Happy Happy Holidays Everyone!!

© 2007 Christina Conway

To all my family, friends old and new and everyone I have yet to meet, Season's Sweetings! xox, Christina

Transition

If you are looking for a last minute INCREDIBLE, sure-to-win-them-over gift just look here. Meanwhile, the Kokeshi are resting from their 6-week show at Subtext and are soon ready to take over L.A. I'll post more when they have reached their destination.

Where My Time Goes

Insightful, resourceful and just plain interesting sites I've newly come across:

THE DAILY COYOTE


A daily dose of wild love and photography:
http://www.dailycoyote.net/




COLOR STRIPES


Color is a girl's best-friend:
http://color-stripes.blogspot.com/



VECTOR MAGIC
Vectorize this!:
http://vectormagic.stanford.edu/



BOOK BY ITS COVER


Julia Rothman book lover extraordinaire:
http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/

Art Addiction

Yoko Tanji


Yamashiro Erika


Aniki



Seiji Fujishiro



Adolie Day



Cecilie Ellefsen



Evgeny Kiselev



Klaus Haapaniemi


Nicoletta Ceccoli



Chris Appelhans



Sam Weber



Shiraz Fuman

New artist discoveries. Simply can't get enough, I'm quite addicted.

Design-A-Day 15

© 2007 Christina Conway
"Limbs and Bird"

Tyger! Tyger!

An amazing short film by Guilherme Marcondes. Click on image to be taken to video.

THE TYGER (from Songs Of Experience)

By William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

1794

Squirrel Addition

I couldn't resist not posting this image, it's from Andrew Zuckerman's "Creature" coffee table book of animal photography. It's quite incredible. Another gem found through my fave of fave sites Notcot.org.

Homage to Squirrels

Out of all these images, only the first one did I find new for this post (from Elsewares). All the others are somewhere hidden in my collection of necessary-pictures-to-keep-me-smiling. I save images I find on the internet and most of them eventually find their way into my "wallpaper" folder that my ibook links to every 5 minutes for a new picture on my desktop. Always inspiring!

It's the second image in this post that inspired me to blog about squirrels today. The artist's name is Cecilie Ellefsen and she is a very talented illustrator whose work makes me smile from ear to ear. You can buy this print and other clever creations at her Etsy site.

Unfortunately I'm not very good at always recording my sources of images found and so all the credit I can give for pic 3 is somewhere on Flickr. I am pretty sure that the two photographs of actual squirrels were "borrowed" from www.cuteoverload.com. LOVE THAT SITE!

The digital image of the squirrel with woodgrain is from Kirsten Ulve, another long time favorite illustrator of mine. I want this image on a tee, I'd wear it on every squirrel outing, I promise.

Last but not least is Johnny Yanok's "Orange" Kokeshi squirrel. If this piece isn't bought soon, I swear I am going to claim it as my own. It's just too wonderful! I adore Johnny's work and to have it mixed with a wood Kokeshi is simply brilliant.

So... to squirrels everywhere, this one's for you! Cheers!

CELËNE: Seasonal Disorder Dec. 1 - 22

The Playa Gallery in San Diego, CA will present an exhibition of paintings by celëne entitled, 'Seasonal Disorder.' The exhibition will open December 1st and continue through December 22nd 2007 with an artist reception December 1st from 7-10 pm. It will be the first opportunity for the public to view these works in person.

The Playa Gallery is located at 2938 Adams Ave. San Diego CA 92116.
The gallery will be a view by appointment show after the reception December 1st. For further information please go to www.playagallery.com

San Diego band A Beautiful Noise will spin their favorite vinyl while liquid refreshments and snacky treats will be served.

For further information visit www.celenesart.com

This is the incredibly talented celëne. Be sure to stop by her show and say a "Hello".


celëne's enchanting Kokeshi available through Subtext.

Dad's Visit or HOW TO SPEND A WEEK IN SOUTHERN CA

I haven't seen my father in 2 1/2 years so I guess it was time for a reunion. But San Diego is WAY more fun than Fort Worth so I managed to get a visit during Thanksgiving... it's been a VERY long time since we spent a holiday together and this was a very nice treat. Thanks Olga!

The Arrival:
First stop Subtext to show dad the Kokeshi show that has me walking on clouds. A very proud moment and I think dad was impressed. :)

Aubergine Friday Sushi Specials to die for! How have I gone on this long without knowing about this gem of a deal??? Met up with my sweetheart of a friend, Macoe, at Aubergine. We planned to visit the GRRRRRL Power show afterward but time was not our friend that evening, sorry Grrrrrrls. :(


Day 2
On the way to meet dad at Hash House A Go Go I spotted this lovely chirping hummingbird... reason #5,004 of why I love my city.

Hash House A Go-Go with plates bigger than your head and enough food on one plate to feed a small family. Seriously, don't miss this eatery. Order lightly. :)

The only proper way to follow mass eating is with mass shopping and Kobey's Swap Meet is the best place around to fill every shopping list you have and get your exercise in. This place is huge and you always find stuff you never knew you needed.


Day 3:
Dad suggested we visit Old Town, I was hesitant but thoroughly impressed when we got there. It has been awhile since I was last there and it really does have a lot to see. Yay, Old Town! Definitely check out Old Town Mexican Cafe when you're there, fresh torillas being made right before your eyes.

Met up with Spicy Brown's Scott Brown and his adorable family at Subtext to talk shop. What could be in the works??? Stay tuned!

Dad suggested finding things to do that I never treat myself to. I love a good comedy and theatre is always fun. The San Diego Rep always has something good going on so I picked "Sweet 15" which was comical and had fun costume changes. Worth a try!


Day 4:

Dad likes his port... but only Orfila's will do. We visited two wineries on the way to Temecula. Never made it to the locations on the map above, but, be sure to stop by all the lovely wineries in Temecula, only a short drive from San Diego (45 minutes).

Ended the evening with Thanksgiving meal shopping and then a stop over at Landmark Theatre in Hillcrest. I love living within walking distance of this place, always plenty to discover. We saw Darjeeling Limited, another charming Wes Anderson film. Royal Tenenbaums is still my favorite, but you can't go wrong with Wes Anderson.


Day 5
LOL, this is what I "hoped" our day trip to visit Los Angeles would include. I narrowed it down from 9 anticipated art stops to 3 and we barely made the last one. L.A., this place is so not practical.

Catalina Estrada at La Luz de Jesus Gallery. Beautiful with intricate details. More photos can be found here.

Close-up of one of Cati's paintings. Her Kokeshi fits in perfectly with this show. All the texturing begs for petting. I promise I didn't touch, except the Kokeshi... heehee.

Munky King Melrose currently has a yummy plush show called "Stuffed". Food never looked so friendly.
Canned Ham aka Haminal, hence the sqaure body shape. A pig never looked so happy to be "served".

Last place we visited was Storyopolis. But I was sad to see that it has changed owners and location and it's just not the same place it use to be. I was anticipating seeing Ana Juan's original paintings there but they had just been sent to Miami where a collector bought all but one painting Storyopolis had of hers. They were kind enough to bring out the one last piece so that made up a little. They had a lovely collection of original Nicoletta Ceccoli paintings. I was so rushed I was hardly able to appreciate the collection of illustrations in their gallery. Guess the place has good intentions afterall. They just need some magic to bring the place alive a little.


Day6:
Six Flags!!! This map is your only guide through the park and it's as disorganized as it looks... the designer must have been having a bad day. It was painful to keep referring to. Just walk and ride and you'll do alright! Maybe take a breather if you're over 30, I don't remember rides shaking my brain and tummy so much. But it was still a fun day!

The Tatsu, my favorite!! It would take 2 people to hug these poles near the bottom, hopefully this gives you an idea of the height of the roller coaster.


I couldn't resist this last pic. Dad thought he was so cute buying the first photo of us on the Goliath but the next ride photo was too hilarious to pass up. Thanks Dad!


Day 7:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! My friend Justin made a delicious 19lb turkey and I whipped up the rest. I somehow screwed up the stuffing so I guess next year I'll just be a guest and not the chef. ;)
Dad and Justin anxiously awaiting to eat pumpkin pie. It was a lovely Thanksgiving and we learned a lot about dating Uruguayan style... thanks Marisol.

Dad left the next morning and I have been trying to get back to reality since. Thanks dad for all the fun and laughter. xox.