All You Need is a Little Inspiration!
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| Interview with Interior Designer Lisa Riva www.lisariva.com Click here for Houzz review of Lisa Riva Art + Interiors |
Finding a sunny vegetable patch to pick your own harvest is just a Google search away. Here are a couple of links to get you started! I hope my interview with Interior Designer Lisa Riva inspires you to reap the rewards of picking your own fruit and vegetables, wherever you live.
Renata: Tell me about
this beautiful harvest!
Lisa Riva: When my
friend asked me if I could join her in harvesting her friend’s
organic farm, I immediately got my old gym shoes on and drove over there as
fast as I could. It was exactly what my
soul needed that day.
Renata: What did you
love about picking these beautiful vegetables?
Lisa Riva: Spending time with a friend, digging in the dirt, admiring the beauty of nature, it inspires me.
Renata: It sounds like
it meant a lot to do this with a friend.
Lisa Riva: Definitely.
My friend’s name is Lisa Zorilla.
She’s 100% Italian and
her husband is 100% Columbian. Her father-in-law is adorable! The whole family
helps tend the organic garden. My friend Lisa loooooves to cook, loooooves to
eat. It’s her passion, along with country
music, and her family of course. The organic
farm belongs to their friend.
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| Lisa's father-in-law, Oscar, can't be 'beet'! |
Renata: This is old school, “everyone is family”
farming!
Lisa Riva: We brought
buckets, turned them upside down and sat on them in the dirt. We were talking and picking, talking and
picking. We talked about things we could
cook, talked about life, and just solving the world’s problems!
Renata: Sounds like the
two of you really bonded.
Lisa Riva: We both like to get dirty and get rewarded by
not only what you get to eat from gardening, but also the way you feel when the
sun shines on you and you are spending time in nature.
Lisa Riva: Yes! The
little creatures would come upon us like caterpillars, butterflies, inchworms,
bees, spiders eating the aphids; my friend Lisa took photos of a few of
them.
Renata: And did you
cook with your veggies?
Lisa Riva: I made
gazpacho with these lovely sweet plum colored tiny tomatoes as soon as I got
home! I was so excited. I got the recipe
out of a cookbook called "Picnic" I have had for years. But I have to admit, I didn’t even
measure. I just threw what I had
in. I had enough gazpacho to last me three days!
Renata: Mmmmm. That is seriously addicting, fresh, homemade
food.
Lisa Riva: Yes, and
every time I ate it, it reminded me of that day with my friend. So it was good
for my body and soul.
Renata: Do you think
any of the colors that you picked that day inspired you in your artwork or in
your interior design?
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| Lisa Zorilla (L) and Lisa Riva (R) |
Lisa Riva: Yes,
definitely!! I LOVE red and green! My kids know that most of what I cook has
red and green in it. I’m
very drawn to homes that have the contrasting colors of nature in them. Since she was little, my daughter always asked
me what my favorite color was. I could never say just one. I always had to say the complementary color
that goes with it. So if I pick a color, I have to pick a pair of colors. It’s as if one color needs another color
to be complete. Just like people!
Renata: Just like you and your friend, picking vegetables on your buckets in the dirt!
Renata: Just like you and your friend, picking vegetables on your buckets in the dirt!
Lisa Riva: Yes!
Renata: How do you
think the time with your friend, the harvesting, the cooking inspired you as an
artist?
Lisa Riva: What comes to mind is that I get inspired by the beauty of nature and the freshness of new seasons. The colors and the aromas inspire me, and sometimes it brings back memories. Sometimes it’s about creating something completely new.
I love the photo of the dog next to the cauliflower patch. I like the way the sun is shining on the dog
and the leaves, and the blossom of the cauliflower head reminds me of my
mantra: blossom. It’s about growing and learning and being
the best I can be in life.
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| Dog and Blossom |
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