My Holiday Gift Tag Project

These last few days, I've been having a lot of fun cutting gift tags from remainders of old screenprinting projects. I've made over one hundred! (They'll work for other gift occasions, too.)

Perhaps my favorites are the two sepia toned tags in the upper right corner, cut from screenprints of vintage family photos.

And... Our Happy Holiday

We had warm weather again this year so opted to eat our traditional meal in our outdoor courtyard. It was terrific. Delius Restaurant provided the take-out, which I picked up yesterday and warmed up today. It couldn't have been tastier and we have leftovers for the weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I am thankful for Joe, good friends, art, a happy life, and especially these days, parents who are coping well despite difficulties.

Heading into The Thanksgiving Holiday

Mary Coromelas

untitled, 2010

intaglio

This gorgeous intaglio print by Mary Coromelas seems perfect for the day before Thanksgiving. I love to watch her work: She arrives at the beginning of class with a vague idea, works it out on the etching plate over time, then prints beautiful results over and over. She also likes to experiment with various ink color combinations, the addition of chin colle, watercolor, and who knows what. Always interesting.

Just Kids by Patti Smith

I'm really enjoying Patti's Smith's new autobiography, Just Kids. And it won a big literary award today.

Would Love to Catch This Concert

The musical ensemble Pandemonium will play squonkaphones, instruments made from drain pipes, as well as tubes, bottles, whirly toys and traffic cones at UCLA this weekend. Bet it will be great! Remember the dance troup Stomp? Pandemonium is a related performance group.

A Big Football Day

We slouched around all afternoon and evening watching football. It was fun! But I fell asleep toward the end and missed out on who won the last game.

Easy to find out online: Tom Brady was the hero of the day for the Patriots, who beat the Steelers.

I wish American politics were less like a football game and more like leadership.

We Are Wimps...

We turned the heat on yesterday evening.

The Annual SoCal Fall Challenge

I've got all the curtains on the south side open this morning, hoping the warm, bright sunlight will warm up the house. Inside temps have been hovering in the low 60's. Pretty chilly! Yet, we are into our self-induced,  environmentally-friendly challenge to keep the heat turned off for as long as possible. We didn't make it into December last year, but we hope to this year...

An Art Filled Weekend

On Saturday, Judy Chan and I attended the talk and workshop (see earlier posts for more details) given by Amy Uyeki and Aiko Uyeki at the Japanese American National Museum on the Senryu poet, Shizue Harada. The event was terrific and Judy and I were both inspired to write Senryu on a regular basis. Here is the poem I wrote during the workshop:

                                         Possum family
                                         We discover in our house
                                         All nine through cat door.


(I confess I exaggerated the facts - there were only two possums in the house - for dramatic effect. But in my defense, at no time during the workshop did anyone address the issue of poetic truthfulness.)

Not Welcome There, 1996

oil on paper

Judy Chan

Two of Judy's large drawings are part of the Museum's collection. One of them is in the current exhibit. What a thrill to see the piece and to be with the artist while viewing it.

Wood Landscape, 2010

carved wood

Fred Rose

On Saturday night, Joe and I went to the opening of Fred Rose's excellent wood sculpture exhibition at Chez Shaw Gallery in Long Beach. We got to chat with Fred and a lot of other friends there.

Driven Into Paradise (detail), 2010

oil on canvas on panel

Siobhan McClure

We are looking forward to another great art show opening from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, November 20th at the Richard Heller Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. Siobhan McClure's beautiful narrative paintings will fill the gallery. You are invited! 

Etching by Kenji Ushiku

Here is the lovely, small etching by Japanese artist Kenji Ushiku (born in 1922) that Joe snagged at the swap this weekend. Beautiful, delicate.

The Marvelous PaperPro Stapler

I swear this is the best invention in years. Maybe in all time. It's a hydraulic stapler! No force required. Just tap the top and the PaperPro does the rest. This is the smallest version and it can handle up to 15 sheets with ease. Larger sizes are available. From Office Depot. Try it... you'll love it!

Here, There, and Everywhere

Joe and I are back from Arkansas after a good weekend with my parents. There, it was gorgeous fall weather, cool and breezy. Here, it is a sweltering 95 degrees today. There, the hotly contested "wet vs. dry" issue was on the ballot to determine whether alcohol could be sold in Clark County (it passed). Here, it was whether marijuana should be legal in California (it didn't pass). Here, republican Meg Whitman's personal contribution of $140 million wasn't enough to win her the governorship; there, democratic incumbant senator Blanche Lincoln lost heartily to a tea party candidate. 

Today, I'm organizing the upcoming photo etching demo for my intaglio class and trying to catch up for my screenprinting class. 

The juvenile possum still lives in our house. He successfully evades the newly purchased trap, strategically placed where Sophie's food dish once was.

Tonight's another night... tomorrow is another day.