The Lardner Report

Unleash your creative superpowers!

Allowing The Moment To Emerge

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(Pic #1) Unexpected visitor, Descanso Gardens, La Cañada Flintridge, CA. (Photo by Josh Kaplan.)

On an impromptu trip to Descanso Gardens (https://www.descansogardens.org) Josh wandered around as usual, taking photos of anything that he finds visually interesting: a child mesmerized by the splashing fountain, an artist capturing the stunning grounds with her sketch book, a quirky multicolored sculpture reflected in a fresh pond.   

(Pic #2) Unexpected visitor, in cammo mode.

There are gorgeous plants and flowers as well, as you can see. Then at one point he stopped to shoot a simple magenta blossom — not much about it was extraordinary — but there was something different about it. He wasn’t sure what…. until…. he checked the image closely, and found… a hidden treasure in plain sight. A leaf-mimicking Praying Mantis — all stretched out in the sun on the flower’s top shelf.

Several cool photos followed, and an important lesson as well. When creating any kind of art, we can limit ourselves by accepting the obvious — as is, what seems to be the final product. But if we remain open — almost expecting a sweet surprise — sometimes magic really does happen.

(Pic #3) Garden guest
(Pic #4) Artist at work

(Pic #5) Reflection, Outdoor sculpture

How Can A 5-Year-Old Be My Muse?

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Call it Inspiration. Maybe creative spark. Whatever you call it, it is the lifeblood of an artist. It’s that magical sight or sound that motivates us, animates us — even when we are at a total loss for imaginative ideas. it’s then that the message from the Muse (if we are lucky enough to receive one) feels like hitting the lottery. Most artists never know when it will come around — and each time it does, they worry it will never come back. Wouldn’t it be comforting to know that there was something you could count on to trigger your creativity? I realized this past weekend, I have something just like that — and it always delivers. 

2024 marks the 35th year we’ve have been holding art workshops for children in South Los Angeles. It started when I was a TV reporter/anchor and my news director told me I was long overdue to give something back to the community. I’ve been doing it ever since. It feeds me in a way almost nothing else does. But I didn’t completely realize until this past weekend that these kids are my creative Muse. Watching the unbridled joy they bring to painting, and the fearlessness with which they do it, always helps me reconnect to that 7-year-old with the big box of crayons who begged her Mom for just 10 more minutes to color. 

During our Halloween workshop this weekend, I stumbled upon a little girl (pictured above) who blew my mind. She had seen a pair of my scissors with a white rope tied around the handles. She asked if she could use it. She didn’t need the scissors exactly, but wanted to untie the rope, and with it, fashion a set of long braids on her pumpkin head. Then, she sculpted hair toys out of red and green pipe cleaners. In a million years, I would not have thought of those moves. Both were original. She saw something no one else saw. And like an artist, she expressed her vision in her unique way.

When I got home, I was exhausted, I had all my art supplies to put away, and about a hundred things on my to-do list. But all I really wanted to do — was paint. Why? Simple. I’d just had a profound encounter with my unexpected Muse. 

Stunning, Simple Beauty

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Portland’s Japanese Garden makes you rethink your own relationship to space.

(Pic #1) Fall colors at the world famous Laceleaf Maple Tree on a foggy autumn morning at the Portland Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Scott Smorra.)

Yes, it’s real. Typically known as “the Tree”— this stunner attracts thousands of fans from all over the world. Its most flamboyant show “opens” during the Fall months. But the joys of Japanese landscaping don’t end there.

It’s not just the lush rich greens and changing colors of the season, but the Japanese appreciation for the simplest (yet powerful) design, and a reverence for artful construction.


It’s what urged me into screaming, “I must become a minimalist!” to my friends (Portland residents) Brian and Geordie. Every plant, stream, water feature and pathway had a reason to be there, and nothing is ever overdone. Walking the grounds, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the unexpected, cleverly-patterned stone walkways that lead guests through in abstract, asymmetrical patterns. (Pic #2)

I want to throw everything I own into a dumpster. I’m just going to have to face the separation anxiety.

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