drywell

new home!

2011-09-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

Drywell Art, the blog has a new home! Made the switch to wordpress, and it's awesome. Mostly just cleaner and I can have bigger pictures. It's the small things in life, folks.

There will be more changes in the near future, but for now, change your feed settings and hop on over.

www.drywellart.com/blog

snippets of stuff

2011-09-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

Some snippets of life in the last week.

Mostly harried cooking and socializing after making a last minute decision to travel to Dallas (to visit family/help mom set up an Etsy shop!) and DC (much needed friend-time).

From top: view from our roof / canning san marzano tomatoes from Mariquita Farms / $25 "mystery box" haul from Mariquita Farms / lunch at Russian River Brewing with Nosh This chocolates (and, uh, Nosh This (Kai) himself, along with Steve and Kimra) / limited edition posters commissioned by Fleisher's Grass Fed and Organic Meat for their new Park Slope store / plum torte / cocktail hour on our roof / raw chicken pose / impromptu dinner party with Zuni chicken / chicken and waffles and yam tater tots at Criolla Kitchen / cocktail hour with the parents in texas with lemonbird handmade jam / and oh yeah, i bought some art! the top one to be specific.

breakfast inspiration

2011-08-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

After the re-arranging of my office, I rediscovered my Danny Gregory books, and decided to check back in on his blog. More time is needed for me to accurately explain the influence that he has had on my life and art career, but for now, this video he made -- The Art of Breakfast -- needs to be shared. It is insanely satisfying and mezmerizing to watch an artist at work.

The Art of Breakfast from DannyGregory on Vimeo.

McNugget Meat

2011-08-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

original watercolor and ink illustration, 9 x 11

A couple of days ago, I started researching retail cuts of chicken, to make a "Use Every Part of the Chicken" piece, to go with the lamb, pig, and cow in the series. In doing this, I thought it might be funny to include a "nugget" part of the chicken, so I quickly became sidetracked in trying to figure out the age-old question of "What part of the chicken DOES the nugget come from?" Of course, this question inevitably leads to the grandaddy of the nugget, the McDonald's Chicken McNugget.

There was a report from inside the McDonald's McNugget factory. Information about the four (and yes, only four) shapes of the nugget. (That's the "bone", "ball", "boot" and "bell" if you're playing along at home.) Pictures of the McExtruder. The now debunked posts that Mcnuggets came from mechanically separated chicken parts. Dramatic standing McNuggets. Quite funny illustrations of a "McNugget" animal.

And most useful for me, information about the many MANY ingredients in a McNugget. Yes, yes, there is real white meat chicken in there. But that's not all. Not even close.

The troubling ingredient list has been explored in Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Things like thirteen corn-based ingredients in a bite-sized chunk of chicken. Or tertiarybutylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a petroleum-based product, similar to butane(!), and used to preserve freshness. Or that the dimethylpolysiloxane, added to the frying oil to prevent foaming, is a silicone-based ingredient commonly found in make-up and Silly Putty.

But don't they look delicious?

happy independence day!

2011-08-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

A toast of Dogfish Head Festina Peche is in order...

Well, "Alyson Independence Day" anyway.* Two years ago today was my official last day of work as an Asylum Officer. A few months later, I embarked on this weird ride of meat diagrams and art peddling. I'm thankful for the friends I made and the numerous refugees I helped during my time at the Asylum Office, but I absolutely cannot imagine not having "meat artist" on my resume now.

So thank you to my friends and family who have supported me, encouraged me, came out for shows, and brainstormed pork puns with me. Thank you to all the businesses, large and small (who shockingly) wanted me to paint a mural, illustrate a cookbook, create original artwork, or design a poster. Thank you to every person who helped me, whether by hosting my art show, providing delicious food and treats at said show, creating an Etsy treasury, or wrote a blog post with my art. And thank you to anyone who has ever bought one of my prints or an original, commented online, asked to use my work as a tattoo, or even just had a chuckle when looking at my work at a show.

I couldn't do any of this, couldn't have this life, without you all.

*hat tip to Marcia (aka "The Tablehopper") for this amazingly appropriate phrase.

friday o'clock

2011-08-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

I've always loved a good cocktail, but perhaps even more so now that Steve has adopted beer brewing as his hobby of choice. I LOVE beer, but there's only so much one woman can take. I'm definitely a brown liquors kind of gal, and love concocting new recipes with whatever I have on hand.

This "Pretend It's Summer Bramble" cocktail was inspired by the pints of blackberry shurb syrup I have stashed in my fridge. I became mildly obsessed with the idea of shrubs after reading about them on Serious Eats. It's basically just fruit, sugar, and vinegar, but the resulting syrup is lovely in cocktails or even just with sparkling water. I've also been using them in my salad dressings this week. (And if you're wondering, I've been doing the cold shrubing method)

The blackberries were harvested from a roadside in Menlo Park. Gotta love free fruit.

"Pretend It's Summer Bramble"

1.5 oz rye (I use "Ri" brand)

.5 oz blackberry shrub (I made mine iwht apple cider vinegar)

1/4 tsp blackberry preserves

dash bitters

Combine in cocktail shaker with ice. Serve in glass over ice. Maybe throw a few frozen blackberries in for good measure. Drink up.

Lately, I've been pondering the direction of the blog, and decided I want to have more frequent posting, more behind the scenes, more recipes, and more inspiration generally. So this friday o'clock feature is part of that. strap yourselves in for awesomeness.

and now for something completely different.

2011-08-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you internet, for this 15 minute clip from 1974 of Terry Gilliam explaining cut out animation.

via Deth P. Sun (via SFist)

My fascination with animation has been reignited, as it always is after seeing amazing work (Fantastic Mr. Fox, I'm looking at you). This reminds me that I've been meaning to post our stop motion Save the Dates from our wedding a few years back, complete with a how-to, as well. wait for it. but not for long.

Mimosa

2011-08-10T18:31:00.001-07:00

original watercolor and ink illustration

Mimosas are pretty delicious. especially if you hold the oj.

Print available here. (because i know you have to have some mimosa in your life.)

Thank you LA, for giving me a summer

2011-08-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I ventured outside of the 415 with my meaty art in tow (oh, plus Steve and some egg mcmuffins) to participate in the Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles. It was my first show outside of San Francisco, and despite a lower turnout than anticipated (thanks a lot, Carmageddon) I'm definitely counting the show as a success. Why?

1. An outdoors show that was actually WARM!

True, sometimes I'll get a rare warm Sunday show with Indiemart, but for the most part in SF, it is inside shows or crazy windy outdoors ones. LA was lovely, tented, and a full 30 degrees warmer than SF at the same time.

2. Confirming that LA folks love meat too.

There were a couple of people who didn't quite seem to "get" the strong rallying cry of "Los Angeles is for Meat Eaters" but overall, I got meet a ton of excited food and meat lovers, including numerous chefs, and friends of chefs.

3. We got and used a dolly.

Doesn't he look super happy? It's all because of the dolly.

No idea why it took us over a year of doing craft shows to spend a mere $28 to get the most amazing, back and marriage saving device ever. Thanks to Margaret of Paper Pastries for the insanely key tip.

4. Visiting The Bruery and Beachwood BBQ

Steve drinking a glass of Cuir beer from The Bruery

Heading south also meant the chance to see my custom artwork I made for Beachwood BBQ in Long Beach (I might have had some amazing ribs and Telegraph Reserve Wheat on tap while I was there too). The place was fantastic, and finally getting to meet Lena and Gabe, the owners was such a treat. I've been delighted to discover that so many of these awesome business I love are co-owned by husband and wife teams.

Seeing the custom art in person was such a crazy trip and so exciting. As you can see.

We also managed to sneak in a private tour of The Bruery in Placentia, courtesy of the crazy nice and generous Ben, PR dude extraordinaire. I'll have a separate post about that.

6. Palm Springs, baby.

Oh, and a quick jaunt to Palm Springs after the show didn't hurt a damn thing. More on that later....

What? ANOTHER craft show?

2011-07-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

Why yes.

If you didn't get a chance to say hi or snag some meat art of your own at Renegade SF a couple weeks ago, tomorrow is your chance. I'll be selling my artwork, as featured on The Atlantic (I tried to mention that super casually. Did it work?) and hanging out with my partner in crime, Steve. Much of my new work is not available online yet, but it will be available tomorrow at Indie Mart. Come on by and say hello. I'm friendly.

INDIE MART

Sunday July 24, 12pm to 6pm

Thee Parkside (16th and Wisconsin)

There will be food and drinks and music and blood.

Wait, there might not be blood. But you can make your own succulent pot.

Packed, windy, and meaty

2011-07-11T09:54:00.001-07:00

Hello hello! We just finished up a loooong weekend at Renegade Craft Show in San Francisco and it went so well! (Our home, however, is much worse for the wear.) Thanks so much to everyone who came by and bought some slamming art, whether for their kitchen, to use as a study aid in culinary school (yeah!), or as a gift for another meat lover in their life. Steve and I really felt the meat love.

We pop champagne..... Thanks Isabel and Dan!

It was also so great to see friends (some bearing cans of champagne!!!), chat with fellow artists and vendors, catch up with old co-workers, and meet internet/twitter pals in real life. My favorite exchange of the day was with a kind woman who asked if I was from SF, and then proceeded to ask which school I attended. I told her that while I lived here now, I didn't go to school here. And so she asked which art school I went to. Much laughter as I told her that I went to law school, not art school.*

Making my new fancy banner, with a freezer paper stencil.

This was my first time doing a summer Renegade show, and it did go really well. Since it was my first show since the holidays, the ole booth set up needed an upgrade. My hubby, a newly accomplished carpenter (complete with beard pencil holder) designed and constructed some great display cases. They were a classy upgrade from our old kraft paper-covered foamcore cases we had over the holidays.

Man, is there anything that beard CAN'T do?

It was also my first craft show since the holidays, and after the MEAT MARKET art show in May, I had a bunch of new work to display.

Our new "Use Every Part" Pig poster was very popular. Which is great, because I love it.

Figuring out which pieces to keep from previous shows, as well as how to best display my original works, and all the new prints was challenging. In fact, on day 2 we completely changed our display, which I think worked even better.

Day one set up. Slightly barren, no?

Set up on day one. Nice display shelves, right? Also, we only have 2 of the original tiny cheeky meat watercolors (lower shelf, left side) remaining!

A bit of a crowd, and a good look at our booth on day 2. We moved the cheeky meat prints out of the bin we had them in on Saturday, and posted them on our back boards. We also made use of our kind neighbor's wooden booth to display our new larger charcoal butchery diagrams.

Our perpetual neighbor and friend , the amazing Brad of Tiny Sparks

Oh, and I bought myself a little treat! A bamboo watch from Mistura.

Now, to buckle down and create a meat poster for LA, where I'll be at Renegade, in oh, 4 days!

*She then followed up with the inevitable question of "what do you parents think about all of this," but, uh, we don't need to discuss that, right?

Beachwood BBQ sneak peak

2011-06-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

hello hello! I just HAD to share this sneak peek of 3 custom pieces I created for the one and only Beachwood BBQ and Brewing, opening on July 5 in Long Beach, CA.

The place looks amazing and I think my pieces fit right in. Beachwood is known for amazeballs food and a crazy good beer list so I'm of course honored that they contacted me to do this work for their new place. And even MORE psyched to visit in a couple of weeks when I'm in LA for Renegade Craft Show!

MEAT MARKET - show recap

2011-06-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Whew! The opening night of my first solo art show, "MEAT MARKET" was insanely fun. Way, WAY more people showed up than I anticipated, creating a street-side spill over outside of the diminutive, yet awesome Pot + Pantry shop where the show was held.

nighttime crowd outside the show

We (me, Steve, and Pot + Pantry owner, Donna) had a great time setting up the show, including the meat-astic front window display! Steve had the great idea of making extra large prints of the new meat watercolors I created for the show (each originally about 3 x3 inches) and hanging them in the window, creating a kind of butcher shop look.

We also had to figure out how to display the 21 pieces I made in the shop. This was a bit more challenging than say, a gallery show, where the white walls serve as a blank canvas for your arrangement. We wanted the great, homey, kitchen-like feel of the shop to remain, and just incorporate my pieces into the surroundings.

It was so crowded, and I was so overwhelmed by the turnout that I didn't get shots of all the artwork, but here's some!

large cow painting, with 4 small 5x5 "cheeky meat" watercolors

5 "cheeky meat" watercolors on the coffee shelf.
(And my "SF is for Carnivores" poster in the back. That one is always at the shop!)

close-up of 5 "cheeky meats" on the coffee shelf

"i like big butts" and "nice rack"

Above this shelf was the original "hot dog mystery" painting, enthusiastically purchased by the pastry chef at neighboring restaurant, Beast and the Hare. I heard a rumor it might be displayed somewhere in the restaurant!

center shelf, displaying 5 more "cheeky meat" watercolors

next to the pegboard, a pixelated t-bone, in graphite.

Above the stove, "Use Every Part of the Pig"

Given that my work almost exclusively revolves around food, we clearly had to bring it in the food department. Donna rocked out by making bacon shaped butter cookies! (Clearly the main benefit of being a kitchen wares purveyor is that you have a correctly shaped cutting board for every occasion.)

We also had some chicharrones provided by 4505 Meats (the same place where I took a pig butchery class), and some bacon caramel corn made by me.

But wait, there's more! Dinner in the form of really freaking delicious vietnamese street food, like spicy pork bahn mi sandwiches, was available at the new TomKat! food truck. The food was delicious, and the guys were completely amazing and chill, despite the fact that our original parking place for them fell through, and they had to wait for Steve to sweet-talk the very very VERY kind neighbor who not only let us park the massive truck in her driveway, but ALSO gave Steve the code to her basement (!!!!) allowing TomKat to have an electricity source. (And yeah, she totally got a huge bouquet from Donna the next day!)

And for dessert? Who else but Kai, of Nosh This, slinging bacon studded chocolates and caramels out front?! (Follow him on Twitter, people)

Donna and I spent most of the week before debating how many people would show, and decided that we'd be happy with 45. By 8pm, I had stopped counting at 150 (!!) I guess I shouldn't have worried, since Steve was on publicity duty, and did an amazeballs job.

Steve, both double-fisting AND promoting. He can do it all, folks.

Team Drywell!

overflowing crowds

Donna and I at the end of a looooong night. (and her husband)

The whole experience was so rewarding, both personally and professionally. It felt so nice to see so many of my friends and family there, and also incredible to meet so many new people who came out for the meat art! This time last year, I had made about 10 sales on Etsy, had never done a show, and definitely did not consider myself an artist. It is astonishing was can be accomplished if you say yes to opportunities, work hard, and put yourself out there.

Thanks to everyone who came out to see the show, drink free booze, eat awesome food, and buy some art!! Cheers!

new art over at Meat Sections

2011-06-08T12:31:00.001-07:00

I'm in the process of getting all of the originals I created for the MEAT MARKET art show in digital format. They are posted up on my meaty blog, Meat Sections, and will soon be available in the shop too! So check em out.

I'm back!!

2011-05-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

I was summoned to Gotham City via Pig Signal.

And jetlagged.

Our trip to NYC, New Jersey, and DC was exhausting, but we had an amazing time catching up with old friends everywhere. It was a long one, so we're* ready to get back in the swing of things. Expect a full recap of the MEAT MARKET show at Pot + Pantry (if you're in SF, hurry and go see it before I take the show down this weekend!), a big shop update with originals from the show, and some behind the scenes goodness.

* I may not have mentioned that Drywell has taken on its first employee partner. Expect an update on that too!

MEAT MARKET - Art Show for Carnivores

2011-04-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

Radio silence from Drywell HQ, right? That's just because my head's been down, furious working on all new, all original, all meaty artwork for my very first solo art show, MEAT MARKET. I am beyond excited. And also very hungry. Looking at and drawing meat all day is creating drool stains on my desk.

I've rarely ever sold original artwork, so it has been exciting and challenging to create so many for the show. And I think they are pretty awesome. I'll be revealing some works in the days leading up to the show! MEAT MARKET will be held at the ever-lovely Pot+Pantry kitchen shop in the Mission.

The show will be up for a couple of weeks, but you really want to come to the opening night reception on Friday, May 6th from 6 to 9pm. There will be tasty, meaty snacks (perhaps some homemade goodies by me??) and drinks, and because I have a street food fetish, some awesomesauce street food vendors will be set up outside, selling their deliciousness.

So come one, come all, to Pot + Pantry on Friday May 6th, and have your mind blown by meat art.

meat into food

2011-04-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

It's a miracle. I'm turning meat into food.

Wait. That doesn't sounds so miraculous. I'm really turning meat ART into food (from the "Meat My City" poster series) via donations to local food banks. I announced this plan a few months ago. And now the grand totals are in, and donations have been made! In ascending order....

drumroll.....

4. Portland. $10 to The Oregon Food Bank (Come on Portland people. Step it up!)

2. and 3. A tie, between Brooklyn and Seattle. $47.50 to each the St. John's Bread and Life food pantry in Brooklyn and the Northwest Harvest food bank in Washington.

1. San Francisco. Was there any doubt that my home city will pull through with the win? $215 to the San Francisco Food Bank.

That means the SF Food Bank will be able to distribute $1290 worth of food to needy residents of SF! Amazeballs.

The next quarter's donations will be announced in early July. If you're from one of these cities and think that another food bank needs the donations next time, just drop me a line and let me know. Thanks everyone!!

the meat is cooking

2011-03-31T15:12:00.000-07:00

Some more progress shots of the large 18x24 cow I've been working on.

The working title is "Use Every Part."

Though the concept was always to include the writing, once I painted the background, I became pretty hesitant to add words. But I sucked it up and did it. And it's awesome. The End.

more meaty progress

2011-03-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

original gouache and acrylic on wood

A few more progress shots of two pieces for my solo show...

I 'm in love with the colors.

work in progress....

2011-03-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

for an upcoming solo show.

I love seeing other artist's progress shots, so thought I might share one of my own!

BIG MEATY NEWS

2011-03-04T15:34:00.000-08:00

STEAK window display @ Williams Sonoma, featuring "The Cook and The Butcher"

At the close of last year, I alluded to a major collaboration with a big time company in my newsletter. I had to keep quiet for the time being, but now I can finally announce that I illustrated a cookbook.....
.
.
.
.
.......for Williams-freaking-Sonoma!!

The Cook and The Butcher is a meat cookbook (obviously) written by Brigit Brinns with FAQs answered by Tom Moylan, of the Meat Hook in Brooklyn. It is helpfully broken into chapters by animal - cow, pig, veal, and lamb - and then further into recipes for each primal cut for each animal. At the beginning of each chapter, you'll see a badass charcoal butchery diagram illustration by me.

The publisher, Weldon Owen, contacted me back in September last year after stumbling across my work on Etsy. I was floored, to say the least. I love Williams Sonoma and it was quite an honor to have my art in one of their cookbooks.

Weldon Owen commissioned new charcoal drawings from me, based on the popular charcoal diagrams available in my shop. I think the printing came out so saturated and crisp, and the folks at Weldon Owen were awesome to work with (and even purchased the original commissioned artworks to decorate their office!)

The Cook and The Butcher is only available at Williams Sonoma for the time being, but if you want my name in the book, you'll have to wait for the wider release in September (preorder on Amazon).*

Hooray for being able to add "cookbook illustrator" to my burgeoning art resume!!

* There was a snafu in the initial printing, where my credit line was accidentally omitted. It will most definitely be in the larger wider release of the book, however!!!

drywell + food banks. totally obvious partnership

2011-02-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

dave eggers's brilliant drawing, via serial optimist

As most folks know, I am an attorney. (I knooooow, right?). While much has been made in the press* of the fact that I gave up a "government attorney" position to be an artist, I haven't really discussed what that job was.

I was an Asylum Officer, which meant I spent my days interviewing foreign nationals who were applying for asylum here in the United States. It was, as you might imagine, an intense job. It required me to listen to unbelievably atrocious stories of persecution and violence, but on the up side, I was able to help hundreds of people escape their countries and possibly death.

From the get go, my decision to go to law school was motivated by a desire to help others and enter into a public service career. My decision to quit my job (which was unsustainable for oh so many reasons) and then become an artist has been amazing and fulfilling in many ways, but I have felt that some sort of public interest activities have been lacking in my life.

Brooklyn Knows the Tastiest Parts

Given that, I am SO excited and proud to announce that starting this year, I'll be donating 10% of the sale price from each of my "Meat My City" map posters to a local food bank in the corresponding city!!!!

One of the major goals for Drywell Art this year is to expand the line of neighborhood posters, so I'm hoping that lots of money gets donated, nationwide. I'll donate on a quarterly basis, and share the donations here on the blog.

Seattle Eats Local

Right now I have three city maps and I'm proud to announce the corresponding food banks for each one:

San Francisco: All donations will go to the San Francisco Food Bank, where every $1 donated allows them to distribute $6 worth of food! So, buying a SF is for Carnivores posters means that $2.50 of your purchase price will transform into $15 of food for the needy in SF. nice, right?

Brooklyn: All donations will go to St. John's Bread and Life, located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Their innovative digital food pantry was recently featured in the NY Times.

Seattle: For now, all donations will go to Northwest Harvest, which is an umbrella organization for all of Washington food donation programs. Over 93% of their budget goes to food distribution, and for 67 cents, they can feed a family of three a nutritious meal. (If any Seattlites have a rec for a local Seattle food bank in need of some monies, let me know!)

SF is for Carnivores

Meat eaters for the greater good!!!

* By press I of course mostly mean Thrillist and the SF Chronicle. I can use the term "press" right? I don't sound like an a-hole?

Drywell is famous.

2011-01-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

OMG My art is in the newspaper!

Mildly anyways.

Yesterday, I had the surreal honor of being featured in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle newspaper! (Under the appropriately named "Hot Stuff" column in the Home & Garden section)

A freelance writer contacted me out of the blue a couple weeks ago and interviewed me for about 40 minutes. She was super nice and even wrote the article so I didn't sound like a doofus. And that was awesome. Also, I'm forever indebted to her for including this quote of mine in the article: "I'm just kind of riding this meat train for a while." My law professors would be so proud...

Check out the whole article here on sfgate.com.

I'm a renegade. No wait, I'm AT Renegade

2010-12-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

Or will be tomorrow. And Sunday.

I kind of can't believe it. Last week was a banner week here at Drywell headquarters, with three days of incredibly exciting and successful shows. Too much for words to describe, so I'll show some pics of the Indie Mart at Academy of Sciences and Bazaar Bizarre SF holiday show.

It was so amazing to see people have a double take with my "Meat My City" posters, laugh at my weird art, and tell me that they were buying prints to give as gifts! And I met SO many people who said that they already owned some of my art! That was crazy. crazy awesome, right?

Anyways, I'm busy gearing up for Renegade tomorrow and Sunday, but took a little time off to make 2 dozen meat ornaments. Maybe not the most productive use of my time, but totally worth it.

If you're in San Francisco, I really hope to see you this weekend at Renegade. The line up is awesome, and you can get your holiday shopping done in one fell swoop. And maybe you can snag a print of my newest little blocky piece!

Renegade Holiday Fair: 11am to 7pm, Saturday and Sunday, at the Concourse East hall, 7th & Brannan

Tonight TONIGHT!

2010-12-02T09:41:00.000-08:00

Busy busy here, scurrying to get ready for the Indie Craft Fundraiser, TONIGHT at Hotel Rex in San Francisco. It should be tons of fun and I'm excited to reveal a lot of new items, including holiday cards! (woo!) I'll post some pics later today if I get a second.

If you're local, I'd love to see you there!

happy turkey day!

2010-11-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

hand turkey butchery original illustration

Just wanted to stop in and wish everyone a happy thanksgiving!

I'm busy busy busy prepping for the holidays, and am reflecting on how unbelievably thankful I am to be able to do be creative every day. Thanks to everyone who has supported me by brainstorming, saying kind words, or buying my art and bringing it to your home. It means a lot. A lot of awesome.

To express this gratitude (and because I was raised to have an acute appreciate of a sale) I decided to have a little Black Friday to Cyber Monday sale in my shop.

Just enter the code "SEASONSMEATINGS" to get 20% everything in the shop. Nice, right?

AND, I just spent some serious time getting a newsletter set up. Check out my winter newsletter here to get up to date on all the new goodies I'm making for the holidays, and details on my four (!!!!) holiday shows). If you'd like to receive these newsletters in the future, just sign up in the nifty little widget on the right sidebar of this page.

the whole world loves meat

2010-11-19T08:46:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to pop in to announce that now I'm shipping all of my art in the shop to US, Canada, and the EU. Spreading the love. I can ship to other locales as well, so just contact me if you're in Fiji and just can' t live without a Blocky print.

Indie Craft Fundraiser

2010-11-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

Whoa. WHOA. You are not hallucinating. There are TWO blog posts today.

Just wanted to pass along the flier for the first of my holiday shows. This is for the December 2nd show, Indie Craft Fundraiser at Hotel Rex. I'm SO psyched about this event. It's the first one, and we'll be helping raise money for 826 Valencia, an absolutely awesome organization in SF, started by the talented Dave Eggers. A team of volunteeers and teachers tutor kids in writing and help get them excited abou thte literary arts. A select group of kids from this group edit the annual Best American Non-fiction anthologies. Oh, and they have a crazy pirate store in SF. Check it out.

Anywho, this show is going to be great, with great gifts from my talented indie craft friends, Hendrick's Gin cocktails, food, music, and maybe some surprise celebrities.

Check out their blog for updates about raffle prizes and more!

i was so afraid of the beard that i forgot to blog

2010-11-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

Insanity over here folks! October was an epic-ly awesome month of travel, fun and socializing (East Coast wedding, reunion with high school pals in TX, Oktoberfest, an amazing beach wedding weekend involving s'mores, masks, and beer drinking in the ocean, and yeah, some World Series celebrating). Which means there wasn't quite as much work being done as I'd like. So November has been dubbed "Nofunvember" in out house. At least no non-arty fun!!

Why the lock down? Well, Drywell Art will be in FOUR, yes FOUR craft shows this December.* And holy crap, they are going to be awesome. So I'm a busy bee right now, developing new arty goodness, taking over every available space in our tiny one bedroom apartment, and avoiding being buried under a sea of supplies.

The goal is to have some festive holiday cards, a full line of "Meat My City" posters (like the "San Francisco is for Carnivores" one), some fab originals, and some new tshirts. Another goal is to be posting some little glimpses into the insanity that is a holiday season for art folks on the craft circuit. I'm getting pretty excited!

*Want to know the line up?? Well, they are all in San Francisco

Thursday, December 2nd :: Handcrafted Holidays at Hotel Rex (late afternoon to evening)
Thursday, December 8th :: IndieMart at the California Academy of Sciences (evening)
Saturday and Sunday, December 10th and 11th :: Bazaar Bizarre at Fort Mason. (all day)
Saturday and Sunday, December 18th and 19th :: Renegade Holiday at the Concourse in Golden Gate Park. (all day)

oktoberfest!

2010-10-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

October has proved to be insanely busy, with lots of food, drink, friends, and vacations. All good, but man, do I need to get some arty work done!

Wanted to share some shots from an Oktoberfest progressive dinner that we had a couple of weeks ago. This was our third progressive dinner and they are pretty awesome. Each course is hosted at a different house, which allows for a fairly easy way to host a dinner party for 8 to 10 friends, since everyone shares the cooking and drink duty. The host houses are all within walking (or a short Muni ride) from each other, so things progress pretty quickly.

And it helps that we have some crazy good cooks in the group -- the spread included homemade soft pretzels, beery cheese sauce, an insanely delicious 8 hour roast pork shoulder, spatzel gratin, homebrewed oktoberfest beer, and german chocolate beer floats, and mini apple struedels.

Oh yeah, and I can't pass up an opportunity for costuming....

new website!!!

2010-09-26T21:11:00.001-07:00

Before I embark on a little vacation to Dallas and Philadelphia, I thought I'd launch a new website!

Drywell Art is now my one-stop shop for, well, my shop, my blogs, flickr, twitter, press, etc. I'm applying to some holiday craft shows, and wanted one place for everything, so I'm not listing like 10 websites.

The site was made with iweb, which was remarkably, amazingly easy, even customized with my little hand-drawn touches.

Now I suppose I should get business cards, where I'll now only need to list ONE website! whew!

San Francisco... we have T-shirts!

2010-09-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

So I had a night of fussy unsuccessful sleeping, worried about my hair-brained scheme to screen print 40 t shirts 36 hours before selling them.

So at 7 this morning, I got up, got my act together, and by 8am, I had this.

Success!! I tested a few shirts that I got at Goodwill and they came out amazing! A quick heat set with an iron, then a wash and dry, and they were awesome! I'm super psyched. And ready to print 40 of them tomorrow. :) I just need to figure out how to register the shirts correctly, so I print in the same place on each shirt. But I think I can figure that out easily enough.

They will be available at Indie Mart on Sunday, with any leftovers going up in the shop.

Indie Mart. BOOM.

2010-09-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

It's that time again! I'm furiously and happily working on some new goodies for this Sunday's Indie Mart. There will be new prints, a new poster, and good god I hope some Tshirts.

If you're in the city, stop on by and say hi. Oh, and get some ridiculously good tater tots too.

Sunday, September 19
12-6pm, with an AFTERPARTY (!) 6 to 8pm
Thee Parkside, 17th and Wisconsin
$3 to enter.

People like me?

2010-09-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

In MORE good news, last week my little art self was nominated as one of the best local San Francisco Etsy shops, by 7x7 Magazine.

I'm pretty blown away that I was nominated at all, since I only had my first sale in February of this year! Plus there is some awesome competition.

The winner will be featured in November's issue of 7x7 Magazine. So if you're so inclined, you can check out the voting page and vote for Drywell. You can vote once a day until this Thursday, September 9th. And you could.... uh... tell your friends?

Welcome Awesome People.

2010-09-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling there are a lot of new eyeballs on ye ole blog, as Thrillist ran an awesometown write up of my little art shop, drywell...art by alyson, today.

So welcome to all the "sent-by-Thrillist" folks! Hope your eyeballs like it.

Also, I semi-stroked out this morning when I was just sitting, catching up on my bloglines and saw my little "friday socks" illustration on eastsidebride. Did a double-take, realized it was not in fact, my OWN blog that I was reading, and yelled to the hubby like a crazy-person. ESB and A Practical Wedding were my go-to blogs when planning my wedding last year, and in fact, are the only two I still l read now that the deed is done. So, uh, thanks. You made my Saturday.

i want to go to there

2010-08-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

This is a tad non-arty, but last Thursday, I started this vegan "cleanse" thing ... like the one Oprah did. I'm annoyed even just saying that. Anyways, a couple of my pals did it recently and felt amazing during and afterwards, so I thought I'd give it a go. Not only is it vegan, but also no gluten (goodbye bread!), no sugar, no caffeine, and no alcohol.

I had no idea that it would be caffeine that would do me in first. By Saturday, I had endured a three day headache, with no relief. I broke down and had some tea. Felt like a complete junkie, but got back "to normal" after a few minutes. Otherwise, I've generally been sticking to it, um, expect the chicken I had last night. I've made a lot of great vegan food, and living in San Francisco, have been able to eat out as well, with little problem (like Moya, this amazing Ethiopian place that has 100% teff flour injera bread, with no gluten).

But I've been so hungry and cranky that it's been a touch difficult to concentrate. Thus, the longing look at the pile of doughnuts above.

So besides that, I recently worked on an amazing commission, which I'll share soon.

beer art

2010-07-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

So I woke up this morning to find that an illustration I did for The Bruery - an amazing southern california brewery - is up on their website's front page! So exciting to see work I did months ago given this kind of treatment. The Bruery's been good to me, and I hope to visit them in person in the next few months.

If you are a beer-drinker, you should definitely check out their beers -- they are amazing. The Trade Winds beer is especially delicious. It's a refreshing heiferweizen type beer, but with thai basil. perfect for summer. I love it. And want one right now....

more indie marting!

2010-07-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's apparently been a month since I've posted. Which means I've been busy, which is good, but I'm going to make an effort to post here a bit more regularly.

Part of the business has been prepping for my second Indie-Mart, this Sunday July 18th in San Francisco. I'm adding a fair number of new prints, mostly from my daily art project MEAT SECTIONS. The project has been getting a lot of good attention lately, including a big feature over at Serious Eats, one of my favorite food blogs.

So I've been busy posting there every day, and I feel like little Blocky might be feeling neglected. But he always feels kind of bad....

Any who, if you are in the San Francisco area, come by and say hello at Indie Mart! I'll be right by the entrance, at 17th and Wisconsin. It's a great event, with really tasty food (including tater tots!) and some amazing vendors.

IndieMart Street Fair
Sunday July 18th
Thee Parkside : Wisconsin, between 16th and 17th
San Francisco
12pm to 6pm
$3

San Francisco is for Carnivores -- available!!!

2010-06-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know that my "San Francisco is for Carnivores" poster is now available in my esty shop for $25.

I'm super proud of this design. I drew a map of all the San Francisco neighborhoods and fit that within the shape of a pig, making it into a butchery diagram (complete with labels for ham, hock, and jowl)!

It was super well received at Indie Mart and I'm really happy that it's now up in the shop! I'll be posting the grey version later today.

The supplies are limited for now, because I'm printing them at home with my super serious archival pigment ink Epson R2400 printer. The ink requires a 24 hour drying time, and for now I don't have the physical space to make tons of them. I'm in the process of finding a local printer (offset or screen printer) to make them in slightly larger quantities.

**** UPDATE - as of December 2010, posters are offset print by Pinball, using soy inks on 100% recycled paper. They are AMAZING. The only difference in the new prints is that I got rid of the white border. And because they are offset print, some slight imperfections occur .. like a teeny tiny dot here and there, which is par for the course with offset printing, and make the posters look even more awesome.****

yeah for posting!

Indie Mart wrap-up

2010-06-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

hello! I feel like I've been away for awhile, with all the IndieMart prep (and subsequent recovery!) This was my first craft show ever as a vendor, and it was ridiculously fun and a huge success.

Thanks to all my friends who came out to support me, the friends that they brought along, and all the attendees at the Indie Mart. A special thanks to Kelly and Monica, the organizers behind IndieMart, who recruited me and made the Indie Mart so awesome! The event went by so fast, mostly I think because our booth was busy almost the whole time.

I was excited to do an event like this but didn't anticipate how fun it would be to actually interact with folks and see their reactions to my art. There was a lot of laughing and expressions of meat love. It was pretty gratifying, especially since I work in a bubble, and mostly just make things that get me or Steve to laugh. It was nice that other folks found me funny too.

It was also interesting to see which were the big sellers ("really fucking good pig", "rainbow vomit", and my brand spankin' new "SF is for Carnivores" poster) and which ones surprisingly weren't (the hot dog and artichoke heart, two of my favorites!)

And.... good news everyone! I'll be participating in next month's Indie Mart too - Sunday July 18th, same location!

next post .... lessons learned at my first craft show.

Indie Mart!

2010-06-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Whew! I've been a busy bee, wrapping up some final pieces for Indie-Mart on Sunday. I'm excited to offer a larger print of "Ghost Meat" in 13x19 that frankly, looks amazing. There will also be tons of prints, mostly in the 5x7 range along with some pig butchery figurines and even some originals.

The whole event should be blast, with live music, cheap beer, food, DIY terrariums, and puppies(!)

If you're in the area, come on by and check it out! I'll be smack dab in the middle of everything.

Indie Mart
Wisconsin, between 16th and 17th
San Francisco
12pm to 6pm
Sunday, June 6th

birthday boy

2010-05-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

front of card for steve!

A happy belated birthday to my mister!

This weekend we heard that PacMan just turned 30 too, so I had to incorporate that into the card I painted for him.

inside of card

As is common for us, I didn't get him a physical present, but rather a promise of a summer trip.

So excited to go to Pheonix to try out Pizzeria Bianco, often regarded as the best pizza in the US!

Steve also commemorated his 30 years by painting the eye on his daruma (which I made for him as a Christmas present). Traditionally, one is supposed to paint in one eye when they make a goal, and when the goal is achieved, the other eye is painted. I guess it is supposed to remind you with it's one black eye to keep focused on your goals. or something. I'm obviously not really sure.

I've been healing from some minor whiplash, so although his birthday was on Monday, we just celebrated last night with an awesome dinner at a neighborhood sushi place that he's been dying to try since we moved here. The food was delicious and the older japanese couple that runs the place are unbelievably adorable. I got a tip (from yelp) to order Kurosawa sake, as it is from the owner's hometown of Nagano. From there on they couldn't have been nicer, even showing us the pictures of a young Yo-Yo Ma and other famous musicians who have eaten and performed there over the last 26 years. Comparing our experience to the many negative reviews about the service on yelp, just confirms my theory that people get bad service when they are assholes. (This theory was also proved true at Momofuku Ssam Bar in NYC).

Other than that, busy busy here prepping for Indie Mart on June 6th! I'll have some more updates before then!

millionaire voice?

2010-05-19T14:53:00.000-07:00

original watercolor and ink illustration.

Now, I really have no idea what a millionaire voice actually sounds like. But I asked steve this question while sleeping one morning. Maybe he sounded rich?

Part of the Sleepy Talk series by drywell, available here.

are you wearing your friday socks?

2010-05-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

Original watercolor and ink illustration. 5.5 x 5.5 inches.

Seriously. If you aren't wearing them yet, get them on.

This is the next in the Sleepy Talk series (Print available here.)

Continuing in my silly sleep chatter, I said this to steve while I was asleep and he was leaving for work on early friday morning.

Those socks were totally ready to party. Have a great weekend!

that was a hiccup adventure

2010-05-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

Original watercolor and ink illustration 5x5

EDIT: Print now available here!

This is the second in the Sleepy Talk series of illustrations.

So I apparently talk quite a bit while falling asleep or waking up. Steve fortunately has the foresight to writ e this down. I mean, it's not quite as intense as the sleep-talkin' man, but still amusing, at least to me.

Steve was hiccuping a lot one night. Then he stopped. And then he started again. This is what I said.

sometimes i wish i had a clone...

2010-05-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

watercolor and ink 4x6 *

yowza. it's apparently been a month since I last posted here! yikes.

It's been for good reason, however. After finishing up an AMAZING trip to NYC and DC (pics and reviews to come), the sales in my little shop started increasing. So I've had some order fulfillment, which means printing, hunting down shipping supplies in the cracklands of SF, and making trips to the post office. But that's all good busy. Then my mom came to visit for a week, and we had a a fun time being little tourists in the city.

But the biggest news is that I was accepted into my first art and craft show! The drywell shop will be LIVE and IN PERSON at Indie Mart on June 6th, here in San Francisco. I'll post more details when the show gets closer, but I am mostly thrilled, and a tad freaking out. As I mentioned, this will be my first show, so there is a lot to get prepared, but that means lots of new art coming at you, including the pillow talk series that I mentioned awhile back.

Should be fun! Now back to work....

*So apparently I should have some sort of business card or promotional thingamabob at the show. Vistaprint is offering 100 free postcards now, and I was thinking about this for the design...

eastward bound

2010-04-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

photo by flickr user FrankHG.

Heading to NYC (for the first time since I was 16 years old) and DC, where the weather promises to be warmer than San Francisco. Ready to eat, drink, shop, and see friends.

watch out east coast.

sweet burrito map

2010-04-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

How awesome is this? I'm a big map nerd, with a special love for unusual creative ones. This is from Connie Brown, an art cartographer of sorts. She made this after her 29 year old son (the aforementioned "Greg") introduced her to Google Maps plotting feature.

Via Mission Mission and National Geographic

such great heights....with acne

2010-04-05T12:21:00.001-07:00

original watercolor and ink illustration

You know the one, right?

I say funny stuff while falling asleep. This may be the start of a series....

vintage color charts

2010-03-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

Love these gorgeous vintage color charts!

Via Poppy and Leo and Everything Was Beautiful

the green stuff

2010-03-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

As I'm still nursing a 3-week-old cold, I'll be celebrating St. Patrick's day with this matcha green tea smoothie, instead of thick foamy Guinness. ah well.

It's an extremely gorgeous day here, sunny and over 70 degrees. This is all too rare in this city, and it seems like folks are taking advantage. I ate lunch in the Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park and it was pretty packed... as packed as a sprawling garden area can be, I suppose. Many of the succulents have started blooming too. I really regretted not bringing my camera.

I also stumbled into this amazing library of horticulture there. It was amazing, with all the books focused on plant life, including gardening, rare fruits of Bali, and about 10 "how to watercolor plants" books. It was pretty amazing, and I had no idea it was there! There will definitely be a return visit. For you locals, they are having a used book sale March 26-28.

new print

2010-03-16T15:02:00.001-07:00

new print in the old shop here.

He's just so sad. I wonder why the mustache left him?

Milkshake art

2010-03-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, after seeing this little gem from Oakland's Trueburger, I'm on the hunt for an old-school letter board to make my own lyric art. And I need to check out Trueburger. It's getting good press and supposedly took inspiration from NY's famed Shake Shack.

Super clever! Now off to scour ebay and etsy.... and get that damn song out of my head.

(Found on SFoodie.)

a little mountain sketch

2010-03-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

I'm going through all my sketch books and scanning them, and came across this one. I think I drew this after watching Where the Wild Things Are (remember the scene of one of the wild things' model town?)

weekend plans

2010-03-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

Heya! Thanks for all the kind comment on the Blogging It Forward post. Such an interesting project.

It's been a slow week, as I've been fighting off a cold. Today I woke up at 12:30, after taking a junior strength benadryll to ensure some rest. these things must seriously knock out children.

Anywho.... there are tons of fun things going on this weekend. As for now, I'm going to try to stay dry from this freakish weather here in SF (which included a HAIL storm!).

Tonight is the first event promoting the sure to be amazing book from Marcia, The Tablehopper's Guide to Eating and Drinking in SF, complete with gobs from Gobba Gobba Hey and the Chai cart. She consistently has the best and newest insight on bay area dining.

And this weekend is the opening of Giant Robot's video game show, featuring art from some of my favs, Marc Johns, Lawrence Yang, and Ferris Plock.

There's another art show I'm looking forward to checking out at Park Life, Bro Palace.

Aaaand, it is, sadly, the final evening of service at an underground sushi restaurant. (no link, because it's, uh, secret). I'll be there on Sunday.

Have a happy weekend!

Blogging it Forward

2010-03-05T03:10:00.000-08:00

hello new people!

I'm psyched, like everyone else, to be participating in this Blog It Forward Mashup. (Um, Victoria, this is awesome.) Victoria, AKA sfgirlbybay brainstormed this idea with a couple of other creative types over Twitter, and asked for participants. Thanks for including me and spending the ridiculous amount of time coding everyone's info. Thanks also to Kathryn at Dream a Little Dream for her great post yesterday, and be sure to check out Dwell Deep who will be posting on Monday.

It's been pretty interesting to think about what inspires me in life and in my art. There are like a million things, but here are the top(ish) ones.

1. When I travel to a foreign country, I head straight for the grocery store.

Fresh beer bar in Hanoi, Vietnam

If I had unlimited money there is no doubt that I would travel all. the. time.

Guard hut at Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand

I'm not so much into typical sightseeing when traveling, but am more interested in experiencing how people in other places live. Typical travels will always include rambling in residential neighborhoods, grocery shopping (in supermarkets and fresh markets both) and plopping down in local restaurants where no one speaks English.

The Fancy Lifter game at an arcade in Tokyo. Yeah, I can’t explain it more than that.

Traveling is inspiring to me not only because of the visual excitement, but also because it forces you to live in the moment and pay attention to the details in the world around you.

sidewalks in Hanoi, Vietnam

street art in Hanoi and jamon iberico in Barcelona

Sidewalk in Mae Hong Son, Thailand and detail of a shrine in Hanoi

puppy and Singha. together at last

Art at Buddhist temple coffee house in Mae Hong Son, Thailand. Close up of tiles at Buddhist temple in Bangkok.

2. Eating food makes me want to draw, and drawing food makes me want to eat.

L to R, T to B: Roadside gai yang in Thailand, Dungeness crab and cardoon salad at Commis in Oakland, cheese plate in Rome, mango and sticky rice in Thailand, Mangosteens and a Mangosteen valentine.

As my daily drawing project MEAT SECTIONS probably indicates, food is clearly an inspiration.

some daily drawings from my blog MEAT SECTIONS

And drinks too. (They can also, can help with the creative process)

Illustrations of a beer from The Bruery and a cocktail from The Alembic

I also love food packaging. One of our kitchen walls displays a bunch of food packaging (mostly from the aforementioned foreign grocery stores)

They are an excellent source for color palettes too.

3. People saying “f*** it all” and doing what they love

Screenshot from Michel Gondry’s “Science of Sleep”, via We Heart It

There is nothing more inspiring than someone basically saying "fuck it all” and doing what they love, even if it is a huge risk. In fact, the bigger risk, the better.

Stories of people learning what they love and then actually doing it, like the people interviewed in Po Bronson's “What Should I Do with My Life?” are so exciting. I'm not a big life-lesson-touchy-feely-person but this life is all we know we have in the world and well, I'd like to make the most of it. There is so much planning and caution in most people's lives that it is invigorating and often necessary to take a leap and do something outside of that plan. I feel like I did this when I quit my government attorney job last year. My husband is naturally one of these “necessary risk taker” types and has inspired me to be more so. (We even included this concept in our wedding vows…)

cover art for Neutral Milk Hotel

Creative people who have chosen a life they want to lead, and are flourishing in their chosen paths are just endlessly inspiring. And the weirder and more wildly creative they are, the better. (See filmmakers like Wes Anderson and Michel Gondry, musicians like Neutral Milk Hotel, Sunset Rubdown, and Owen Pallet, and chefs like Grant Achatz, Anthony Mangieri, and Peter Chang).*

5. SAN FRANCISCO

view of San Francisco from Sausalito ferry

And finally, the natural beauty and incredible creativity present in this city is a constant inspiration to do more, and do it well.

Pizzeria Delfina, one of my favorite places in the city.

As much as I love traveling, this is now my home.

My feet, my street.

Thanks so much for stopping on by, and be sure to check out Dwell Deep on Monday!

*I also have a soft spot for former lawyers who went on a different path, like the Zagats (of the Zagat guide), Matisse, and Kandinsky.

All photos are from me, unless otherwise indicated

super pig!

2010-03-01T12:47:00.000-08:00

print available!

I really liked today's MEAT SECTIONS illustration, so thought I would post it over here too. You can check out MEAT SECTIONS to see the whole post. You know, if you want to.

please excuse the inattention....

2010-02-24T09:02:00.000-08:00

...but there has been a lot of butchery going on.

I've been somewhat quiet over here, mostly because of some great things happening with my daily drawing blog, MEAT SECTIONS.

I received a commission to do several more painting for an awesome company (to be revealed as the painting come out. I'm excited!), a request to get one of my drawings as a tattoo(!!) and some requests for prints. So it has been actually pretty busy, which is odd, but good.

I have some cool things to post over here in the next few weeks though, including a step-by-step tutorial on making a Mega Daruma and my post on what inspires me as part of SFgirlbybay's clever Blog It Forward mashup.

In the meantime, I invite you to take a gander at my 55 days* of MEAT SECTIONS here or at my flickr site.

*technically there are only 53. I skipped drawing on a beautiful sunny weekend. I'm ok with that.

smoke cloud of doom

2010-02-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

Little blocky and the smoke cloud of doom is now available as a print in my shop.

I'm super pleased with the colors on this print. It took A LOT of time to match my original color choices in the original. It really matches the transparency and depth of the original watercolor, which I posted a few months ago.

In other news, The Bruery, a southern California beer brewery caught wind of one of my illustrations of their Melange No. Seches beer and featured it on their blog! I'm super excited (as you can see here) since they make some amazing creative beer. Be on the lookout for some more Bruery beer inspired art, over at my daily drawing project MEAT SECTIONS.

OK. Now I'm off to the beach to enjoy a rare warm sunny February day here in SF!

finally etsy-ed

2010-02-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

"His Mustache Wanted More out of Life"

archival print of original ink and watercolor illustration, 5X7 inches

Whew! I just posted my first print for sale in my etsy shop! Very exciting, as I've been wanting to do this for way longer than I care to admit.

Last year I bought an Epson R2400 pigment printer off a nice gal from craigslist. Since then, I've been waiting to get some material together to sell. This week, I tackled printing and fell down the rabbit-hole of color management. After a lot of frustration and many beers, I think I figured out all the settings.

I'm really surprised how awesome the quality of the print is. It looks almost identical to the original (which is hanging in my living room). I'm excited about being able to sell prints finally, because I have a hard time letting my little guys go.

See original post on "His Mustache Wanted More out of Life", with alternate titles here.

face it. it's facets.

2010-02-01T16:29:00.000-08:00

I was feeling kind of in a rut lately and decided to just sit down and do something different.

I'm in an e-course taught by Marisa of Creative Thursday, and the last class touched on issues of procrastination and inspiration. I'm always interested in hearing about other folk's creative processes, because most of the time, I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. Marisa mentioned that she often just sets aside time to paint, even if she doesn't have a pre-conceived idea of what she will be painting. I really haven't ever worked like that, choosing instead just to draw or paint when inspiration "strikes." This was my attempt at trying a different way for doing things.

This is what I came up with. Much more abstract than usual, but I like it.

just a little....

2010-01-30T14:06:00.000-08:00

A little illustration I did a while back. Because sometimes you just get a tiny bit mad.

round up of artist studios

2010-01-29T13:03:00.000-08:00

SO I'm in the process of re-organizing/establishing an area in my home dedicated to arts and crafts. We've made some process, dividing our workspaces with an Ikea Expedit unit, allowing Steve to have some space for his music making. But I'm always on the lookout for some inspiration and organizational tips. Here are some studio tours that I like. (I think there will be a part 2. or 3. )

Illustrator Allison Cole's studio, via Design*Sponge. (I like how sparse the area is above her desk, with what looks like cool little toys)

The fabulous Lisa Congdon's mission studio tour, on Design*Sponge

Shay Ometz printmaking studio tour, via Design*Sponge (check out her etsy shop, Bee Things for some awesome prints)

Kate Bingaman-Burt's house tour, via Design*Sponge. (Note, this is probably my default style -- lots and lots of stuff crammed together. I'm trying to strive for a more sparse look. I will probably fail. I am trying to be ok with that)

Brian Petro's studio tour, at Apartment Therapy

food as art (or, "can I EAT that?)

2010-01-28T17:54:00.000-08:00

apple by Kevin Van Aelst.

I've had food and art on my mind lately which isn't too surprising, given they are my main two interests in life and I've been doing my butchery diagram daily drawing project (ahem, MEAT SECTIONS.... um, check it out.) for about a month now.

Steve directed me to this very cool post from Toxel.com that had art made FROM food, instead of the drawings OF food, like I've been doing.

So. Cool.

SUPER cool Mario mushroom from a radish, complete with instructions here.

Green onion praying mantis.

Raw meat sports car. Raaaaaw.

These pears are grown into the shape of a Buddha, using a mold. Pretty awesome.

Illustration Friday - CLUMSY

2010-01-25T19:18:00.000-08:00

original 5x5, watercolor and ink on 90lb watercolor paper

Illustration for this week, topic of clumsy.

I'll admit that I have posted this painting before on my blog, but it just seemed so appropriate that I had to share for this week's IF.

Original post here, but reproduced below.

I'm a recovering klutz.

Growing up, I seemed to spill everything. all the time. I also had an uncanny knack for whacking the shit out of my elbows on door frames, you know, just walking around the house. I'm going to go ahead and blame that on what must be exceptionally narrow door frames in my childhood home in Texas, since I haven't done it my apartment here in SF.

But the spilling....yeah, that still happens. I used to get really upset when I spilled things, like it was proof of something wrong with me. ( I think I was really hard on myself growing up). Now, I don't care. Which is much better. At least for my psyche....not for the carpet (which, now that I'm thinking about it, has a new largish coffee stain, courtesy of yours truly from last weekend.)

At least steve has become an absolute pro at spill alleviation and stain removal. He can add that to the old resume.

Update: Since this originally was posted, I have spilled wine at least twice. In the last month. I may not be so "recovering" after all.

No seriously, you go on ahead.

2010-01-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

as usual, click to enlarge

Wow...been awhile. I've been keeping busy with my daily drawing project, which you can check out at my MEAT SECTIONS blog.

Having a daily art project has been pretty enjoyable, and I'm getting a lot of good feedback on flickr, especially via the Make Something Cool Every Day group (which is such an awesome source of talent and inspiration). And that's nice. It makes me feel like less of a fuck up.

This here piece is the most recent non-meat sections related artsy thing. I was inspired by this tutorial on Poppytalk, which was in turn inspired by this great piece on Mustard and Sage.

Let me tell you - this was a pain in the ass. Enjoyable, in a "I'm-in-a-stamping-trance-for-several-hours-and-watched-season-5-of-Grey's-Anatomy" but kind of tedious. And I felt like a crazy person. Buuuuut, the end result is nice. I'd like to make a larger one, but would probably use stencils instead of stamps like I did here.

If anyone is wondering, the finished piece is about 12 by 9 inches, on canvas paper. I used gouache and a small letter stamp set for the printing. Oh, and the lyrics are from Sunset Rubdown's "You Go On Ahead" from last year's Dragonslayer album.

"his moustache wanted more out of life"

2010-01-14T18:05:00.000-08:00

4x6", watercolor and ink on watercolor paper.
Part 47C of the "everything is the worst series"

Other contenders for the title of this bad boy included:

"The moustache* grew too big for its britches"

"Combover moustache - the next hipster frontier"

"This was getting out of hand"

and

"The moustache decided it was time to exact its revenge"

*I know that spell checker believes this to be a misspelling (favoring "mustache") I think the addition of the "o" provides a tiny bit of class, no?

omnomnomnomagon

2010-01-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

I've had this open in a browser tab for a few days now. I laugh every time I see it.

From Buzzfeed.

oh sanctuary

2010-01-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

original 3.5 x 5.5" watercolor and pen on drawing paper

In ode to one of my favorite bands, and winner of my prestigious Best Album of 2009 award with Dragonslayer, Sunset Rubdown. Although some days I think I might like Swan Lake's version of "Paper Lace" a liiiiiiitle bit more.

original ink drawing 6x6" on the back of a fancy calendar page.

You can listen to the Dragonslayer album right here.

Live Now

2010-01-07T10:36:00.000-08:00

How did I manage to miss seeing about this project? Especially when a few artists whose blogs I follow are part of it? Sometimes things get lost in the bloglines ether, I suppose.

At any rate, check this out. Live Now is a collection of images of life-affirming positive messages that manage not to be "hang-in-there kitty" saccarine. Created by Eric Smith over at I Draw All Day after being diagnosed with cancer. Amazing project.*

*Though I do wish that the artists were credited on each page, so viewers could seek out the rest of their work if so inclined...

glimpses of holiday merriment and presents

2010-01-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

L to R, top to bottom: row 1: frisee salad for xmas #1 at home, showing off the 4505 Meats poster, Denver airport with snow, BOOM Xmas wrapping paper. Row 2: Marc Johns print for steve, dungeness crab and cardoon appetizer at Commis, portugese sugar bowl and fancy christmas tea from my mom. Row 3: paper mache daruma I made for steve, super swank chocolate from NOKA, homemade salted caramel and coconut macarons, made with friend Sara, presents under the tree, Steve suspiciously eyeing the piment d'espelette present. Row 4: gift wrapping, made with thai masking tape, more hand-drawn(NOT foot-drawn) wrapping paper, slow poached egg, onion, and malt amuse at Commis, decoration at mom's house, McSweeney's Panorama, friends Pete and Kimra at Commis, and our Xmas #1 feast, featuring smuggled jambon iberico.

Reluctantly back from over two weeks of celebrating both here (xmas #1) and in Dallas with my family (xmas #2). And xmas #3 is this weekend with Steve's fam a little further south. Lots of relaxing, crafting, eating, cooking, and times spent with friends and family.

Seriously great presents this year! I always feel like I'm probably difficult to shop for, because I rarely want more stuff (part of years of constant moving in my adult life, mostly to small apartment) and can be kind of picky. But my gentleman friend, my parents, and friends did a great job.

Highlights included a super cool chicharrones poster from 4505 meats*, this beautiful necklace from etsy seller Lauren Haupt (Local Library on etsy), McSweeney’s Panorama**, simple office supplies from Muji, and 5 bottles of Texas Pete’s hot sauce.

I have never had this in Texas, despite growing up there. First time was two years ago while on a government training base in Georgia. It has great flavor, not much heat, and damn it goes well with greens.I was clearly, very excited about this one:

My parents also came through mainly with Ad Hoc at Home and a new, and much need ipod. Not only was my mom able to get the Ad Hoc book before it sold out, she stood in line for HOURS to get it SIGNED by Thomas Keller! Great mom, right?

Until now, I’ve been proudly rocking a 3G ipod. As in 3^rd generation. As in 10 gigs of 2003-era awesomeness. It has served me proudly and well, but the last few months, it has been frequently losing its charge, so much so that sometimes it dies in the middle of a gym session. Which means I HAD to stop biking. So, welcome to my shiny, skinny, new 32 gig iPod.

You are beautiful, and useful, but you lack personality like my old boy. See:

I'm excited about the new year -- lots of personal milestones for me and my family members to come. I'll be posting some goals soon.

So far, my new daily drawing project - MEAT SECTIONS - has been keeping me busy. I think I'll give a formal introduction in the next few days. In the meantime, check it out.

*though I can’t see the supposed lard thumbprint of Ryan Farr. Boo, I guess. The concept was kinda weird though, right? Seems like it would eat through the poster.

**Which, as it turns out, was actually purchased by our friend Pete, who graciously relinquished it to Steve so he could deliver it to me on xmas. Pete’s copy is on its way this month.Thanks Pete!

a glimpse of the new year....

2010-01-04T17:44:00.001-08:00

it involved a lot of crab. nom nom nom.

longer recap to come. seriously.

blocky in a snow storm.

2009-12-22T17:38:00.000-08:00

we're celebrating our xmas tonight by exchanging presents and eating tapas (including some jamon iberico that slipped into our bags from Barcelona), then off to celebrate with my family tomorrow. I'm *very* excited to give steve an awesome gift that I made over the last week or so. Will post about it in the new year.

I finally got around to making a 3D blocky, and I couldn't be happier! Made from air-drying clay. The trees are from a model-making kit. I have no idea where the bird came from, but I'm super happy that I hoarded it. Snow is that great corn-based "styrofoam" which dissolves in water.

I'll be back in January, so happy holidays!

spilling is the worst

2009-12-18T13:05:00.000-08:00

original 5x5, watercolor and ink on 90lb watercolor paper

I'm a recovering klutz.

Growing up, I seemed to spill everything. all the time. I also had an uncanny knack for whacking the shit out of my elbows on doorframes, you know, just walking around the house. I'm going to go ahead and blame that on what must be exceptionally narrow door frames in my childhood home in Texas, since I haven't done it my apartment here in SF.

But the spilling....yeah, that still happens. I used to get really upset when I spilled things, like it was proof of something wrong with me. ( I think I was really hard on myself growing up). Now, I don't care. Which is much better. At least for my psyche....not for the carpet (which, now that I'm thinking about it, has a new largish coffee stain, courtesy of yours truly from last weekend.)

At least steve has become an absolute pro at spill alleviation and stain removal. Add that to the old resume.

wood trees at penpencilstencil

2009-12-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

Love this handmade wooden forest, by Mark Giglio. Great smooth shapes. I think this would make an awesome little vignette on a shelf...maybe with a tiny wooden bear?

$200 at his online shop, penpencilstencil

winning FAIL

2009-12-11T18:30:00.000-08:00

(Not) awarded today to the rain and my popcorn kernels, which refused to gracefully transform into kettle corn. Thank you so much for the wet clothes and burned sugar pan. I appreciate it.

Illustration Friday - Crunchy

2009-12-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

No surprise that my mind when straight to food when I heard this week's IF challenge "crunchy." Also no surprise that I couldn't pick just one.

1. carrot; 2. bacon (one could call bacon crunchy, right? one step past crispy in my mind); 3. peanuts; 4. celery; 5. pretzel; 6. apple; 7. bean sprouts; 8. biscotti; 9. nuts (almonds, peacan, hazelnut, cashew, walnut); 10. iceburg lettuce; 11. fried chicken; and, in honor of the holiday season, 12. candy cane joe joes.*

*I had to avert my eyes from them the last two times I was at Trader Joe's. They are crack. If I don't wait until mid-December, I can go through multiple boxes before xmas. It really isn't a pretty sight.

art in the age of awesome.

2009-12-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

Kate of For Me, For You had a great post today about gift ideas from AITA that reminded me of this post I've had in draft mode for a few weeks. So here it is!

I learned of the company Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction and their root beer liquor, Root, from DesignSponge last month. At the the time, I was enjoying the wedding-induced overpurchase of Virgil's Root beer. I have a fondness for almost all root beers, but Virgil's is my favorite, because it isn't super sweet and it is fairly complex, with flavors of wintergreen, herbs, vanilla, and spices.

The descriptions of Root sound similarly promising ("Incredibly unique in flavor, fairly clean on the palate with strong notes of birch, peppery herbaceousness, spices, citrus and vanilla bean," "Imbued with notes of tobacco, vanilla and allspice," "truly divine stuff, very much a root beer flavor but much more herbal and grown up," "Straight up, it smells like birch and vanilla beans suffused with gentle wisps of pipe smoke. An ice cube releases some of the spices, dominated by the allspice.")

And as if the concept and packaging design wasn't enough, this little gem of a watercolor animation greets visitors to the website.

Love it. I've been contemplating a series of drawings related to adult beverages (with bourbon leading the pack) for a while now. This might be the push to get me to do it.

Aaaand... lucky for everyone who lives in SF, you can just head on down to Cask to pick up a bottle.

smokey clouds

2009-12-02T15:22:00.001-08:00

watercolor and ink, 5.5" x 3.5"

Third in the "everything is the worst" series. It's quite fun to draw these clouds. I imagine they are leftover from an explosion of some sort. Or something invisible burning. yep.

tin cans are the best

2009-11-30T13:15:00.000-08:00

Ugh. Why are the coolest things not for sale (yet?) when I am making my Xmas list?

Loving these tin can toppers from Jack Bresnahan, submitted to the New Designers Show in London. The combo of the tin with the white almost rubbery looking tops is excellent.

I already save (aka "hoarde") almost every tin can I buy, and have re purposed them into vases and pen holders. See the moustached proof:

I picked up these jar tops from Jorre van Ast last December in the Netherlands, but despite the claims of "universal jar tops" they only seem to work with European jars (and we fortunately have some, but not many).

Via Shelterrific, from Deezeen

jars are the worst

2009-11-30T10:14:00.001-08:00

3.5" x5" watercolor and ink

Seriously. They are. Don't let them fool you with their "usefulness" and "canning ability. Pure evil.

holiday ideas from 7X7

2009-11-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

Now that Thanksgiving is out of the way, it's real holiday time!

7X7 magazine recently came out with a list of some great holiday ideas for celebrating in San Francisco...or as they dubbed it, "The San Francisco Holiday Survival Guide."

Here are some of my favs:

3. Stock up on See’s lollypops for stocking stuffers (not to mention the perfect cross- country–flight oral fixation) at Simply Gourmet, Terminal 1. [Love the butterscotch.]

8. The miniature hand-pies from Bike Basket Pies—in apple, apple-cheddar, pumpkin and pumpkin-pecan—are small enough to eat after you’ve sworn you can’t eat another bite. bikebasketpies.com

10. Tartine’s bûche de Noël—a log look-alike made of chocolate chiffon cake and toasted-almond ganache, garnished with meringue mushrooms and pistachio “moss”—is a must. 600 Guerrero St., 415-487-2600, tartinebakery.com

11. Though you could drink the Tiger’s Milk No. 11 any time of year, this concoction of Spanish brandy, rum, sugar, cream and nutmeg seems perfectly appropriate for a rainy night. At Heaven’s Dog, 1148 Mission St., 415-863-6008, heavensdog.com

13. If the idea of combining calvados, amaro, apple butter and lemon strikes you as delicious, sample the Apple Bottoms Up, Hot Buttercup. At Conduit, 280 Valencia St.,
415-552-5200, conduitrestaurant.com

14. Heat up with a Fog Lifter (brandy, amaretto and coffee, topped with whipped cream) to help you shake the winter chill. At Range, 842 Valencia St., 415-282-8283, rangesf.com

17. Ton Kiang/Four Star Theatre
Dim sum first (don’t miss the delicate egg custard tarts), followed by a matinee—this is the gift you give yourself. Four Star Theatre, 2200 Clement St., 415-666-3488, hkinsf.com; 5821 Geary Blvd., 415-752-4440, tonkiang.net

19. Xiao Loong/Empire Theatre
Go to Xiao Loong for the soup dumplings and the Empire for the holiday matinees—tickets are only $7.75 before 2 p.m. Empire Theatre, 85 West Portal Ave., 415-661-2539, cinemark
.com/empire; Xiao Loong, 250 W. Portal Ave., 415-753-5678, xiaoloong.com

21. Tom Taylor and Jerry Goldstein’s home, located up one of the steepest streets in the Castro, is decorated to the kitsch hilt—make the pilgrimage once, and it will become a family tradition. 3650 21st St.

22. Take the guesswork out of everything with Lights of the Valley. This Web site catalogs the best and brightest throughout the Bay area—complete with a Google map—beginning Nov. 27. lightsofthevalley.com

23. If you’re going to do the tree-lighting thing, go old-school: At Macy’s in Union Square on the evening of Nov. 27 (the day after Thanksgiving), artisans’ wares and free entertainment will keep you amused until the 85-foot tree lights up. macys.com/pressroom

25. For a ritual that’s literally “only in San Francisco,” watch 17,000 bulbs light up the four iconic skyscrapers of Embarcadero Center on Nov. 21, preceded by a winter carnival and ice-skating at the Embarcadero Ice Rink. embarcaderocenter.com

26. Proceeds from the sale of trees at the Guardsmen Lot at Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion benefit at-risk youth, and they have bouncy houses for the kids and will deliver your tree. 415-771-7747, guardsmen.org

28. Cliff’s Variety has it all—fake trees, tinsel trees, lights, ornaments and scores of last-minute stocking stuffers. 479 Castro St., 415-431-5365, cliffsvariety.com

29. Go guilt-free this year by purchasing a “Christmas tree” from Friends of the Urban Forest and SF Environment. Choose a non-traditional variety (we’re partial to the small-leaf tristania), enjoy it during the season, then give it back to be planted on an SF city block. sfenvironment.com/greenchristmas

31. Hip little Heartfelt in Bernal Heights has every stocking stuffer you never knew your friends needed (Japanese erasers? Vintage dish towels? Kids’ bath toys?). Wrapping is artful and free. 436 Cortland Ave., 415-648-1380, heartfeltsf.com

32. Local website Foodzie is your go-to site for foodie gifts. Artisanal edibles include Rick’s Picks pickled beets, Oakvale Farmstead Gouda and organic Whoopie Pies from
Little Laura’s Sweets. foodzie.com

39. Just when you’ve begun to weary of holiday shopping, the Bazaar Bizarre comes to town, with its cool-kid collection of hand-crafted wares. Dec. 12–13, County Fair Building at Golden Gate Park, bazaarbizarre.com *

43. There’s no better deal than renting a house through VRBO. Where else can you find an old, four-bedroom farmhouse in Bernal Heights for $400 a night, or a Noe Valley Victorian big enough for all the visiting relatives? vrbo.com

49. Hike the seven-mile Dipsea Trail—one way. Have your good friends pick you up in Stinson Beach and then down a round of beers.

50. Get a little culture in with your exercise for one of dozens of architectural walking tours with SF City Guides. sfcityguides.org

* There's also the Etsy Handmade Ho-down on December 3rd, Drinking and handmade gift shopping? Count me in.

anthropologie holidays

2009-11-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

Bedford Falls collection [click to enlarge] including (clockwise from top left): frozen facets brooch, no-place-like-home flats, dewy meadow tunic, into the village clutch, feathered fancy brooch, collie bird ornament.

I just noticed the holiday collections on Anthropologie's website, based on Christmas movies. I think they did a great job setting up little vignettes based on the movies, and building collections around them. The Bedford Falls (from It's a Wonderful Life) and North Pole (from Rudolph??) are tied for my favorites. It may not be a coincidence that those are two of my favorite holiday movies.*

North Pole collection, including (clockwise from top left): branch and twig colored pencils, forest creature belt, tree trunk mug, & boreal beast shot glass, rabbit (moose and deer also available)

Whoville collection, including (top to bottom):Dagney Dachshund & pompom coasters

I am still confused as to what "Londontown" is meant to represent.

Maybe those cheesy British holiday movies, like Love Actually and About a Boy (for which I have an undying, yet slightly embarrassing, affection for)? If anyone figures it out, please let me know!

*Phrases from It's a Wonderful Life have been adopted into our normal lexicon. Like when I went to deposit some of our wedding gift cash at the bank recently, steve warned me not to "pull an Uncle Billy." And I didn't. Because I'm awesome. There are also periodic offers of moon-lassoing, none yet successful.

the day i lost my moustache

2009-11-24T15:18:00.001-08:00

A sad day, indeed.

First in the "everything is the worst" series (because, sometimes everything is).

in situ, above my desk:

This is the also first ever print from the used Epson Stylus Photo R2400 that we bought off craigslist about 5 months ago. I'm pleased to report that it works. It is a huge printer and was a bit intimidating, but was incredibly easy to set up and use.

I'm excited to buy some different papers to experiment with. The color tweaking needs a little work (as there appears to be a different shade of dark pinkishness in each photo above, urrrrrgh) but not a bad first effort if I do say so myself.

yellena + schoolhouse electric = awesome.

2009-11-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

I've been a fan of artist yellena james for a couple of years now. It's hard not to with her modern swirly abstract designs.

So I was pretty psyched to see on designsponge that she partnered with old-school (literally) lighting company School House Electric to make this fabulous light fixtures.

And for a more subtle look, there's this great etched one!

If I was more handy, I might need one in our bedroom, where the two compact flourescents just stare at me every day. Xmas is coming....

More Yellena at her website.
See more pics at designsponge.
Images from Schoolhouse Electric and DesignSponge.

spoiler alert: stomach wins.

2009-11-22T11:04:00.000-08:00

I drew this on the way to lunch at the French Laundry in Yountville earlier this year. The lunch was a parental present for passing the CA bar exam. It was an epic meal, but will likely never be repeated. It was, uh, expensive to say the least.

Elysian Fields Farm "sell d'agneau rotie entiere" (ummm...lamb)

Devil's Gulch Ranch Rabbit Sirloin (with half a tiny kidney and teeny tiny rack)

Every dish was an origin-noted, perfectly prepared morsel of deliciousness.

But, honestly, I think the meal we have a few months earlier at Ubuntu in Napa was more impressive because 1) it was vegetarian and I didn't miss meat; 2) the techniques and preparations were a bit more innovative than at the FL; and 3) I feel like the FL food was maybe a bit too clinical and perfect.

The well-known, but currently on an you-have-to-ask-for-it basis, "Coffee and Doughnuts" yeah, I nailed it.

The mid-meal garden walk at the FL was a nice touch though.

Illustration Friday: "unbalanced"

2009-11-19T12:47:00.001-08:00

This is my first Illustration Friday drawing. woot.

lemonade in glass

2009-11-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

watercolor and pen

I said this in my sleep. It was adorable.

mobster clam

2009-11-17T14:33:00.001-08:00

I LOVE that someone thought this was a great public image for their business. Then again, it is also named S&M Shellfish. I'd wager they don't care. That clam looks tough.

Via SF Foodie. Image credit T. Palmer.

how to get a moustache.

2009-11-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

Original watercolor and ink illustration.

Available in a 5x7 print here.

It's easy. Just stand under a moustache cloud. During a moustache storm.

how can i show my love to you?

2009-11-15T11:34:00.000-08:00

Watercolor and ink illustration. Print available.

Full conversation (with Steve):

Me: How can I show my love to you?
Steve: You don't need to vomit rainbow at me. I know you want to. But there's no way.

fancy candy

2009-11-03T17:45:00.000-08:00

I got involved in a discussion halloween night about the problems with American chocolate candies ...namely that they taste like sugar, not chocolate. But damn it if American candy companies haven't created (or at least marketed the hell out of) some classic flavor combos. If only they were made with delicious real ingredients.

Chow.com to the rescue. Check this post to learn how to make your own twix, peanut butter cups, almond joys, and the like, with actual real ingredients.

ouch. paper cuts.

2009-11-03T16:51:00.000-08:00

more backlog from my bloglines. . .

I know papercutting has enjoyed a resurgence and extremem blag-o-blag popularity in the last year or so, but that doesn't make it any less cool or impressive, now does it?

This one is from Julene Harrison, who takes custom orders. She also has an etsy shop, Made by Julene.

Those details KILL me. The reflection on the cable car glass window? awesome.

space invader and polaroid? completely amazing.

seriously impressive. i also love her photography of her work, with the scraps of cut-away paper on the side.

Via Apartment Therapy SF; images by Julene Harrison.

spices for the blind

2009-11-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

image from lovelypackage

i have a serious spice problem.

serious. like a 75+ spices problem. Currently, all are jammed into my pantry (aka a Billy bookcase with doors), and they don't all fit onto the top shelf. Even if they did fit, I can't see them all. So cooking and baking typically involves a frantic cursing-filled ritual where I tear into the pantry trying to find the spanish smoked paprika, or whatever. And as we registered for, and received, several gift certificates for Penzey's Spices, I decided I needed a spice solution, sooner rather than later.

In searching for some options on thekitchn, I remembered that Alton Brown has a cool magnetic spice storage thing on his show good eats. A search for Alton Brown spices led me to this super cool product line.

image via thedieline

There is a line of spices* specifically targeted to the blind, complete with braille, even on the measured scoops. The topper in this clever design? The logo:

"The logo is communicating the exact same thing for blind as for the non blind since A is one dot and B is two"

*Although called "Alton Brown", it's unclear whether the Food Network's Alton Brown has anything to do with this, but still cool, no?

in the fish bowl catch-up - uno

2009-10-27T11:20:00.001-07:00

So.......I've followed the blog Creative Thursday for a year or so now. Marisa has been incredibly successful as an artist and teacher, launching much of her career online. When I saw she was starting a new e-course, In the Fish Bowl, I signed up immediately. Nevermind that during the class run, I would be getting married and going on our honeymoon. I was able to listen to the first two classes before the shit hit the fan with the whole wedding thing. [Which was awesome, btw.]

Now... I am rested and relaxed (and a bit jet-lagged), back from Barcelona and playing catch-up with the course.

So some thoughts about class one.

First, Marisa's point that competition is the silent deadly killer to your creative path really hit me. I've always been a creative person, but have never taken any art classes, so I continually feel woefully amateur. I started drawing and watercoloring about 3 years ago, when I was an unemployed new attorney. I was honestly pretty depressed, and the days stretched out endlessly before me. I started reading blogs. A LOT of blogs. too many blogs. Lisa Congdon's now gone blog A Bird in the Hand and Danny Greggory's blog were some of the first drawing and creative blogs I started reading. Danny Greggory's blog and books were particularly helpful in encouraging me to actually put pen to paper and start drawing. I started a sketchbook. It was amazing. The days flew by as I listened to Neutral Milk Hotel and drew everything in our apartment and garden.

I then started drawing little cartoons and funny doodles. I loved drawing, and I was pretty good...for someone with no training. I started making cards for my friends and family. And people seemed to respond. positively. it was weird. it still is.

My boyfriend Steve suggested that I could sell some of my drawing and paintings. It was around then that comparison to others began to haunt me. I continue to feel that my work isn't as good as other folks' work. Certainly not good enough to sell. And I rationally understand that many artists, if not most, feel this way too. But the constant comparison is incredibly halting and changes my work. I feel too weird or odd and too much pressure to be funny.

So, it is helpful for Marisa to suggest to leave the money and making a living out of your artwork aside for the time being.

She asked a few questions about focusing ourselves in relation to our work. Here's my stab at some answers.

1. Why do you love what you create? Mostly, because they make me laugh. And make Steve laugh. Sometimes out loud to myself, like a crazy person. When I was depressed, they made me feel productive and improved my mood. Like I could contribute something to the world -- although a very very small something.

2. What are you working on when you lose all sense of time? cooking, drawing from life, doodling during meetings (when I was, ahem, employed), papercrafts, and unfortunately, web surfing.

3. What does success look like to you? This one is difficult. With the word success, my mind automatically jumps to some sort of financial stability, particularly in my underemployed current state. But it also involves being recognized by others and having other people enjoy my work. But that is a struggle for me, because as soon as I start thinking about others enjoying my work, I feel like I start censoring myself a bit. Not sure why. Need to think about that. So, success for me will probably involved being WAY more confident regarding my work.

4. How are you feeling about yourself in relation to your work? This relates to the previous answer I suppose. While I love my own drawings, when the process of showing them to others gets involved, I feel very vulnerable, modest, and self-deprecating. Which is weird, because that's not who I am as a person.

pixelated workspace

2009-09-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of decluttering not only my "real" world, but my virtual world as well. That means unsubscribing from scores of blogs that I don't really relish spending time reading anymore. I love ApartmentTherapy, but the posts are often too frequent and I just have gads of posts.

So in the process of ubsubscribing, I'm also going to post some of my archived favorites here.

First up is this pixelated workspace, via Apartment Therapy NY. so cool.

the architect

2009-07-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

I've seen Christopher David Ryan's work on the blagoblags for a while, and i love it.

stuff for sale here.

And.... for a limited time, he's offering a free copy of his Sleepyheads book which each order. nice, no?

Check out his blog for more info.

ticks away

2009-07-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

8x10 acrylic on canvas board

completed a few months ago. It currently hangs next to our bed. not sure what the significance of that is, but you know, that's where it hangs out.

don't die

2009-06-27T13:46:00.001-07:00

i did this one for steve two years ago, when he was going through his own work bullshit

click to enlarge text. (it reads "Don't die with the music still inside you.")

good words, no?

mondrian cake

2009-06-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

um, wow.

As an avid baker and food lover myself, i am seriously impressed by Caitlin Freeman's pastry work at SF MOMA's new Blue Bottle cafe (also awesome! AND she was the co-founder of Miette??! if i only could befriend this couple!). In this article, Caitlin explains how she roams the exhibits of SF MOMA, getting inspiration for her arty confections.

and.... how cute is this page from her sketchbook?

I'm inspired to bake this weekend!