Temporal Light

It's the end of June and I'm sitting on my patio, sipping wine and throwing the ball for Charley, my Black Standard Poodle. As I look over the fence, I am facing south and not far away is the sea and Carolina Beach.

Sunsets across the ocean on the Gulf Coast are spectacular, but here, in Wilmington, NC, we see the sunsets across the expanse of the Cape Fear river, which is what you'd look across if you were facing west. I have noticed many times that the reflection of the sunset, especially in the long, golden days of summer, tints the sky on the coastal side and this is what I was seeing that evening.

"Red sky at night, sailor's delight.." as the saying goes. It promised to be a lovely day tomorrow. What I noticed also, was the remarkable speed at which the light was changing, shifting in color from rose to pink to violet, all within a span of minutes. And I noticed that the roof tops and the sidings of the houses were changing as well, and even the electric lines glistened yellow than blackened, like pencil marks again the darkening sky.

Here is a visual clock, I thought. A steady time lapse of illumination going to dark--all just as calibrated and relentless as a ticking clock.

I could feel time--my life progressing as I was swept along with the fade of light to dark. Indeed, we are all swept along with the tide of temporal existence.

It is a particularly significant analogy for me, being age 66 and soon to turn 67. I am reaching the time of my life where much more is behind me and less is before me. I am at the dusk stage of my life and the gentle, almost imperceptible migration from day to night seems a bittersweet reminder of what little time I have on this Earth. Days tick by, one by one, fading into night and blooming into morning and many times we journey through them, unaware of the steady progression and hypnotized by their repetition.

And suddenly it was dark and I could barely see Charley with his ball, begging me for one more toss.

I've always been fond of the translated poems of the great Persian poet, Omar Khayyam. Even as a kid, with infinity before me, I was stung by the beauty of his understanding of temporal existence and how fleeting life is.

"Come, and in the Fire of Spring,
The Winter Garment of Repentance Fling,
The Bird of Time has but a little way to fly,
And, lo, the Bird is on the wing."

Louis Comfort Tiffany's Stained Glass Legacy

Working in the Lighting/Electrical Department at the Home Depot this past Christmas reminded me again of how the season sparks a renewed interest in stained glass items. Perhaps it is the jewel-like colors that often mimic the warmth and inspiration of church windows. There is no other time of year that rivals the amount of stained glass Tiffany-style items purchased.
After a spirited conversation with a customer about the beauty of stained glass, I set about gathering up my old art school notes and garnering information on the Internet regarding Louis Comfort Tiffany, the founder of the Tiffany style stained glass. Today, the term "Tiffany" is generic, referring to the craft and technique of making items from small pieces of colored glass. In the past, the pieces of glass were connected with a network of lead. Today, foils and less toxic solders are used to bond the myriad fragments together.
Lamps, chandeliers, night lights, sconces and pendants in stained glass are manufactured in many parts of the world and illuminate many households with their magic glowing colors.

Louis Comfort Tiffany was the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany and Company. He was born in February 18, 1848, heir to an already successful enterprising family.

Tiffany studied painting in Paris and painted oils and watercolors in Europe and Morocco. His family wealth and connections ultimately would help make his own artistic business do very well. Louis Tiffany became interested in glassmaking in 1875 and then worked at several glasshouses in Brooklyn until 1878. In 1879, he partnered with Candace Wheeler, Samuel Coleman and Lockwood de Forest to form a company known as Louis Comfort Tiffany and Associated American Artists. Establishing Tiffany Studios, the firm specialized in favrile lamps and vases of iridescent glass made in natural forms in the art nouveau style. He trademarked Favrile (a French word meaning handmade) on November 13, 1894. The lamps became very popular and were widely imitated. To this day, Louis Comfort Tiffany is best known for his work promulgating the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic art movements. Ironically, he did not trademark his own name and to this day, the term “Tiffany” describes the stained glass technique and style used in the manufacture of objects, including light fixtures, vases, bowls, windows and architectural details.

Although he embarked on starting his own business, Tiffany always kept close ties with the family firm and he became Artistic Director of Tiffany & Co. after his father's death in 1902. The Tiffany Studios remained in business until 1932.

Tiffany loved the textures, color and mineral impurities of commercial jelly jars and bottles. Fine glassmakers would not leave the impurities in, so he began making his own glass that had those textures and impurities. In 1893 Tiffany built a new factory, which became known as the Tiffany Glass Furnaces, located in Corona, Queens, New York. In 1893, the Tiffany Company introduced the term, favrile in conjunction with his first production of blown glass at his new glass factory. Tiffany lamps were exhibited in the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago


Tiffany's first commercially produced lamps date from around 1895. Much of his company's production was in making stained glass windows and Tiffany lamps, but his company designed a complete range of interior decorations including pottery and enamel pieces, as well. At its peak, his factory employed over three hundred artisans.

Tiffany used opalescent glass in a variety of colors and textures to create a unique style of stained glass. He used all of his skills in the design of his own house, an 84-room estate called Laurelton Hall, in Oyster Bay, Long Island. It was completed in 1905. Later this estate was donated to his foundation for art students along with 60 acres of land. The entire estate was sold in 1949, and, unfortunately, was completely destroyed by a fire in 1957.

The Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida was founded by Hugh McKean, a former art student at Laurelton Hall. The Museum houses the world's most comprehensive collection of the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany, including Tiffany jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded-glass windows, lamps, and the chapel interior he designed for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. After the close of the exposition, a generous benefactor purchased the entire chapel for installation in the crypt of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York in New York City. As construction on the cathedral continued, the chapel fell into disuse, and in 1916 Tiffany removed it and re-installed it at Laurelton Hall. After the 1957 fire, the chapel was rescued by Hugh McKean and it now occupies an entire wing of the Morse Museum. Many glass panels from Laurelton Hall are on exhibit as well.

A major exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art on Laurelton Hall opened in November 2006. A new exhibit at the New-York Historical Society in May, 2007, features new information about the women who worked for Tiffany and their contribution to designs credited to Tiffany. Louis Comfort Tiffany died on January 17, 1933. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.


Interested in the creative process? Want to take an information-rich, easy, fun and rewarding art class that is free?

Light In the Dark Season

The winter solstice approaches. The sun is farthest away from our North American latitudes and the days are the shortest. I am among those people who are affected by the short, dark days of winter, even though I live in North Carolina and do not suffer the slings and arrows of ice and snow. Nevertheless, I survive by several endeavors. As a lighting consultant, I always recommend more light, turn on more lamps, get the full spectrum bulbs and install them in all of your fixtures and lamps. But, for me, and maybe for you, this season has more light to give than just lamplight. This is another light that I became aware of at an early age and that employ each winter year to keep me positive and unencumbered by darkness of the season. Here they are:

Baking cookies--This I have been doing for several decades. I use traditional Swedish recipes and produce dozens of ginger and butter cookies, plus an oatmeal, crunchy kind and a killer butter ball cookie that is covered with powdered sugar. I send the cookies to friends and share them with guests to my house or I take them to parties, to share there.

Making a Christmas card. Every year I draw, paint, or take photos for a Christmas card to update my friends. Most of whom I email anyway, but it is important for me to link with them on a more personal, physical and traditional basis.

Making a little smorgasboord--I have a small party, inviting four to ten friends for an evening of Swedish treats like creamed herring and Swedish meatballs. Typically, friends will bring wine, cheeses or appetitizers to augment the meal. It is always a wonderful time!


This holiday season is all about giving--not just prettily wrapped gifts, but part of one's own heart--extending love and wishes of peace and joy to all--those that we love, those that are friends, those that we meet as strangers in our lives. It is always wonderful to see a loved one open a present and glow with great pleasure at what they have received from you. But this is a brief and rather cosmetic happiness..There are other things that can deepen the warm glow of this season beyond mere gift giving. Here are some things that I have done, that have made the holiday so much more rich and meaningful...

Apologize to someone who you've had a conflict with. Make amends.

Meet and greet people, on the street, in the office, wherever-- and wish them well. Yes, just anyone.

Take a bit of time to contribute yourself to a homeless shelter, a church function, a charity of your choice--wherever you will see the need.

Give to charities of your choice. I wish I had a lot more to give the charities of my choice. Perhaps you feel the same way, too. Well, this year, I wrote very small checks to my charities--but, you know, I still felt like, even though I couldn't give much, I gave something. That was meaningful to me and, I'm sure my little contributions helped their causes along!

Lastly, have a good time with your family. You are all bonded in a special way--sharing the same aggravations and joys of daily living together. I am sixty-six years old. When I remember those Christmases at relatives houses--all warm with food and conversation, the windows steaming-- when outside, in Minneapolis, it was 2 degrees above zero--even as a kid, I felt that we were so bonded...that the house was almost an entity on to itself and that we could be flying around in space in our own little world. That is the power of coming together, this is the power of true light in this dark season!


Need more inspiration? View my online art classes--sources of great inspiration

Yes, the Poodle boy is in Intermediate Agility. He is so very good on his feet, but he has "the zooms." He gets so excited he just runs and runs around the Agility Area. The rest of the dogs and their owners have to wait and this has just taken too much time.

Our Agility Instructor was kind enough to ask me if we would consider private classes in trade for the regular class. So we have been meeting at other times and addressing the "the zooms."

Basically, when a dog speeds around, uncatchable, it is a glorious game. All the calling and whistles and treats are not going to woo this dog back--he's having too much fun!

The Agility Instructor has shown us another way. First, we encourage "the zooms" by the command "go play." Charley races around and we are not very interested. We wait--then ask if he will do a agility command--like jump, or frame it or teeter. If he is not ready, we remove ourselves--sometimes going out of sight.

All of a sudden, things are not so much fun for Charley. He is out in the yard all by himself and the game is over. When we get back in, we do it all over again. We give the "go play" command, then ask him to do a hurdle or a teeter board.

He now realizes that if he does one of those, he will be rewarded. Racing around for "go play" will not reward him, but the agility commands will.

Presto! In the second class, after tearing around the yard, Charley was ready to work! He was ready for the treats! He still had to vent with another "go play" but then he knew that we would go away and come back after he was done racing around the yard.

Thanks to our very knowledgeable Agility Instructor, Charley is on his way to the beauties of Agility! Will he every compete? Probably not, but he will learn how to jump, scale an A-Frame, do a teeter board, run through tunnels and jump a series of hurdles.

Right on, Charley!

Here's Charley's blog

Got LEDS?

Perhaps your old Christmas lights are going. Some lights are out, you're thinking of buying new strings. Consider LEDS? LED (light emitting diodes) lights are a good way to go--they will last much longer and will save you money because of their lower wattage.

And, this season, I see that they are coming in a lot of really nice colors--blues and greens, and bright whites! Looking at the product, I can see that the strings are a bit easier to control, compared to the traditional incandescent snarly ones.

Maybe it is time to light up your Christmas season in a new way that will be beautiful, less costly and last for years to come!

Showcase Your Home With Low Voltage Landscape Lighting

Your home can be as lovely at night as it is during the day!

Here are seven ways to illuminate your home at night, options that go beyond just the lantern by your front door and can be done easily and without spending great amounts of money.

Before you purchase low voltage lighting, these guidelines will help you select the right lighting and avoid common mistakes:

1. Be selective - Decide what you are going to illuminate. If everything is lit up at night, nothing will stand out and the dramatic effects of lighting will be lost.

2. Avoid glare - Shield bright light so that it is not visible. Place and aim lighting so that the beams are not shining out at you, but lighting objects instead.

3. Don't overlight - Plan your lighting scenarios so that the illumination you want is achieved with a minimum of lighting.

4. Plan ahead - Keep in mind that trees and shrubbery grow and make it easy to relocate your lighting in the future.

5. Consider controls - Dimmers, timers and photocells will give you many options for emphasizing certain areas with lighting at night, such as a garden or a pool area, while decreasing illumination in other areas. A timer, set to illuminate your landscape at certain times at night, will provide a welcoming illumination when you return home after dining out or the going to the cinema.

LOW VOLTAGE LANDSCAPE LIGHTING:

All you need is a transformer, wiring and the heads (lights that mount with a stake in the ground). The transformer is outside and plugged into your exterior outlet. It converts your 120 voltage to 12 volts. This makes low voltage landscape lighting shock-free and a good choice if you have children, dogs or both. Low voltage wire can be buried under a few inches of mulch, gravel or grass or hidden behind shrubbery.

Low voltage landscape light comes most conveniently in kits which contain everything you will need: the transformer, the lights, the wiring and wiring contacts.
Low voltage lights come in a variety of styles, including:

Spotlights that can be positioned to shine on your house, trees, fences, shrubbery or light a pathway.

Lanterns that hang on hooked stakes that can be put in the ground. These are good for lighting pathways or as accent lights in gardens, around shrubbery or fences.

Bullet-type or tier-type lights that cast downlight and illuminate the ground beneath in a pool of light. These are ideal for lighting pathways, gardens, and fountains.

You can see that what you want to illuminate at night will determine what type of low voltage lighting you choose. Perhaps, you will want a variety of lights: some for illuminating trees, some for washing your house with light and some for lighting a walkway to the entrance of your house.

Whatever you choose, make sure that the combined wattage of all of the lights is under the wattage of the transformer. Also, keep in mind, that the further the lights will be from the transformer, the more likely they are to dim and weaken.

Now that you know the styles of low voltage lighting available, let's list all the lighting scenarios which can enhance your house at night.


1. Pathlighting - Positioning a series of downlights along one side or both sides of a pathway.

2. Moonlighting - Positioning spotlight-type narrow beam lights to illuminate a tree, fence or shrubbery.

3. Steplighting - Positioning small eyeball or lidded-type lights on the railing or wall adjoining a stairway. This kind of lighting is especially effective for decks and elevated porches.

4. Grazing - Positioning spotlight-type wide beam lights to point up and illuminate the textures of siding (brick, cedar shakes, etc.)or to emphasize the texture of a fence or wall.

5. Silhouetting - Positioning a spotlight-type wide beam light behind a tall tree or shrubbery for backlighting. The tree or shrubbery will be in shadow and produce dramatic shadowy shapes against an illuminated background.

6. Shadowing - Positioning a spotlight-type wide beam light or series of lights to shine on an object, such as a tree, producing a dramatically enlarged shadow on the background, which should be a relatively flat surface, like a wall, side of the house or fence.

7. Crosslighting - Positioning two spotlight-type lights on either side of an object, such as a tree or shrubbery. This softens the illumination of the object and produces a natural-appearing illumination with few shadows.

Landscape lighting works wonders all year around. In the summer, you will be able to enjoy your illuminated deck, pool area or yard long after sunset. In the winter, your landscape lighting will bring a cheerful glow to those long winter nights.

Ten Lighting Tips That Will Help Sell Your House

As a Lighting Specialist, people frequently ask me how they improve the saleability of their house with good lighting. They often add that they have a budget, don't want to spend alot, because that extra cost in purchasing expensive lighting fixtures or changing electrical service would have to be added to the cost of their house.

With that in mind, I have created guidelines for enhancing the appearance of a home inexpensively:



1) Often people are not aware that their lighting preferences may be offensive to a perspective buyer. A kitchen let solely by a large troffer-type fluorescent fixture may diminish the size of the space, making the kitchen appear smaller than its actual square footage. If it is dirty, it should be cleaned. If the diffusing plastic is discolored or cracked, it should be replaced. Painting the frame of fixture the same color as the ceiling will give it a lower profile and visually reduce its size.

2) If the stove light diffuser is greasy, dirty and discolored, clean it or replace it. Replace the bulb with the highest wattage recommended for that fixture.

3) Installing an under cabinet light improves the lighting for task areas such as counter tops. Under cabinet lights come in units of two and three halogen or xenon lights. There are also inexpensive low profile fluorescents made for under cabinet lighting.

4) Ask people to look critically at their window treatments. Those dark red, fully lined curtains that match the flowers in the dining room wall paper may shroud the room in darkness and shadows, even when they are open. Purchasing cheap, light-colored curtains will brighten a room considerably and make the room appear larger. And yes, clean the windows and discard discolored, torn window shades.

5) Replace any switchplates or outlets that are cracked or discolored. If they are dirty, remove them and clean them by hand or in the dishwasher.

6) If, in any room, the over head central ceiling fixture is discolored or cracked, replace it. Good looking ceiling flush mount and semi-flush mount fixtures need not be expensive and will definitely improve the appearance of the bedroom, hallway, foyer or livingroom. If the fixture is in good condition, but is full of bugs or cobwebs, cleaning the glass shade and making sure the highest recommended wattage bulbs are in place.

7) I have heard realtors complain about bringing prospective buyers to a house at night and, because the front exterior lights didn't functiion, the buyers entered with a negative impression. It is a sign of neglect if the exterior fixtures don't work, are corroded, have broken parts or glass, or need replacement bulbs. Don't overlook the importance of any exterior fixtures. Make sure all of them work and have the highest recommended wattage bulbs in them. If they need to be replaced, inexpensive exterior fixtures, available at home improvement stores, will make a good first impression.

8) All the best lighting will not be effective if the walls are paneled with dark wood or painted a dark color. Covering those dark walls with a light, neutral color like off white or light beige, will increase the effectiveness of lighting and make the room appear larger.

9) Some inexpensive decorative tips that will help sell your house are: Replace all discolored, darkened or dirty lampshades. Most large chain and home improvement stores have inexpensive lampshades. Take your old lampshades with you when you shop, so that you can get the right size.

10) Little solar lights along the walk way to your front door add a welcoming touch. Packs of six or eight in amber or white lights are inexpensive and easy to install.

With not much expenditure and a little "elbow grease," your home will shine!