Hello Monday...Goodbye Monday...

I actually started this post about three times over the weekend but just couldn't gather my thoughts enough to get through with it... We had a pretty nice weekend for the most part, even though it is fading quickly from my mind. We managed to squeeze in some sitting in the sun on a park bench time, a donut and coffee break, a quick trip to the farmers market, a long chat at a new-to-us cafe and a picnic in the park - I guess most of the fun involved food. But hey? That's how it usually goes right?

The P-man and I also went to The Armory Show last Friday (here is Roberta Smith's review in the New York Times) - but I have to say it left me a bit cold. I had a lot of fun last year but maybe that was because it was my first time and it was just interesting to see all the fancy galleries and people and artwork but this year it just made me feel like...blech. Here are some more examples of work from this year - my camera ran out of batteries so I couldn't take any - maybe that was a sign in itself! I think there were some good pieces but it is so hard to wade through everything and it is all piled one on top of the other. I just don't think it is a great way to look at art at all. And I also think the art fairs take away the feeling that the work is meant to be an object that is culturally relevant and revealing and truly meant for museums and galleries and not just the living room. The whole thing felt very disrespectful of the artists and their realm of cultural production. Like a giant art garage sale. Anyway. Sorry. But it seriously depressed me a bit I think.

About some other things - I read this post on Wee Wonderfuls today and I felt like I could really sympathsize with the whole identity-crisis - too many ideas, not sure which direction to go in bit...I remember that Wee Wonderfuls was one of the first blogs I began reading regularly (and which really got me thinking about making my own blog) - maybe in 2003 or 4! - and it so interesting to see how everyone's practice evolves and how life just continues to tick by with them...I think for me that is the most inspiring bit. I hope we can all find our way out of these creative knots...Thinking of evolving practices I also love running across Julie Morstad's work on the internet - today I saw a really nice review of her book Milk Teeth, published by Drawn & Quarterly. It looks beautiful! Wow...

I am also really loving seeing progress on these peices by Camilla and Karin (and here too!). I think they are going to be so great! I would love the opportunity to team up with a real ceramicist to make my little mugs too...maybe sometime in the future. I would love to have smaller more hand-made mugs maybe made out of porcelain...I feel like right now I am working a slightly more conceptual angle on the whole corporate-consumer-society-lowest-common-denominator end of things. An interesting(?) comment but hopefully I can make some the real (and more enviromentally-conscious) way some day. I have about two more designs done but I think I will hold off a little because I might end up using them somewhere else - I just can't decide...anyway...blah blah blah. Sorry to get on the soapbox so much tonight!

Okay - I am gonna wrap this before I blather on all night.

bye!

---I just reread this post - sorry it makes no sense and has three million ideas at once in it. sorry sorry...

Talented Friends and Associates...

P and I got this great package of Finnish papers the other day - so fun! Thanks Orvokki! Orvokki just recently had an exhibition here - I wish I could have seen it. And - have you seen Dear Birthday's new etsy shop? All those cute undies! And they are all made with Liberty of London prints - I was so sad when my camera busted because I really wanted to take lots of photos of the store to show her...bummer. While I am on this note I have also been meaning to mention seealso's great flickr site and etsy shop too. I love her mittens...!

Howdy Y'all...

...getting ready to land in Stockholm...

...the Swedish kronor - they were really golden and chunky...

...two skyscrapers in our first room in Goteborg...

...creamy hot chocolate at Da Matteo coffeeshop...

...strange pruned trees along a shopping street...

...the front door of the gallery...

...sculptures at the Rohsska Museet...

...fancy Kartell store in Stockholm (they are the ones who produced this cool chair)...

...outside the Dramaten where Ingmar Bergman used to direct plays...

...our hotel breakfast!...

...looking out from the gallery window...

...one of P's paintings ready to be hung...

...the trees - reminding me of Camilla's drawings for some reason - maybe she has drawn them before??...

...some swans...

...walking through the Gamla Stan (old town)...

...in a shop window...

...so many futuristic strollers!...so many moms, dads and babies in general!...thank you amazing social welfare system (don't even get me started...)...

...so pretty numbers...

...so pretty ukuleles in pink, blue, red, green and orange. I really wanted one!...

...cute(!) poster in the record store...

...feet and some cobblestones...

...a window display at Svenskt Tenn...

...a very awesome mosiac on the street...

...some flowers in our room in London!...

...and some other nice things...

...a hair salon offering different braiding styles...

...plastic hanging baskets in the train station...

...Peter Doig at the Tate!...

...the toilet that ate my camera and the last of my photos...

Hello! I am finally back and semi-in-action. The most "work" I have done in the last couple of weeks is upload and organize these few selects from my trip pictures. It always takes longer than I think. There are a few more here and more less-blog-worthy to follow later (hopefully tomorrow).

My time away was really great! The weather was a bit off and on, starting off pretty sunny and fresh in Sweden and then kind of ending in windy and rainy in London. Predictable I guess! One not so great thing that happened was that I dropped my camera in a toilet in London halfway through the trip so that put an end to my picture-taking for the rest of the holiday. What a bummer! I was seriously so sad. It is kind of working now but only in dark conditions (inside mostly) and there are little lines running though the photos. Sheesh. Oh well. I guess I will just have to do the best I can with it until I have a little spare cash-ola.

On the brighter side some trip highlights were: our cozy hotel room and free breakfast that was delivered to our room each morning, the lovely ladies at the galleries, the amazing coffee everywhere (and I am not even a coffee snob - it was just really good), sitting outside at a cafe under sheepskin and heatlamps, the Andy Warhol exhibition at the Moderna Museet, Svenskt Tenn, Cheap Monday jeans, meeting up with old friends and making some new ones, our wonderful hosts in London, the Peter Doig retrospective at the Tate (more pics of that to come in another post), Liberty department store, street markets and gallery go-seeing in East London, packed (heaving!) pubs in Shoreditch, and getting to see my mom and dad and other family I haven't seen in a long time....not to bad for one trip hey??

I won't bore you with any low points - mostly weather, a cold, and general weariness plus one overnight stay in the Stockholm airport and a two day journey back home. In any case, a lovely time overall and I am glad to be back...

Talk soon!

xo

Tra la la...

(..thanks G for the top pic...)

Hi! Okay - a quick post with a few links before I go:

...in case you missed it last time - revamped portfolio website!...
...a picture of some beautiful old old books...
...did you know that you can watch videos of all the guest lectures from the SVA MFA Designer as Author program?? What a great resource!...
...I wish I could somehow get a hold of this magazine. I looks like it was so good. One of my other favorite magazines Nest was really inspired by Flair...
...watch the latest fashion show and the super-cool A-POC animation on Issey Miyake's website...
...I meant to post this link when I unveiled my B Book. I was really inspired by Pauline Beaudemont's little photo books...
...I am sorry - but Sesame Street was AWESOME!!! Jeez. I really miss it. here, here and here...

Okay folks - see you in a few weeks - I hope March treats you well because I know you deserve it!

Bye!