Peanut Blossoms

My friend Julie gave me these amazing peonies at my birthday party on Saturday night (which was a blast!) I have so many amazing friends, including so many more who couldn't attend!!

The framed piece above the flowers is my sign for my upcoming sale at Artists and Fleas THIS WEEKEND!! I used my new stamp and rainbow 'Happy Birthday" ink pad to start the collage and then used paint, pens and markers to jazz it up more.

I'm on a roll with jewelry for this upcoming weekend. Later today I will make the stand for the earrings to hang from. So much to do and time is moving fast! This is always how it happens.

Check out this plant! This is the one we found on the street in Chelsea last fall/winter and thought it was dead but now it's beautiful and flowering! What is it? I'm sure my Grammy will know!

Paintings in progress.

I'm on a roll with some new ones that will be in really nice white frames.

Box-o-Peanut

Have a great week!

Lenny and the Snoozers

This photo is full of good stuff to talk about! First of all, I'm wearing the new yoga mat bag that I made as a birthday gift for myself (I'm also proudly wearing a Miley Cyrus T-shirt from Mikel's mom). I know it seems weird to make something for myself rather than buying it for my Birthday. I was actually planning to buy one on etsy but after looking through all of the mat bags I decided I wanted to make myself my ideal bag. It is big enough for two mats or a mat and blocks as well as a change of clothes! The truth is, my favorite thing to do is hang out at home, listen to a good book on tape or watch a movie while making something funky with no stress or expectations attached. So that's what I did for my 27th birthday! That is, AFTER Mikel made me an amazing breakfast and then had to go to work an before I went out in my party dress!

This photo also shows my new stamp print on the bottom of the calendar behind me. It turned out so awesome! I ordered it at Simon Stamp which allowed me to design it exactly the way I wanted. I even bought black and rainbow ink. The rainbow ink pad is called "Happy Birthday" and of course it arrived yesterday, exactly on my Birthday!

This image also shows my new haircut (which I did myself in the bathroom earlier today). Mikel and I have been cutting our own hair for about 9 years now. Usually I cut mine and he does the final touches on the back of my head where I can't really see.

Finally, on the table is the amazing bouquet of flowers Mikel bought me for my birthday along with two awesome books: Coop by Michael Perry and 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

My new bag can be carried like a sling bag or a duffel bag. It has a super wide strap for comfort, especially for when I am biking to yoga classes.

Here is the inside of my yoga bag. You can see it has my blocks and mat in it and two interior pockets.

Here is a blurry photo of my talk at A-Lab last Saturday:

There is something really funny about giving a talk. (for more photos click here.) My perception as the one giving the talk on Saturday was totally different than Mikel's perception. For example, I was super nervous and felt like no one was interested. Mikel might have been being overly nice to me, but he said it was smooth and clear and he was bummed that the host didn't leave enough time for people to ask me questions. I was totally under the impression that no one wanted to ask questions so the host moved on. Funny how perception can be so different (and how I can be so neurotic!) I often feel when I am giving talks or teaching that I totally lose myself, lose track of time and by the end I have almost no memory of what happened. Anyway, this talk was such a great opportunity and it was located in the China Town of Queens which is a totally awesome place!

About Birthday stuff: last night was the most hilarious and amazing birthday outing. I don't have photos yet but I'm working on it! I wore my favorite cocktail dress and got all fancied up and went to Flavor Paper (where Mikel works) for a party. Guess who was there!! I totally saw Lenny Kravitz! Apparently he has a design company that has been working with Flavor Paper lately. I was hoping he would show up to the party but wasn't depending on it. My friend Julie and I were sitting on a super mod couch, drinking amazing cocktails with watermelon juice and cilantro (among other things) and totally watching the Lenny Kravitz show go by. It was amazingly NYC!

For a final note, to get in the mood for snoozing, here's a photo I took of the meowsers. I know I'm becoming one of "those cat ladies" who feels like everyone else must want to know everything about her cats... but I just can't stop myself! I totally understand if you roll your eyes every time you see these two squishers. I won't hold it against you!

Cutie Pods on Repeat

Hello!

Quick updates:

This afternoon at 2:00 I will be participating in an artist lecture series curated by A-lab Forum at Crossing Art Gallery in Queens, talking about my work through the lens of repetition. This forum "Repetition" was curated specifically by Juan Hinojosa who I met at Vermont Studio Center last fall. He's an awesome artist who I am including in my series "conversations with artists" in the near future.

Also: Look how big Dr. Pancake is!! I'm not sure if this is normal but he is still nursing at about 10 weeks old. What a cutie pod!

Vigorous and Random Triathlon

"Dragon Tears"

It's been ages it feels since I've written and I have so much to tell you!

Where to start?

I'll do a lightning flash run through:

~Yesterday I brought 6 pairs of earrings to The Whitney. I'm not sure when they will go on display but I'll let you know! I'm very excited (even if none of them sell) and thankful to have such a great opportunity! One of the pairs is called "Dragon Tears Sprouts". The are the siblings to "Dragon Tears" above.

~Also yesterday I taught my first paid yoga class at a place called Iwona Yoga in Queens. I had 9 students and it was truly an amazing and nerve-wrecking experience. I was a sub for another teacher (Iwona, who owns the studio). She called me just a couple hours before the class started. I was up in Manhattan at the time so I planned my class on the subway ride home, ran from one transfer stop to another and made it in time to cram a piece of toast in my mouth, yoga pants on my legs and hop on my bike and bike over as quickly as possible (20 minutes from my apartment). The class I was subbing for was "Vigorous Vinyasa" so I did my best to get some flow and sweat going in the class. I was totally nervous when I started and I'm sure it showed but everyone seemed happy at the end and Iwona still wants me to teach regularly! After my running, biking and yoga-ing I felt like I did a random triathlon. I was pooped and wound up at the same time. What a day!

~Today is a more mellow day (at least as far as running around goes). I have about a zillion pairs of earrings to make for Artists and Fleas in two weeks and for Bliss Boutique. Ashley gave me her old CD player to I'm finally able to rock out to some old school CDs in the studio, drink "Russian Caravan Tea" and get to work!

~When Mikel and I went to Alfred for senior shows we were VERY lucky to also peek into Julie Moon's studio (she's a grad student). She's a freakin' ceramics rock star. Here are some images I took:

I know they aren't the best images but seriously! Check out her website!

~ Also yesterday, (as if I didn't do enough!) I ordered a 3"x 3" stamp that looks like this:

I hope it looks this cool when I get it and use it. I'll see! I want to be able to stamp packages and bags when I sell stuff or send letters, etc. It's kinda spooky but also eye catching I think!

~A final note about inspiration: I had a lovely tea date with my friend Blaise on Tuesday before meditation. We were talking about inspiration and art education (two things hugely on my mind lately). I was talking about the fact that inspiration comes randomly and the only thing we can do as creative people is learn to recognize inspiration when it comes and to learn what to do with it. Blaise made an excellent point then and I hope I am paraphrasing it well enough. She said that inspiration is everywhere, that it's possible to just wait and wait and not see it anywhere. It takes effort to see it! I like this point of view because it is a more active approach to finding/seeing/noticing inspiration, like we can do things to change our lens and see inspiring things around us and that once our lens is changed we see more and more!

The question is: How do we change our lens so we can see inspiration that already exists around us?

I will be also interviewing Blaise in my "conversations with artists" series. She is an amazing writer so it will be fabulous to read her responses. I have a feeling I will be getting responses back from all of the artists I send questions out to at once and then have a long stretch of interviews, but for now, the blog train continues! I hope you are having a great week. Yay Friday!

Drink and Draw

Mikel and I spent three days out of the city for an inspiring, delicious and WAY fun trip to visit Ashley and Jordan in Buffalo. We took Amtrak out there (long trip but beautiful!) I haven't seen Ash in more than a year and was really excited to be able to chat face-to-face, especially after her interview! Both Mikel and I returned home late last night totally inspired! Not only do Ash and J live in an awesome house built in the 1800's that they are in the process of redecorating in super stylish ways, Ashley's amazing quilting skills totally sparked up the place (even the cushions and pillows we are sitting on the in the photo were covered/designed by her!), her art was all over, her cooking was divine, and we were even dazzled by Jordan's creative skills he shows in his beer brewing! It was so tasty!

(side note: Check out my new super long earrings! I wore them all weekend.)

I loved seeing Ashley's studio in person. It was even cooler than her initial photos showed. It is very difficult to get a good sense of scale in photo sometimes, especially with abstract work. It's also hard to get a sense of texture and I was blown away at the different textures in each of her pieces: glitter, shine, matte, globby, etc. This is a drawing that is on the wall of the studio that is part of a series of drawings done with guests. We decided to call it "Drink and Draw". Although we planned to do one this weekend we ended up not having any time. Next visit for sure!

Here is another beautiful image from Ash's studio.

And another: these are sort of out of context as I am cropping and abstracting them. Her whole studio is so inspiring and full of beautiful, detailed work!

This is a cool and super contrasted photo of their dining nook. I love it!

We also went to Alfred for senior shows which was stellar and couldn't believe it when it snowed almost all the way home. It is May, right? Now I'm home, working on paintings and jewelry for upcoming sales and fun! I promise more interviews will be posted soon as well assome more fun stuff. Have a great day!

Random Apartment Tour

Happy Tuesday! I was chatting with my mom last week and she suggested that I post more images of my living space where I spend most of my time and where I make my art. So here's a mini tour of random apartment stuff!

I found that awesome plastic bonsai tree in the garbage last week.

Future jewelry and sculpture!

My seedlings are alive and I separated them so they have more space to grow! They were growing so slowly for a while and then I saw my friend Aidan's seedlings and she told me I should spray them with water, not pour water on them. I just started yesterday. I hope it works!

Studio shot from this morning. It's clean because our friends John and Angela visited for the night and when we have guests my studio becomes the guest room. (I just realized that its funny that I said "it's clean" because I'm sure it doesn't look like it. Let me qualify this: it's as clean as it can be. The floors are swept and all of my things are in their proper places.) As a guest room I think it's a little like camping in a magical jungle... possibly a bit claustrophobic but a one-of-a-kind experience nonetheless.

I know that people usually hide their messy closets but I know that I'm not alone in my I-have-a-small-NYC-closet-ness and I'm trying to embrace it. This is the larger of two closets that we have. The other is in Mikel's studio. I keep my clothes in here but it's about 87.6% full of art supplies. It's an interesting challenge to have one room be studio, garden, closet, storage, guest room, sewing room, etc. It demands serious organizational creativity.

This is our main room right now (just ignore the towel drying on the chair ;-) Some details: that's a minotaur head on our cupboards. Mikel made it and did a collaborative video piece with his art collaborator Ethan Kruzska. You can see images here on their website. There's peach brandy up there too as well as two drums (Mikel's).

These two fur balls are laying on the floor of the main room right outside my studio. Check out the legs we got from our friend Ariele. I'm hoping to make them into legs to a counter in our future hand sculpted house. When she and I carried the legs to my apartment almost everyone we passed asked us if we killed the girl to get her legs. Of course we did!

By the way, Ariele is an awesome artist! Check out her work here! She and I will be at Artists and Fleas on May 29th and 30th selling art, jewelry, etc. If you're in the area, come on down! (I'll remind you of it as the time comes nearer).

Our couch/bed (left) is folded down and covered in wood so Dr. pancake doesn't pee on it. I know. Gross! Too much information? Here's more: our bed is his favorite place to pee. His second favorite place is in the shell of Mikel's old helmet which we have placed in his litter box. Someday he'll be litter box trained (I hope!!!!!) We might need a different kind of litter... Check out the awesome architectural model on the wall! Mikel found it in an abandoned lot by his work. I LOVE it!

Ok, random tour, I know. It didn't include Mikel's studio or the bathroom (I have to ask Mikey's permission before I post a pic of his studio because he has a big painting in progress in there and he probably doesn't want me sharing it with everyone and their mom, and their mom's mom, if you know what I mean).

I am still waiting for responses from a few artists in regards to my interviews. As soon as I hear from them I will post the conversations here! Now I'm off to make some jewelry and painting before Dharma Punx tonight. Have a great day!

Fun Business

"Inside Out: It'll get you through"

I just installed this sculpture at Spare Room Gallery in Brooklyn. The opening is tonight and the poster is below for more details. Mikel also has an awesome piece in it. He doesn't have a photo of it yet so I can't post it so you'll have to take my word for it that it's awesome :-)

(detail)

Big news stuff from craft land:

~My earrings will soon be sold in the gift shop at The Whitney. Yay!

~I will be attending The Barn, a Seven Below Arts Initiative art residency for 6 weeks this summer in Vermont.

~I will be teaching adult and teen night classes in painting and drawing in July at Spoke the Hub (If you're in the area, contact me for more details and I will post more info on here as I receive it).

Way fun! More news to come as well as a new artist conversation in the works. Have a great weekend!