tanyas, mailart and jobs

i am so enjoying listening to the be good tanyas. and aren't they pretty?! i love the colors in this photo too. i don't know who took it, so i'm sorry for not giving credit.



i received this lovely and unexpected postcard from mail artist frips. frips' cat disappeared for almost 8 months and then came back! here is a pic of the cutie after just having returned (from another blog of frips'). frips also sent me an add and pass little book. i'm looking forward to surprising someone with it and can't wait to get a copy of the book back when it's full.

i think if i was a postal carrier it would be so hard not to keep the beautiful mailart going around. at the very least, it would take me forever to deliver the mail cuz i'd have to appreciate the mailart before delivering it.

speaking of other jobs...i am so tired, in body and spirit, of sitting in front of a computer all day. it's time to find something else. it is so hard to leave the security/familiarity of my job, especially when i have no clear job destination in sight. keri frequently writes (in various ways) about not taking the safe route in life. god it's so hard to leave the safety. but the reasons to leave it just keep piling up, and i can't avoid them much longer. there are, and have been, good reasons to keep my current job. but at this point, the reasons to leave are outweighing the reasons to stay. when i think about leaving the security/familiarity, half of the time i feel like i can't breathe, and the other half i feel excited and restless.

friday links, flowers and words

crazy flowers from laurel

two of my favorite bloggers have some great recent posts.

i enjoyed keri's july 12th post true confessions (and trousers) and july 11th post new beginnings and
andrea's july 12th post about brave girl, cindy (beautiful!)

both keri and andrea are so honest and share so much in their blogs. beautiful artwork and words. their courage in blogging, but especially in life, is inspiring. i am frequently moved to tears (the happy, joyous, sometimes sad, but always life-appreciating kind) by andrea's stories.

for more flowers, go to Kim's blog

and for fun illustration found at mati's, go to sarajo frieden's site

take your pet to blog # 5

the pinky leon table inspection



cuteness and
more cuteness

self portrait tuesday: birthday # 32

I was going to wait until Thursday to post this, but Thursday is Take Your Pet to Blog Day, and this pic works better for Self Portrait Tuesday.

On Thursday I turn 32. When my mom turned 32, she was married, had a career and a 4 month old baby (me). It's strange to me that I'm now the age she was when I began to know her and she to know me. I can now say, I knew my mom when she was my age! And she's now twice my age, which she'll never be again. All this math to say I'm a bit weirded out thinking about the above. But it also makes me feel somehow closer to my mom (and behind in life milestones! though I TRY not to compare). It feels more like her birthday than mine for some reason (which I guess all my bdays are, as she's the one who did the birthing!) Here we are at 35 and 4. I hope we have at least another 32 years together.

On a materialistic note, things I want to get myself for my bday (or down the road):
*an old timey (i guess that goes without saying) typewriter
*the Griffin and Sabine trilogy (Have wanted this for over 10 years. It's about time!)
*a close up lens for my camera
*Jill Bliss native flower posters and cards

And this present, I know I'm getting from my friend/coworker frances. (She and I have the same bday, {happy bday in advance francipants!} so it's only appropriate that we get each other the exact same gift.)

view from my window and lolleyland

didn't want to make these pics small, so...two views from my window:
here is bernal hill, yellow, under a stormy sky.
here i'm spying on my neighbors. they look so SF hipster-y. i like her tatoos.

and one link found on fiftyfootgirl: Lolleyland. i dig her paintings and illustrations!

check out A Bird in the Hand's latest, beautiful bird box!

friday links

added some links to my links page (which is starting to get way too unwieldy!), including a friends' links section.

here are the friend links so far...

Oona - previously mentioned on blog
Heather D - hilarious elementary school friend who, with her partner, started Lesbian Pulp-O-Rama!
Lynn - friend from our disbanded book club, who is taking reading to the streets with her biz, Brown Bag Books

and here are some other links:

creature comforts - craft/design blog
kate larkworthy - represents some interesting artists
little by jenny - crafty shop - check out the felted bird brooches and flower hairpins
brendan monroe - art found through monstertown

book recommendation: Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver - very enjoyable characters and landscape

movie recommendation: Me and You and Everyone We Know - outstanding movie!!! by miranda july. go see it.

take your pet to blog #4 (a bit late)

pink paws


and another view of the cute paws
and birdwatching

fabric scraps swap anyone?

wondering if anyone is interested in participating in a fabric scraps swap?

i was thinking something like - you get 10 people to send to and receive from. and you'd send to each person:

*8-10 pieces of fabric that are either 4 x 4 in., 3 by 5 in., 4 x 5 in. or bigger
*10-20 pieces of any size scrap that's smaller than the above
*optional - any other additional scraps you want to send

if you're interested or have suggestions for different dimensions or whatever, send me a comment. if i get at least 9 responses, i'll organize this thing!

(taking a week off from self portrait tuesday)

THE SWAP IS NOW CLOSED.

Thanks for all of your interest! If you commented or emailed me and didn't hear back, please send me your email address again. Thanks!

monday off

zucchini-tomato-cheese-crustless-quiche-ish thing



flowers



more flowers



ok, so i'll start the blog break soon. soon.

funny bear

long-necked bear for my friend's 2 year old. i think i may need to get some animal patterns.

fun links found on ana ventura's blog:
camilla falsini - very funny illustrations
charlotta sandberg

i may be posting and blog surfing a bit less in the next few weeks as i'm having computering pain. maybe it will go away quickly (i hope!)

take your pet to blog #3

pinky leon reminds me of one of Columbian artist Fernando Botero's figures in this photo. makes me want to draw him very chubby, with tiny feet. i think the motion in the photo distorts PL's proportions..

check out the PL slideshow if you missed it last week! ;-)

summertime creatures

i finally finished my cards for monstertown's summertime creatures postcard swap. my creatures are summertime goats. i like goats, with their horizontal pupils. anyhow, here are all 25 of them together. they look suspiciously like a quilt...

i may put up a slideshow of the cards later. i had planned to just do a drawing and photocopy it, but then i thought i should try something different for me - collage. haven't done a collage since elementary school. it was quite time consuming, but the cutting and pasting was soothing. i used pieces of a brochure/map of stockholm (i figured a lot of my summertime memories are of Sweden) and a deck of angel cards. it's funny how there were connections between the photos in the brochure, streets/parks in stockholm and the angel words. i guess that's what happens in collage, random connections.

self portrait tuesday #3

quick, squishy sketch with funky nose on a lovelydesign pad



red currant has a list of SPT participants.

a fig and a rose

on friday, i ate this sumptous, organic fig and then i went to Mati's and Hugh's art show at Triptych. it made me so happy! i love the characters (animals and people) in both of their art. the show is up through July 9 i think. check it out! make sure to walk down the hallway.

Happy Pride! och Glad Midsommar!

Happy Pride Weekend SF people! see you at the Dyke March.
(soundtrack to this weekend is high volume Le Tigre, Missy Elliot, Peaches...)

also, Glad Midsommar!! read about Swedish Midsommar holiday on Francis Strand's blog.
(soundtrack to this is Sma Grodorna and some Evert Taube)

ana ventura and links

most of you who read my blog are probably already familiar with ana ventura, but for those of you who aren't, check out her blog. the colors are SO beautiful. and look at the beautiful paper collage people. here is one of them:



some other links. don't know where i found all of them. most through port2port.

thimble - crafty blog
Juju Loves Polka Dots - crafty blog, beautiful colors
poppy - design blog
Karin's Style Blog - design blog and Karin's site - beautiful artwork
Christian Northeast - illustrator
Messy Pics - photography
David Maisel - beautiful photos and website, wow!!!

take your pet to blog thursday #2 a slideshow

my Rosa Pomar doll finally arrived. she took the scenic route i think.

i have never made a slideshow before or loaded something like a slideshow to my site. i think i managed to after some trial and error and confusion, though it has some problems. the pics show up as x's first and then pictures. maybe someone can give me a tip on how to fix it. but check it out.

slideshow of pinky leon with my new doll from Rosa!

i can't believe pinky leon cooperated for it! (the tea party is inspired by Camilla's photos of her dog Morran with plushie friends.)

self portrait tuesday #2 and read about zach

bathroom shots



here is another. i like the blue light through the door on this one.

these were taken right before going to see margaret cho. i looked a lot less serious during the show! :-) what margaret says is hilarious and politically right on!, but her facial expressions and her impersonations are the funniest i think.

margaret also has a blog. i just read about zach there. zach was put by his parents into some crazy, scary fucked up place called "Love in Action." the organization's "christian" leader says, "I would rather you commit suicide than have you leave Love In Action wanting to return to the gay lifestyle. In a physical death you could still have a spiritual resurrection; whereas, returning to homosexuality you are yielding yourself to a spiritual death from which there is no recovery." INFURIATING. can't believe a parent would send their child to such a person/place. sign a petition against the insanity here.

zach's blog

custom cozies

here are the cozies i made for my aunt and uncle in sweden. they requested one red and one blue. i actually really like having assignments, though i do have trouble sticking to the rules. i hope they don't mind the extra colors.

here is the extra blue one i made, but i'm thinking they'll choose the above one because it's a bit bigger (and nicer in my opinion).

save whales

found through Rosa and Kim: Greenpeace Virtual March to stop whaling. it's pretty cool how many countries and people are participating in this!

shimmery-ness

i'm very excited for this weekend! i'm going to see Margaret Cho tonight, celebrating my friend's 2 year old's birthday tomorrow, and seeing Lucinda Williams in Stern Grove on Sunday!

also am excited to finish two custom order cozies for my aunt and uncle in Sweden.

and i think i finally have a vague idea of what i want to do for the Monstertown postcard swap. time to get crackin'!

here is an in progress picture of the wrap-ish scarf i finished recently. unfortunately the picture doesn't show the shimmery-ness of the yarn, which is the best part...

take your pet to blog thursday

kitty corner



and a PL landscape

self portrait tuesday #1

i'm joining A Bird in the Hand, Mama Unraveled, Red Currant and port2port in self portrait tuesday. who else is doing it?



i had to post this one because it made me laugh so when it happened. i spose it's obvious what happened, but if not, i was lying on the floor, trying to take a self portrait and pinky leon decided right then to leap over my head. hehehe.

here is a slightly, though not much, better one.

fabricstravaganza

my links page has been updated, finally.

got to borrow a friend's car this weekend, so i went to fabric stores i normally don't get out to, like Thimble Creek in Walnut Creek. they have A LOT of fabrics, including a lot of reproduction fabrics from the 30's if anyone out there is looking for those.

i spent too much money on fabric. and i meant to buy in between colors. muted, earthy colors. instead i come back with these. i'm always drawn to the brighter colors even though i know those in between colors are what usually surprise me and work really well NEXT to the bright ones. next time...



my favorites:

i'm finally feeling like sewing again.

frukost pa Gustavsberg fat

breakfast on a Gustavsberg plate.
toast with Sticky Fingers jam. yumba.
this is one of my favorite little plates. whenever i go to Sweden i go to the used plate store in Kungsholmen, Stockholm and take some fun plates home with me. little delicious pieces of Swedish design history. i'll show more plates another day.



now for some illustration links found through Tania Howells and Cindy of Learning Daily, both great illustrators themselves:
Kim's Suitcase - whimsical and creative, with great details
Missy Chimovitz - funny and lovely drawings. check out her website too.
ikastikos - i like the she played with fire one

earth friendly links

tree hugger - blog about all things environmental. there is so much great info on this site. all the below links except for the last were found on tree hugger.

The Turtle Press - recycled papers, journals, etc.

Mango Moon Yarns - recycled sari yarns!
Blue Sky Alpacas - beautiful yarns, some organic

American Apparel Organics - very cool! the brand against sweat shops now also has organic cotton clothing

and Killing My Lobster isn't really very related to earth friendliness, but they are ridiculously funny. the earth needs humor too i spose. if this hilarious comedy group is coming to your town, see them! your sides will ache, i promise.

Misabi

sketch of my mom's old horse, Misabi (who turned from dark, dappled grey to white over the years). from a photo. i haven't drawn from a photo since high school, but was inspired by the weird angle Misabi coming out of darkness. also haven't drawn much for quite some time, so am out of practice. wow horses are so detailed - their veins and muscles. what creatures! unlike my mom, i've not been much into riding, but horses sure are beautiful to look at. which reminds me of a Lame Deer quote that Alice Walker quotes in her book of poems 1965-90,

We had no word for the strange animal we got from the white man - the horse. So we called it sunka wakan, "holy dog." For bringing us the horse we could almost forgive you for bringing us whiskey. Horses make a landscape look more beautiful. - Lame Deer, Lame Deer Seeker of Visions

take your pet to blog day

inspired by port2port's take your pet to blog day tuesdays, here are a couple of the many faces of pinky leon. oops. i just realized port2port's take your pet to blog day is thursday, not tuesday. i guess i might as well just post this now then. since i can't wait until thursday, i may as well not wait until tuesday! sometimes i am very impatient.




and, the rarely caught on film (or digi), tummy roll, for liz. PL misses you liz!

and here is PL as usual trying to tell me i need to STEP AWAY from the computer.

next tuesday i may join A Bird In The Hand's self portrait tuesdays.

edible art

photo links: DYSWIS She also has great links, all of which I haven't checked out yet.
your waitress photos - a Berkeley woman
Nick Feder - 15 years old ? and beautiful portraits

art: Blanka Sperkova - wow! found through Camilla and
my friend Oona, a prolific and amazing artist, who lives too far away (NY) from me! here is one of her paintings:


check out her site

Fucking Amal-esque

am currently enjoying:

Lala Land's site and Sanna's blog and photos

It seems like Sanna experienced something similar to the girls in the movie "Show Me Love," or "Fucking Amal" as it's called in Swedish. I thought Swedes were more openminded about queerness than people in the U.S. Not always I guess.

For the non-Swedish readers, 18 year old Sanna and her girlfriend at first were told they couldn't attend a school dance together. Then then were told they could, but one of them would have to wear a suit (which i find kind of amusing - so it's ok for two girls to dance with each other as long as one is butch or in drag or pretending to be a boy???). Then they were going to be allowed to both wear dresses, but couldn't participate in dances where partners changed, because then hetero girls might have to dance with a LESBIAN!! Oh the horror! (The word lesbian is said in a loud whisper. That's how my coworker says it because lesbians are so SCANDALous! hehehe) As usual the discrimination is made into the lesbian's problem instead of the problem of the homophobe. Just imagine if this were a race issue. Anyway, congrats and thanks to Sanna and Eva for being proud and courageous!

In more local and less interesting news, here is the scarf I'm making for Jen. She asked for zippy, and stripes came to mind. Look no further if you're reading this Jen!