Its 3 FRICKIN DEGREES. this temperature is making me focus on my eventual move to barcelona (I give myself a year and a half to make that happen. at the most. if not i might as well die. rather than end up living in montpellier forever....or move back to london and freeze to death... or not. I'm feeling a bit negative. ITS THE COLD)
anyway,
I tattooed some pretty flowers on this girl (Cindy) who i met in Tours, who came down to mpl for our housewarming party...
I got a new sketchbook thats only for B&W illustrations and i cant find my webcam to show you some awesome grainy low quality pictures of it :) such is life.
I have not left my room today. We have a beautiful xmas tree.... there is a beer bottle hanging precariously on top of it in guide of a northern star. pictures soon :) happy holidays!
Its no use going to a party if every five minutes your going to twitch into tense teary eyed nervousness and just barely squeak out a falsely chirpy " no, no, I'm fine" to everyone thats receptive enough to know better.. When this goes on for a few days, its a good idea to pack and leave for a few days (even a day, a change in routine does absolute wonders) so thats exactly what I did.
packed my bag and hopped in my friend Nico's car for a 6 hour journey into the much colder (but seemingly warmer hearted) north of france, up to Tours, about an hour from Paris. This was to be a weekend of foggy bliss, pastries, tattoos and vespa gangs.
I can say this for gas station coffee, ever since the nespresso machines have been installed in every gas station on national french roads, staying awake and highly caffeinated has never been yummier or easier.
right?
anyway...
This building facade is right next to Nico's flat, it was originally the front of a very old manoir that has since (obviously) been torn down, but the front was so exquisite that they left it, its now a barrier between a cute little park, and a horrific appartment complex..
I must have walked past these pointy, beaded monstrosities about 10 times, each time going "looooord, look at those things!!!!!" had they been super cheap I would have probably adopted them for the sheer joy of having such odd looking boots in my house (I could always use them for something.. houseplant.. who knows) but the best part of them is that they cost about 200 euros..
Nico's flat... and his baby.
down to business :) ghetto kitchen tattoos. I work in a shop in the mornings where I have massage table and bright lights, but the shop has no ambiance and its kind of a downer, whereas here, figuring out how to tattoo the back of his arm in the kitchen with 5 feet of space was tricky but way more fun. we finished the outline in two hours and celebrated with some whiskey.
and then we drove back to Montpellier, got home last night, watched zombienation with my roomate and cuddled my cat who was super happy to have me back.
i feel: re energized.
off to work!
samedi 28 novembre 2009
I am worried about my Future. This worrying goes hand in hand with this knowledge, constant in my mind, that I am completely unequipped to have a straight career in France. (nor do I want to.)
I need... to pull it together. I had it together for a while, and I came back here and took some time off (much needed, as a result I've produced far more than I even dreamed of.) But now I need to balance things out. tit for tat.
Ive been working with thicker, goopier mediums like acrylics and painting painting painting.. Some of my friends think I'm avoiding them because I'd rather sit in my lounge and drink tea and splatter goo on paper for days than get dolled up and have drinks.. its not completly false, not all that true either.
now Im going to go and paint a truly horrific portrait of an old lady. and resist sending it to my grandfather's wife. with a note. a note that says FUCK YOU. signed, yours truly.
Today children, we are going on a field trip to memory lane, visiting various landmarks of my past... GREAT!!
exibit a. my own first appartment, and my first art series...
a peek into my flat...
a first foray into painting portraits... that was a nice february, my boyfriend was on tour for a majority of the months, respecting our grand tradition of sending me the most hideous postcards he could find from each country (belgium won) and not attending my college classes, I recycled his old half broken boards and painted pretty girls...
This wasnt the best time for me, I had no idea where I was headed, wanted desperatly to be back in california, this was also around the time I was thinking about tattooing..
anyway, so I would sketch the girls, and then start painting them alive..
we had a really cute cat named Poopy (named elvis but it NEVER stuck) but anyway, Poo was is heat most of the time
and I listened to so much New Wave it was embarassing. Im sure you can tell. I would start the day with Jem and the Holograms on DVD and finish with josie cotton...
So there it is... February 2007, 19 years old. I sold my first painting from this skateboard series.
I've finally (mostly) figured out this camera I've been borrowing, its an amazing beast and once you crack it you go "Ahhhh, so this is what it feels like..."
I had a good weekend, havent touched pen, or pencil, or paper (bad girl) but I have been... going out a lot.. who can resist halloween??
we were out cracking skulls and drinking blood till 5am.. and then, I dont know how we did this, but Charlotte (zombette in the photograph) and I went to the flea market at some ungodly morning hour, I barely had time to wash the blood off my face but we did find the goods!!!
there was more but those are my favourites. the cat didnt come with the records but he does seem to be having a little love affair with dear old Tav.
I have 5 new peices to post, an unfortunatly broken camera, a hangover, and a brunch to attend! so I leave you with this collective effort to have something fun to do on a sunday!
I think I broke my camera last night. it turns on. the menu button doesnt work. it doesnt take photos. the lens struggles to come out...
sigh... and the neighbors kids are all SCREEEEEAAAAAMING and i turn up the music.
the last things i shot were some in progress stuff, so unless my camera magically heals itself thats all I'll be posting for a while! I tattooed Fausta yesterday morning... huge storm, water up to your knees in certain streets... went to the Jimmy Flash Baby show, which was sweeeeet.
I've been saying for about a week that tomorow I would post some new art.. well tomorow turned into today and here we are! (to prove that I dont spend all my time at the bar.. or watching weeds...)
I havent managed to take good photos of my stuff and its sort of bothering me.. then again, it'll do. landed the SOUNDS FROM MICTLAN VOL 2 today and it was like christmas! All the bands Ive been looking for are on it! I was looking on ebay (expensive!! ) and my local record shop (even more expensive cause its all imports) and was going to resort to waiting it out till march and just get them in mexico city.. but now at least ive got something other than youtube to tide me over :D
A good way to kick off the fall season and to end the summer!! (not that summer's going anywhere, end of october and were still breaking 80 degree weather here.) This has by far been the most unproductive sunday ever.. except for cooking.. this is why they invented TOMOROW. to do all those things you didnt do today.
driving from SF to louiiiiiiiisiiiana. Going through monument valley (amazing)
I'm in bed with my cat after getting trashed at the MOJOMATIC last night... were talkin' about doing sunday afternoon jumblesales records and coctails there.. more on that later..
im gonna go back to listening to king khan and figuring out how to change my appartment around..
A little bit sick.. all i wanna do is curl up in bed and listen to sabbath and eat thai chicken soup with a big fat dose of chilly peppers. Been working hard though! So thats what counts.
and I have 3 new paintings to photograph and post, well, one is in two peices. dyptich.
I got my flight booked to go to the states. Adventures ahoy! I can feel it that its going to be epic and inspiring (everything.. when you let it, can be, epic and inspiring..) but I feel something special is waiting there.
Im sick but im going to drag my sick butt to the mojomatic and see some live bands tonight, maybe it will scare off the virus!
I woke up today feeling so strange.. a day to stay in bed and roll cigarettes and push my blankets around with my feet... needless to say I did NOT touch a paintbrush today (I do have all night.)
Theres a few reasons for this mood. this is supposed to be a journal and yet I dont want to blow my feelings in the air on this one.
Lately when i actually TUNE in to what I'm listening to... theyre all songs about love, traveling, or love AND traveling. Right now its super sleazy version of route 66 played by some skeezy garage band.. its on WILD WILD sounds #2 on the garage punk podcasts.
anyway. yesterday:
Today I'm feeling a little stuck, a little bit lazy and a bit cozy.. maybe I'll write. speaking of writing.. its been AGES since Ive seen my red book... that red book has my lil heart written through 89 pages of drawings and rants and tiny details..
Interesting theory shared with my friend Sylvain over a drink the other night.. when we are in relationships, both of us are reproached the fact that when something is wrong, like a little thing thats annoying, we dont go right out and say it, when someone hurts us, it doesnt come right out.. Its not even that we keep it in to obsess over it... actually usually I kind of brush it off till it happens again, BUT, it does all come out in our songs, paintings, writtings... maybe we keep it in because thats our means of expressing it..
This drove my ex's crazy. apparently I'm not the only one guilty of this little trait. thoughts?
Theres something that sounds like an elephant wandering around the stairs. could it be that we have new neighbours? Hopefully theyre not lame.
My downstairs neighbor is a Rock Historian. Rock as in Music, not stones. He doesnt like the beatles so I'm wondering what his stand is on the rolling stones.
Went to the Subsonic last night for the first time all year! its changed a little but still feels nice and homey :) Somehow by complete mystery I still ended up at the mojomatic having drinks on the terrace.
Someone asked Sylvain for an autograph. fer reals.
Check out the poster I made for my flatmate! He has a sweet skateshop called POPULAR (rue de l'université) its just black indian ink on white bristol board.
I dig the faces, its my favorite part to draw.
I have some other stuff to work on today, a pretty lady. I'm thinking of going swimming tonight
because I'm getting RESTLESS and I have so much energy I feel like a four year old kid after eating a box of sugar and sitting and painting all day isnt getting rid of all that energy. I'm so fucking excited to go to the states again!
Fausta is playing at the FESTIVAL SUBSONICA OPEN AIR thats the 12 OF SEPTEMBER from 18h to MIDNIGHT, its FREE and its next to the CORUM on the Esplanade (pretty) With the High plane drifters, the Lizards, LES ARONDES Come and shake it! ( don't forget your polka dots) as if you needed more convincing, check the girl out at http://www.myspace.com/faustamusic Shes working on a new album which should be out later this year, and were working on the album art together, I promise lots of polka dots ;)
Tonight I'm going to check out José Menors art posters and print show down there and see if I can score anything for the house. Hes a HUGE inspiration and an amazing artist :) you can check out his blog here: http://josemenor.blogspot.com/
and even if you can't read in spanish, the art is SO crazy cool that it doesnt matter.
Yesterday I put out a Motley Crue inspired drawing for my roomate's shop, I'll post that tonight! Its dirty. besos..
My bank manager is going to kill me. Everytime I get restless I hand all my cash to the nearest aiport in exchange for a boarding pass and I'm only willing to come back once my head is clear..
The little boat I fell in love with in thailand..
Secret altars on Barcelona's side streets.. everytime I see this photo it reminds me that I want to live there..
And my aunt's garden in Corsica where I was born..
In march I'm going to CALIFORNIA. And Mexico... I've never really been to Mexico.. and I think its going to be special and amazing. only about 5 or 6 months to go!!
