fly away home

fly away home
Originally uploaded by la5sol

the first couple layers of primer and paint have almost completely obliterated those horrific birds that were haphazardly painted on poor catherine's walls...she decided to go with a beige-y color that was difficult to find. most colors were, even as a beige, too red, orange, blue, grayish, even lavender-ish to be considered a neutral neutral. luckily she stumbled upon this color, which resembles coffee ice cream. yum!

Bye Bye Birdies

Bye Bye Birdies
Originally uploaded by la5sol

i've a painting job in a lovely old home that unfortunately for my friends, has survived some rather atrocious prior paint jobs, such as the one here to the left <<<<
but i'm happy to say the birds that have been fashioned out of the 1920's moulding are pretty much on their way out. i really enjoy painting rooms and such, its very satisfying and for someone who loves to see progress and end results, its wonderful. stay tuned for more pictures tomm!

Gigi w/ her snazzy new backpack

Gigi w/ her snazzy new backpack
Originally uploaded by la5sol

here is a photo of the goody gobbler herself, GiGi, who just celebrated her two year anniversary chez nous. Since that time, she has blossomed from a 29 pound waif who didn't know what toys or affection were, to a little lover who can sit, lay down, walk on a leash, and roll on her back for tummy rubs, while showing her little front teeth. today when we went for coffee, she lay on the cool sidewalk in front of the cafe, as people walked by and stopped to admire her. as they reached out to pet her, she put her head under their outstretched hands to encourage the affection. it was lovely to see.

correo colibri

correo colibri
Originally uploaded by la5sol

in our yard we have two giant bottlebrush bushes that are approx 7 feet tall. within their branches the hummingbirds dance and feed and sing their strange clicking songs of mirth or gossip, depending on the speed or rhythm, i'm guessing. they are quite tame, and usually come to greet me in the mornings and afternoons, hovering close to my face, their tiny eyes focusing on mine with a gaze that belies their aviary nature. in mesoamerican culture, they retain special significance and i feel a great affinity for them. i love to watch them in flight and at rest on our old tree with its withered branches, their tiny bodies no bigger than my thumb. i hope to soon plant even more foliage to keep them close to me so that i can watch them and offer them a bit of respite chez nous.

fancy a cuppa?

fancy a cuppa?
Originally uploaded by la5sol

ok i didn't have a cup of tea but i did have a slice of red velvet cake and a cup of coffee at cafe leila's today for the end of the month artist meetup, which had its origins over six years ago thx to mail artist carla cryptic who was generous enough with her time and resources to be the official host of our east bay meetup atc group. since that time, we have evolved as artists and in different mediums, but the bonds we forged as artists has remained strong. no longer at emeryville public market, we have moved from venue to venue until settling down in berkeley as a central meeting place, with, miracle of miracles, PARKING. the wonders never cease.

what i did on a hot hot day

what i did on a hot hot day
Originally uploaded by la5sol

its been hot now in the east bay for four days and counting. it promises to be cooler tomm, but one never knows. i know i whine sooooo much about the heat but honestly if you were in the middle of an illustration like the one next to the text box and YOUR PENS STARTED DRYING UP wouldn't you be just a little annoyed? yes, our little lopsided crackerbox on the hayward fault line was, according to the thermostat, an infernal 92 degrees INSIDE. why oh why doesn't califas merit air conditioning?

i thought they were over....before they even started

am sun
Originally uploaded by la5sol

thx florence y la maquina, for getting my hopes up. i was fervently and visually boarding for a complete summer no -show, thx to your song. it kept my hope alive. now its gone, further south than any, any, any delusion of a p-r utopia comes crashing into the cold concrete wall of systemic rot. i know i should be waxing poetic of the beauty of the solstice, blah blah blah but faced with the horrific glare of a too hot sun and the interminable hours of daylight, let's just say that i say no. no to sun. no to daylight. no to summer bbq's and sunscreen and cute sundresses that are overpriced. no. because of you, summer, i am forced by default back into my daylight avoiding habits, a la Spike and Angel.
Sigh! as the brilliant blue burns my corneas behind the shade of my hand as i run from the light, i implore the clouds to return to me, I, la peor de todas, your forgotten lover. i beseech thee.

In Bruges

In Bruges
Originally uploaded by la5sol

good lord. i pressed the wrong button on the flickr spot and wrote a blog entry as an email. holy smokes! i guess that's what happens when one is overcome by lack of sleep and extreme heat anxiety.
anyway, hope you enjoy today's carving photo, drawn from a magazine ad, of flemish houses i believe, like the kind one would find in Bruges, a fine film btw. Xti gives it 5 stars.

Call for Justice

Call
Originally uploaded by la5sol

I just signed an online petition on Campaigns @ Animal Rescue site, (home of the daily click to fund food for homeless/shelter pets) demanding justice for 100 sled dogs who were murdered by knife when the economy and demand for 'tourist' work was kaput in Canada. As a devoted animal companion and mami, i am sickened by this unnecessary bloodlust and callous act by the huskies former trainer and caregiver. I hope he gets life in prison, so that he may be haunted by the atrocity of his acts.

envelope envie

paper hoarding is a horrible horrible habit boys and girls.
it takes up a lot of space and it just looks bad, especially if you are not obsessed enough to color coordinate and reorganize your paper collection into nifty little piles and packet folders custom made by, you guessed it, your hoarded paper in your truly neurotic moments of organization. piles of paper wait in clear sterlite bins just waiting to be released into the world, to breath a bit of fresh air, and see the color sapping light of day.

not that yours truly would ever engage in such a despicable activity. Moi? Jamais!
but if i did i would be contrite enough to seek a solution to said nasty habit by redistributing any paper fodder to anyone, anyone, anyone who would be interested.

imagine my relief when just a day after organizing a bin of envelopes (by color, texture, and size) i rec'd mail art from another artist apologizing for her choice of envelope (which had unicorns and a rose colored eiffel tower theme- i thought she was being cheeky!) because she had ran out. Of envelopes.

Envelopes! Of which I possess in the scores, maybe even hundreds. I ran to the shelf, pulled down the bin and stuffed a huge wad of envelopes into an even larger envelope and loaded it up with stamps and sent it on its way.

hmmm. now i am wondering what else i can get rid of this way?

Kinda sketchy details

my sketchbook project book will be on display in sf next weekend- it was fun but i didn't get to do everything that
i wanted- life seemed to get in the way a bit. it was more of an experiment than a concentrated effort to make things
uniform and tidy-i used it as i do my other journals, as a documentation of colors/textures/techniques and as a sketchbook. i am contemplating doing the next tour-which will be worldwide- hitting london and i believe australia before heading back to the states.

the shame of not posting

oh the shame! sigh!
since my last post its been a while, but since that time i've done more than quite a bit of artwork, mostly paintings and postcards
to send out. i've sent out at least 40 pieces of art to others, some solicited but more often than not, unsolicited and just for the
joy of knowing that somewhere in the world someone will go to the mail box and be thrilled that there lies within a post box, something that is not a demand for payment due, or bad news, but a colorful work of art.
mail art was sent to japan, serbia, italy, argentina, uruguay, spain, france, indonesia, singapore, sweden and canada, as well as within the continental u.s.
i've also been sharpening up the cutting knives and delving back into carving, lino carving that is, and using up my stash of old pieces to carve before i allow myself to get any new soft lino. my hands, or more accurately, me fingers, get sliced up and nicked, but the joy of seeing a multi-color pass print as a result lends a gentle balm to the skin.
that's all for now, the gigi monster is snoring by my feet while the naughty husky is curled up by the fireplace. its a wonderful sight/night.