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wahoo!!

Two of my pieces will be showing at the Civic Center Annual Art Exhibit this year.

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5/28/14 Fort Funston, Daly City.

One Wednesday at the studio, Amanda said, let's go to the bank (you'll learn that going to the bank is an important part of a photographer's job, as well as other things like taking out the recycling)... and while we're at it, let's get lunch. And let's walk the dogs. And let's go on an adventure. At the beach. so we left the studio for three hours (and got in a bit of trouble when we returned)

It was thrilling to be standing barefoot in the sand and water, getting battered by the wind, running around with the dogs, exploring a rock, or a jelly fish, or being curious about a dead seal (i couldn't find it's head and it haunted me, especially the smell, for the rest of the day). i learned: never trust a man in overalls and purple glasses.

most importantly, a day out of the studio inspired me to create again. to write out weird stories (like weird extensions from real life) for practice, to illustrate a microscopic screenshot of tiny creatures in a drop of ocean water. and i kept thinking: wow, this is the earth. what a privilege it is to be alive on it. 

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Young Adult (even though I kind of hate this term) Life: i can remember my days by the books i read since last summer...

Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri

Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster

The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery

What is the What, David Eggers (Achak Deng)

The Last Book in the Universe, Rodman Philbrick

Miracles on Maple Hill, Virginia Sorensen

The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas

Life of Pi, Yann Martel

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera

The History of Love, Nicole Kraus

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith

The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Matilda, Roald Dahl

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer

The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros

The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion

The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka

Because of Winn-Dixie, Kate DiCamillo

The Twits, Roald Dahl

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, Roald Dahl

The Twenty-One Balloons, William Pene du Bois

The Diamond As Big As the Ritz, F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

.....and currently working on Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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Mask Design by Joy Lin

check out the entire series here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43784914@N04/sets/72157641453714464/

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"We do not have Photoshoots. We do not shoot people. We have photo sessions with them.”

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it’s weird how much courage it takes to start a painting. it must be the hardest part.

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I'm bananas about you! all of you.

medium: crayola non-toxic crayons from the cupboard

(and thanks laura for the most practical valentines gift ever. i used it as still life)

♥

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with periwinkle crocodile (worked from this photograph from 1978– absolutely fantastic moment)

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exercise. running my mind. 

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Walk - Bart to Glen Park - 44 Bus. Today I experienced what could very well be the best possible commute for a Bay Arean in this decade. Smooth, perfectly timed, comfortable, interesting for the eyes and ears (and not nose). 

the moment I got to Ets-Hokin Studio, I made tea, ate a madeleine, and drew this with a pen i saw lying around. colored it in when i got home. a thanks very much to those who keep watering me like i'm going to grow. the word is that i might be a slow bloomer. 

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The Painted Lady | After one million hours of editing, I think I finally know how to use Lightroom.

The rest is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43784914@N04/sets/72157639743752935/

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preview of photoshoot i did today with up-and-coming make up artist, Manuela! 

thanks model T... model Teresa.

thanks Nina for letting me borrow camera body because i stupidly left my charger in pleasanton 

thanks Ets-Hokin for letting me borrow the 50

lots of on-the-go, on-the-spot, on-my-toes learning today

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preview of the project i'm working on now (coloring in a draft for the mural I've been commissioned to paint!)

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it is currently colder in berkeley than in nyc! 

text didn't turn out very well (hoodie & crewneck sweatshirt & long sleeve T & leggings & sweatpants & ankle socks & buffalo socks from Wyoming).

added color, title, and 6 ampersands on photoshop. learning curve is almost too steep. but i'm trying, and i feel like the little engine that could (nearly could not).

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These are a little late.... but I was really excited (and relieved) to go to the post office with a stack of letters in my bag.

I think my favorite part about this project was getting to access these split-second impressions of 10 different people's stories. And now these are being sent off around the world... the nearest one to SF, a few to the East Coast, one to England, one to India, one to Catalonia...

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These are a little late but...

While I was writing these, I was imagining things like:

I wonder if they're still gonna be together by the time this letter gets to him... I wonder if JP is anything like a friend I know... I wonder what anxieties Jason had about having a second child. Maybe he and Julie and Max and Wren have a white picket fence, and maybe it's snowing there now. Maybe Jason pulls Max and Wren around in a red wagon on the weekends... Watch out Brian, Jerry's tryin to make a move on Lisa, and secretly through an anonymous letter service... Are Nilu Didi and Pari actually sisters? Where is Sony Mony?...I hope Joy is doing ok; I hope this Word of encouragement comes true... I didn't know that Catalonia was a region in Spain with its own language (Catalan). molts records...i mes petons (many memories... and more kisses) is such a pretty thing to say... I wonder if Thea knew that loons were so beautiful. Maybe she and David would take walks around a lake near their house and watch the loons trying to walk... Haha should I include "scout out scout" into my vocabulary... I wonder how 'British' Tom, Helena, and Dan are. And what if Tom ends up being a third wheelin flatmate? That's ok I'm gonna make him fantastic like Fantastic Mr Fox...

Snail Mail My Email is a worldwide collaborative art project where volunteer letter artists handwrite and artistically interpret strangers' emails. http://snailmailmyemail.org