2012 WCA Conference in LA

From the Breaking in Two exhibit at Arena 1 Gallery.

2011 Kohaku Utagassen

An over-the-top emotional performance by the last singer on the Red Team pushed the votes in favor of the women's team.

White Version

Almost done .

Holiday Season

Sadly, the tree in Union Square is now artificial but it is still a glorious sight!

Burning Bad Juju

All those evil letters from that evil neighbor were shredded and burned in a lovely firepit at Judy's last night. What a beautiful ending it was!

Winter Rain

Just finished this collage made with painted index cards, scrap paper, momigami and bamboo. The scraps were collaged on Avery sheets, then cut into thin strips. Most time consuming was painting the index cards until they acquired the right consistency of thin leather. The sharp strips reminded me of cold winter rains. Thinking of making three more in red, white, and dark blue. Things to remember: do not glue all the way through. Loose paper makes a nice rain sound. Also tape down the strips to prevent buckling.



Detail of collage

Smokes

Patterns of Addiction

Working on a ArtTag subject called Patterns. My partner in this game sent an interesting piece with smokers chewing on fat doobies. I had forgotten how seductive smoking images can be. Patterns of addiction. Yes!

Hapa Bruthas

Opening

After 18 plus months of hard work the show opened on Nov 4. The works looked amazing and we drew a huge crowd. Mills College received their Sylvia Sleigh donation and Chanel completed her performance. Hopefully next weekend's offerings will attract further attention.

One Day in NYC

I am here unexpectedly, on my way to visit a gravely ill friend in PA. Mike arrives early tomorrow and we are driving down. Last night I got together with two friends whom I haven't seen in a number of years. It was a drizzly night and I walked the 20 blocks or so to the Portuguese restaurant and back. The Chrysler building gleamed like a retro movie set. My room is a sliver but it has a neat view of the Empire State Building.

Today is a mix of free time and work. There were two galleries in Chelsea that featured Nick Cave's amazing sound suits. At Mary Boone, the suits were colorful and fanciful. The Jack Shainman Gallery had more monochromatic suits, but just as amazing. I sat through the video at Shainman twice to enjoy the leaping, rolling, kaleidoscopic performances of dancers wearing Cave's suits. Stopped for lunch at the Legend Szechuan restaurant and had a delicious bowl of dandanmein.












Then on the subway to the Met.



The only exhibit I wanted to see was a small wall of Romare Bearden's cityscapes. I got some great ideas for the series on Folsom Street that I hope to resume after open studios. Or after Reversing the Gaze. Or around the end of the year.





NYC is full of inspirations, even on this short visit.



View from my hotel window



Seventh Avenue


Union Square

Met sketchers

Artful Day

Started the morning at a SBAWCA meeting in Redwood City, talking about effective use of social media and an exciting exhibition about Suffrage. Mike came up with the tagline: "don't miss the train."



Then on to ProArts open studios, where we walked among the sculptures of Vicky Jo Sowell. I loved this goddess piece standing tall against a backdrop of surreal fuzzy clouds.







Then on to some lovely calligraphic oil and ink paintings on aluminum.




Then to izakaya Ippuku, which mostly serves yakitori.



These are skin (left) and thigh (right).



We finished the evening back in SF for an opening of "Sign Your Life Away" at Guerrero Gallery. It featured a room full of yummy lettering.

Location:San Jose Ave,San Francisco,United States

Flow Opening

About 300 people attended the Flow opening last night. Great to see that many artists invited their friends. Also great to see juror Andre Rozanoff of Caine Schulte Gallery and gallerist Sandra Lee.






Visitors enjoying the scene





Deborah Mills Thackery and artists in Skylight gallery





William Salit with Andre Rozanoff





Kevin Pincus next to his painting





Nite Owl with his work





Sandra Lee





Artist checking in

Location:San Jose Ave,San Francisco,United States

I Grant Yo Wishes

The speed-dating question has been rephrased slightly to: "What was the best perk you've ever offered in your job?"

Answer: That would be lactation benefits. We were able to justify the cost of installing a breast pump machine in the quiet room by demonstrating that it took women only 10 minutes to pump their breasts by machine versus 20 minutes manually, over the toilet seat. We gave each nursing mother a lovely cooler kit that included breast attachments and bottles for the milk. For a company full of young women, this was a much-appreciated perk.

ArtPad 2011

Opening party at the Phoenix filled the funky motel rooms with art, wildly costumed art lovers and the nostalgic scent of weed,



Swimming pool and mob


Slideshow on wall, view from the balcony


Pink tail, petal bells


A room with a pool


Big hair woman or man


Enuff said!

Rain in May

Unseasonably cold, rainy day in Alameda yesterday. View from my windshield. Raindrops transformed the State and US flags into flowing brush strokes. I love the free instagram app which lets me play with various filters. Though Time Zero film is now defunct, I can get my former Polaroid effects with rain and Instagram.

Filoli Gardens

My FIPS friends took me to Filoli Gardens for my birthday. Overcast and cool, it was the perfect day for photographing the late spring blooms. One of the pleasures of the day was the fragrance of flowers, the special, rich scent of roses and peonies to the subtle, secret aroma of wisteria. The day ended at the cafe, which served up a fantasy slice of lemon cake. A perfect getaway day from the drudgery of pecking on a slowly dying computer.