long weekend: stella, andrew, & seattle <3

*warning: this is a photo dump*
i was a lucky lady and got to go up to seattle this past weekend to see stella im hultberg and andrew hem's new solo shows at roq la rue.



it was lovely to see stella and matthew again (it's almost been a year!) and stella's pieces were beautiful as always. super moody this round and she's working with different angles/perspectives. awesome.





this was the first time i've seen large pieces from andrew and they were gorgeous! he usually works small because he's used to doing gouache, but he did almost all oil for this show.




andrew hem's infamous matchboxes





stella bella


jason limon's work was next door at suite 100's show 10x10.



best way to end a night - albacore & tuna toro!


scariest ice cream truck ever - why do they have pickles?



photos at seattle art museum that i wasn't supposed to take (>__<)




seattle sculpture garden



(^_____^)


i had the bestest weekend ever up there. the company was lovely and i ate the best food: my favorite bbq sandwich at honey hole, tapas at quinn's, and sushi from wasabi bistro! <3

12: first week

i know i'm already well into the 3rd week of 12, but i thought i'd post some pictures i took from the first few days.


my computron


the 12 office space


devil's lunchbox, the in-house catering/foody place gave us an awesome breakfast to welcome us to WK. <3


layered cheesy, meaty, eggy, yummyness.


cheeraz, luke, & byron already hard at work.


completely unrelated, but how cute is this cat? mew.

"Happily..." opening

here are some photos from this past friday's opening of Happily Ever After? 2

after two days of hanging the show, i got to spend friday relaxing and passing out fliers around town for the opening. sohaila, johnny, and i went to honey hole for the most delicious sandwiches ever. i had the pulled bbq pork sandwich with coleslaw, johnny had the beef brisket, and she had a yummy turkey/havarti/amazingness sandwich. the fries were perfectly crispy and the perfect portion.

we dropped by goods, an urban fashion-sneaker-skate shop to visit my friend george otto who i had met during the weiden + kennedy 12 weekend. while we were there, we had a redbull and watched japanese bug fighting. every "round" involves a match between two deadly insects/arachnids and they pretty much fight until one eats the other one. i thought it was quite disturbing - might be more of a 'boy' thing, but here's a link.

{i had wanted to go to the butterfly house at the pacific science center, but we ran out of time. i think that last time i went to something like that was when i was aged in the single digits. i guess i ended up seeing some bugs anyways, though not quite as graceful.}

we headed back to the gallery for some last minute preparations, a celebratory drink (or 1/4 of one), and had our opening!





the weather was lovely, so there was a lot of foot traffic and i talked to so many people that night, my throat was sore after we closed that night.



{look at tons more show photos here}

early in the evening, before it got too crazy, the three of us ventured over to roq la rue and BLVD for their openings. travis louie and femke hiemstra were showing at roq la rue and graffiti artist ghost was at BLVD.



i met travis a few months ago while i was down in LA at audrey kawasaki's solo at copro nason. it was really nice to see him again and as always, his artwork was mind-blowing. i know the description says acrylic, but i can't even see any brushstrokes!





i really appreciate the time and care travis puts into every piece he does. he even writes little stories about each character he creates. this one is about Eunice. an artist AND a storyteller? fabulous!




(look how tiny!)

femke's pieces were so delicate and super detailed. i loved how they were painted on old books, tins, and holy water fonts and were displayed in elaborate gilded frames.


ghost's artwork at BLVD.

i was able to sell a few pieces and several prints during the opening (yay!) and afterwards, we went to The War Room for their 3rd year anniversary. george got us on the guestlist and we shook our booties til the early morn. i'm so glad i was able to spend a few days in seattle, it was good to see old and new friends, have a great art show, and a few mini adventures.

foody fun.

after a year and two months (!!!), i got to hang out with my friends stella and matthew again. they're in town for the week for stella's solo show at gallery 1988SF. yesterday, we met up in the afternoon and had a bit of adventure around the mission, tenderloin, and russian hill - all of which involved some sort of food (of course!)

after having some late busses and getting stuck in the tunnel on the L due to congestion at church station, we met up and wandered around the mission for some lunch. here is a present i made for the two of them the night before, i'm glad matthew didn't shave his facial hair off:



we went to sunflower vietnamese restaurant; funny that we didn't have mexican. matthew and i had two steaming bowls of pho and stella got the bbq pork and imperial rolls with vermicelli noodles. yum!
afterwards, we looked around valencia and found the alley (i forgot the name) that has been completely covered with murals - some of them are so amazing!!! i had been to the alley a few times before, because it's near my friend erik's old studio.









we dropped by little otsu to look at some super cute artsy things and then across the street to 826 for some pirate-y adventure.



i'd never been to this place before, but apparently everyone's at least heard of it. it was full of drawers and nooks of pirate treasure and goods and even had it's own fish theatre, lard bucket (from which you could scoop and purchase your own lard), and sand tub for treasure hunting.


beard or mustache, anyone?


stella and i couldn't figure out how to use the spare stuffed appendages. were they legs or arms or long, irregularly-shaped breasts?


i was COMPLETELY obsessed with this stuffed pheasant. reminded me of a rooster i once knew; good ol' robert.

for more taxidermy, we went next door to paxton gate. it was one of the most wonderous places i've ever seen and i'm sure liz mcgrath would be in heaven there. they don't allow photography, unfortunately, but the place is full of natural wonders and you can buy everything from a weasel skull to rare preserved butterflies and tropical spiders, badger claws, photographs of a woman with elephantiasis, and strange exotic pitcher plants (that stella and i were fascinated by).

we ended the mission trip with a bag of blue cotton candy. thanks matthew! then hopped on a bus back to the tenderloin for a spot of tea at a place it took us about half an hour to find. it was worth it though, because the tea-guy working there was super helpful and we asked him to choose a nice "luscious" black tea for stella and i and a green one for matthew. he gave stella and i a strong black tea with rich chocolate flavour (with a u!) and tender rose buds in it!


perfect with a few madelines. (^__^)


very serious conversation. ah, indeed.

we met up with matthew's sister carrie and had some dee-lish sushi for dinner at sushi groove on russian hill.



we had some hawaiian butterfish there that was creamy-yummy-awesome.

after our meal, we had to eat some more of course, so we went up the street to Swensen's for ice cream. this is it's original location, which earle swensen opened up in 1948 (thanks wikipedia!) in which he developed over 150 different flavors (i played it safe and had the thin mint). Swensen's is now an international chain.





we ended the night with the long walk back from russian hill all the way down to market so that carrie and i could catch the MUNI back home. it was soooo much fun to see stella and matthew again and i'm so glad that we have such similar sense of humor and can laugh and talk about the most vulgar/strange/inappropriate things (oh, and art too) for days.