My newest graphic design project is a set of greeting cards for the Desert Star.  The hotel was designed by local Palm Springs architect Howard Lapham in 1954.

My intent was to give card’s recipient the sense of arrival that he or she would have upon entering the property, that feeling of anticipation of a long-awaited vacation.

The front of the card showcases the exterior street view of the Desert Star.

Then when opened, the hotel’s inviting courtyard is revealed.

Spring is bursting out all over, from the blushing lavender-tinged lantana, 

to the sugary pinks of a budding oleander shrub,

to the full blown crimson of a blousy rose

This season, pink appears to be the color of choice, all the best plants are sporting it.

When I travel, one of my favorite activities is to escape from the well-trodden tourist paths and seek out the side streets and narrow lanes less taken to experience the essence a city.

The following pics were taken on one such diversion in Prague on a beautiful spring day while searching for a laundromat.

A narrow lane zig-zagging up to the castle lined with blooming pots of geraniums.

A grandmother anxiously awaiting the arrival of her grandchildren.

A baroque church spire poking through the newly-leafed trees.

A stout Communist farm labouress confronted me when the back street I was exploring deposited me smack in the middle of Wenceslas Square.

Crossing through the Jewish Quarter I stumbled upon a thought-provoking statue of Franz Kafka by Jaroslav Rona.

Discovering a city in a very personal way, is the way I like to travel.

The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome provides today’s color palette inspiration.

From the warm hues of dusty, golden light that stream through high windows to the flickering flames of  prayer candles, a slumbering haze infuses this Papal basilica.

All color is caught in this suffused, amber glow.

It took just a couple of hours for Home Depot’s prefabricated LivingHome to be assembled on an empty lot in uptown Palm Springs.  It was specially delivered to the site for Palm Springs Modernism Week 2012.

Featuring 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, the home wraps around its welcoming entry courtyard/deck, creating an easy indoor/outdoor flow.

Decorated to the nines by Jamie Bush & Co., the LivingHome C6 packs a lot of living into its 1232 square feet.

The interior is a showcase of curated eclecticism.

Vintage furniture rubs shoulders with new custom-designed pieces.  From the sheepskin throw over the slat wood lounger to the stone-topped console holding the horizontal collection of design books, there is the feeling of a real home with contents accumulated over years rather than pulled together by a decorator.

The generously proportioned great room with kitchen and dining has walls of windows drenching the entire space in light. 

One of the 3 bedrooms was outfitted as a home office.

The other bedroom was a child’s room.  A very lucky child indeed!

A colorful vintage Moroccan rug makes playtime particularly worldly, while a miniature Eames elephant stands by patiently.

The master bedroom occupies one wing of the house.

With judicious use of both window and wall, the bedroom is airy and light, but with enough wall space for art, furniture and the obligatory flat screen television.

With its own en suite bathroom, this area can easily become the parent’s retreat.

LivingHomes is a leader in factory-built homes.   Below is the floor plan for the pre-fab presented in Palm Springs.

In addition to this fab pre-fab home, LivingHomes offer single and multi-family homes designed by Ray Kappe, the founder of Southern California Institute of Architecture – known simply as Sci-Arc.

The first home designed by Ray Kappe, was installed in only 8 hours!  It was the first home to ever receive a LEED Platinum certification.  You can see more of Mr. Kappe’s work here.

Have you ever been confronted with this?  A big blank (or in this case several small) canvases.  This is what we designers dream of – carte blanche,  Well isn’t it?

Unbounded freedom can be intimidating, why even a little bit foreboding.  So many different directions to explore.  But which one is the right one?

Well this is what I am experiencing right now.  I am participating in the Palm Springs Art Museum’s 99 Bucks Art Sale.

I need to create some art.  Since it’s to be anonymous, I can’t post the finished paintings until after the the event on Saturday, April 21, 2012.

I hope you all will join me at the Hotel Zoso for the art attack hosted by Bella da Ball.

So mark your calendar and support a great cause.

And purchase some great art too!

As I was reversing out of the garage, a brilliant flash of color crossed my rear view mirror. The color was so startling, I simply had to investigate.

Upon closer inspection I found this.

Our neighbor’s cactus was in lusciously provocative full bloom.  There is no other way to describe it.

Angelyne would blush if she found herself dressed in such a hue.  But there it was strutting its technicolor exuberance on a quiet street in Palm Springs.

Who thought the desert was just all dust and beige.  Look a little more closely, but be sure to have your sunglasses handy.

What better way to spend a fine early spring day, than strolling about beautifully manicured gardens.

Today let’s explore the pleasure palace of Schonbrunn.  The summer residence of Empress Maria-Theresa, the mum of another famous queen, Marie Antoinette.

Located just outside Vienna, Schonbrunn began life as a lodge on the royal hunting grounds.  Later it became the must-have getaway for the Family Habsburg to escape the intrigues of court life in Vienna.

As we wander through the hedges and admire the noble statuary, one can almost hear the squeals of a young Antonia – as she was known before her name was Frenchified after her marriage to Louis XVI – frolicking in the gardens with her royal siblings.

Situated in the south end of Palm Springs lies the neighborhood of Twin Palms.  The development received it name, for the pair of palms that were planted in the front yard of each home.  It was the first of many neighborhoods developed by Los Angeles builders George and Robert Alexander starting in 1957. The neighborhood features mostly mid-century homes with soaring butterfly roofs designed by Palmer & Krisel.

One such home is the Menrad Residence.  Here let’s take a tour.

Through the slatted door lies a small courtyard lined with cactus and succulents.

Upon entering the house a small foyer opens to views of the swimming on the left and bedroom wing to the to the right.

The guest bedrooms are charmingly mod with a highly personal and curated collection of furniture and art.

The master bedroom features its own patio with access to the backyard and pool.

The dining area and living room share a generous space with dramatically sloping ceilings. A wall of roman-stacked brick showcases a vintage George Nelson electric clock.

A mid-century modern sofa is made even more mod with a collection vintage and retro pillows featuring patterns from the Swiss designer Verner Panton.  An Eames surfboard coffee table holds a collection of architectural and design books.

Arne Jacobsen’s egg chair and swan chair have pride of place flanking the fireplace while a Warren Platner side table provides an extra surface for a cocktail.

Eero Saarinen’s marble tulip table and chairs provides deluxe dining in this thoroughly modern home. 

The kitchen is new, but pays homage to its mid century roots with perforated acrylic panels reminiscent of fiberglass panels of the 1950′s and Harry Bertoia’s wire counter stool.  A collection of vintage cigarette lighters harken to another time.

The Menrad House is a playful example of carefully restored home that is up-to-date in every way.  And at 90 it appears that the architect, William Krisel wholeheartedly agrees!

Today I thought we would stroll about Roussillon.  This misty hilltop Provençal village sits atop an ochre ridge in the Vaucluse Department of the Luberon.   Beginning in the late 18th century until 1930, the village’s rich deposits of ochre pigment were quarried from its clay hills for the textile industry.

Ranging from yellow to orange to deep red, the village itself is a calling card for the wide variety of hues of ochre found in its nearby quarries.