists of 40 hours of visual soundscapes taken from footage filmed by the BBC Planet Earth II camera teams while on location. No commentary on these videos, only breathtaking sights and sounds of nature: Island Sounds, Mountain Sounds, Jungle Sounds, and Desert Sounds.

Information/Resources: View Through a Window May Influence Recovery From Surgery by R.S. Ulrich, The Center For Health Design (1984)

There’s more nature to see on the Natural Beauty video channel, an On2In2™ collection of favorite short videos. Amazing views of the extraordinary and Free to Watch, On-Demand

It’s Never Too Late

“For what it’s worth: It’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”

Benjamin Button’s letter to his daughter
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008 film)
Story/Screenplay by Eric Roth & Robin Swicord
Based on short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Eat without gluttony, drink without getting drunk, love without jealousy, and occasionally, with great discretion, misbehave.”*

*Lessons Learned on the Quest for a Longer, Happier Life by Dan Buettner, The Aspen Institute – Global Health (June 1, 2018) Start with making small changes to downshift through each day – Take more vacation, do not check emails after work hours, eat dinner with family and friends at a table without any distractions, go on a long walk with a friend over your lunch break.

Feature photo is courtesy of Derek Thomson/Unsplash CC0

Birds of America

September 19, 2020 By Zola Zeester 1 Comment

Some time around 1820, French-American artist and naturalist, John James Audubon (1785-1851) started work on a personal project to paint every bird species located in North America, using unique methods and materials as well as extensive field observations. It was a tremendously challenging and costly endeavor, and many doubted Audubon’s ability to pull it off. In fact, the idea would seem a little wild & crazy even today with 21st century technology. But, Audubon was no ordinary guy. He was also totally committed to finding and illustrating every bird in North America for publication, working more than 15 years toward his goal and raising cash by teaching, selling art works, taking oil painting commissions, hunting and selling animal skins, and conducting exhibitions and demonstrations.

How to view and download John Audubon's extraordinarily beautiful illustrations in The Birds of America. — Common American Swan (The Birds of America, plate 411) is courtesy of the National Audubon Society, John James Audubon Center and Montgomery County Audubon Collection

The result of Audubon’s work is The Birds of America, first published in England as a series of 87 sets of prints between the years 1827 and 1838. Now considered to be the greatest study of birds in history as well as one of the greatest examples of book art, the original publication included 435 hand-colored, life-sized prints of North American birds on handmade paper that were produced from copperplate etchings and engravings with water-coloring applied by assembly-line colorists. An accompanying text (‘Ornithological Biography’) was written by Audubon and the Scottish ornithologist William MacGillvray and published separately in five volumes (1831-1839).

The cost of printing the first edition of The Birds of America was an amount equivalent to more than $2 million US dollars in today’s money. Audubon financed the massive print project with pre-paid subscriptions, but only the wealthy could afford the subscription price which limited the publication to no more than 200 complete sets. Consequently, more affordable editions were later produced using lithography and published during the mid-19^th century.

“The Birds of America’ will then raise in value as much as they are now depreciated by certain fools and envious persons.” — John James Audubon

Almost two centuries later, Audubon’s bird art is still captivating and revered among birders and art collectors, and his influence on ornithology and natural history has been widespread and enduring as The Birds of America and Ornithological Biography significantly contributed to the understanding of bird anatomy and behavior. Watching the short video, ‘Audubon’s Birds of America’ from the Lost Birds Project, you’ll get a sense of the massive beauty of these works of art as David W. Carson, curator of the History of Science Collection at Cornell University, conducts a private viewing of The Birds of America.

Six of the birds illustrated by John Audubon in The Birds of America are now extinct, and many more are endangered. Also — According to a recent study, North America has lost more than a quarter of its entire bird population during the past 50 years. [North America Has Lost 3 Billion Birds, Scientist Say by Nell Greefieldboyce (NPR, September 19, 2019)] ⇒⇒ Learn how you can help by visiting the National Audubon Society’s Action Center.

A copy of the complete The Birds of America series is available FREE of charge for viewing and high-resolution downloading via ⇒⇒ the National Audubon Society’s digital library, courtesy of the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove in Audubon, Pennsylvania and the Montgomery County Audubon Collection. Be sure to check it out, and let John Audubon inspire your own creative work.

Audubon’s personal copy of The Birds of America is held within the Stark Museum of Art Rare Books & Manuscripts Collections in Orange, Texas. An original, complete series is on public display (one page is turned each week) in the Audubon Room of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. It was purchased by the university in 1839 for the astonishing price of $970 (equivalent to approximately $80,000 today). Undoubtedly, a wise investment. In December 2010, a complete first edition from a private collection was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in London for US$ 11.5 million (a record breaking auction price).

Other permanent public display locations: Trinity College (Watkinson Library) in Hartford, Connecticut; University of Pittsburg (Hillman Library); Liverpool Central Library; Woodstock Inn in Woodstock, Vermont; and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (Ewell Sale Stewart Library) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Look around– there are surely more opportunities for viewing a first edition as there are currently 107 held by institutions, and many periodically offer special exhibits.

Information/Resources:
The Life of John James Audubon: The Naturalist (1869) [FREE ebook] The primary source material for this biography was Audubon’s notes and journals, written/edited by Lucy Green Bakewell Audubon and Robert Williams Buchanan. The JJ Audubon image is an engraving by H.B. Hall based on a portrait by Henry Inman that appears in the book.
John James Audubon – The Making of an American (2004) by Richard Rhodes*
Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ at Yale: Creating a masterwork one feather at a time. Article by Mike Cummings, Yale News, June 30, 2015
“Ornithological Biography” or an Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America Vol 4, (1838) by John James Audubon [FREE ebook].
Featured photo of Columbian Hummingbirds is from plate 425 of The Birds of America
Wikipedia: The Birds of America

If you just can’t get enough about birds, there’s more here ⇒ Bird ID Challenge (test your birding skills); Birdsong Melody (the music and magic of the mockingbird); The California Brown Pelican; and Fast and Fearless (the Hummingbird).

Audubon was the first, but there’s a new illustration of birds to get excited about! The Wall of Birds* tells the remarkable story of artist Jane Kim’s 2,500 square-foot mural celebrating the diversity and evolution of birds at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It took her 2 1/2 years to create the one-of-a-kind, life-size mural showcasing all 243 modern families of birds, and the book “is a visual feast, essential for those who love art, birds, and our natural world”.

*Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a book purchase you make via a link to Amazon within this page. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.

A Thousand Sparks

September 8, 2020 By Zola Zeester Leave a Comment

“If you watch a thousand sparks cascading,
They’re all wee thoughts,
or possibilities,
or ideas;
And, if you could think like that……….”

Robert Fullerton

At 13 years old, his formal education ended, and at 17, he started working at a shipyard in Govan, Scotland. An early start to a life of grueling labor, but Robert Fullerton looked through the reflecting glass visor of his welding helmet and found inspiration in the spirit of the shipyard.

In the video documentary, “Mining Poems or Odes” from the Scottish Documentary Institute (produced by Jack Cocker, directed by Jack Cocker), Robert Fullerton reveals how he learned to write, his creative process, and ‘tools of the trade’.

Robert Fullerton’s story reminds us that sparks of inspiration are everywhere, and the real magic is in a book. His passion for books and writing began when his workmate and mentor, Archie, gave him a copy of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists* by Robert Tressell**, the pen name of author Robert Noonan (1870-1911), an Irish-born house painter.

The novel is set in the fictional town of Mugsborough, and based on Noonan’s personal experiences of poverty and exploitation and his views on the relationship between working-class people and their employers, the gross injustice and inequalities of society, and workers’ acceptance of the status quo. Out of work and ill, Noonan was in dire straits during the writing, and there are traces of the anger and bitterness he was feeling in the Ragged story, along with compassion and a sense of humor.

Widely regarded a classic of modern British literature and ranked as a ‘best loved’ novel in a 2003 BBC survey, the completed manuscript originally called, The Ragged Arsed Philanthropists, was rejected by three publishing houses before Noonan died in 1911 at age 40. His daughter was able to sell the book rights to a publisher for £25, and an edited version (with most of the socialist ideology cut out) was published in 1914. Forty years later, Robert Noonan’s original manuscript was found, and the unabridged edition was published in 1955.

*Editor’s Note: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is available to read free in ebook form or online, and is also free to download and print, courtesy of Project Gutenberg. The volunteer organization founded in 1971 by American Michael S. Hart (1947-2011), inventor of the ebook, has created a digital library offering over 53,000 ebooks of literary works in the public domain that can be accessed, read, downloaded and printed—all free of charge.

Information/Resources:
Wikipedia: Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Govan, Project Gutenberg, Michael S. Hart
“Welder Turned Poet….”, The Daily Record (February 14, 2016)

The historical works created during times of social unrest and cultural change continue to inspire today Activist Arts

There’s more inspiration here→ Watch: Creative Perspectives,
an On2In2™ collection of short videos

Feature photo of welder is courtesy of Pixabay/Pexels, CC0

**Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a book purchase you make via the link to this Robert Noonan biography “One of the Damned: The Life & Times of Robert Tressell” by F.C. Ball. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.

The Last Bookstore

September 6, 2020 By Zola Zeester 1 Comment

Josh Spencer, owner/operator of “The Last Bookstore” in downtown Los Angeles, has achieved a lot in his life. His story, however, is about more than books and the business of book selling. It’s also about personal challenges, changing lives, facing failure, and finding the courage to overcome great adversity. Yes, all that in an 11½ minute video! A gripping reminder that success in business and life requires the ability to “re-adjust” to dire circumstances.

Despite closures of mega bookstore chains as well as small independents and the rise of eBooks and online shopping, Josh was able to develop his passion for books into a successful business buying, selling, and trading books from a brick and mortar retail space. Since 2005, The Last Bookstore has become the largest book and record store in California and one of the largest independent bookstores in the world. There are over 250,000 new and used books on two floors, including an art & rare book annex, and tens of thousands of vinyl records and graphic novels. Most importantly, Josh enjoys the work (not easy to sort and organize thousands of books every day), and he’s created a unique place for the printed word to thrive and book lovers to explore.

“I think books are going to become sort of like vinyl is now: the province of people who appreciate things that are well made, appreciate craft in graphics and creativity they can feel.” — Josh Spencer

Despite predictions of the inevitable death of independent bookstores, many are alive and doing quite well. The bookstore scene around the world is mixed, but they’re still treasured in communities, and in a number of European countries, independent counts have remained consistent in the last decade. For example, France, where laws protect against predatory pricing, bookstores in Paris can be found just about every other city block, including the famous English-language shop “Shakespeare and Company”, open 7 days a week.

Like most of us, filmmaker Max Joseph just couldn’t seem to find enough time to read a book, and visiting a book store created a lot of anxiety for him because the shelves full of books were a reminder of all the books he hadn’t, and probably never would, read. So, he decided to make a video documentary about it (‘Book Stores’), and found inspiration while talking to expert readers and visiting some of the most beautiful book stores in the world.

Inspired to browse a local bookstore?

Use Indie Bookstore Finder to locate US independent bookstores in your area

In the UK, try the search tools at Local Bookshops

Find a bookshop in Australia via the Australian Booksellers Association online search

If you find yourself wandering the streets of an unfamiliar place, look for these unique bookstores:

Powys, Wales, Hay-on-Wye (small village on the border between England and Wales is “world renowned for books and bookshops”)

Porto, Portugal, Livraria Lello (a beautiful bookstore with a long history)

Mumbai, India, Trilogy

Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand, Unity Books

Buenos Aires, Argentina, El Ateneo Grand Splendid (Early 20th century theater, turned bookshop, and one of the most beautiful book shops in the world)

Venice, Italy – Libreria Acqua Alta (The “high water bookshop” you must see to believe)

Milan, Italy – Corso Como (a mix of art, architecture and fashion)

Lisbon, Portugal – Ler Devagar (a large space located in former printing shop, LX Factory)

Budapest, Hungary – Massolit

Mexico City, Mexico – El Pendulo

Books For Love – Zola’s all-time favorite love stories are full of lust, scandal, heartbreak, betrayal, and tragedy

You’ll find more inspiration from the stories told by this diverse group of pathfinders on the video bio-documentary channel “Life Inspired“, an On2In2™ special collection of short videos.

Bookstore photo, courtesy of Glen Noble/Unsplash

Malibu Road

June 2, 2020 By Zola Zeester 2 Comments

Sometimes— bliss is found by chance at an unlikely place and time. A friend recommended Malibu as one of the “best places” to live in the Los Angeles area. I was more than skeptical, and thought she must have had a total misunderstanding of my financial resources, life-style and career goals. But, I was also intrigued and willing to check it out as the friend assured “it’s a beautiful community”, and I was very much in need of a refuge. As it turned out, the Bu was not just a beautiful place; it was a beautiful experience.

[su_quote cite=”Rachel Carson (1907-1964) “]To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of years, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.[/su_quote]

California Brown Pelicans in flight at Big Rock Beach, Malibu

Purple Shore Crab at Big Rock Beach, Malibu

To Jacy, the friend who turned me on2 Malibu……..

“I wanna thank you with all of my heart
It’s a brand new start
A dream come true
in Malibu” — Miley Cyrus

Zola’s Malibu Road Reading List*

The Story of Malibu (free to read online) historical account of this unique place, published by the Malibu Lagoon Museum

• The King and Queen of Malibu: The True Story of the Battle for Paradise by David K. Randall. In 1892, Frederick H. Rindge (1857-1905) bought the 13,300 acre Spanish land grant “Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit” (Malibu Rancho) for $10/acre, and just a few years later, an intense fight for Malibu and its beautiful, secluded beaches began.

• All For a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora by David Rensin

• Malibu (Images of America) by Ben Marcus and Marc Wanamaker

• Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival by Norman Ollestad

Read up on the amazing ‘California Brown Pelican‘

Malibu Travel Information/Resources:

Malibu Lagoon State Beach – water sports, hiking, bird and whale watching, and guided tours of wetlands and historical/cultural landmarks
Birdwatching field trips at Malibu Lagoon hosted by Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society (free, monthly)
Malibu Creek State Park – hike, ride, climb & explore stunning terrain and wildlife of California’s Santa Monica Mountains
Point Dume State Beach – swimming, surfing, scuba diving and fishing. Watch California gray whales during December to mid April migration period
Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach – an area of small beaches known as “pocket beaches”, including: El Pescador, La Piedra and El Matador
Adamson House and Malibu Lagoon Museum – tour 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival home and garden; and museum collection of artifacts, photos and documents depicting history of Malibu
The Getty Villa – art, architecture and gardens within a re-creation of an ancient Roman country house
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Top Ten Reasons to Visit

Looking for your own special refuge? Watch: Destinations,
an On2In2™ collection of short videos from around the world,
for dreaming and exploring

Malibu photo collection courtesy of Zeester Media LLC, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Feature photo courtesy of Unsplash CC0

*If you purchase a book via a link within this page, Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.

Art Therapy

May 11, 2020 By Zola Zeester 2 Comments

The term “art therapy” was first introduced in 1942 by British artist Adrian Keith Graham Hill (1895 – 1977) after realizing the drawings he had done to pass time while convalescing from tuberculosis at a UK long-term care facility had been helpful in his recovery, suggesting other patients could be similarly benefited from both the creation and appreciation of art. The idea caught on.

Adrian Hill later taught drawing and painting at hospitals, and wrote that art therapy seemed to release the creative energy of patients and relieve mental stress by “completely engrossing the mind” and diverting attention from illness and injury. [Adrian Hill’s books on art therapy include Art Versus Illness: A story of art therapy (1945) and Painting Out Illness (1951)] He also believed the practice of art “in sickness and in health” was essential to the well being of all society, and continued throughout his life to write art instructional books (including Drawing and Painting Trees (1936, 2008), still in print*), and promote the use of art therapy in public health services.

Today, art therapy as a curative technique varies in definition, process, application and approach, but the primary purpose is restorative healing by means of any type of visual art, including drawing, painting, sculpting, photography and digital art. The benefits, however, are more far-reaching as the act of creating an artwork seems to calm the body’s nervous system and provides a means of self-expression that can be enjoyed by anyone searching for a relaxing, enlivening pastime.

Listed below are a few artwork ideas to get the creative juices flowing (no training, experience or special talent required!). You’ll also find creative inspiration from On2In2™ video selections on the Art Works and Creative Perspectives channels and more arts and crafts project ideas in the posted article, “Artisan”.

ο Go outside and sketch or photograph something you find beautiful or interesting

ο Build a sandcastle or draw in the sand

ο Cut and paste clippings, images or whatever you find to create a paper collage or sculptural object

ο Finger paint or make scribble drawings

ο Create a unique greeting card

ο Experiment with digital art by using a paint/sketch app

ο Get a coloring book for adults, some gel pens, markers & pencils, and start coloring

COLORING BOOKS

Previously considered child’s play, coloring “inside the lines” is actually fun for everybody and has become a popular hobby for adults. (An estimated 12 million coloring books were sold in 2015/US, Nielsen Bookscan) It’s a do ‘anywhere, anytime’ creative process of design and color that appeals to so many because it doesn’t require a big investment in art supplies, training or work space and can be enjoyed solo or with friends in social ‘coloring’ groups. The best part— there are no rules. Make it fun. Color in a way that makes you happy (inside, outside & between the lines). Your work of art can be displayed, given as gifts, used in other arts & craft projects, or saved and collected as part of a personal journal.

The variation of coloring book creations is endless, and colorists love to share their inspiration and works of art. Take a look at a few beautiful examples in this slide show.

An abstract flower design coloring creation. — Beautifulcataya, Flickr CC BY-NC-ND

Hello Angel Creative, Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Coloring a fish design in coloring book is fun and relaxing. — Melissa Dinwiddle, Flickr CC BY-SA

a beautiful abstract created from a coloring book — Beautifulcataya, Flickr CC BY-NC-ND

Wildlife coloring book creations are unique — Aimee Ray, Flickr CC BY-NC-ND

There’s a wide selection of coloring books available in bookstores, hobby shops, and online via ebooks and digital apps (for purchase & free of charge) that are filled with pages of line drawings designed uniquely for adult creative colorings.

My first attempt at using coloring book app "Colorfy" — Seashells in digital color by Zola Zeester

Most coloring apps are free to download on phone, iPad or tablet via App store, Google Play, etc., but pay attention to the basic v. premium offerings as there are often in-app purchases required for select designs, colors and brushes. [Editor’s Note: After downloading “Colorfy” (by Fun Games for Free) on an iPad, took it for a short test drive, and created the simple seashell design you see here in about 10 minutes (could make a nice greeting card?). It worked ok and was fun to play with, but quickly discovered there are very few coloring options and tools available for free (which is not fun). There’s convenience and novelty in using these cool creative digital tools, and Colorfy was easy enough to navigate. Really like the feature that allows uploading of personal, original drawings and sketches for coloring. However, using old school paper and pen coloring books as a means of escaping phones and screens for a couple of hours is likely more appealing to many of us.

Coloring Tips for the Beginner

3 hrs of coloring in 2 min (Thomas Johnson, Randolph Smith/The Washington Post)

♦ Use color pencils, markers and/or gel pens. Experiment with different kinds, but test them out for ink bleeding through the paper before starting.

♦ Place a piece of paper under the color book page you’re coloring to protect the other pages in the book from indentions and ink bleeds.

♦ Color from the outside ⇒ in.

♦ Build up layers for more depth of color rather than pressing too hard.

♦ Keep pencils sharp and caps on pens and markers.

♦ It takes practice. Slow down and enjoy every moment.

FREE!! COLORING BOOKS

We love freebies, and free coloring books make it fast & easy to begin a coloring art project. The NYBG 12-page “Color Our Collections” coloring book (a favorite) is provided absolutely free to print courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden and the LuEsther T. Mertz Library [To download/print from this page: Click/Tap the arrow within the small square located top right corner (the “pop-out” box) of the NYBG coloring book below. It redirects you to a separate page. Print and/or download the coloring book pages from there.] Now, just gather up some pens and pencils and start coloring your one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

Find more free to print coloring books from the On2In2™ resource page here ⇒ “Free Coloring Books“. During the first week of February, special collections libraries, museums and archives promote coloring using copies of historical drawings and sketches, making it a good time to search social media for one-of-a-kind (and free!) coloring books using the hashtag #ColorOurCollections.

Resources/Information:
Wikipedia: Art Therapy, Adrian Hill
“Why Adult Coloring Books are the Latest Trend”, The Washington Post (May 2, 2016)

Feature photo of art paint mess is courtesy of Unsplash, CC0

Spring Flowers

February 25, 2020 By Zola Zeester 4 Comments

And the Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.

—Percy Bysshe Shelley*

The Flowers video by Jamie Scott captures Spring in bloom using time-lapse photography.

*Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822) lived his short life on the wild side, and the political and social views expressed in his poetry were considered radical in the early 19th century. It all resulted in expulsion from Oxford, alienation of his father, financial and marital difficulties, and limited appeal of his creative work. However, his popularity grew following his death, and Shelley is now regarded as one of the finest lyric poets in the English language and one of the most influential to generations of poets. In 1838, Shelly’s poetry was first published as a collection edited by his widow. The 1914 edited collection by Thomas Hutchinson attempts to restore the poetry to its original text, and is available here to read free-of-charge in digital format (courtesy of The Internet Archive).

Information/Resources:
Wikipedia: Percy Bysshe Shelley and poets.org
Blooms and Buds, National Park Foundation blog article (March 10, 2017) – Where to find spring flowers in US National Parks

In Texas, you know it’s Spring when you spot the first bluebonnet, and taking a long drive “to see the bluebonnets” is a long-standing tradition

The Chrysanthemum, Royal Queen of Fall,
is a flower with history and purpose

Feature photo of close-up tulip is courtesy of Pixabay/Pexels CC0

Books

Hallelujah

Cookie Crunch

Activist Arts

The Good Life

Birds of America

A Thousand Sparks

The Last Bookstore

Malibu Road

Art Therapy

Spring Flowers

MUCH 2 SEE

THINGS 2 DO

PLACES 2 GO

PEOPLE 2 MEET

FOOD & DRINKS

JUST LAUGHS

Books

Footer

MUCH 2 SEE

THINGS 2 DO

PLACES 2 GO

PEOPLE 2 MEET

FOOD & DRINKS

JUST LAUGHS