Weekend 2/24/17

in

Listening

 

Painting

A couple weeks ago, it was pretty sweet to spend my Monday in Monterey painting with my friend Tara (her painting of kayakers is on the left). We had a great time especially since the rain stopped and it was nice enough to sit on a bench and work outside. I always feel like I need to do this more.

A librarian friend started a Drawn to the Night event at the Santa Clara City Library. The theme was 'eyes' and we had a blast hanging out drawing.

I worked on a portrait of April Ryan, the journalist. It's about 50 percent finished here. Rachel did an awesome job setting up the event with a display of different examples of eyes, tables and they even have work stations with angled tables.

 

Reading

 

Sofa Sketch

Sofa Sketch was extra good this round since we gave our first about to be mom some special gifts, including a book of images we made for her. I marbled the front cover in blue and painted her name. I left it open ended so everyone could paint or write whatever they wanted. The artists made so many good ones around motherhood, that I decided to make mine about imagination, painting Claudine and her new baby on a boat, with her pups close by on shore (dad's in the house cooking). It was fun painting something from my head, keeping it super intuitive. 

After painting the image for Claudine's book, I decided to paint something intuitively again for sketch night. It didn't turn out as great as I thought it might, but it was a fun exercise. 

Yvonne's art from Sofa Sketch. I loved those dark shadows and how she used the corner of the page.

Weekend 2/3/17

in

This past week has been a good one with lots of sketching and new ideas coming to fruition. I feel like the fog is clearing on where I want to head with my work this year and that feels pretty great. The election has had me in a weird space, as it has for many artists. I got annoyed last week thinking that dumb man can't keep me from making art! 

It feels like my new work will be larger and tell stories. I want to actually get started on my children's book this year. I want to bring my own experience, mix it with some fantasy and the current world for my new work. I can't exactly say what it will be, but I am happy about the sketches and thoughts forming.

 

Doing

Three sea paintings from this week.

Three sea paintings from this week.

I painted some postcards to send to congress this week. The idea is rough seas ahead. It felt really good to write those that I feel are doing good in the world, including Senator Kamala Harris. 

 

Listening

  • I listened to the Stuff Your Mom Never Told Me podcast episode A Skeptic's Guide to Women & Islam. It gives a really interesting perspective from Heina Dadaboy, a former Muslim who is now an atheist. Note, she isn't against the religion, but rather gives perspective on some stereotypes others have about it.
  • I've been trying to work on my Spanish again...well, as of today. I can get by but I really want to be truly bilingual. I love the Radio Ambulante podcast since I can listen while working. I listened to an episode Cuando La Habana era friki or "When Havana was freaky", an episode about a subculture in Cuba who would actually inject themselves with HIV as an act of rebellion. If you don't understand Spanish, I recommend listening to it on Radiolab in English.

 

Wildwood by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis

Wildwood by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis

Reading

Last week I mentioned I'm reading Wildwood by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis. I am mesmerized by the creativity and the illustrations accompanying the text. Check out this New York Times review if you want to read more about it. It makes me feel super nostalgic for books I read back then, much like the Stranger Things series made me think of the buddy movies of the 80's I grew up on.

 

Seeing 

Tonight is South First Fridays in San Jose. Some things I am excited to see: 

 

Lady sketches while watching a documentary

Lady sketches while watching a documentary

Watching

  • I sketched ladies while watching the women's lib doc She's Beautiful When She's Angry. Obviously super relevant in these times with a misogynist as President, the documentary will make you sad that we have to still do this all these years later. I ended up sketching ladies while watching. I at first randomly found an article on how Iranian women dressed in the 70's, so I drew Iranian women. Then I looked up African women and drew them. 
  • A friend recommended watching Lest We Forget: The Big Lie Behind the Rise of Trump. Just as we thought, but clarified with historical notes and commentary. Pretty frightening to see this recent effort for white supremacy.

 

Weekend 12/9/16

in

Making

The 2017 Escape Calendar is here! Each month, let a dreamy image take you someplace else. You can order yours here.

Listening

  • I just discovered a radio show from Berlin called Vantage Point. I listened to the interview with amazing artist Andrea Wan. Her creativity and technique is astounding.
  • I also listened to the episode with Jonathan Levine, of the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York. He shows work by some of my favorite artists like Jim House, Souther Salazar and Seonna Hong so I had to give it a listen. It was really interesting to learn how he finds his artists.

Meeting

The internet can be a pretty incredible thing. Seattle artist Betty Merken found me online and wanted to meet up while she was in San Francisco this past week to talk about the art residency I did in Spain a couple years ago (she's going next year). What an amazing artist who has led a life traveling and creating. She and her husband published a book on Los Angeles murals in the 80's, she has work in collections at the De Young and the Legion of Honor and a show up at Nancy Toomey in SF right now. So nice to meet her and her husband Stefan! 

Ladies Drawing Night Book.JPG
Ladies Drawing Night Book 2.JPG

Reading

  • I recently bought the Ladies Drawing Night book. I was excited to hear about this since I run a drawing night, Sofa Sketch. It has great ideas for hosting communal sketch nights.
  • My good friend David Ma wrote this beautiful homage to the recently passed singer Sharon Jones. He has been doing all kinds of writing lately for publications including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and The Guardian. He also runs the great Nerdtorious Blog, a resource for music nerds.
  • With racial tension in America, the election and the situation at Standing Rock, I feel I have been stirred up politically. I used to be more political when I was younger but in the last five years or so, I have been lazy. The one positive thing to come from all this is seeing a lot of people wake up. Artistically, I feel I have more to say than I have been. This article by Symone D. Sanders, Using Our Authentic Voices, from Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter really spoke to me. We can't be lazy and we can't suffer in silence. Be bold.

Seeing

  • When Cherri Lakey of Anno Domini posted about the William Kentridge show at San Jose State University, I had to run over and see it. He was one of my favorite artists when I was in art school with his inventive charcoal drawings and animations. This show is the only West Coast viewing for this body of his work and SJSU is lucky to have it.

Thinking

The only thing keeping me sane lately is my work. I have been swamped with holiday work between commissions, orders, the new calendar, a couple workshops and all. I have been angry about our president-elect and the horrific Ghost Ship fire in Oakland. Sometimes the world is too much, but it can be made better by supporting local artists, continuing to make work and helping those in need. Please consider making a donation at the link above.