Thursday, April 8, 2010

Octopus > Your Mom

Why do I think octopuses are so amazing? Why do I insist on painting them, wearing them as jewelry, framing them to display on my walls and bookshelves, etc? Start by reading this informative, hilarious opinion piece by The Oatmeal.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Hilarity: in the form of a complaint letter to Virgin Airlines

Although this has nothing to do with craftiness, sometimes hilarity must be shared. This is one of those times.

Hands down, the world's greatest complaint letter (with pictures).

Monday, April 5, 2010

Happy Belated Bunny Day!

Considering my complete and utter lack of religious bent, Easter barely registers on my holiday radar. However, there are three things about Easter very much worth celebrating:



1. Bunnies. As a child, bunnies were totally my thing. I was bunny crazy. These days, I still hold them dear to my heart. Especially this kind of bunnies (which definitely makes my list of Top Five Favorite Animals Ever).



Angora Rabbit


2. Jelly Beans.

3. Dying eggs. My roommate extraordinaire and I created these little masterpieces. I am responsible for the top four (swirly blue/red, the owl, the paisley, and the swirly green/yellow to the right of "Jeff".) We jammed to Ray LaMontagne, Sufjan Stevens, listened to This American Life and had a ball.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

First Day of Spring: Coney Island













When I grow up, I want to be like this man.








As you may already know, I'm a big fan of Coney Island. Coney Island is essential to a complete NYC experience. It's just SO WEIRD it cannot be missed! What better way to welcome spring and to enjoy the 70+ degree weather than to schlep on down to good ol' Coney Island? My beloved roommate/dear friend wrote about our adventure here. My Coney Island croonies were lovely Hannah-Jane and the incomparable Kersti.



Octokites!


I don't know about you, but I can't think of a classier wedding backdrop than Sideshow by the Seashore (note Lizardman). Pure Coney Island class.

No trip to Coney Island is complete without a visit to my favorite ghetto aquarium.


Walrus high five for spring, everyone!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Molokai, Hawaii




Kapuhi Beach

For those of you unaware, there exists a small island in the Pacific called Molokai. It’s in the chain of Hawaiian islands, but it is rare that a native Hawaiian has ever visited Molokai. The island is roughly 38 miles long and 10 miles wide at its widest point and is home to about 7000 people. It is known as the most Hawaiian island (the birthplace of hula) and is fondly referred to as “the friendly island”. I simply refer to it as Heaven.











Spanish goats frolicking on sea cliffs



















In order to alleviate the winter blues, and with the generous help of my parents' frequent flyer miles, I escaped to Molokai for a week and a half in February. After an obscene amount of time on three different airplanes, I landed in the tiny airport (see map) and was greeted by my goofy, welcoming parents.





We had fabulous adventures climbing seaside rocks, basking in the sun, hiking, biking, and I had my first flying lesson. I flew a small Cessna from Hana, Maui, to Kaulapapa (the leper colony on the north side of Molokai) and back to the itty bitty main Molokai airport. I took off and landed twice and I'm proud to say that I didn't kill anyone. Success!



Such a bad idea.

Gorgeous Molokai sea cliffs (note my arm's reflection!)



This is the "airport" on the Kaulapapa Leper Colony. Only 2% of commercial pilots are able to land on the first pass. I am both pleased and slightly disconcerted to report that I am better at landing than 98% of commercial pilots.



Gerald Ford (small plastic dinosaur extraordinaire) basked in the sunset.


Not only did I have an incredible reinvigorating adventure, I discovered where my creativity comes from. I handed a bit of clay to my dad and a few minutes later he had created this little guy. When asked what he is called, my dad replied, "Um..... Fartblossom!" Is the man a genius, or is he a genius?

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Best Dressed: doggie style


Pink. Polka dots. Ruffles.

I found this gem of a dog shivering outside of a Starbucks on an usually freezing day in New York in January. If only I could be as cool as this dog.

Friday, February 5, 2010

tattooland


I'm addicted to vintage tattoo inspired aesthetic, so much so that I made an entire tattoo-inspired wonderland.

This addiction is a little bit out of control, but I think after this one, it's out of my system.

Materials: artist's board. acrylic paint.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Seattle Paintings #4: The big 'un


This is my monster. I don't recall the exact measurements of the canvas but I'm guessing it's 60"x48". This is the largest painting I have ever worked on. It's about 12xs the size of one of the twins. The female figure is based on the back of the Venus de Milo (an image that the commissioner mentioned as a favorite of his).


This painting was an exploration of various textures. Although it's difficult to tell in the pictures, the spotted areas of white on her back accentuate the crackle paste that I used. I wanted to contrast the smoothness of her lines and the nature curves of the female body with a rough surface covered with imperfections, cracks and deep fissures. I used a fan brush on the red/gold section to create a curious almost rake-like texture. It kind of looks like it was sponge painted. I watered down the acrylic paint and let it drip down the blue section. On the bottom third of the painting (water?), I used staccato arc-like movements to create a wavey texture. The white sections of the painting were done with white paint on a piece of cardboard that I carefully dragged around the canvas.

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