Wexford Girl

In NYC

I am with my sister Liz in NYC! This is my birthday present to her (She turns 40 next month.) We met at JFK yesterday - my fight was delayed, so Liz ended up spending 4 hours waiting for me in the airport. It was great to see her.

We are staying in the Pod hotel in midtown. Eric was here on business last week and upgraded us to a bigger room with a terrace. Thanks Eric!

Last night we ate at Milon in the East village, one of the identical but not related restaurants that fight for each customer. I love that place - tiny, tacky, encrusted with pepper-shaped lights, with good cheap food and BYOB. 

More to come. Now I need to get dressed and hit the city!

The Irish Geisha

My first job in San Francisco was as an Irish Geisha girl. I answered an ad in the paper for "hostesses" at a karaoke bar in the Tenderloin called Ichirin, which was down an alley near Mason and O'Farrell. (If you're not familiar with SF, that's almost as gritty as it gets.) It's half a block from the Pine Crest Diner, where the cook murdered the waitress in 1997, and where the Zodiac killer got into the cab of one of his victims in 1969.

 

Ichirin was ruled by Mama-san, a tiny vicious woman who wore a Kimono and berated us if we weren't dressed nicely enough, or if we didn't fawn over the customers to her satisfaction.

 

There were several Irish Geishas working at Ichirin. It was during a time where immigration from Ireland was increasing (thanks to the Donnelly Visa, which was the reason I came to the US). The turnover was huge and they were always looking for people, and it paid $8 an hour, which was pretty good in 1989.

 

Our responsibilities were:

• Sit with the customers (Japanese businessmen) at their tables and pour drinks for them. Every one of them drank Chivas Regal scotch, and had their own numbered bottles kept at the bar that they drank from every time they came in.
• Light their cigarettes.
• Encourage them to sing (at $5 a song).
• Clap after they sang
• Be as social and charming as we could be with the language barrier.

Often the only thing to do when making conversation with a man who didn't speak much English was ask him to teach me some Japanese. I can still say several sentences with a passable accent.

 

My shift was from 9:00 pm to 1:00 am. Some girls stayed until 2:00 am, and I suspect that they went above and beyond their official duties, if you get my drift.

 

I used clock out at 1:00 and walk up to the the bus stop for the night bus home. I was freshly off the boat, and quite sheltered I suppose. I guess Dublin had its share of prostitutes, but I am quite sure there were no tranny hookers in Dublin at the time I lived there (I could be wrong). So I was baffled by the impossibly tall women with large feet I saw traipsing around, and the cars driving by slowly with the driver looking at me expectantly. Once or twice, a car would stop by the bus stop and lower the window. This is how naive I was: my first thought was, "oh, he must be lost and need directions." After a couple of those incidences, I wised up and avoided catching the eye of drivers.

 

I worked there for eight or nine months. I look back on those days and I am amazed I put up with that job and didn't find it weirder at the time. I didn't like it, but I thought it was an easy enough way to make money. I don't know. I was 23!

 

No I didn't wear a Kimono. Eric's friend John Walson took this photo of me in Japantown - years after my stint as an Irish Geisha.

 

Icirin is long gone. It's not another restaurant. It's just boarded up and abandoned.

 

 

Welcome to the Future

Our next president.

I am thrilled beyond words. Hopeful. Happy. Ready.

Holy Shit - It's Happening

Can we celebrate yet, or does that invite disaster?

Happy Annie Eraser

This cracks me up every time I find it. Carter brought it back from... Poland I think? years ago, because it reminded her of me. I had red hair at the time. It's tiny - about an inch wide, and it seems to follow me around; I find it in a drawer or pocket every few months.

Hello

I just talked to Desiree to see how she's doing, as I have every day since since Nan passed away. She had just returned home from the grocery store. She told me she needed to buy wine for a Halloween gathering, and she was standing in front of the wine display feeling sad because she would always ask Nan - the gourmand - for a recommendation for wine or cheese.

She was scanning the prices and saw one for $10 or so. Deciding to get it based on price, she looked at the label.

 

Nanette wore glasses and was the middle sister. Deedee said it felt like a little "hello" from her sister, and that's what it feels like to me too. (I am terribly practical in a lot of ways; I think astrology is hogwash, but I do like the idea of the people we love staying around as spirits or energy, giving us little signs.)

I looked up Middle Sister wines, and it turns out that it was launched this summer at a party for Maggie Mason's new shopping blog, Mighty Haus - a party that I was at! (The photo above is one of Maggie's)

Hello Nan.

Threesome

I love this photo of my brother John and his wife (then girlfriend) Geraldine getting naughty with a bronze statue at a winery in Napa.

This was when they came to visit me in 1998. Now they have three little girls and it's been a while since they had a threesome with a statue.

Named After a Planet

When I was 30, I finally learned to drive a car. (I'd had a motorcycle since I was 23). I was living in Berkeley, I got a job in Sausalito, and I needed transport. I had recently killed my motorcycle by letting it run out of oil - it seized up with a crunch on the Bay Bridge and that was that. 

So I bought a used '94 Saturn from The Buggy Bank in Berkeley. I LOVED that car. More than anything, it was the little extras that come with having a car instead of a bike that thrilled me - cup holders for beverages! Music! No more helmet hair! Room for groceries without having to stuff bags inside my leather jacket or dangle them from the handlebars!

The Saturn served me well for many years. When I met Eric he even wrote a wee song about the two of us, "My name is Annie and I drive my car, named after a planet not a star."

It got stolen from in front of our house in 2004 - the same day that Bill Clinton signed my copy of My Life at The Ferry Building. (The bathrooms were crowded with women touching up their lipstick before the book signing.) I still haven't had a second car. Well, Eric and I have a Subaru, and it's great, and now I have a motorcycle again too, but nothing will match the very first car that I could call my own.

My friend Brenda took these photos of me when I brought the car home. So goofy. That's Rexford,Carter's sweet-but-spazzy dog.

We Are Lucky

Thanks to everyone who came out to 3 Fish Studios for our open studio this past weekend. It was our best one yet. We definitely felt fired up with inspiration afterwards; we're going to get cracking on putting some classes together, and find other ways of maximizing our wonderful, lucky space.

This is Eric and me at our 2006 Open Studios, before we had a studio, when we did it out of our garage. We've come a long way.

Loss

Eric said some beautiful things about our dear friend Nan, who passed away yesterday. I spent today with Nan's sister - my close friend Desiree - and the rest of the family down in Monterey. It was hard, with lots of tears, but also laughter and a wonderful walk, all of us, through Pacific Grove and along the sunny beach.

I can't say much more right now, just that my life is better for having known her, and I will miss her so much.

Girl Under the Street

When I first moved to San Francisco, one of the jobs I had was working in an art store on a steep block of Powell Street near Union Square. The store was called Morgan Purcell, and it was owned by Morgan, a nice old man who was kind and funny. He was obsessed with the San Francisco Giants and wore a gold Giants jacket every day. I worked there for almost a year, selling pens and paints. (I sold a pen to Tom Hanks when the biggest movie he had under his belt was Big.)

Morgan Purcell was crammed with art supplies, dusty old office supplies, legal forms, and other stuff. There was also livestock; one day I left my bagel on the counter and when I turned back there was a cockroach the size of my thumb chewing on it.

The store was long and narrow, and went wayyy back into a room with an old busted Xerox machine and boxes of outdated calendars. One day, I heard noise and falling plaster back there - the crew who was working on the street outside had drilled through the road into the store. I ran back there and looked up through a hole at blue sky and a hard-hatted man peering through. When he saw me he yelled, "there's a girl down here!" with considerable alarm.

It must have been so strange for him, expecting to find pipes and dirt and whatever else is under streets, and instead he sees a pale Irish girl with curly hair and huge earrings looking up at him. I wonder did he think I was locked in a dungeon, imprisoned by a dragon or a serial killer.

The store is now a karaoke bar called Sotano. I often wonder what happened to dear old Morgan.

Chloe Running

I'm stealing a picture I love from my brother John's blog.

Three Stories to Make You Laugh and Cry

I once worked with a guy named Rick who was laughing so hard when I told him these stories, he had to lie down on the floor of his office.

Story #1

When I was about 5 or 6, I woke up having had a little wet-the-bed accident. I was embarassed and tried to make my bed to hide the evidence. But I didn't do a good job, so later my mom was remaking my bed, and she says, "Anne...did you have an accident last night?" I shouted , "no!" and ran out of the room and out of the house.

I clearly remember wandering around the garden feeling sad, picking little leaves off a shrub and thinking, "this is the worst day of my life."

Story #2

When I was 11 or so, the family took a trip to Kerry, where my dad grew up, to visit aunts and uncles and cousins. One day, my mom took all the kids to visit my dad's stepmother out in the country.

We all piled out of the car and into her little cottage where she was waiting to greet us. She said with a big smile, "ah, here's Liz and John and Michael. Where's Anne, and who's this little boy?"

Story #3

Again when I was at the awkward, freckly, lanky age of 11 or 12, and my sister was 9, she wanted to take a gymnastics class up at the community center near our house.

My dad bribed me (with swimming pool money) to take the class with Liz. It was full of girls like her - little, blonde, cute. I was a head taller than everone else, with brown short hair that my mother still cut, and I was not cut out for gymnastics.

The only part I really remember (and you will see why soon) is when we had to run around in a circle and jump over a pommel horse. All the blondies were sailing over the jump, but I couldn't do it - so I would just run around it. I was feeling very self conscious. The big room had several mothers standing around watching their little darlings, and as I lumbered past, I heard one of them say to her friend, "that boy's a bit big to be in here, isn't he?"

Lovely Weekend

The Curiosity Shoppe opening was SO FUN on Friday night. Lauren and Derek put on a great party, with cupcakes! There was a terrific turnout of friends old and new, and plenty of my 49 Miles sold. Eric had some of his 49 Mile lino prints there too and they sold like crazy.

Highlights of the rest of the weekend included running into Suzanne, Rob, and baby Lucy while watching the Blue Angels on Saturday and going for an impromptu pint of Guinness at Mad Dog in the Fog on Haight Street with them (big respect for new parents who can be that spontaneous). Then on Sunday, Eric and I took a letterpress printing class at Center for the Book, which was wonderful.

Other than stubbing my little toe so hard I think I broke it on Saturday night, everything this weekend was lovely!

A Sweet Song from Wexford

Thank you for your song Lauryn. It made my day!

(She would only sing for her dad if he "put it into the computer for Annie.")

The Daily Candy Way

Anatomy of a Daily Candy Email Newsletter

1. Illustration: Pale watercolor of a woman in high heels sipping a cocktail. Pic sometimes includes sunglasses, clutch purse, turtlenecked man, or small dog.

2. Title: Always a strained pun that relates weakly to the service being promoted.

Examples:

• Raise the Woof
• Fuel Hardy
• There's No Place Like Om
• Between a Rock and a Yard place

3. Opening paragraph: Make a statement that has nothing to do with the service being promoted, say something presumtive about the reader, or suggest a "remember when" scenario that no one actually remembers.

Examples:

• Once upon a time, there was a girl with a really crappy mattress.
• Once upon a time, you wished for superpowers to make a big impact on the world.
• Life is tough enough without being from New Jersey.
• You don’t believe in ghosts, but lately you’ve been hearing voices.
• At your lowest point, you were naked on your bathroom floor sucking Boone’s from a paper bag.

4. Body of email: With a tenuous segue into the meat of the article, talk about the service in glowing prose, provide inks to pertinent websites.

5. Sign off: Final paragraph is one snappy sentence that has nothing to do with the body of the email, but relates back to the opening statement, closing the loop.

Examples:

• Making it a happily ever after for everyone.
• Now that sounds pretty super.
• Which is a beautiful thing. No matter where you’re from.
• But be forewarned: Voices carry.
• Rock bottom never looked better.

 

Things

This was one of those weekends that happens occasionally in San Francisco where there are so many things going on, you wonder where everyone will find parking.

Love Fest, a parade and festival celebrating the peace, love, and understanding that one can achieve though dance music. (I think that equation needs a few more chemical compounds to make sense - perhaps in pill form?) The Castro Street Faire was happening, and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass concert in Golden Gate Park. There were also hundreds of people walking around Lake Merced on Sunday.

We didn't go to any of those. Instead we spent a lot of time in the studio. I was working on window installations for the Curiosity Shoppe show that opens Friday. I've never done that before and it requires a whole new level of creativity. I hope my ideas work!

I also went though tons of boxes and got rid of a pile of things I don't need.

Here's the story - we were going to move, and then our house value took a dive and we decided to stay in the city (we're happy about that by the way). But during the attempted sale of our house, we had three or four open houses, during which our home had to look pristine and spare.

This meant that we had to pack up 30 boxes or so of stuff and transport it to the studio a couple of months ago. Just ...stuff; linens, extra glasses, books, clothes. We soon realized that we didn't miss a single thing packed in those boxes. So when it became clear that those boxes needed to come back into our home, my goal was to reduce the amount by half, and I think I got pretty close.

I donated clothes that don't fit me anymore or that I never wear, handbags, shoes, lots of books (I had been hanging on to literature and poetry antholologies since I graduated from Berkeley in 1997, and I had never opened them since.) Supplies for crafts I no longer do (mountains of felt from the days I made felt flower pins, fabric, magnets), old pots and pans, tired linens, odd-sized tablecloths. It felt really good.

I feel like I have more of a handle on clutter now. We still brought boxes back to our house - filled with photos, art, quilts handmade by Eric's mom, treasured books, clothes that we wear - things that we like and want to keep around us, which is how it should be.

Art Opening Next Friday

Join us at The Curiosity Shoppe, next Friday the 10th for the opening of my new show.

See art, drink beer, and kick off your holiday shopping! It's going to be a great night.

Yikes

I sketched at Sketch Tuesday last night, and although there were a lot of people there, I only sold two pieces. I usually sell 8 or 10. Mmm, I don't think art is recession-proof.

Things are so weird with the markets now, and It's obvious people are getting concerned. House values are plummeting (San Francisco fell 25% in August). Banks and brokerage houses that have been around for years are toppling or getting acquired for bargain prices. It's a very strange time to be working in the financial industry.

talking of work, I was just writing some copy for identity theft prevention, and in the course of my research, I came across this. It cracks me up - the evil brooding guy stealing the identity of the sweet brunette. Do you think all identity thieves pose like villians? Plus, it could just as easily be the other way around; pretty girls are the most successful fraudsters. (I just made that up, but it could be true.)

Indie Fixx

Thanks to everyone who voted for me over at the Indie Fixx craft-off. I won second place, which couldn't be more perfect, because I didn't have the 2nd prize book, Lacy Crochet, whereas I do already own the first prize book, Lotta Prints.

As well as the book, just look at all the goodies that came in the mail. I love the Crafty Chica bobblehead!

AND I received a subscription to Craft Magazine and a crochet pattern from NexStitch. Woo-hoo! Thanks Jen.

Little E

How flippin' cute is my husband circa 1974?

17 Reasons Why

I saw the season 4 finale of The L Word a few months ago. (I think I'm a season behind because I Netflix it.) In the show, the lovely Bette (Jennifer Beals) dismantles an old sign on the roof of a condemned building and transports it to her sculptor girlfriend on the back of a tractor in order to win her love. This is the sign:

I loved it, but I thought it was just a cool prop on a TV show. When Lauren and Derek of The Curiosity Shoppe invited me to do a show based around 49 of my 49 Mile Drive paintings, I thought it was a great idea, and I suggested the title "49 Reasons Why," thinking of The L Word.

It wasn't until later that I found out the sign on the show was a smaller scale replica of a sign with San Francisco roots. The original Depression-era sign was on top on the Thrift Town building at 17th and Mission - just a few blocks from The Curiosity Shoppe. The "Why" fell off or was removed at some point, but the sign remained until 2002, when it was replaced overnight by a BMW billboard, to the dismay of the neighborhood. (A local film archivist rescued the sign and it's in pieces in his warehouse.) I must have seen it plenty of times in the Mission over the years, but it clearly never registered.

Is it lame that I named my show after a Los Angeles-based TV show and it ends up being named for a piece of San Francisco history?

Dance Break

If you don't get up and dance to these, you are made of stone.

Poppy deliciousness:

• Rihanna - Please Don't Stop the Music
• Desiny's Child - Bootilicious
• JT - Sexyback

Madonna's best:

• Jump
• Sky Fits Heaven
• Impressive Instant
• Nobody Knows Me
• 4 Minutes

Old school '90s

• En Vogue - You're never gonna get it
• Dee Lite - Groove Is in the Heart

Vintage club tracks:

• Dirty Vegas - Days Go By
• Faithless - Insomnia
• The Crystal Method - Trip Like I Do
• Darude - Sandstorm

Just plain great:

• Mary J. Blige - Family Affair
• Thievery Corporation - Lebanese Blonde
• Sean Paul - Get Busy

Leah and Oscar

These two paintings were commissioned for a wee girl and boy. I am happy with them. I should make time to pursue more opportunities for doing kids' art, because it's a lot of fun.

Sunday Evening

I just got back after a day in the studio to an incredible beef pot pie made by my talented husband. Yum!

I have been working so hard on work for an upcoming show, two shows actually, and then Open Studios is coming up next month too - October 25 and 26. That is going to be an amazing weekend! Stay tuned for more information.

By the way, do not waste two hours on What Happens in Vegas. We rented it this weekend because there was nothing else that looked good and it was awful - charmless, formulaic, and lazy. They even stole the title.

Some Kind of Zoom Zoom

Doesn't the kid in the new Mazda commercial remind you of Mary Stewart Masterson in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Ears on Top of Their Heads

Another treat from my 1984 sketchbook. This one is called "The Alien." Ooh, deep.

I love how one of the creatures is smoking with one of her mouths. How do I know it's a girl when there are absolutely no bodily features to distinguish gender on this planet? Her hairstyle of course.

Dinosaurs

My 8-year old nephew Jordan gave me this poem the day I was leaving Ireland in May. I just love it

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs O dinosaurs
O how I love you
I studied you for many years
And here is what I knew
Brachiosaurus had the longest neck
He could do many things
From reaching up to the tops of trees
To making the ground shake
But how did the dinosaurs die?
Were they flooded by a tsunami
or just a big volcano? Nobody knows for sure
I hope they come again.

Branching Out

Eric and I had the best time in the Gold Country on over Labor Day weekend. We go to Russian River so much and I realized recently that I had never seen the country east of Sacramento. The little towns are so cute, lots of old storefronts with balconies perfect for bullet-riddled cowboys to topple off.

My 156-year old employer has a large historical presence out in the Wild West, and it was fun to see old Wells Fargo express stops that are now coffee shops. We spotted two that were marked with brass plaques outside.

But this was a new one for the old stagecoach:

Colors

It's been a fun few days. On Thursday, I went to Rare Device for the opening of Amy Earles's show, as well as the unveiling of RD's sweet new gallery space. It was fun to catch up with everyone and enjoy some wine and Miette chocolate cake. Yum. I treated myself to this awesome book. Lisa and Rena also re-organized the shop, making more room for unusual pretty things. So they are now carrying tons more books, many of which I have never seen anywhere else. If you want a beautiful art book to inspire and delight you, this is the place to go.

The show was terrific. Amy's work was mostly gorgeous little gouache paintings, some of which had jointed figures on painted backgrounds, look. Her brushwork is so detailed she must use a brush with three hairs. I think this was my favorite piece.

Then last night, Eric, Marco, Evany and I went to Dana's opening at Periscope Cellars. What a great place. Her work looked so good there. Dana looked smashing. It was nice to see her, and Charlie too. Charlie helped her with the show, and I guess she was responsible for the amazing spread of fresh fruit, Cowgirl Creamery cheeses, cupcakes, and more - including a wonderful meyer lemon jam her dad made - which won first place at a county fair this summer!

Now it's Saturday morning and we are at the studio listening to Squeeze's greatest hits. (On our first Valentine's Day together, Eric and I went to see them at the Fillmore.) I am working on a whole mess of 49-mile Drive paintings for an upcoming show. Here's a view:

Yearbook Yourself

Me and Eric, yearbooked. Try it yourself.

 

So Grown Up

My sweet niece Lauryn just started "big school." Look how proud she is to wear a uniform and finally go to the same school as her brothers.

I miss you Lauryn. Come visit us in America next year!

Mary Janes

Tonight we went to Target on the way home from the studio and I picked up two pairs of shoes that in total came to about 40 bucks. I love Target!

Eric gave me the "Do-you-really-need-another-pair-of-shoes?" look, but he didn't have a leg to stand on; when he joined me in the shoe section he was clutching his Target must-have - The Muppet Show on DVD.

What I really wanted to go to Target for was a cute dress like this one, but alas, there was no dress even remotely cute and there are so many online. Strange.

We left the store with stuff we hadn't needed an hour before. Then we went home and watched the Muppets (brilliant!) and I walked happily round in my new shoes. Yay.

(Kisses to awesome nephew Aaron in Wexford. Happy 12th birthday kiddo!)

Sketch Tuesday Tomorrow

I'll be at 111 Minna tomorrow (August 26) for Sketch Tuesday. Come and say hi!

It's from 6 to about 9:30 and it's always a really fun time, with music, beer, and affordable art.

Girl on Thing

Indulge me once more. This was also in the sketchbook. I did this same painting a lot and gave copies to friends. I was really proud of it.

But the best part is the title:

"Cocaine 1" (I guess it was part of a series, but I don't remember "Cocaine 2").

What? This is clearly the work of an 18-year-old who has never done drugs, and never even heard first-hand accounts of doing drugs. Where did I get the idea that doing coke was like flying over water near a lit-up city on the back of... a snake? a demon flying carpet? all the while pointing imperiously, "onward, beast!" Wow.

More Early Galvins

More from my 1984 sketchbook. The purple dress cracks me up.

And finally, a self portrait that was also in the sketchbook. Apart from the terrified expression, this is pretty much how I looked in high school. I'm in my Presentation Convent school uniform - green sweater and skirt, white shirt, red tie. And my hair was always short and puffy, the worst cut possible for someone with thick curly hair. I didn't even know my hair was curly until I went to college and let it grow out.

Hanna Barbera World

When we were visiting Tommy and Brenda last week, I was reminded of my all-time favorite story. Brenda must have told me this at least 10 years ago.

Many years ago, Tommy was living in southern California with his girlfriend and her young son. One day, the girlfriend suggests that they take a weekend trip to Fresno to visit Hanna Barbera World. Tommy says OK and they pick a weekend to go. The weekend arrives and the three of them - plus the boy's friend - drive several hundred miles to Fresno and check into their hotel.

Next morning arrives.They get dressed and put on comfortable shoes and sunblock. Then they go up to the front desk to ask for directions. "Excuse me, can you tell us how to get to Hanna Barbera world?" says Tommy's girlfriend. The manager stares at her with a puzzled look, "Hanna Barbera World?" The girlfriend starts to explain, but suddenly something dawns on her and she turns to Tommy. "Oh my God," she says, "I think I dreamed it."

The funniest part is if there was a Hanna Barbera World, you know it would be in Fresno.

 

Tiny Entrepreneur

Our friends Albert and Shannon's little girl Sofia set up a lemonade stand at the weekend, but being a typical San Francisco summer (especially in her neighborhood - and ours - the Outer Richmond), it was foggy and cold, and she only had one customer, her dad.

So she and Albert set up a virtual lemonade stand, with proceeds going to her college fund and the homeless pre-natal program of San Francisco, and now she's in the running for INC. Magazine's Best Lemonade Stand in America. Such a great idea; she accomplishes something with her dad, and learns product development, marketing, e-commerce, and giving back - all at once. Go Sofia!

And while we're on the subject of awesome kids, here are my dear friend Desiree's three girls, Renee, Belle, and Ella. It was their 2007 Christmas card photo. I just love this shot.

Early Galvins

Here are some drawings I did in 1984. I found a whole sketchbook of them when I was back in Ireland last May. These represent my early foray into fashion design. Look at that pink string vest. Oh dear.

What's with the Women's Olympic Swimsuits?

Why are they all squeezed into them like this? Where is the room for boobs?