At some point in my life, my wallet was pretty skinny and my walls were pretty white. I needed artwork, but couldn’t afford to buy any, so I decided to make my own. I am by no means a highly trained painter, although I did take a few art classes in high school and liked to sketch in my spare time. But mostly, it’s just improv.

Since then, my tastes have evolved, and so has my life situation. All of these paintings are sitting in a closet, being ignored and collecting dust. Well, not really collecting dust, because I wrapped them really well, but you get the point. Justin and I have been getting rid of stuff (almost to the addiction level) and I realized that I didn’t need to hold onto these paintings any longer.

I have large paintings, medium and small ones. I would like to give these paintings away… if ever you’re interested, just leave a comment. I’m not selling them, I just want them to find a home. I know most of them are a little weird… but hey, maybe one of you will like something.

Here they are… large paintings… acrylics on canvas… want one?

#1 Abstract warm colors — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 24″x 30″ (61cm x 74cm)
Date: 2005
Story: I have gone through a very warm color phase (you will notice….) and needed to cover a lot of wall space. So there you go… lots of energy in this painting.

#2 Female – Male – Hot – Cold — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 12″x24″ each (31cm x 62cm)
Date: Dec 2004
Story: These are 2 separate paintings but meant to be near each other, very much like I was viewing male and female – very different, almost opposites yet needed to coexist. Their energy is different, their colors are different, but in form and intention, they are the same. I had these in my bedroom for a long while.

#3 Deconstructed wave — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 36″x18″ (92cm x 46cm)
Date: May 2005
Story: Another one of those situations where I needed to cover a lot of wall space. I thought it would be cool to make a wave, but without its fluidity, yet evoking movement. This is my attempt.

#4 Flower — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 18″x24″ (46cm x 61cm)
Date: 2005
Story: I remember being attracted to flower paintings in general and thinking I could make one. Warm colors were obligatory and I started playing with really wet drips of paint to give the sort of flower veins a certain controlled randomness.

#5 Hippie trinity — *ADOPTED*

Dimensions: 24″x24″ (61cm x 61cm)
Date: Dec 2004
Story: Ok, this is my hippiest creation, I think. There’s not much to say about the women themselves. I thought of the positions more like a choreography than with an actual meaning. I just wanted to focus on the primary and secondary colors with their complementaries. The basics.

This year I had no idea what to get anyone for Christmas. I new I didn’t want to get generic and I wanted to give something more personal.
I had bought some little 3.5″ x 3.5″ (9cm x 9cm) canvas a long time ago with the idea of making some little paintings to put around the house or the kitchen. Remembering I had those sitting in the closet, I thought it might be neat to paint a tiny little something for everyone I wanted to give a gift. I had 9 canvases and thankfully the number of people matched exactly. 9 paintings it was!

What could I possibly paint that pretty much anyone can relate to, that’s not too complicated and that can offer some contrast?… Food!… and food related things. It took me about an hour per painting. A couple were a little longer, but not much. I used the Tempera paint that Justin’s family got me the previous Christmas and voila! Here’s the little bunch of paintings all together.

Now they are scattered all over the world… well, the US and France. Each person has a little piece of this project, a little piece of me.

Back in November I heard that Justin’s sister, Katie, really got into Brie lately. So I thought to myself… hmm… I have 4ish weeks to make her a Brie (Camembert size) and it will be a little on the young side, which will be perfect. Christmas gift, check!

So I brought 2 Camembert size Bries and 2 St Marcellin size ones. The first bigger one was munched on by her, Justin and I…. little wedge by little wedge and woosh it was gone. The second one, I wrapped it in a pre-made (didn’t have the patience to go for homemade) puff pastry. You know how many times you have to fold the dough to make puff pastry? Too many, that’s how many.

Anyways… puff pastry with some homemade jam (see, I make other srtuff than cheese) and some crushed almonds. I baked in the oven for a good 30-35 minutes and it turned out golden, melty, yummy. Maybe a little too doughy for me, but still really yummy. The Brie practically dissolved.

Next time, I might try Phyllo dough.

During the Holiday break, I thought I’d do something with my time while watching movies and chatting with the family. I dug out my long buried crocheting talents (taught by grandmother when I was 10 or maybe younger) and started crocheting away.
I thought it would take me a couple of days to make a scarf, but when I realized it takes me a couple of hours, I had a problem. I needed to make more scarves. I then started taking orders from people and ended up crocheting 7 scarves in 9 days. My left pinky finger got a little sore, but look at the beauties! Lots of earthy colors and warm snuggleness for everyone. Purrrr.

And to kick off the New Year… I’m not making resolutions because I know I will break them and I don’t like to be disappointed. Instead, I got a hair cut (well, before the New Year, but it still counts) to have a fresh look on myself. The new me will do all sorts of cool things that won’t even fit on a list…. I will let it unfold as it comes.

Off for the wonderful year of change that I’m hoping 2010 to be. Happy New Year everyone!

I know, I know, it’s been way too long since I posted last. Lots of things happened since then, but I wanted to find something positive, something fun, something silly to talk about. I finally have something for you!

Cirque du Soleil is in town, presenting their new show OVO, which we’re going to see tomorrow night. I’m so excited! This time, the show is about bugs. I love bugs! Especially when they’re not around me.

As part of their presence in SF, they made a little dance you could learn – The Bug Dance – and “perform” with a bunch of people and performers on Union Square. Those of you who know me… you might not be surprised… I had to go!

And so while I couldn’t take pictures or videos while I was dancing with incredibly light hearted people, I took some shots in between groovy bug moves.

I got to meet… uhh… a bug. She was making lots of weird noises but was very cool.

Some other bugs had crazy lashes! I mean, check out the lashes!

And then came the frogs. Oh dear… those frogs are COOL! I can’t wait to see them bounce around in their “natural” habitat.

Oh wait, this frog is hungry! Ahhh! I like you, but I don’t want to be your meal!

Pheww, I’m intact. What can I say… I felt like a kid and had a lot of fun!

This whole year’s recurrent theme has been cheese, therefore I felt like I had to honor that for Halloween.

What could I do? Wear a cheese hat? Be a cow? Be milk? Sure all of those would have worked. But nope, I decided to be a cheese fairy. And what would a cheese fairy do? Bring cheese to people around her, which is exactly what I did. For the work festivities, I dressed up my little fresh chevres with a pumpkin gummy hat (and some spiders).

It made for a beautiful and colorful tray!

And for our friend’s party, well the fairy turned into an angel. That halo isn’t very fairly-like. A cheese angel, that works too, right?

(See those circles on my shirt? Yeah that’s my attempt to illustrate swiss cheese holes… not sure that worked out, but anyways, you get the point.)

I brought some more cheese for the fine palates I knew would be there. In my right hand is a goat brie and in my left, a Chaource, my two latest experiments.

What can I say, bringing creamy yumminess to people makes me really happy!