getting ready for the First Thursday art shenanigans in the city tonight! yay! always a wonderful time and it's so good to get out of the house, away from my work, and look at the work of others. plus there's wine and cheese and all sorts of things that are bad for my waist-line but, thanks to The Jog, i no longer have to worry too much about stuff like that. not that i ever really did. :) life's too short to worry about vanity pounds.
anybody who's out and about tonight in san francisco, i'll be rounding out my evening at my gallery. swing on by and say hi! especially art-school friends. it's been too long since i've seen your happy, beautiful faces.
Showing posts with label wine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine. Show all posts
Jul 2, 2009
Jun 7, 2009
yum...
just past midnight... i've been at the neighbor's house drinking wine. they invited my sweetie and i over for spaghetti but... well, you know how it goes. all it really takes is hearing the cork come out of the bottle and the whole room is ready to drink and running to find a glass. especially when it's good wine. and thanks (or no thanks) to living in wine country, i'm getting quite the wine education which i fear could possibly one day make me a wine snob. i'm already a pretty big art snob. adding wine snob to the list might be a bit much but it's just so good. sometimes there's nothing better than a glass of really good wine on a warm night with laughing friends. nothing.
May 6, 2009
yum
well, i woke up early and honored my wake-up rituals - coffee, writing, dog walking - and then headed off to the gallery to drop off the new painting. between tourist traffic and the storm that is still slowly finding its way outta here, it took almost 3 times longer to get there than it usually does. gross. and then once i finally made it to the city, i spent a half hour looking for parking before i finally gave up and parked in a garage. good thing i know where a cheap one is and don't have to spend 20 big ones for each hour i'm parked there. eventually, i make it to the gallery and spent the next hour or so having a wonderful time telling stories and talking trash with piero, andrew, and erika (super sweet and totally suave people) before hopping back in the car and braving the weather and tourists once more.
unlike most people that live out my way, i actually kinda like the tourists. most of the people i bump in to who come here on a little get-away are from europe and, like most americans, i am a sucker for an attractive accent. yum. i can listen to europeans talk for hours. i never get tired of listening... even if i can't understand a thing they're saying. it doesn't matter. i haven't had the opportunity to do as much traveling as i'd like - not nearly - and, as a result, i find everyone with a foreign accent to be mysterious and exotic which equals attractive. so i like having tourists around. their excitement and desire to explore makes me feel happy and it reminds me to look at my surroundings with wonder... the way i did when i was new to this landscape too. besides, i've found quite a few out of the way spots that tourists don't know of if i end up getting tired of the congestion, but i don't think i'll be trading attractive accents for silence any time soon.
i made good time on my drive back home and spent the evening drinking chardonnay with my neighbor again. i finally realized that this much wine consumption could possibly have a negative effect on my waist-line so i came home and compounded the issue by making myself a huge bowl of chili with cheese and onion on top. :) calorie counting, shmalorie counting. who needs it. life's too great and too short to get wrapped up in things like that when you could be listening to attractive accents, drinking wine, and eating chili with your dog curled up at your feet. quite a day indeed.
unlike most people that live out my way, i actually kinda like the tourists. most of the people i bump in to who come here on a little get-away are from europe and, like most americans, i am a sucker for an attractive accent. yum. i can listen to europeans talk for hours. i never get tired of listening... even if i can't understand a thing they're saying. it doesn't matter. i haven't had the opportunity to do as much traveling as i'd like - not nearly - and, as a result, i find everyone with a foreign accent to be mysterious and exotic which equals attractive. so i like having tourists around. their excitement and desire to explore makes me feel happy and it reminds me to look at my surroundings with wonder... the way i did when i was new to this landscape too. besides, i've found quite a few out of the way spots that tourists don't know of if i end up getting tired of the congestion, but i don't think i'll be trading attractive accents for silence any time soon.
i made good time on my drive back home and spent the evening drinking chardonnay with my neighbor again. i finally realized that this much wine consumption could possibly have a negative effect on my waist-line so i came home and compounded the issue by making myself a huge bowl of chili with cheese and onion on top. :) calorie counting, shmalorie counting. who needs it. life's too great and too short to get wrapped up in things like that when you could be listening to attractive accents, drinking wine, and eating chili with your dog curled up at your feet. quite a day indeed.
Apr 10, 2009
art and wine...
good morning! i've been working on the new maid portrait since about 6:30 and my painting arm is a little tired. :) but i'll suffer through it. i'm really exited about creating a new body of work around this image. and there are a lot of things coming up this summer that i need to be prepared for (more about that later) so i've really gotta pick up the pace on my production... at least as much as my process will allow without becoming a one-woman art-factory. i'm just having so much fun in my little studio lately. my canvasses are last thing i think about at night when i crawl in to bed and the very first thing on my mind when i wake up. i'm on the right track and it's nice.
and speaking of nice... i had such a wonderful time at the wine-tastings we went to yesterday! we went to three different wineries, drank chardonnay out of the tanks, ate strong cheese, and were pretty giggly by the end of it. it was wonderful and i had so much fun! the only down side to drinking wine in the middle of the day though is that by 4:30 in the afternoon i was so drained and tired that i wasn't good for much for the rest of the evening. but magically, i have not even a hint of a headache and was awake and ready for the day at 5:30 this morning. if you find yourself out and about in wine-country, go to the tastings. and a special thanks to Lin at Venge for showing us such hospitality and being so generous and sweet. :)
and speaking of nice... i had such a wonderful time at the wine-tastings we went to yesterday! we went to three different wineries, drank chardonnay out of the tanks, ate strong cheese, and were pretty giggly by the end of it. it was wonderful and i had so much fun! the only down side to drinking wine in the middle of the day though is that by 4:30 in the afternoon i was so drained and tired that i wasn't good for much for the rest of the evening. but magically, i have not even a hint of a headache and was awake and ready for the day at 5:30 this morning. if you find yourself out and about in wine-country, go to the tastings. and a special thanks to Lin at Venge for showing us such hospitality and being so generous and sweet. :)
Apr 9, 2009
a bit of this, a bit of that...
so for about that last 4 months or so i've been asked, with ever-increasing regularity, if i've got a Facebook account. apparently, MySpace has fallen somewhat out of favor for the adult crowd and Facebook is the preferred way to stay connected to all your college buddies. so, yesterday evening i set up an account and am already completely obsessed by it- my new shiny toy to break. just the way it goes for me. i've already checked it today and am now holding it up as a golden carrot to bribe myself in to getting some work done. aside from the many canvasses in my studio, there's also a sink full of dirty dishes that need to be done and a pile of laundry in the bathroom. we'll see.
later today i'm going to my first ever wine-tasting. i'm so excited! and i don't really even like wine all that much. i've recently acquired a taste for the whites (chardonnay is at the top of my tastiness list) but still no luck with reds. they taste like rancid butter to me. or dirt. plain ol' dirt in a fancy glass. but i hope to get overcome this and develop some adult taste-buds in the near future. again, we'll see.
but for all of you in the san francisco bay area region of the world, tonight is the opening reception for marci washington's solo show at Rena Bransten, Dark Mirror.
i won't be able to make it out to see it until the weekend but if you've got nothing planned, i highly recommend it. marci is not only a super great painter but a huge sweetheart and the gallery she shows with is one of my all-time favorites. the evening will not disappoint.
later today i'm going to my first ever wine-tasting. i'm so excited! and i don't really even like wine all that much. i've recently acquired a taste for the whites (chardonnay is at the top of my tastiness list) but still no luck with reds. they taste like rancid butter to me. or dirt. plain ol' dirt in a fancy glass. but i hope to get overcome this and develop some adult taste-buds in the near future. again, we'll see.
but for all of you in the san francisco bay area region of the world, tonight is the opening reception for marci washington's solo show at Rena Bransten, Dark Mirror.
i won't be able to make it out to see it until the weekend but if you've got nothing planned, i highly recommend it. marci is not only a super great painter but a huge sweetheart and the gallery she shows with is one of my all-time favorites. the evening will not disappoint.
Jan 7, 2009
bookish and hopeful...
heather left a few hours ago. she came up for a quick little holiday. we had our coffee fueled slumber party and talked about poetry. i read her one of the poems i've been working on for the last few weeks and i was so happy she liked it. she also helped me identify that i'm getting really ahead of myself by even wondering what "the public" would think of them. i shouldn't be thinking about that end of things at all, at least not at the stage i'm at.
all i need to be concerned with at this point is doing the work itself, learning this craft, and trying my hardest to give the poems the patience and time they require. so that's what i'm gonna do. i'm so interested in poetry and in utilizing it somehow in my larger art practice that i really do need to just calm down and do the work. it's such a wonderful art form and i'd love to be good at it. sometimes, my impatience runs away with me because i want to be good at it RIGHT NOW; but then i remember the long years i spent making paintings i could hardly stand to look at and i realize that it's gonna take time and it's gonna take a diligent, focused, concern on my part to get the work to a place that i can feel proud of. i only started making paintings that i actually liked about 3 years ago. until that point, i honestly couldn't stand my own work. but you guys have already heard that story. anyway, the point is i need to relax and just enjoy the learning process and, to an extent, be a romantic about it: write for myself alone. and i like that idea.
heather helped a lot and i so enjoy our visits together. she's the only friend i've got that has a larger than average appreciation for poetry and it's wonderful to have someone to talk with about poetry-related concerns. plus, she writes too and our visits have a definite workshop component that is so helpful to both of us. it's good to have this with another person.
we also went on a drive to explore the city and found a new used bookstore. i spend way more money than i intended to but i got some great stuff. the book i'm most excited about diving in to is Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop. i've been in the mood for something more macabre these days and haven't been able to find a book that satisfies that desire. heather said this book should do the trick and smiled wide: a very good sign. :)
she also spent more money than she wanted to but at least it went to books. it's always been pretty hard for me to feel bad about spending money on them (sorry sweetie). i've long since outgrown my two huge bookcases and don't have the space right now for a third. i have small piles of books cropping up around my bed and in my studio but i can't say that i really mind. just being around books make me one happy girl. i was born with a hopelessly romantic fascination with books and words and records and writing. i can't help it. i love all things literary. not the worst attraction one could have, right?
and in art news, tomorrow is 'reception night' in San Francisco. i will definitely be making the rounds, looking at all the new work and drinking wine. my buddy eddie is my date so i'm sure once we get to our second glass, we'll be fluent in art speak and snobbing it up for all the eavesdroppers. i'll apologize now for all the jargon you may in fact be subjected too if you stumble across us. ha! but i hope everyone will be making the rounds tomorrow night as well. it's just such an important and thoughtful thing to do to show some support for your local art community... and we artists really appreciate it too.
all i need to be concerned with at this point is doing the work itself, learning this craft, and trying my hardest to give the poems the patience and time they require. so that's what i'm gonna do. i'm so interested in poetry and in utilizing it somehow in my larger art practice that i really do need to just calm down and do the work. it's such a wonderful art form and i'd love to be good at it. sometimes, my impatience runs away with me because i want to be good at it RIGHT NOW; but then i remember the long years i spent making paintings i could hardly stand to look at and i realize that it's gonna take time and it's gonna take a diligent, focused, concern on my part to get the work to a place that i can feel proud of. i only started making paintings that i actually liked about 3 years ago. until that point, i honestly couldn't stand my own work. but you guys have already heard that story. anyway, the point is i need to relax and just enjoy the learning process and, to an extent, be a romantic about it: write for myself alone. and i like that idea.
heather helped a lot and i so enjoy our visits together. she's the only friend i've got that has a larger than average appreciation for poetry and it's wonderful to have someone to talk with about poetry-related concerns. plus, she writes too and our visits have a definite workshop component that is so helpful to both of us. it's good to have this with another person.
we also went on a drive to explore the city and found a new used bookstore. i spend way more money than i intended to but i got some great stuff. the book i'm most excited about diving in to is Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop. i've been in the mood for something more macabre these days and haven't been able to find a book that satisfies that desire. heather said this book should do the trick and smiled wide: a very good sign. :)
she also spent more money than she wanted to but at least it went to books. it's always been pretty hard for me to feel bad about spending money on them (sorry sweetie). i've long since outgrown my two huge bookcases and don't have the space right now for a third. i have small piles of books cropping up around my bed and in my studio but i can't say that i really mind. just being around books make me one happy girl. i was born with a hopelessly romantic fascination with books and words and records and writing. i can't help it. i love all things literary. not the worst attraction one could have, right?
and in art news, tomorrow is 'reception night' in San Francisco. i will definitely be making the rounds, looking at all the new work and drinking wine. my buddy eddie is my date so i'm sure once we get to our second glass, we'll be fluent in art speak and snobbing it up for all the eavesdroppers. i'll apologize now for all the jargon you may in fact be subjected too if you stumble across us. ha! but i hope everyone will be making the rounds tomorrow night as well. it's just such an important and thoughtful thing to do to show some support for your local art community... and we artists really appreciate it too.
Nov 7, 2008
no rest for the wicked! i mean, for the fairest...
maybe it was the excitement of the reception itself, and the unbridled good cheer and inspiration that lives in moments like those, but i just couldn't sleep. in spite of enthusiastically swilling my fair share of wine last night and getting home kinda late, i am up early, drinking coffee and ready to go to work in the studio.
the show looked amazing! i was so impressed with how well all the work (which is very different)fit together. KC Rosenberg and DJ Harmon did an amazing job curating this exhibition, they really did. and i felt so honored to be included in the show! my favorite piece in the exhibition is a gorgeous work on paper by KC herself:
believe it or not, that's actually acrylic paint! i swore i was looking at gouache but no! i don't know how she did it, but being able to make acrylic appear so matte and velvety is an amazing feat that i am wholly jealous of. and KC was so wonderful to talk to. she is such a friendly, good-humoured, and enthusiastic painter! i loved talking with her and felt sad that receptions are so short.
really, i had a wonderful time. a bunch of art-buddies showed up that i haven't seen much of in the passed 6 months since graduation and it was so great! i love them! and i miss them like crazy!!! in fact, it sort of reawakened my desire to go get my master's degree sooner than later. being in a tight-knit community of artists is such a wonderful experience and way to live your daily life! i miss it terribly... but i guess this is just the next phase of learning... making your own way and getting out there in a way that has more to do with sincerity and understanding than academic efficiency.
anyhow, i feel great! still high from the Obama victory too, i suppose: inspired, enthusiastic, full of faith and hope, and looking forward to undertaking the work that lays ahead.
the show looked amazing! i was so impressed with how well all the work (which is very different)fit together. KC Rosenberg and DJ Harmon did an amazing job curating this exhibition, they really did. and i felt so honored to be included in the show! my favorite piece in the exhibition is a gorgeous work on paper by KC herself:
believe it or not, that's actually acrylic paint! i swore i was looking at gouache but no! i don't know how she did it, but being able to make acrylic appear so matte and velvety is an amazing feat that i am wholly jealous of. and KC was so wonderful to talk to. she is such a friendly, good-humoured, and enthusiastic painter! i loved talking with her and felt sad that receptions are so short.
really, i had a wonderful time. a bunch of art-buddies showed up that i haven't seen much of in the passed 6 months since graduation and it was so great! i love them! and i miss them like crazy!!! in fact, it sort of reawakened my desire to go get my master's degree sooner than later. being in a tight-knit community of artists is such a wonderful experience and way to live your daily life! i miss it terribly... but i guess this is just the next phase of learning... making your own way and getting out there in a way that has more to do with sincerity and understanding than academic efficiency.
anyhow, i feel great! still high from the Obama victory too, i suppose: inspired, enthusiastic, full of faith and hope, and looking forward to undertaking the work that lays ahead.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)