Weekend 2/19/16

It's been awhile since I have had a chance to post here. Note, I have decided to change my former What Goes On posts to Weekend since I tend to post these at the end of the week. Slowly but surely, I'll be changing a few more things around here. 

I've been spending a lot of time outside since the weather has been so spring-y and warm so I thought I'd share some of the places I've been. These poppies are at Candlestick Point, a spot off the freeway on the way to San Francisco. I love the expansive and uncrowded view of the bay. 

I got a dog. His name is Homer. He loves the couch, loves his family, is slightly misguided and loves donuts. He was whiney on the drive up, but once we stepped out of the car at Candlestick Point, he was the happiest dog. 

My friend Kelli suggested we have lunch at a place called The Ramp. They allow dogs on their outdoor patio and it is right on the bay. This photo of Kelli is close to the restaurant along a pathway. I definitely want to come back and meet her here again. I knew when I got Homer that I wanted him to go on all the adventures with me, so it has been a priority to find dog-friendly spots. 

Speaking of donuts, what was the first thing I ate after doing the Whole30 program/diet/cleanse? Yes, a donut. I couldn't help it. Bryan brought one home for me and I had to eat it. It was really good, especially since we warmed them in the oven. I barely eat junk food so I felt ok about it. Not consuming sugar, bread, alcohol or dairy for a month felt great. We eat pretty healthy in general, but the Whole30 reminded me of how processed our food is. I did the Whole30 last year, but this year felt even better and I know I want to eat this way like 90% of the time. 

I bought this book Advice from My 80-Year-Old Self by Susan O'Malley and published by Chronicle Books. It has nuggets of wisdom from humans aged 7 to 88. I loved this one on this day. I feel like I am in this weird between stage in my art and I just can't wait to get the next stage. Still, I know I have to be patient. 

I saw the band Sun Foot at Seeing Things Gallery. Fronted by Chris Johanson, one of my favorite artists, they are funny and weird and good. I was honored to have him play with my art in the background (on the left). 

My Birthday

The rest of this post covers my birthday. There was just something about the busy last few months that made me want to ensure I had a relaxing birthday this year. Just being around the Half Moon Bay coast gives me immediate serenity. The mesmerizing waves are so rough and wild out that way. It's no wonder Mavericks happens in the area. I have to live by the ocean someday. 

I started off with hanging out at Roy's Station all morning with my birthday twin Nancy sketching and chatting. We seem to be making a new tradition with this. Then, I came home to these gorgeous flowers on my porch on my birthday. Aren't they stunning? They sure elevated my good mood to great. 

I rarely take pictures of myself, but I had to capture Homer's first trip to Half Moon Bay on such a beautiful day.

Homer loved the beach. He loved chowing on some seaweed, dipping his nose in the sand and running away from the waves. 

Caught this ladybug at the beach. I'll take that good luck. 

For my birthday dinner, we went to Moss Beach Distillery, where they allow dogs on their patio and apparently a blue clad ghost wanders the premises. You can see the fires, but what you can't see are the cozy blankets they have for you to bundle up in. We brought Homer's bed so he would be comfortable. The food was great and obviously the view too. 

Caught the moon between some trees

I have to say, as much as I love the outdoors it can be hard to get away. With having a dog now, it's been a great excuse to get outside. 

Weekend 1/29/16

I had not really thought through just how busy I would be around the holidays and now the early part of this year. There was the Screaming Hand 30th Anniversary Show, while continuing to work on commissions and art for my February show at The Arsenal.  This month, Seeing Things Gallery also contacted me to see if I wanted to show the last of my 100 Day Project art at their new space. Of course I said yes. Both shows will be opening next Saturday, February 6th. 

I'm in the process of changing some things on the blog. I am going to change up some of the categories and the way I use it. I think there will be a lot more studio shots, sketches and work in progress on here. I'm playing around with the title of this weekly post to Weekend since I usually post it on Fridays. 

Eating

I've been on the Whole 30 again. This means only eating real food and no commercially processed food. That means no alcohol, croissants, cheese, desserts. I am a little over halfway through. I feel great and I think everyone should try it once. You don't realize how much processed crap is in the things we eat. And I'm not even talking about typical junk food. Crackers, dips, salad dressings, pasta sauces can have long ingredient lists when you read the labels. Soybean this, extra sodium, hidden sugars and unpronounceable ingredients. I do feel a little over-disciplined right now between this cleanse and working on art. 

Sketching

Bryan at one with the couch:) 

Lately, I am just trying to draw and paint as much as I can. I feel like the more I work the easier it is to make work and the happier I am with the results. I am trying to work really loosely and quickly. I am also trying to experiment more stylistically. 

Heads and some fruit

I like the process of painting people with a shade of gray first and then adding line detail later. This is something I am working on for my show.

Pets! Some sketches for recent pet commissions

Monday blues

I painted these blue people while at a coffee shop on Martin Luther King Day. It was busier than usual for a Monday so I had plenty of subjects to work from.

SoFA Sketch

A table of artists sketching 

A sketch by Genevieve Santos - illustrator extraordinaire. Her style is so unique!

My art from the night. I felt like I was more on a roll than usual. 

I had a lot of fun at this month's SoFA Sketch. I didn't end up taking too many pictures, but here are some from the night. I hope to take more pictures and blog separately about it in the future. 

Watching

I have been really interested in artist interviews lately. I have been going through weird emotions about my art so it's nice to hear what other's have to say. 

I watched this great talk with illustrator Christoph Niemann. It's exactly what I go through as an artist. Hilarious and awesome.

I can't believe how inspiring this interview was with Molly Crabapple. She has strong words to describe what she does and how she feels about art. Here are some highlights from Molly:

"My big wisdom to impart with drawing is that it's better to do the wrong line with confidence and style than it is to do the right line with hesitation and tentativeness."

"I like art because it shows that care was bestowed on something."

"There's always this really boring model for artists which is that you just stay in your studio and you create increasingly exquisite objects for rich people until you die."

The End of the 100 Day Project and Days 91-100

Wow! I can't believe I'm finally done with the 100 Day Project! Sure, it was supposed to take place in 100 consecutive days, sure it was supposed to be completed by 2015, but who cares?! Even if it took me 278 days, I made 100 pieces of art based on Brian Eno's deck of cards, Oblique Strategies. I am feeling good today.

Regarding daily art projects, it can be difficult to get work done everyday.  Whether other freelance work to do: packing orders, painting orders or being stumped by the card, I found myself not staying super consistent with the project. Perfectionism also got in the way. Still, I was determined. 

I really liked straying from my usual materials when I did (embroidery, collage, weaving), but those tended to take more time so I couldn't do that frequently. I actually thought I would push myself more with size and that kind of thing, but with the decision to sell everything for $20 each AND with my other freelance work, there is just only so much time in the day so a lot of these pieces are on the small side. 

Some things I have found with what I made:

• Blue - I really love using blue. Maybe it's my love of the ocean, the sky...I don't know, but I do like it. 
• The natural world - I love painting nature. Whether space, water, plants, I love it all.
• Humor - I really like a little humor and wit in my art. I actually didn't learn this until 2012 at my solo show at Seeing Things Gallery.
• Mystery and Experiments - when I made a sudden decision to add a crazy color or cover something or run the art under faucet water, awesome things happened.
• Style - I think my style evolved with the 100 Day Project. 
• My - The work from this project felt like it was 100% me: from my experience, knowledge, memories and passions. 

The Future:

• Books - I feel like I am ready to continue working on my book proposals now that I am clear on how I would like to illustrate them
• Big - I am looking forward to bigger illustration projects, bigger paintings and installations after working so small
• Ideas - The way ideas formed from this project blew my mind. The mental process of getting to something requires a mixture of stepping away to do something completely different and just sitting and plugging away at it until something happens. 
• Change - I foresee a year of unexpected and magical new things

Please stop by Seeing Things Gallery on February 6th to see the last 20 drawings and any available 100 Day art. All will be for sale for that same fun $20 each price. 

And these are the last 10...

Day 91 Accept Advice

I asked Bryan to tell me what to paint and he said, "Paint about how you thought Interstellar would be and then paint how you felt about it after." At first I didn't want to do it, but then I thought it would be a good challenge. I wanted to paint on Color-Aid paper, a material I have used a few times in this project. As you can see, I thought it might be 'garbage in space', but then felt it was more like 'silly confusion in space.' Yes, I used a vintage Spirograph.

Day 92 What would your closest friend do?

My sister would stay at home in her slippers and save money so she can travel the world. 

Day 93 Is there something missing?

I have been frustrated with the real estate market for my friends and family. It's insane in the Bay Area right now. It feels like unless one or both heads of household work in tech or you bought years and years ago, good luck getting a house in this area. There are waiting lines and bids for homes in places you wouldn't think would be competitive. It's nuts. 

I proposed that the community above has a community garden, basketball court and park. Each home has a full basement, clawfoot tub and porch. Each home would be $1,200 a month with options to buy. 

Day 94 Distorting Time

This one is pretty self-explanatory:)

Day 95 Use 'unqualified' people

I asked my non-artist dad and brother to name a color and a country. My dad said blue and my brother said Republic of Congo. 

Day 96 Ask people to work against their better judgement

I have been thinking a lot lately about how we all need to push ourselves more and do things we are afraid of. You can stand on a cliff and look at the view or you can dive in.

Day 97 How would you have done it?

I got a terrible flu last week and although I was able to break the fever in 24 hours, I did have a lingering cough and lethargy for days after. On this Sunday, I felt like a blob on a couch all day, watching movies and documentaries.

Day 98 Go to an extreme, move back to a more comfortable place

Of course this was painted on a very wet day in San Jose. A-Frames are something I paint frequently so its symbol of comfort has double meaning here. 

Day 99 In total darkness or in a very large room, very quietly

Another one relating to darkness, but in a different way. I painted this portrait in complete darkness on a 15 minute timer. I used one brush. I would dip it into the paint or onto the palette and test it on my fingers to feel if I picked up enough paint. I used my fingers to sort of pinpoint where the shapes were going in relation the edges. Such a fun experiment!

It's funny, throughout this project I did scratch some of the art and start over that day. I would feel like it wasn't good enough. I feel like I would have never shared a painting like this one before since it's so crude. It felt like no big deal when I did. 

Day 100 What wouldn't you do?

And the last one! I thought about this one for a little bit. I wanted it to be amazing or the best one or whatever, but as I brainstormed it I just wanted to convey the achievement I felt. At first I thought of painting a trophy, but that wasn't quite right. I then came up with this, which I think works perfectly. 

100 Day Project: Days 81-90

This last portion of the 100 Day Project has gone rather slowly. With the holidays, there was plenty to do: commissions, family gatherings, parties with friends, the calendar and more. Still, I have plowed through to complete the project. It was a little stressful and disappointing to realize that the project may not be completed by the end of 2015. I even schemed on sketching one and hour on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day to rush and finish it. In the end, I decided to keep it going through the first week of 2016. This way, I can finish it right. 

Day 81 The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten

I finally tried my hand at weaving. It was really fun and brought back sewing skills I learned when I was younger. I learned to do needlepoint, embroidery and knit from my aunt and mom when I was a kid, so I felt I was applying a similar skill set here. Even though I had to plan some things, like deciding to make triangle shapes, I also let some of it be more free. I will definitely be making more of these. 

Day 82 Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify them

Ah, my old Mazda 626. This car was a real gem. Rust holes in the back by the window, Gap sucks sticker, Nike Sweatshops sticker, weird jimmy-rigged way to open the trunk, piles of cassettes and no air conditioning. This brown hatchback was my first car and although I loved it, it was a bit of a mess. The embarrassing detail here is that I now wear Nike's to work out, when I thought I wouldn't be caught dead in them then. We all get older and change I guess.

Day 83 Change nothing and continue with immaculate consistency

This card had me thinking of musicians that create repetitive music. Neu, Liars, Steve Reich, Spacemen 3, Philip Glass, Fela Kuti, Sleep, Can and Brian Eno all have a nice trancelike element to their music. 

Day 84 Give way to your worst impulse

That impulse would be coffee. One of my favorite places to go draw is at B2 in San Jose. It's in a giant room they call "the garage" due to the garage doors along the walls. This means lots of light and space to work. Also lots of people to watch. I happened to run into my friend Gordon De Los Santos this day and sketched him. 

Day 85 Be less critical more often

The sketch

The final

This was a really interesting one to me. Sometimes with the 100 Day Project I get an idea and put it right to paper. Other times, I mess around in my sketchbook and then go to paper. If you look at the first picture, you can see this one started out as just scribbles with my brush pen in my sketchbook. As I waved lines around I started to see a sky and then a brushstroke made me imagine words in the sky. Then I made mountains. Then I imagined it was San Jose.  I love this kind of evolution in art. Just intuition going off. 

Day 86 Honour thy error as a hidden intention

With this day, I had finally watched Grey Gardens, the documentary... I loved this shot of Little Edie's legs near a table. I played with the table perspective. I love when artists create odd perspectives in their work. It's something I don't really do but would like to experiment with more often.

Day 87 What mistakes did you make the last time?

Since Day 86 had off-perspective, I decided to draw normal perspective here. Something about the table, rug and flowers felt bland to me so I added a trap door below the table. 

Day 88

Sade has such an interesting voice. It's beautiful, yet so subtle. Not a lot of good singers use such restraint. 

Day 89 Question the heroic approach

I thought painting a road made sense here. I thought the road could be a metaphor for the hero's journey, thinking of the unknown that a hero faces. The first image came out nice, but it sort of bored me. I thought "Hey! I could run it under the faucet and blur it a bit! Hey! I could add lines going across making it more blurry and unclear!" I wanted it to feel like a memory or unsure so I feel that worked out. I'm going to try this technique in a future painting. 

Day 90 Don't stress one thing more than the other

Here I thought I could make a still life and focus equally on all of the objects. I had Bryan select things from around the house and arrange them for me. I thought he did a great job. It has a little bit of an adventurous sailor feel to me. A sign that I need to get back to working on my children's book? Probably. 

2015 End of the Year

This year was a great one overall. I tried new things, spent a lot of time outdoors and felt a tremendous amount of growth. As this year comes to an end, I am super happy as I have spent a lot of time catching up with friends and family. Normally, I don't have New Year's resolutions, but this year, I want to make more time for reading books and less time for awesome TV shows like Fargo Season 2. 

As I look back on the year and write this, I do feel like not every year goes quite like this one. There are always good and bad years. I know I like to travel, spend time outdoors and make art, so I try to spend as much time and energy doing those things as I can. This means I don't have a normal job, I don't have my own car (though I share one) and I don't have lots of new clothes or fancy things. My savings account is small. And 401k? What's that?? Maybe I haven't really "grown up", but oh well, I like my life.

Here are some highlights from the year...

100 Day Project

Ah, the 100 Day Project. If you aren't tired of this phrase yet, I'd be surprised:) This project was awesome in so many ways. It pushed me to think differently and work when I didn't want to. Although I didn't stick to doing it daily, I feel accomplished. The support I had through likes, comments, purchase of original artwork, to calendar orders, really blew my mind. There will be a separate post about it next week. 

Assisting

I assisted Jen Stark with her mural at Facebook headquarters. It was quite an experience being at the not-quite-open new building. Jen was amazing to work with, as was the crew of artists above. Facebook also treated us so well offering us anything we needed. 

Camping

Sunrise visit to a hot spring near Mammoth Lakes

Mono Lake

Armstrong Redwoods sunset

Sunset at Maggie's Half Acre in the Ohlone Wilderness. We were so tired here. 

You can probably tell from my art that I am really inspired by nature. I just need to get out and see trees and open land without other humans, probably because I live in the crowded Bay Area. I camped with my good friend Kelli at Armstrong Redwoods, with another group of friends near Mammoth Lakes and with another few good friends in the Ohlone Wilderness. So many gorgeous sunsets, some grueling footsteps and quality time with good friends. Sometimes I think I should be a park ranger rather than an artist. 

You can find the original posts on these trips:

• Ohlone Wilderness Trail
• Armstrong Redwoods
• Mammoth Weekend

Cruising

Mayan ruins Altun Ha, Belize

I went on my first cruise, which was an interesting experience. We went with good friends and saw so many incredible sites in Mexico, Honduras, Belize and Grand Cayman Island. It was a dream to be out at sea, though I guess my original dream involved a sailboat. Still, the cruise ship was a great way to see so many places in a week. I swam with dolphins, cruised through a river with dolphins and sharks, watched a lightning storm at sea, worked out at sea and on and on. It was surreal. 

Dream Painting

Embed from Getty Images

Probably one of my favorite art jobs, I painted people's dreams for the New York mattress company Casper. They gave me a station to paint guests' dreams on cocktail napkins. You can read more in the original post here. 

Jiu Jitsu

I started training jiu jitsu in May of this year, right after I got back from the cruise. I have been working really hard at it, going 4-5 days a week when I can. I have made amazing new friends that inspire me with their skill. I competed at a small competition and surprisingly won gold. I prepared and trained hard for it, but I have never won anything athletic in my life. In fact, I was a pretty clumsy kid and always one of the last running around the track in P.E. I never played on team sports and although I like being active, I don't know that I push myself as much as I should. With jiu jitsu, you have to push yourself. You want to get better because you don't want to be smashed or submitted by someone else. Plus it's fun and you just want to be good at it. I'm excited to see where this goes this year. 

Live Painting

I think I have a little fear of painting live in front of people. They can see your awkward starts, your rough drafts and I learned they like to make a ton of suggestions. Although I have done public art on the street before, this was different. I had a lot of fun painting at the Cinequest Film Festival earlier this year. Being in a window where an audience watches you and votes? Needless to say, it was a great experience. It also prompted me to be more comfortable sketching out in public at coffee shops and other art events. I believe doing this also lead to the above painting project for Casper. You can read more about this even in the original post.

Saying No

If you know me well, you know my frustration with tabling events. Don't get me wrong, it's fine to do if you have products, but if you are selling art, it's not always the greatest experience in my book. Or maybe I'm not great at selling at these things? Whatever the case, I decided to stop doing these this holiday and I have to say I loved it. I will likely still do occasional popup shops, but I am over the 2-day events. 

The other way I have had to say no is to friends and sometimes family. I hate to do it, but in order to get my work done sometimes I have to skip out on the fun or seeing friends or even going to events that I feel I should be going to. It often feels bad on my end, but it has to happen if I have a tight deadline on a portrait or proposal. On the bright side, saying no has helped me get things done.

Working Very Small and Very Big

The smallest art I made was this one-inch square galaxy, seen above. The largest art was the 4x6 foot painting for the Cinequest Film Festival. I like working both ways and hope to continue to do so in 2016. 

2016 

Who knows what will happen in 2016? Every year I do this and it's interesting to see how many things get checked off the list. I suggest you try it! So far, this is what I can think of. 

• Dig into the more mysterious, subconscious and dreamy side of my work
• Submit book proposal(s) 
• Do another art residency
• Make ceramics again
• Submit portfolio for editorial work (I'd love to illustrate for Lenny Letter)
• Continue SoFA Sketch
• Complete the second half of my sailing classes for certification
• Attempt to hike Half Dome again (hopefully not closed due to fire this time)
• Backpack at Wildcat Camp in Point Reyes
• Train hard in jiu jitsu