The Berrie Winter Room

An Englewood Winter Room

Autumn.

I always think of the first autumn I experienced at the elegant Englewood home of Angelica Berrie. My dear friend Greg who lives with his sister Angie invited me to stay with them in 2007 and that stay sparked off creativity.

Stimuli of colors, earthly scent, variegated textures, rustling of passing wind, and even something impalpable such as a friend’s or a relative’s warm welcome inspired me to create. 

Last year, while briefly staying with my cousin Kate, I produced a quadriyptch of chalk and watercolor drawings plus a diptych of insect paper art. I gave her this collective, “Sayreville Sketches,” for good health and happiness.

3 Cicadas of Infinite Love, Properity, and Health for cousin Kate

Two years before that, after I arrived from my New York trip, I started to paint again and finished a small diptych called “Autumn @ Englewood” that I gifted my host when I returned to her home in the fall of 2009. Seed of inspiration found root at my favorite chair in Angie’s glass, winter room.

The room was as calming on my second trip just as i remembered it on my first; incredible natural light illuminated every corner and provided magnificent view of the transformations of surrounding foliage. Occasionally, squirrels would scurry about on some naked branch with their prized nuts. These were precious moments and this space was conducive to meditation thus,  I found myself effortlessly going into alpha state just sitting there alone.

Another space that I loved in Angie’s home was the kitchen where charming Anna, Greg, and I would sit and chat for breakfasts. Again, the natural light in this room blanketed it inhabitants with a shared sense of well-being. I noticed that there was a beautiful addition to this spot last year; a modern light installation of martini glasses clustered together which Greg Urra commissioned an artist to create. 

Amusing.

Martini Lamp