cupcakes and art

every year i'm surprised it's my birthday again. any wiser? nope! just older. this year in particular has sped by... last year i was cryptically implying that life altering things were in the wings. and here they are. the little is on her way to being a year old... my studio is built in my backyard... it's amazing to me how time can simultaneously fly by and yet things are happening. i can document, see, touch, them...

and this year it's amazing to get so many birthday wishes on facebook! i forgot they had the birthday reminder feature. and there are a lot of b-days happening right around now. bara , diana , karen , tracy , abigail ... i'm sure i'm missing someone....



so here we go. install is friday for me ... before the opening of course.

Opens Friday October 2, 2009
from 7-9pm [i'll be there! come say hi !!!]

with marina luz and diem chau . two artists i totally LOVE and ADMIRE.

my portion this show is "his and hers" -- all about my grandparents and my memories of them. i'll upload pictures of all the pieces after the opening. and my statement on the show here. all art is personal - duh - but this show is really really near and dear to me. they will also be available for viewing [and purchase] on rare device's site.

ok - gotta run to pick up the babe.....
happy tuesday!

playing dress up and detritus/rejects

so - my first day back at work went OK! i had the back to school jitters. thought about what to wear, what to say to the students [how to be serious, but also convey humor at the same time]. the what to wear thing was a bit more complicated as i had to pick something so that i could easily pump. hence the button front dress was chosen.

i couldn't help but think i was playing dress up as i was running around the house making sure i had everything i needed. i've been wearing jeans and t-shirts and no make up for 8+ months. it was odd to wear nice clothes. when i dropped cc off at daycare they commented on how "adult" i looked ! ha !



i'm frantically getting ready for my upcoming show "binding constants" with marina luz and diem chau at rare device . it opens next friday. i'll post a bit more about it next week [if you are on my mailing list you got my newsletter already!].

it's funny that once the work is "done" there's all this other work to do. measuring, signing all the pieces, cleaning them up. hence the above detritus.



when lisa c came over to do a studio visit we were chatting about all the stuff that we reject. that doesn't make the cut and that no one ever sees. how many times did i draw or stitch something only to have it not work out correctly? above are some of the rejects and research for this show.

i'm thinking it would be really cool to curate a show SOLELY of rejects. i wonder why and what we as artists reject and if other people would think they were rejects or not.



just because art supplies make me giddy. here are my lovely acrylic inks. soldiers ready to march to work.

OK... back to getting my price list ready....
have a great weekend. see you next week!

overdrive

my brain is at this very moment on overdrive. i just all of a sudden realized how much i really have to do in how little time. seriously - i think if i make a to-do list i might not be able to sleep tonight between worrying about it and waiting for the little to wake up [teething part 2. in all fairness the sequel is mellower than part 1, but i'm waiting for the surprise ending].

then again - i have been getting what i need to done. sometimes just barely in time, but it still counts if you are squeaking under that wire, right? as long as no one looses any limbs or an eye or something?

yesterday i gave a lecture with the above artist monica canilao . we actually drove up to sonoma state together. this could have been a bit scary considering we'd never met. but we had plenty in common. on the surface : gardening, eating, making art. and then after we both spoke and i got to see more of her work... i was sort of fascinated with how synergistic we were in rather odd ways. sure - we both like doily imagery and found papers - but my work tends to be sparse - hers bursts and busts from the seams. and yet.... besides literal thread there were many threads that connected us. it's always nice to find kindred art spirits. we even got to joke about how people come up to us in airports and start speaking languages we don't know. i don't get to have that conversation with everyone. and she was nice to boot.

it was the first time i spent 5 hours COMPLETELY away from little cc [i'd done up to 4, but not over]. she was with my mom and so i knew she was TOTALLY FINE the whole time. but it really was such an odd feeling. i felt liberated and happy to be doing "adult" things and yet all the while aching and missing her. she squealed when she saw me when i came home and you better believe that my heart melted and a tear almost fell from my eye.

tomorrow we do a trial "full" day at day care - the schedule we'll be keeping when i go back to work next thurs. i'm sure i'll feel equally psycho tomorrow. on the one hand i really need to tackle the 101 things that MUST GET DONE. on the other hand i think i'd rather just tickle cc and make her laugh.

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did you see amy's video on lazy envelope making?

or
500 pencils ? handmade colored pencils. i'm drooling here. kind of really want these [and sorry can't remember where this link came from... it did come from somewhere].

we are on a little summer holiday

cc and i are in so-cal visiting my parents. i can't believe she made the car trip w/out too much drama. she is NOT a fan of the car. she isn't one of those babies that you can put in the car and they'll fall asleep. i wish. she is one of the oh i don't like sitting backwards and i get car-sick kind of babies.

it never ceases to amaze me that the air just feels different here than in northern california.

one of my favorite things about my parent's house is their front door. their house was built in 1962 so it's modern-esque. the front door and door knob are the best, though, aren't they?? this would be a great house to furnish with eames and nakamura and nelson - if only... it'd be really fun to see it all period.



my mom is also a good farmer. she has persimmon trees and an avocado tree [came with the house. believe it or not my parents HATE avocados], and a fig tree. yum. yum. my mom and grandmother actually used to run a vegetable seed business for awhile. i should dig out some of the old catalogues. there are funny pictures of me next to veggies. speaking of gardening.... i wrote a post which features our new garden for sew green tomorrow.

anyway - we'll be a bit absent from blogland while we are here. plus i have to finish getting my syllabi together. it's hard to believe, but i'll be going back to teaching in just 2 weeks. where has all the time gone???

a domestic life {08} + mi casa su casa

the last completed domestic life sketchbook drawing. i have a bunch more polaroids, but haven't made any more drawings. sigh.

this is the window sill in our new and improved bathroom [i will post about this someday]. the little blue swan is from my grandmother. our whole bathroom is white and blue. the window is right above the tub -- when i was looking for windows i HATED the frosted/privacy ones. so i splurged and bought Strossel Design window film from rare device it's really pretty. and makes me happy.



if you want to see more of my house. well, actually more like snippets of my house you should go to cafe mom . sheri kindly asked me to participate [sheri + shari also put this joy + ride together. it's a GREAT spot for inspiration and has featured countless of my favorite artists/bloggers].

above is one of the photos from the tour. the great herb garden in colander idea isn't mine. someone brought it over as a hostess gift the other day. cute, huh?

there's also a funny photo of me from the 70's - doing a model pose. heh heh.

have a good wednesday!