Bedecked in Bern

I am spending New Years in Switzerland. A good friend of mine, the painter Spark Boon has a studio in Bern and a cabin at the summit of Gurten Mountain just south of the city. The views are spectacular! From the bedroom you can see through the crystal clear air, the lush, snow-capped Jura mountains. It’s like one of those dumb, sentimental 60’s movies … but I love it.

Dahlia on Gurten Mountain, New Years 2012

Spark Boon is a true gentleman in the great European tradition: Erudite, gallant, charming and cultivated. In Bern, after showing me his new work (which, do be honest, is fairly conventional, derivative and slight) he took me to Pendulus, the world famous jewelry boutique. I told him of my absolute itch, my irrational passion for the color turquoise.

He’s such a gracious, urbane man!

Dahlia at the studio of Spark Boon, Bern