Joyous Opening

Wow! That was so much fun on Saturday. It was great to see the artists and their families, friends, and friends of friends all gathered to celebrate, appreciate and enjoy. I do love a party.

David Beardon hung the show beautifully and in such a way that nothing felt crowded in spite of the numerous works of art. That takes skill! His radiant wife Angela was there, as well as his young, son Ben. Ben was hanging around the gallery on the day of the judging and I think quite liked kibbutzing with us about the works of art, so he really wanted to come to the opening, perhaps because he felt partially responsible? Hmm. Our future is before us.

My dear friend Cecilia drove down from Berkeley to help, too. Of course she is absolutely amazing. We have close to 30 years of friendship, partying, and party organizing under our belts. So it's just plain fun, fun, fun. She told me which shoes to wear, and borrowed some earrings. She arranged the food, while I arranged the flowers. The flowers, by the way, I'd collected from my burgeoning garden. Those delicate Queen Anne's Lace flowers, were actually parsley gone to seed. Yes, I am seriously over committed right now and some things just have to be allowed to do their thing... The grape vine is all over the apple tree...

David Batteau played his guitar at the front of the gallery. What a joy it was to hear him singing his unique songs. Did you know that over 200 artists have covered his songs? From Bonnie Raight to Chaka Kan. Yah, he's a treasure. We were so lucky to have him come up from LA.

Several works of art sold that day, and we also received some straight donations for our charities. This is always a wonderful surprise. Both Santa Barbara Domestic Violence Solutions and Tibetan Childrens Village need funding to fulfill their services. That said, if you are not interested in buying art (20% goes to our charities), or a t-shirt ($1 a shirt goes to our charities), please open your purse, or dig down into your pocket and give a little or a lot to these causes, 100% of which will be donated. Please go to the gallery to do this.

As always, 'it takes a village' to make Buddha Abides happen year after year. So thanks to Thomas and Brian for their computer savvy. Thanks to Christina Altfeld for her gorgeous art work that was used for the poster. Thanks to all my yoga students that put up posters. Thanks to all my friends and family that boost me up.

As Lauren Hoey and Wayne Darling said when they arrived on Saturday,

Happy Buddha Abides!

Lark