The old stove in our new apartment. I love the color…bought this teapot and didn't even plan that they matched. We had to buy a fridge for the new apartment, probably one of the most adult things I have done so far in my life. One of these fridges would have been a perfect fit!

I have been making a lot of tea lately. I am trying to fight off a cold. Or rather I am just trying to ride it out. The only good thing is even though I feel sick I have been trying to clean and pick up. Which in my world can only mean I am getting ready to paint. Getting ready to get back to those words that are bouncing around in my head.

Risa is having a tea party!!
I love the sweets…cookies and the like, so I thought I'd bring some sweet treats to the party.

Some cupcakes (if you can get them before the birds do).

My absolute favorite…donuts with sprinkles. (I never understood why in nyc they only sprinkled half of the donuts…)

What an amazing get together! Thanks Risa!! 

avila beach
guest photographer: the boy

This month or rather last month has been wiggly for me…being out of my element, out of my routine. I never realized how I depended on things. How important a train ride was. For sitting, for sketching, for listening. This year is going to be one of major change. Figuring out how to draw again. Finding the place that’ll work for me to draw. It's been hard the drawing thing. Not having a proper place to paint has been hard. Being in a stranger’s space is messing with my head. I am sort of at a standstill. Which is affecting me strangely. I feel a little like I am putting my creative energies on hold or something. Now I feel pressure when I go somewhere to sketch. I think part of it is that I haven't found 'my' place yet…

That should end soon, but in a different way than I expected. The Boy is back in nyc to pack us up. To move west. Yep we are moving west moving to so cal. It is really exciting, but a little part of me needs to mourn nyc. And I haven’t forgotten about my word project…the words are swirling around and several have made their way to sketch form in fits and starts. I just need to get them painted. I think this week I am going to get us settled in an apartment. Or rather sign the papers and hand over the money, so that should help a lot. To have our own space.

happy new year! 

sights & sounds

* a dad walking his son's in the rain…pointing out the puddles for jumping

*mac at macys (that is what his name tag read)…with the v-neck, chest hair poking out, and a gold chain with an anchor…

* I am a horrible shopper…(ask the Boy)

* I love the food court at the mall…so many possibilities

* I haven't paid attention to cars for years and now I have landed in car mecca, it is strange how easily I have slide behind the steering wheel

*our road trip was lovely

*the ocean makes everything better

*the ocean smells…sand salt and seaweed oh how I love thee 

* a bath makes everything better, with bubbles or without

*I think I am going to have to just realize that getting larger format film developed super fast was a new york thing…and just suck it up and relax.

*I am going to be selling my softies at baz biz this Saturday…if you are in the los angles area please stop by and say hello…it is from 11am to 7pm at the shrine auditorium

*I need to get a schedule & scan some things & get some of the word drawings painted & make sure I have everything ready for baz biz & relax since I have nothing pressing to do & & &…

*the smell of wet dirt & grass remind me of after school practice
*wearing flip-flops is strange
*the weather feels like I dropped into spring, but the trees say fall
*I gave myself two days to do nothing, permission not even to get out of my sleep clothes
*that felt nice
*we are already going to take a road trip
*the grocery stores are so huge, I forgot about using a cart
*one of the ralph's grocery stores is so cold that the workers wear gloves
*I am still not used to the light
*I started sketches on a couple of words
*I need to swing into a routine
*need some jars for water & gouache

*jetpuff is nowhere near as good as fluff

*I need to find a new camera store…the one nearby either doesn't carry 2&1/4 film or it is going to take days to develop…wonder where they are sending it out to?

*I have used my mobil phone today more than I have in the last month

*the Boy is already carpooling to work, so I got the car

*I don't know what to do with myself…although people that know me tell me that it is a good thing for me to do nothing, to have nothing to do

*who doesn't have salt & pepper or a corkscrew?

*tomorrow I am going to have to leave the house with the boy…and sketch at the local coffee shop…because otherwise I wander and do nothing, or start a lot of somethings

*johanna has some really awesome (and affordable) art in her shop…(I love the names she gives her paintings…they have almost as much character as the paintings themselves)

*I feel slightly tired

*it is exciting and scary, in a what am I going to do for the rest of my life kind of way, maybe that is why I am doing a lot of wandering

*7-11 is such an equalizer, you get all walks of life walking through the doors & they have branched out of the only junk food items…they had some naked juice and even yogurt 

*I owe a lot of people emails…I'll try and remedy that tomorrow

Until I get photos…you'll find some random lists here. Things I have done, things I have seen.
This was what happened today…

*woke up to chilly weather
*remebering the smells of california
*I went for a walk, in the city that doesn't walk

*I wonder why everyone else is at the Border's at noon on a monday.

The guy that is texting and reading rolling stone is actually meeting sophie (he got a call with a ring tone of his son talking to him)

The girl with the black tights, turquoise knee high socks, with black pumps a mini skirt and a walk with a major sway.

The woman reading 'the diving matrix' way too close, I guess she forgot to bring her glasses.

*the pigeons join me for lunch at fatburgers
*bright sky
*trixie coming out from under the bed
*I feel separate right now. In this bright space. Separate but present.

So the anxious feeling has been kept at bay, by countless numbers of errands, mailing out last minute paintings, more errands, lots of work at work, doing my 'fall finale' friday painting…she has been giving me trouble, maps for the Boy, laundry, early gifts to a couple family members & work folks, but last night anxious wanted to be with me a little closer. She wanted me to be awake, so I played along, double checked all my lists, added some things. At least Trixie was happy she could come out to the living room check on me; go to the bedroom check on the Boy. She keeps us on a timetable. If it is getting past my bedtime, she'll call me to the room, and then she wakes me up in the morning. Purring into my face. It is not a bad way to wake, even if I didn't get much sleep.

…on Wednesday

holga shot from photocrawl

liza’s illustrations….I love her style, they are so witty & beautiful to boot, she has such a strong individual voice

Dinner with daphne…yummy lasagna, a cute kitten, and talking…about art, life, and the best - just girl stuff…

elizabeth mitchell’s you are my little bird album. Johanna this is how I picture your family becoming…a little girl playing a ukey?!  Too perfect. When storey sings it slays me, especially on three birds.

a new doll…I will talk a bit more about them next week…for now a blurry sneak peak

Well, there are some big changes on the horizon.  
The Boy and I are temporarily moving to Los Angeles.  
For two months. December & January.
He is working with a music editor (he helps the music that the composer creates fit in the scenes of the movie) and everthing is almost done. The director and all the producers are in la, the composer was in nyc, and so that is why they have been working out here until the end. I had already been planning on leaving my job (no plans beyond that though). And it was going to be so hard to be apart for two months, so we are all (trixie included) going to hop a plane in december and hopefully miss out on some of the northeast weather. I can leave the scarves in New York.

The Boy and I have been tossing around the idea of moving to la (there is more work for him in la, he has contacts in nyc) so this opportunity could not come at a more perfect time. I am nervous and exited at the same time. I can’t believe it is only a little over a month away. I guess for me it is going to be like a long vacation. The job is supposed to finish up in mid-january, so we may have a couple weeks of vacation tacked onto the end of the ‘trip’.

I don’t want to throw paint around in a sublet. Especially the clean and white sublet that we are getting. (I am really going to miss my painting a week, but I am going to continue until we leave, so there is still at least four more paintings on the way.)
I want, I really need a project when I am in la. I think I have the perfect one.  I love the commissioned word paintings that Catia Chien does. My idea is to ink and/or paint 30 words.  I have some pieces of board gessoed and I’ll bring some ink and gouache.  The work will be much smaller than I have been working. (the friday paintings have been around 24” x 36” & the boards are around 4” x 6”) I am thinking that will be a great change and a challenge at the same time. Work on a small ‘canvas’ and with a different medium. I am excited. I need your help. What I would love is thirty words.  I am not sure if I have 30 readers, but for now I will hope and just ask for one word per person. (If it looks like I wont be meeting my goal, I’ll ask for more than one word per person) I need some time with the words that is why I am asking early. To have time for the words to start to live in my head. Then I will illustrate fifteen words in December and fifteen words in January. To sweeten the pot the Boy will draw three names from the word suggestions and those three people will get a little prize. Thanks in advance for your help.

Yesterday the Boy and I started talking about hayrides. What is a hayride and why do you take it? And I got to thinking all of the things the Boy has missed out on. (he was born in another country and is first generation…so things like hay rides are so foreign to him) Things you did as a family in the united states. I need to make a list of things that I have taken for granted that I grew up just knowing. Like hay rides and camping. (that is as far as I got on my list) So I again call on you awesome blogger to help me with my ‘americana’ list. Things that the Boy and I are going to have to do through out our lives. (He is not looking forward to the camping thing – so if you know why it is fun to sleep on the ground and pee in the forest? Let him know)

Also please still vote for the banner…it is pretty close so I will tally the votes on friday. (thank you for all your thoughts)

I have no idea how I got this pattern of dust in my hair. It is strange and kind of a mystery. I walked into the office and they told me I looked like a strange bird girl…wierd.

Fashion week for us at least is pretty much over. We just have the touch up to do.

Shows that have gone up so far:
Baby Phat
(not so sure about the 'grills' in the models mouth)
John Varvatos
(there is a real wall that was built that they walk through & a backdrop behind it as well)
Marc Jacobs
(the washy blue is what we painted…it was a huge set our backdrop alone was 80 feet wide)

I am doing a color and paint study for my painting this week. (the water sketch was the big winner) Here is a rough base for the study. I'll show how I tackled the water tomorrow. I don't usually do studies but I thought it might be kind of fun for this painting.