happy landing

I've been having a little adventure. a belated 40th birthday present sort of adventure. there are details, of course-- none of them sordid, all of them terrific. I might finally be ready to take on this new decade, this shiny new age bracket. it took me a while, but my arms are officially wide open.

for your monday

as if the fullness of the soul
did not sometimes overflow in the
emptiest metaphors, since no one
can ever give the exact measure
of his needs, nor of his conceptions,
nor of his sorrows; and since
human speech is like a cracked
tin kettle, on which we hammer
out tunes to make bears dance
when we long to move the stars.

-gustave flaubert

(written on the wall at the maira kalman exhibit)

silver and gold

silver and gold and the last of poppytalk's winter color week. and a fine week she was.

green

greeeeeeeeeeen.

(winter color week, currently the cure for what ails me)

again with blue

proof that blue skies exist in portland during the month of january. yesterday afternoon the grey lifted and we got a glimpse of the good stuff. ask and ye shall receive, I say. ask and ye shall receive.

the grey is back but you know. whatever.

blue

blues for poppytalk's winter colors week. and speaking of blue-- rumor has it that we might see a bit of blue sky today here in portland. keep your fingers crossed, people. because I sure could use a blue sky.

white

today's white for poppytalk's winter color week includes: a little bit more of victoria aka sfgirlbybay's crazy gorgeous home and a spectacular piece of work by street artist SWOON that we stumbled onto in san francisco's mission neighborhood a few months ago. that piece? took my breath away.

red

for winter color week over at poppytalk.

monday- reds
tuesday- whites
wednesday- blues
thursday- greens
friday- silver and gold

color therapy

two things today:

if you are hurting for color, I suggest you hop on over to poppytalk-- I've got the goods. weeks of grey on my horizon (weeks and weeks and weeks) so I am not even kidding around with this color therapy thing.

winter color week starts monday and I am so totally in I could not be more in if I tried. are you in? because it could be fun, you know.

list thirty-two: work that inspired me in 2010

this is the work that kept me going, the work that made my heart beat a little faster, the work that blew the lid off. creatively speaking, that is:

1. espo's love letter murals

2. grupo de rua and the brilliant backwards running segment (and the seeing of this! oh the seeing of this! live and on stage)

3. the book let the great world spin by colum mcann

4. the work of my brother von (particularly mixed media)

5. maira kalman's show at the jewish contemporary museum in san francisco (the paint rags, they sort of killed me)

6. the rainbow painted favelas

7. q&a with an amazing 90 year-old anna halprin after a portland screening of breath made visible (90 year-old anna halprin WHO IS STILL DANCING)

8. the work of jordi ferreiro (particularly color spectrum and drawing the space)

9. the film everlasting moments (again and again, I am watching this)

10. the work of street photographer vivian maier and the story that continued (continues) to unfold

11. keri's smith's list how to feel miserable as an artist

12. the work of my brother nate (particularly remnant's know this)

13. the book learning to love you more by harrell fletcher and miranda july

14. the work of so many brilliant photographers

15. the film radiant child

16. the tightrope video by the incomparable janelle monae (restoring my faith in video choreography)

17. the book the rest is up to you by cohen morano with aye jay morano

18. the mexico city knitta please bus (well, knitta please in general and reason alone for me to take up knitting)

19. the work of my husband (endlessly overwhelmingly inspiring)

20. the let's colour project (yes please, let's)

52 lists

so I started the list project about a year ago. I wanted to see what a year of list-making might look like. 52 weeks later and I am only a little over halfway done. the original idea was to have a weekly creative writing exercise in place should words fail me (and so often, they fail me). but, as it turns out, I am unable to rattle off lists week after week. I get an idea for a list and sometimes I like to sit on it for a while, come back to it when I'm ready. I write and re-write, contemplate topics, vacillate between yes and no. the very obstacles I was looking to avoid. the project took on a completely different life (as personal creative projects so often do) and at some point, I had to let go of the 52 weeks thing. I am definitely a girl who needs a deadline but I am also a girl who tries to recognize when to let go.

and so I continue on with the project (because I really do love the project) and I do intend to finish. just might take a little longer than originally planned. 21 more lists to go and one on deck for this afternoon. and to that, I say: yay.

I am in love

the impossible project folks were kind enough to send me a few packs of film to test a few months ago and I'm telling you, I wanted to cry happy tears of joy when the camera spit the first PX600 UV+ shot out. gorgeous gorgeous tones and a major improvement in stability. I mean it, I AM IN LOVE.

hey impossible project folks-- thanks so much for all your hard work. you do us instant film loving peoples proud.

(PX70 color shade test shots coming soon, yay)

the year in polaroids

january


february


march


april


may


june


july


august


september


october


november


december

I know it's probably time to move on but I can't help myself. just a few more 2010 shout outs and I'll be done. promise.