It's summer so I have to spend as much time in nature as possible. This weekend I am headed off to the Mammoth Lakes area. I haven't been so I can't wait to see what it looks like. I'll be bringing art to work on and intermittently swimming and eating. Sounds ideal, right??
In the meantime, here's what I've been...
Admiring
A fave from Ken Davis's show at Anno Domini
I went out for South First Fridays and even though I was super tired from being up at 4am, I had to see Ken Davis's show at Anno Domini. His skills with lettering and sign making are unparalleled in my book. The above Black Eye Specialist uses abalone for the eye, mixed with hand painting and gold foil.
Noise Furniture's space at South First Fridays
Noise Furniture always puts together a striking display. This one in particular stopped me in my tracks wit that super cool lighting. After being out for South First Fridays, I yet again realized that San Jose has really come into its own in the last year or so. The creativity and innovation around here has been pretty astounding lately.
Commissioning
I was so happy to get this frame in the mail this week. I am working on a sailboat commission for someone special. I had used a similar frame for a painting before and when this customer asked if I could paint something similar, I had the idea that I could look on eBay and Etsy for a frame. After scouring through both sites and sending the customer links, she selected this frame. I think it will work fantastically with the painting.
The small stack of unfinished paintings are near the top of my list of things to do. I look forward to finishing them and getting them out there in the world soon. Hopefully at our late September pop-up!
Jamming
Er... I mean canning. Our fig tree has been going crazy so I decided to make jam this year. It's nice to hand out fresh figs to people but I thought this would be a good way to handle all that fruit too. The first batch is going to family members and a couple of neighbors. I hope there's enough for another batch for friends. It is sooo easy to do. I want to start pickling too. The ingredients are figs, honey, lemon juice, walnuts, cinnamon, vanilla and 4 of the jars also included some orange liqueur just for fun.
Reading
It was funny that I got this horoscope this week. This is something I have been feeling. That I could be going in a different direction, but I'm just not sure what that direction is. I feel like it's important to not do the same thing again and again. It's also important to try new things artistically, experiment and push yourself. Sometimes you just need a 180!
The blog, A Cup of Joe, had a post with 20 Career Tips From Entrepreneurs. Some good tips here.
Did you hear about these balls to help California's water situation?
Watching
It's the end of an era with The Daily Show finishing up. Luckily, Documentary Now! seems to be the perfect thing to fill the void. I've been a fan of Vice for a long time and I look forward to more episodes of this spoof.
And of course, still working my way through the amazing Human Planet series.
That's all for now! Hope you have an awesome weekend.