January 2006 Archives

Saturday, January 28, 2006

In the last five years, I've developed a new birthday tradition:
1.No plans for the day
2.No work (unless it's artwork.)
3. Wake up and follow my whims.

It tends to be a solo adventure. I let my introvert nature lead and do whateer the heck I want to. Simple.

This year, my 32nd:


First,I slept in. Woke up to a call from my sister. We hadn't talked in awhile so it was good to chat with her.

I made my whim list:


I'm not sure what everything means exactly, but I want all these words to be part of my day.


Blue sweater - a new one. A gorgeous cobalt blue, 100% wool, wavy cable sweater. Comfy, unitchy wool. I feel curvy, wavy, sassy myself.

Well dressed and list in hand - I head out.

I get a iced latte from my favorite coffeeshop, Metropolis. This charming drawing sums it up. I love the caped guy on the left who speaks in symbols. That'll play into some drawing soon. The robot rocks. Meto, indeed.


I head south on the train, drinking my latte, eating a birthday choclate bar from Rose and listening to great music. Including Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz's Water of March.

Yes, that says "dirt chocolate." I like chocolate that's so dark it tastes like dirt. This was a tasty 70% cocoa bar. Yee-yum.





The Lincoln Park Conservatory on the way to the zoo.



The koi are darn hard to catch on camera. I love the patterns and layers of this blurry-but-very-interesting shot.

I didn't get the name of this super plant:




Close up of the super plant.



The zoo is empty and gray and loads of animals are inside unviewable. Including my beloved polar bears. A bit of a drag. A indulge a $3 whim and get stickers of myself in a sticker booth. Honestly, they kinda suck:

My black coat got all garbly in front of the blue screen. ???

My new heroes of the day:


MEERKATS!



Doesn't this meerkat need a remote control, snack chips and a cola in a foam cozy? This meerkat got the memo on Chicago new standing as the nation's #1 fattest city.



These guys are the meerkat equivalent of Klimt's painting, Die Jungfrau.



The meerkat Sears Portrait Studio shot for their engagement announcement. I wish the future Mr. & Mrs. Meerkat a wonderful life together.



Dance party.



Camels are the wierdest shape. It boggles my mind to see all the shapes, sizes, textures and patterns life comes in.



Quick lunch at Eatzi in the Century Mall. Two potato latkes, sour cream and a red grapefruit soda. $3.02 and very tasty. Ate quick-like before I head upstairs to see Soderbergh's new movie Bubble.



*shrug*

I enjoyed the movie, but it didn't kick my butt. Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors; one of the few that'll get my butt in a seat opening weekend. I really appreciate that he'll nail the big Hollywood movie, and then tackle an entirely different artistic idea in the next one. So, I appreciated that he was doing something different (both the movie itself, and the delivery of it). It didn't wow me. It "hmm"ed me. That's okay.

As I left the theater, I glanced up at the sign. I had to laugh at the wording:



True enough.

Next, I wander a bit and shop. Nothing I really need, but I'm looking for "shiny." I like shiny things. Didn't find shiny. Instead:


Furry/Muppet-y! Woohoo. Jackpot. This fantastic Mongolian lamb bright blue scarf for a bargain-tastic $12.



Head back home, dinner in hand. Glad to be home after much walking in the gray and drizzle. I put on good music and sing.

Follow another whim and wrap the new scarf around my head:




I am a ferocious lion! GRRRR.



Another whim - jordan almonds.



Dinner - sushi and seaweed salad.


After dinner, I get down to making stuff. First a pom pom necklace. An idea I got a week and a half ago on my flight back from Seattle. Perfect with my new Marimekko stripey shirt. Began a sibling necklace, with small black pom poms, but I was getting tired and dropping poms.



Set that aside and went onto a project with less fine motor demands:



I printed 100+ copies of the Va-Va-Va-Voom woman I drew on 12.02.05. Glad to see this in print. I'll be taking 90 of these and handpainting 30 redheads, 30 blondes and 30 brunettes. I took my 26"x40" paper and folded and tore it into 16 equal pieces. They ended up 7" wide and 10" high. A happy accident: the 7" width is the width of my Print Gocco machine, making it easy to line up! Expect to see plenty more 7"x10" images. Great to have these drying, soon ready to be colored.



Get a lovely phone call from my new beau, Eric, belting out Happy Birthday to me from Seattle. Rock on, Eric.

I get out my sketchbook odds and ends, but I was just too tuckered out to concentrate on putting new stuff together. I stack it all up and make myself silly with mini cupcakes!



YUM. I love cake. And I love these kids of basic grocery store bakery frosting. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. A rare treat. I eat six. I've been relatively sugar free lately, so those six baby cupcakes and a handful of jordan almonds earlier have me kinda vibrating.

The leftover sprinkles inspires this:


Hee!

(Props to designer Rodrigo Corral and photographer Fredrik Borden for the original A Million Little Pieces cover)

Great, great book cover. Haven't read the book. Only admired the cover at the bookstore. Big old hooha these days about the veracity of James Frey's book. Personally, I don't think a story has to be true to be good. But lest I add to the hooha -

I crack myself up. Instead of a Million Little Pieces, my life is about as complicated as about 14 little sprinkles. Much more my speed, so to speak.

Great birthday.

I'm seriously considering adapting my birthday tradition into a once-a-month Whim Day. One day out of 30 to leave unfettered by obligations and open to the possibility of simple pleasures.

Meerkat reprise:

Happy Birthday to Me.
I am:


Fuzzy but nice pic:

I'm wearing my new favorite sweater. A beautiful blue, great wavy cable. I look va-va-va-voom in it. (If I may say so).

Here's my 32-year-old hand:

My hands are doing a heckuva lot better than they were a year ago.

Today, no work. Unless it's artwork. If you're just tuning in, my birthday tradition is to make no plans, do no work. Follow my whims. So far I'm dressed, fed and have a vague sense of what I want to do. Next stop, coffee from my favorite place.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Seattle-ing, Day 4
Today's my last day in Seattle. Very nice trip. I am missing my new beau and my hedgehog, so it will be be good to be Chicago-side soon. I was just getting accustomed to missing a hedgehog, but a human being? Don't get me wrong, it's lovely to have someone to miss. It's a new stress on my tiny robot heart.

And since it's Tuesday, a self portrait:


Five minutes earlier, I was here. Standing on a pier looking at Puget Sound:

Yes, the clouds actually broke and I saw that elusive Seattle sun!

My colleague Sari Gluckin asked "my ideal environment" for her site. I answered, "Near water and briskly cold." I remembered that when I stood on the pier in my element
_________________

Self Portrait Tuesday's January theme is Personal History. Here I am as a bathing beauty in 1976:

Up at the cabin when I was a wee two-year-old. Isn't that a snazzy suit I'm sporting?

Monday, January 16, 2006

Seattle-ing
I'm in Seattle presently.
Having a superb time.
Jen and Josh had a bee-you-tee-full wedding.
Fantastic to see Dan, Tamar and Max.
If I eat any more tasty, tasty salmon, I will turn into one.
If I lived here, I'd live at the new, giant, stellar Seattle Public Library.
I love me some library.
It's gray and rainy, but I didn't get rained on at all yesterday.
We'll see about today.
I'm staying at the HI hostel - it is super.
The man on the computer next to me is hunt-and-peck typing *while* covering the screen with one hand. Very odd. Fairly funny.
Saw The Matador last night. Quirky and very entertaining. I can heartily recommend it.
Gotta go to the Underground Tour...

Edited to add:

Below the Space Needle. In reality, this pic was about a bajillion times grayer. Adjusted the levels so you could see my silly, smilin' face after much drizzlewalking.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

HOLY WOOFER, BATMAN!
Recently, the right speaker of my Harman Kardon computer speakers gave up the ghost. Considering they'd been working great since my first Dell in 1998, I was satisfied with their service to me.

Okay, new speakers. I don't know the first thing. Well, the first thing I knew was that I'd like to get Harman Kardon speakers again. Second thing was that I wanted to spend about $100. Then I had no clue.

Stared at a couple walls of speakers in big box stores a couple times. Nothing registered. No salesboys came over to advise. I don't know if it's better or worse to be "helped" at a big box electronics store. Honestly, it's one of the few times I feel sexism. These guys (voices still breaking) treat me like as The Penis-less, I have no grasp of technology. Speakers, no. Other technology, yes.

Anyhooo -


Went on Amazon and found the Harman Kardon Soundsticks 2. From the pics, I thought they looked like diaphonous jellyfish. A little slick-looking for my tastes. Yep, I'm a designer, but I'm a less-is-more designer. Still, I liked the brand and Amazon had 'em half-price from $250. So, I stayed near my $100 ballpark budget and got twice the value.

Assuming I liked the sound.

Man, these are well built suckers. Heavy, durable plastic belying their etheral style. And the sound is FANTASTIC. I'm freaking out. I may have to put straps on my desk chair and strap myself down to get any work done. I wanna jump up and have a dance party.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Self Portrait Tuesday
Haven't self-portraited in awhile. I liked the shape of my hair. Probably should have put on clothes before I turned on the camera. But these photos had too good of lines not to post. And you ain't seeing anything anyhow.




I grew up with the most nakedness possible without being creepy. And I'll glad to have. Considering my ample size, I've got remarkably few body issues.


This was my first cat, and I hate that I can't remember it's name? I think it had the oh-so-clever name Blackie? Mom? Tell me. I still sleep with my hands curled up like that.

Monday, January 09, 2006

A New Year, a New Mix
Here's a morning mix. I'm a night owl, so I designed it to tumble out of bed, hit play and let to music get me into my day, slowly and pleasantly.

Rise & Shine: a morning mix
Brakhage - Stereolab
Another Day - Wings
You're Going to Make Me Lonesome When You Go - Madeleine Peyroux
Everyday People - Sly & the Family Stone
Baby - Bebel Gilberto
You Make Me Feel So Good - The Zombies
Mon Petit Vieux - Camille
Happiness Runs - Donovan
Simply Beautiful - Al Green
Sister Golden Hair - America
Picture Book - The Kinks
FIll My Eyes - Cat Stevens
Happy Birthday - Sufjan Stevens
Life On Mars - Seu Jorge
Waters of March - Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto
Always See Your Face - Love
Mushaboom - Feist
Put the Lime in the Coconut - Harry Nillson
Reach Out in the Darkness - Friend & Lover
Your Love is Lifting Me Higher - Jackie Wilson
Java - Al Hirt
If I Had a Hammer - Trini Lopez

Making Models
I am in a strange business It's my job to make the complex and abstract visbile. To take things out a linear, aural space and make them spatial and organized. While I listen to people talk, I draw a picture of what they are saying and accomplishing while they're talking.

My work makes absolute sense when I'm working with you. When I'm making your ideas visible. Until then, it's all just words and past, you-weren't-there examples.

So, I've started seeing this fella Eric. First date naturally contains the question, "So, what do you do?"

Well... Gotta few minutes?

Eric, a fellow creative type, got what I did for a living darn quickly. But since he hasn't experienced it, he continues to ask questions. At dinner last night, Eric joked, "Diagram my soup."

Okay:


Granted, the original was a messier, quicker drawing on a napkin. And I added seasonings (see "flavor enhancers") on this iteration.

I know, I know soup is easy. It's tangible. You can see it. Eat it. You don't need a model (a recipe, a diagram) to make soup. But perhaps having a model to use or to veer from teaches you more about soup.

The drawing is two dimensional and intellectual. The soup itself was hot and tasty.


(p.s. My colleague Andrew is prone to diagrams like this too.)

Saturday, January 07, 2006