I heart this, Sunday: Topo Chico

my Wheatsville coop meal from Cathy's flickr

In the past two weeks I have gone through 2-3 cases of Topo Chico. Some might find this insane to go through mineral water so rapidly. But there are select group of people who understand this ridiculous addiction. I have met them randomly and have created some new followers along the way. It happens.

Summer is usually when this drink addiction is at its worst.

If you study the bottle, which most people do not, there is a image of what I believe to be a Native American diving head first into a stream of water. I have these sort of mental visions of him reaching the water and saying “omfg this is all I ever wanted.” But instead of the usual water it’s sparkling water. He can’t stop drinking it and buries his face into the water only coming up for short breaths of air. I’m not sure if I should have this sort of dialogue about the drink, but I do anyway.

Some shots where Topo Chico snuck in.

Cathy, Summer 2010


Mary, Summer 2010

Draw what you want, Wednesday

Yay! Another Draw what you want, Wednesday! I started this project on November 2nd and it is where I take requests to draw something, anything, that you want. If you have something you want me to draw, either post a comment or contact me.

This week I'm taking Jess Drake's request of "mystical fungi." Jess Drake is an awesome soil scientist, you can check out what she does on her blog. Also, she has a foodie blog, where she posts awesome recipes :)


Jess from Edwina's Flickr, 2010

So here is this weeks, Draw what you want, "mystical fungi" :)

Mystical Fungi, 2010

I Heart This, Sunday: Tea from Chelsea

Chelsea from Natalie's photos on flickr, 2009

I met Chelsea through my friend Natalie in 2009 when they passed through Austin. They stayed with me at my shared house off East 14th.

This is the only picture I have in that house. I know. I know. I look crazy. yay!

at the East 14th House, Summer 2009

She sent me some lovely tea awhile ago that I finally tried today. Not sure why it took me so long to open the lovely tin. Pu-erh Tea was definitely awesomely caffeinated as Chelsea said it would be. I bounced off the walls all morning. I now need to repay the kindness by sending her something via post.


Organic Pu-erh Tea, 2010


Natalie, 2007

Draw what you want, Wednesday

Log Cabin, 2010

This week I took Jeremie's request, Log Cabin. I can't help but think of Lincoln Logs something I would randomly play with as a child because there weren't any legos.


Jeremie, 2010



Legos, South by Southwest 2009

Artwork Update: November

Since I had been working on the Art Outside installation, many of my usual projects were put on hold. This is what I have been working on lately,

Liquid Shade, October 2010

"Liquid Shade" comes from the John Muir book, Wilderness Essays, the whole sentence is, "The highest peaks burned like islands in a sea of liquid shade." The drawing and the quote remind me of Black Mountain in Canberra, Australia.

While I was in Houston this week visiting Peter, I drew this series:

Chinese Lantern, November 2010


Dandelion, November 2010


Basil, November 2010


Daffodil, November 2010

With this series I wanted to draw plants and animals that I have seen in the wild or at a zoo. Relaying this message of memory. I also wanted to read about the plants herbal uses.


Chinese Lantern as a possible diuretic.
Dandelion flowers create a yellow dye, the roots a magenta one. tea from the leaves to promote bowel regularity. Also you can make a wine from the blossoms.
Basil helps with nausea, gas pains and dysentery.
Daffodil didn't have any uses

I Heart This, Sunday: Coffee

Last week I loved on Clare Rojas, known for her folk art style of artwork. This week I want to talk about something you might call an addiction versus a love.

Notre Dame, 2007

Something I have adored since traveling abroad in 2007 to Europe is Coffee. Yes, Coffee! I had never tried coffee prior to Italy and was repulsed by the smell. What I realised later is that my mom made Folger's coffee every morning. I remember the smell infiltrating the house and me wanting to throw up from the stench. It all changed once i was meandering through the streets of Paris with my dear friend Jeremie.

Jeremie in Paris, 2007 (in Jardin des Tuileries, it was hand painted with real hair)

We would pop into a pâtisserie for a lovely almond or chocolate croissant. Then sit in one of the many lovely cafes drinking espresso. These simplistic moments sitting with my friend Jeremie while drawing and jotting down notes are very interconnected to my passion for the drink. Randomly I will look at black and white photographs of women sitting outside cafes in Paris drinking their coffees and reading or chatting with friends. That bold woman who sits alone with no needed attendance.

I came back to the states saddened by the differences in structure around coffee. People would not frequent bars to order a espresso. Not that all American coffee is like Folgers. We do have some exceptional cafes filled with people who know how to make hearts in our latte froth. It is not a lost art here, it is just different.

Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse, soy latte, 2010

Thunderbird Coffee Shop, espresso with Edwina, 2008

McCormick and Schmicks, espresso, 2008

One of the biggest reasons I wanted to talk about coffee is I woke up dreaming of it. My dark roast coffee mixed with soy vanilla milk. With my pajamas still on and thinking about coffee across the globe.

Sydney Australia at the QVB, soy latte, 2008

Brisbane, Australia, Coffee Club, Soy latte, 2008

Auckland, NZ, Esquire, soy latte, 2008

Event: 2010 Texas Mexico Chapter Art Library Association

Artist Brochure rotating files, Hirsch Library at the MFAH

On Saturday morning we met at the Museum of Fine art in Houston's Hirsch Library.

Where I met,
Edward Lukasek, Catalog Librarian for Hirsch Library and also Treasurer of Art Library Association TXMX chapter

Jon Evans, Hirsch Library Reference Librarian, past President of the Library Association TXMX Chapter.

Lynn Wexler, Hirsch Library Assistant

We toured their facility which consisted of the main library accessible to the public and the downstairs storage area. They talked of another offsite facility which houses more of their books. The Library was created in 1927 with the initial plans for the Museum.

Also, we were given a curator tour of two linked exhibitions at the MFAH.

Drawing from Nature:Landscapes and "A Variation of Impressionism" German Impressionist Landscape Painting

my notes:
Artists are always being told who they are.
History and Perspective.
Prolific Artists.
Uncommissioned vs. commissioned.
drew many things of their own accord.
Observing from life with the abstract mind of an artist.
what parts of humanity are you capturing?


Sio Shalako Kachina doll, Hopi, Arizona 1910-1940 in the MFAH collection


I popped into the Contemporary Arts Museum (aka the CAM), which had two shows: Benjamin Patterson: Born in the State of FLUX/us AND Perspectives 172: Kirsten Pieroth

my notes:
Redefining our world.
aspect of collecting, what makes us archive something?
The artists playing with nostalgia of society.

We met at Inman Gallery to hear Dario Robleto talk about his work. The gallery also had work up by Yuko Murata who was featured in Drop Dead Cute book with other Japanese women artists.

my notes:

About Yuko Murata:
How do galleries hear of international artists?
Simplistic representation of nature.
The "empty" space is important-We must think about the areas we leave beyond the main subject.
About Dario Robleto:

Making our own artifacts
"art is inefficient."
how we research as artists...



Bayou Bend: Ima Hogg's house map

The Art Library group met at Bayou Bend Collections and Gardens which is part of MFAH's collection. It is Ima Hogg's old house. Many objects founds in MFAH are part of her own art collection, which is pretty exciting for the Houston area art scene. My favourite part of her house was the dining room which had handpainted walls.

Draw what you want, Wednesday

Oh no, I drew this yesterday but forgot to scan it. I drew a picture of Peter's dog Francis when he was a wee pup. It was a nice little project and I enjoyed getting out of my comfort zone. If anyone has any random requests for drawings just let me know. Yay! random drawings.

Francis, 2010

He is named after Francis Bacon the philospher and scientist.


Francis, Impossible Project PX 70 FF film, 2010

But if you're an artist you automatically think of the British Expressionist painter known for his frightening imagery. When Peter first told me his name I kept thinking of his portraits where the faces looked something out of a horror movie.

I Heart This, Sunday: Clare Rojas

After posting about Frankie Magazine last weekend, I started thinking about my love for Illustration artwork. The artists usually have their own personal work, as well as work for publishing pursuits. I wanted to talk about one of my favourite artist/illustration artist, Clare Rojas.

I first learned of Clare Rojas while traveling to the northeast. I was in Boston visiting some old friends in 2009. My friend took me along with her to Brandeis University. A university I had applied to for a postgraduate program in visual art in 2009 but declined the offer based on personal reasons. While at Brandeis I visited their art gallery, Rose Art Museum . They had on their Numbers, Colors and Text: Works from the Collection exhibition. I remember a fellow pacing back and forth in the room trying to figure out one of the paintings, apparently their was some theological secret within the numbers. He would randomly talk to the gallery staff and they would kindly smile and nod as he barked his responses about the works. I started perusing the books they had for sale, and found Clare Rojas: Hope Springs Eternal exhibition book printed by the Rose Art Museum. I fell in love with her work. There was some issue at the museum if they had more copies for sale. I said I would wait while they checked their back stock. Thankfully they did and I walked away with a hard to find/out of print art book, something that excites me. Rare books are a secret love of mine.

Later that year I was at Domy Bookstore in Austin, TX and I found a children's book by her accidentally. It was called Blue Deer and Red Foxand details a story of these two creatures lovely relationship. I don't want to ruin it by detailing specifics but it is definitely worth a peek. I couldn't purchase the book that day because I had planned to buy a different book, but when I returned the book wasn't in stock anymore. I have the impulsive love of buying books from stores rather than online, so I miss out on owning many books. so it wasn't til lovely Peter gave me the book as a gift recently. I reread the story and fell in love with it all over again.


I am thankful for these sorts of childrens books, built around clean imagery with complex narratives.

Upcoming Event: Anthropogenesis, Recent Work by Six Artists

Some of my work is being shown at the Visual Art Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

The show runs November 19, 2010 - December 18, 2010

Anthropogenesis is curated by two lovely Art Historians, Ariel Evans and Lauren Hamer.

"...artists, like...Kelly Rae Burns, merge totemic human and animal forms, while others relate human and animal identities. Anthropogenesis considers animals and animal behavior as an artistic source."

Exhibiting work with:
Kristina Felix
Margot Holtman
Jules Buck Jones
Jonathon Keats
Jill Pangallo

I am excited to see a show based around human-animal relationships. You are probably thinking, "of course you are excited, that's what your work revolves around." Well of course you would be right, but I'm also interested to see how other artists perceive these relationships.

Draw what you want, Wednesday

I want to start drawing from requests and since this blog is fairly new I took Peter's request for, "not the sharpest crayon in the box."

I started thinking about crayons and how they are associated with childhood. When I was little I thought that having the largest crayon box with the built in sharpener meant you were cool.

When my mom bought them for me I remember having a slight skip in my step as I put the box in my backpack. I remember my glee as I pulled the box from my backpack to draw and share these fascinating colours with my friends. I'm not sure this ever faded from my belief system, since I love lining up my gouache paints, admiring all the variation in hues.



What I do not associate crayons with is their colour from the 1960s, Flesh. As we grow older we start to see the layered meaning, looking at objects from the past and reflecting on how society has changed. Now you can buy a box of multicultural crayons, which includes:
black, sepia, peach, apricot, white, tan, mahogany, and burnt sienna.


Not the sharpest crayon in the box, 2010 on flickr

I'm not quite sure this is a step forward considering I wouldn't want to associate my skin colour to any of these. It might be better to reclaim the name flesh for all of them and let children decide where they fit in.

So with all these thoughts, I started to think about the term "Not the Sharpest Crayon in the Box." We forget that meaning is layered into our material culture, even in a box of crayons. I think of society as not the sharpest crayon in the box, it's something that has been overused, lost and devoured (I imagine little kids gnawing on crayons). Society can never go back to being the sharpest, even when it desperately uses the built in sharpener.

Event: Halloween 2010

So it's Halloween, what could you possibly want to do on October 31st in Austin, TX? Go downtown to 6th street of course :-) Although I have lived here for many years, 2009 was my first year downtown. There were always rumors parading around sixth street on Halloween, yay mobs!


As for costumes, this year I wanted to connect my love of internet memes. My costume is a double rainbow made of cardboard, least I didn't buy it prepackaged? :P

These are some photos from 6th:



Also, I went to Enchanted Forest for a random party. I thought it was closed, too. I danced a bit and left feeling glad to venture back into the forest.


Upcoming: Art Library Association Meeting-TXMXchapter. Anthropogenesis Art Show.