Maria Bello Instagram – Beatrice Wood (March 3, 1893 – March 12, 1998) is one of my inspirations for living the second half of my life with passion and grace. She was an American artist and studio potter involved in the Avant Garde movement in the United States. She had earlier studied art and theater in Paris, and was working in New York as an actress. She later worked at sculpture and pottery in her studio in Ojai. Wood was characterized as the “Mama of Dada”. She was openly in a sort of love triangle with two male friends and colleagues – Marcel Duchamp and Henri-Pierre Roche. She wore her traditional dress of colorful saris and Indian jewelry til the day she died at 105. It is said she had lovers until she was 100. And when asked the secret to her longevity she said “I owe it all to art, books, chocolate and young men”. I doubt she was ever thinking about her weight or waddle or wrinkles. She created her life and only continued to live in passion. Bring it on Beatrice! To read more about her get her autobiography – I Shock Myself. Order from @harrietts_bookshop