LIKE YOUNG November's painting playmate, Paige Young, mixes her media -- art and aquatics -- at her Malibu hideaway "All good things are wild and free," observed Henry David Thoreau about a century ago, thereby providing Paige Young -- who counts the New England iconoclast among her favorite ...authors -- with a perfect capsule summary of her outlook on the world. Avoiding the hemmed-in routine that leads to what she likes to call "the nine-to-five doldrums," Miss November has created for herself an untrammeled life style as a free-lance artist. "Painting for a living is a struggle," she says. "I have to work at it, but at least my time is my own and I'm working for myself -- not for some impersonal corporation." Brought up in Los Angeles and currently based in a beachside Malibu studio, Paige is an enthusiastic eclectic in matters artistic -- painting (and selling) everything from portraits and neoimpressionist seascapes to bold abstractions. About the only trend that leaves her cold is pop: "It's real and it says something about today's culture -- but I wouldn't waste my paint on it. I can do without the pop scene in general; it gives me a headache." No fan of the far-out fads and plastic pleasures that abound in California, Miss November prefers such traditional alfresco activities as invigorating romps along the shore and peaceful strolls through the woods. Paige also boasts a creative culinary flair and likes nothing better than orchestrating an exotic dinner for a deserving date -- followed by a fireside dessert and plenty of good conversation. "If people would just sit down and really talk to, instead of at, each other, I'm sure they'd be a lot happier," says Paige -- who, we're sure you'll agree, is something worth talking about.

Read More