The Boomer Muse

Art, Stars and All That Glitters

Layla Morgan Wilde — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:05:00 GMT

If this is is your first visit here, I invite you to scroll back through the past art week for a journey of synchronicity (meaningful coincidence). There were a number of meaningful coincidences during my recent visit to The Met. The more we become aware of them, the more they seem to happen.

I happened to wear one of my favorite bracelets that day. It's a reproduction from The Met's collection but I'd never seen the original despite dozens of visits. Whenever I visit a large museum I have a rough plan of what I want to see and then usually implementing Plan B. Plan B is following my nose.

On this visit, I zigged instead of zagged and found myself in an empty, dimly lit room filled with glittering gold objects. Not all the glitters is gold but these beauties were. Solid gold. From across the room, I recognized it. My bracelet. The real deal. While my bracelet looked the same, it didn't have the same energy as the original. The same way that a print of a painting never captures the essence or magic of the original.

The same could be said of talented famous people in any number of arts. The last thing I expected that day was to meet one of those famous originals in person.

I love people watching and especially people watching art. Sitting or standing, still or in motion they remind me of sculptures. I wanted to create an image, where the art, and the people blurred into a new art form. Little did I know someone was watching me. There I was leaning over the glass partition, framing my shot with a smile on my face. The soft afternoon light streamed in over my shoulder. Nothing could have made me happier in that moment. I felt eyes on me and swiveled my head to the left. Many famous people exude an energy as soon as they walk into a room. I felt it before I saw him. Our eyes locked. The flicker of recognition. Tony Bennett, the iconic singer but also a talented painter. He knew I knew and kept moving. I could have stopped him and asked for an autograph but why spoil the moment. We were two artists who appreciated each other for a quintessential New York moment. It was enough.

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012

A The End of the Day, Pink Skies

Layla Morgan Wilde — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:05:00 GMT

We're at the end of art week but I'm saving my favorite shots for tomorrow. May you have pink skies at the end of your day and an extraordinary weekend!

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012

The Doors of Perception

Layla Morgan Wilde — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:05:00 GMT

Art week continues from The Met in NYC...

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012

X Marks the Spot

Layla Morgan Wilde — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:05:00 GMT

Quote de jour

“A portrait is a picture in which there is just a tiny little something not quite right about the mouth.”
~John Singer Sargent

Art week continues...

Sargent's famous crowd pleaser at The Met is his life-sized portrait of Madame X (real name: Madame Pierre Gautreau). She feels utterly contemporary. The dress could have been designed yesterday, but painting created a scandal when exhibited in the 1884 Salon in Paris. Sargent kept the painting in his Paris studio, and later in his London studio. Eventually the painting was exhibited and sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art in 1916.

A guard preventing me from using a flash and to prevent a scandal of my own, I made this montage in her honor instead.

To turn the tables, lets look at women looking at art. The new exhibit of African art impressed with size and scope. These are ancestor totems.

So much art, so little time. Same old story, I wanted to sit awhile. Hard benches beckoned but what I really wanted...

was to climb onto this ancient Roman bed and dream of who slept in this "Princess and the Pea" bed...to be transported to another time and place. Art has a way for playing with our imagination. This story continues tomorrow, but I leave you with three questions today: how will you play? What spot is so important, you'll want to mark it with an "X"? What might spark your imagination? Come on, it's the beginning of a new month. Have fun!

The Art Of Naked Beauty

Layla Morgan Wilde — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:05:00 GMT

Quote de jour
"Man's naked form... belongs to no particular moment in history; it is eternal, and can be looked upon with joy by the people of all ages."
~ Auguste Rodin
Our week of exploring the art of seeing continues with the art of documenting people observing art.

This image of a young family on a museum outing reminded me of my first visit to The Met with my family from Montreal. I was about six-years-old and having never seen nude sculptures before, stood transfixed in a blend of shock, horror and wonder. I have no doubt my love of art sprung from that seminal moment.

Perseus With The Head Of Medusa 1806-08 Antonio Canova (1757-1822 Italian) Marble Sculpture, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

A Greek Eros or cupid sleeping on the job?

Who knows; this sphinx isn't telling...

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012

The Art of Seeing

Layla Morgan Wilde — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

The next best thing to seeing art is watching people seeing art, which if documented will it become art? We'll be exploring those themes this week with a good dollop of humor. I hope the first sentence didn't turn your brain into scrambled eggs.

Photos this week are from the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art in New York, or affectionately known as the Met. The New American wing is a jaw-droppingly stunning. After a few hours, I felt as faint as the nude in the painting below from a beauty overdose and had to lie down.

Have a beautiful photo quote de jour week!

But, where? There were benches but too many people and guards milling about. This bed looked inviting...

but I didn't want to end up napping in a jail cell. Surely the guards wouldn't notice a quick
snooze in this dimly lit reproduction of an 19th C. bedroom? Perhaps not. Feeling more and more like a fatigued Goldilocks, I kept looking...

and the moral of the story is: if you don't give up, you win. Off a tiny room overlooking Central Park, I found a deserted alcove with a bench. Lying down never felt better and the view wasn't bad either.

A Summer in Europe

Layla Morgan Wilde — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

I was born with a reading list I'll never finish. How about you? After a hiatus of no library books for weeks, I paid a visit and it felt like coming home.

After weeks of reading no magazines for except the New York, I was in magazine heaven. Note the the trend for golden cover hues and double your pleasure with two Clooney covers.

Normally I order books online, but yesterday, I scanned the new book shelves for something light and escapist. A sunset scene depicted on a cover caught my eye. The deceptively simple title: A Summer in Europe by Marilyn Brant promised escape. A summer in Europe? Think of the possibilities. The tagline enticed: It's not where you go. It's what you take back with you.
For the main character, 30-year-old Gwendolyn Reese, it's a chance to rediscover herself on an all-expenses-paid grand tour of Europe after her mom dies. The hitch is the trip is paid for her 67-year-old Aunt Bea and her merry band of senior Mah Jong cronies. What does Gwen have to lose after her noncommittal boyfriend disappoints again. The adventure begins promptly with chapter two. Before long the reader is swept into the vicarious joys of travel, good food and unexpected adventures. Granted, I'm not finished, but this is one journey I'll savor to the end.

For cat lovers, I have a special review at Cat Wisdom 101

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012

Window Shopping in NYC

Layla Morgan Wilde — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

The art of window shopping part 2.

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012

The Art of Window Shopping

Layla Morgan Wilde — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:05:00 GMT

If you're a regular reader, you know of my passion for photographing windows, doors and reflective surfaces. Window shopping in New York is the holy trinity for me.
The quintessential New Yorker carries a bag in one hand and a cell phone in the other plowing their way through crowds but stopping for a moment if something catches their eye.

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012

This Is January in New York?

Layla Morgan Wilde — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:05:00 GMT

A balmy Tuesday in New York was warm enough for sunbathing and al fresco dining. No one, especially the tourists minded the abnormal weather for the end of January. New Yorkers take everything in stride. From Soho...

to midtown...

to uptown...

a day made for people watching and... to be continued.

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012

Blink And It's Gone

Layla Morgan Wilde — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Photo quote de jour "Wordless Wednesday".

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012

New York Sky

Layla Morgan Wilde — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Improvised New Life

Layla Morgan Wilde — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Happy Chinese New Year! It's always celebrated on the lunar new moon. As a practitioner of the ancient art of feng shui, I respect and follow many of the traditions. Whether you celebrate or not, the new moon is a time of new beginnings in every culture.

To celebrate new beginnings, I'm delighted to share our first guest post by a young Chinese artist and poet Yun Yi. She's an avid blogger and her poetic meditations on the art of one of my favorite artists Paul Klee. is inspiring.

Yun Yi

I am an artist by profession, a thinker by nature, a poet by heart.

Originally come from China, living in U.S. for over 16 years, I started writing English poems several years ago. Contrary to my realistic art style, I developed a “hobby” to break the realism in my poems, a strong desire to transform my creativity from “visible reality” into “invisible abstraction”. However I still feel like doing art in my poetry - I make “paintings” by words, trying to capture an imaginary “landscape” which consists of both my “intuition” and “reflection”. This is how I found paintings of Paul Klee inspiring - his geometrical forms and playful compositions instantly disconnected me from the material world, “elevated” me into a place that is completely free from the boundary of reality.

Abstract - reading Paul Klee #19

Improvised New Life

In a brief moment of

absent-mindedness

a new life was improvised

as some tree-shaped figures

soon transformed

into musical notes

joyfully

departed from

their unseeded

womb

Google + For Dummies +

Layla Morgan Wilde — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:28:00 GMT

Just when you think you've got a handle on social media, another twist rears their Cerberus heads. I'm on Facebook and questioned whether I needed Google +. Maybe you've thought the same? A publicist from Wiley sent me Google + for Dummies by Jesse Stay, so being a good sport, signed up and felt confident having a book to guide me step by step.

Being a visual learner, I liked having screenshots and illustrations galore. Having many choices and more filters for privacy than Facebook is an attractive feature Google +. Let's face it, Google is the largest and best search engine, it makes sense to at least have some presence on Google + if you are in business or a blogger. With Google+ there are friendly sounding places like circles and hangouts. I added Jesse to my circle or as they say, circled him. Then, my brain shorted. TMI. I had to take a break. The book is as clear as humanly possible and I'll be referring to it as needed.

Being intuitive, I went back without any instruction and with a few clicks on the clean interface, I found myself in the Dalai Lama circle and found this quote from him: There is a saying in Tibetan that “at the door of the miserable rich man sleeps the contented beggar.” The point of this saying is not that poverty is a virtue, but that happiness does not come from wealth, but from setting limits to one’s desires, and living within those limits with satisfaction.

Thank-you His Holiness and thank-you Jesse, I'll be seeing both of you again soon. And yes, I will be setting limits to my desires. If you join Google + please be aware when anyone Googles you, your Google+ profile will pop up first.

Google + for Dummies by Jesse Stay (@Jesse on Twitter)

I'm eager to read a riveting new novel. Any suggestions?

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012

The Box Of Earth and Sky

Layla Morgan Wilde — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Random photo quote de jour week continues except the photo that popped up didn't have a quote. This image reminded me of what the guru Baba Hari Dass said in a Q & A from his The Yellow Book. The tattered remains of a copy from 1974 has given me much solace over the years. The spine is broken and individual pages pop out like loose playing cards along with their wisdom. Babaji was my guru until I met Amma but he is one of a few remaining true gurus alive on the planet today.

Q: Did you start your life like us with lots of demands, and what spurred you to give it up?

A: When I was six or seven, I would feel I was inside a box of earth and sky, and I would weep.Once I asked my mother: "Take me out of this box of earth and sky."
She said, "I can't."
Then I said, "I'm going."

Baba Hari Dass (Punjabi: ਬਾਬਾ ਹਰੀਦਾਸ) was born in 1923 near Almora, India. He is a silent monk and guru who was classically trained in the tradition of Ashtanga Yoga since the age of eight. He has maintained a continual vow of silence since 1952. He and his teachings have inspired the Mount Madonna Center and Mount Madonna Institute near Santa Cruz, California, The Salt Spring Centre in British Columbia and the Sri Ram Ashram in Haridwar, India. Baba Hari Dass was initiated into the Vairagi Vaishnava order in 1942 by Baba Raghubar Dassji Maharaj, a renunciate and Sanskrit scholar.

Baba Hari Dass first came to the attention of the West in the book by Baba Ram Dass, Be Here Now. Ram Dass' Guru, Maharaj-ji, AKA Neem Karoli Baba, instructed Ram Dass to receive teachings from Baba Hari Dass, who taught Ram Dass Ashtanga Yoga using only a chalkboard.n the wisdom of yoga. ntained a continual vow of silence since 1952. Residing in California since 1971, Babaji's life is dedicated to passing on the wisdom of yoga.

The Dance of Success

Layla Morgan Wilde — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:05:00 GMT

Random photo quote jour week continues...

There is more than meets the eye in this image about the dance of success.

What's Wrong With Money?

Layla Morgan Wilde — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:05:00 GMT

Update: customer support assures me everything is working normally with subscriber emails and suggesting anyone missing notifications to check their spam folder. If you are still experiencing no Boomer Muse emails, please email me layla@laylamorganwilde.com.

Random repurposed posts continue... with this one: as valid as ever. What's wrong with money?

Spring Preview

Layla Morgan Wilde — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:05:00 GMT

Dearest subscriber,

Please accept my apologies for the technical glitch via my blog host/server Godaddy. Only some subscribers are receiving The Boomer Muse by email. The rest, maybe yours? are lost in the ethers of cyberdom. Nothing remains lost forever and order will be restored soon or someone will be moving their business elsewhere. Any suggestions?

Now back to our normally scheduled Peace, Love & Insights. Our week of repurposed by random photo quote de jours continues with a spring preview and this cheery song/video

This it feels like eons ago, but we'll have a repeat performance for real in about 12 weeks. Ah, bless the magic of nature and tech gurus.

Repurposed: Life, Art & ?

Layla Morgan Wilde — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Quote de jour

"In every artist's development the germ of the later work is always found in the earlier..."

~Edward Hopper

My favorite word these days is: repurposed; making new things out of old things, using things differently or for different purposes. This week, we'll be repurposing some photo quote jours from our archives randomly, like picking a card from a fortune teller. We went way back for this really old one...

Here are some other ways to repurpose:

Emptying instead of accumulating.
When shopping, ask if you want it or need it.
Listen instead of blabbering.
Breathe instead of freaking out.
Say, "I'll find time" instead of, "I have no time."
Say, no if it feels wrong.
Say, yes if your soul requires it.

What might you repurpose this week?

Life Would be Perfect if I Lived In That House Etc.

Layla Morgan Wilde — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Reading is like riding a bicycle isn't it? I mean after not doing it for a long time... posting regular book reviews that is. I haven't set foot in the library in weeks and my reading pile is more mole than mountain.

My guilty pleasure is HGTV especially House Hunters and I'm no stranger to open houses locally or while on vacation. Meghan Daum, in her saucy (perfectly titled) memoir: Life Would be Perfect if I Lived In That House. I immediately related to the quest for perfect real estate, the difference between houses and homes, the endless moves except I didn't up and move from a coveted New York apartment to a farm in Nebraska and on to L.A. on a whim but Ms. Daum did. All in a quest to make sense of her life and find wholeness. I won't tell you if she found it, but you can find out more at her website Meghan Daum one of the more interesting writer websites.

The publicist for Wiley Book sent me a few new how-to books for baby boomers. I'm a baby boomer and I was curious to see how my techno-dodo brain comprehended material like The Facebook Guide For People Over 50 by veteran tech writer Paul McFedries or iPad For The Older and Wiser by Sean McManus. Considering I spend an obscene amount of time on Facebook, there is much I don't know.

For a person new to Facebook, this book lays it out like picnic lunch, all neat and organized. He writes clearly and a fearful 50-someone wading into Facebook waters for the first time will do swimmingly. But I had a question for Paul and he invited me to friend him (that's what he said in the book) so I did. I posted my question on his book page (with a whopping 20 fans/friends) and the question disappeared. Only posts by him appeared. Oops, I must still need some education re: FB. Maybe you'll have better luck with Paul The Facebook Guide For People Over 50. Let me know if you do. I fared better with iPad For the Older and Wiser.

While tech savvy in some areas, I'm not an early adopter of technology. I have resisted e-readers, tablets or iPads (aren't tablets something to ingest, like Xanax?) until now. After skimming through the heavily illustrated iPad For The Older and Wiser I changed my mind. Thoughts like I can do this, this is interesting, oh oh, this is getting complicated, okay I'm sold but not today. One of these days, I will get a tablet and it will be an iPad and I will be happy to have this book. If you're ready now, be wise and buy a copy at Amazon

Copyright Layla Morgan Wilde 2012