Vivian’s Case For Real Estate and Art – Looking Into My Past

What did we do during the pandemic shutdown? I cleaned my garage and made a blog with the help of my friend, professional blogger of “Rona Recommends”. When cleaned up, I hoped to get going with brush on canvas. Instead, I threw myself into the real estate business with my newly earned license just prior to the shutdown. Zoom interactions prevailed! Meeting and learning systems all at the kitchen counter and good luck happened. My garage blog led to a past co-worker reaching out to sell a 1906 Victorian home, decked with a wrap-around porch and by connecting with the Facebook group “For the Love Old Houses”, I connected the perfect buyers to this home.

Art – Where was it, now that I was engulfed in a new adventure? I became a docent at the Orlando Museum of Art. Tears of joy almost clouded my eyes as I re-entered the world that was my being. It kept me in touch again but did not yet ignite my passion to set aside the time to just paint. So now I begin my blog again looking into the past and sharing new adventures.

First things first. My largest paintings are taking up a third of my garage. They are too large to store assembled and no wall space left to hang. They are a reminder that being an artist was my world but also that they have no home. Why should I make more orphaned paintings? Focusing on that I reached out to individuals trying to unleash them to anyone that will love them rather than throwing them into a dumpster. Don’t we all want a loving mate for all our grown-up children?

Sharing digital images, my largest 22 foot across painting “The Birth of the Lepidopterist” was purchased back in 1980 by Robert Rowan and with wonder about him I googled his name, his obit, and voila! He was a Real Estate Developer and Art Patron. There it is again, that connection!

“Robert A. Rowan, 85, real estate developer, art collector and patron of the former Pasadena Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Born in Pasadena, Rowan took over the helm of R. A. Rowan & Co.–the real estate development firm founded in 1904 by his late father, R. A. Rowan Sr.–after the stock market crash in 1929. A successful developer of extensive farming and vineyard properties in the San Joaquin and Imperial valleys, he also helped rebuild the quiet community of Aspen, Colo., as a major international ski resort. Long interested in contemporary art, Rowan was an avid collector of works by Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell, Frank Stella, David Hockney, George Rodart and Judith Vogt. He was a sustaining force behind the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, which subsequently was taken over by multimillionaire art collector Norton Simon, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Rowan also was active in Republican politics, serving at various times as treasurer of that party’s state central committee, chairman of its Los Angeles County finance committee and director of the California Republican League. On Dec. 29 of heart failure in San Gabriel.”

If you read last week’s blog, you will know that I am using the good fortune of my property in Jersey City’s equity renovating new homes. Now I am turning a shack in Davenport into a beautiful 3/2 home. Check out the in-process video here.