Wexford Girl

Sunday Shopping

I can't wait for this. Lots of cool artists plus warm Scandinavian booze! Come on out, Folsom and 20th Street.

Starbucks Steals My Bear Hug

George pointed this commercial from Starbucks out to me. It's sweet, but what's with the girl hugging the bear? Is that idea just out there in the air, part of the zeitgeist? Is there nothing original in the universe?

I thought it was my idea.

 

Procrastinating

At the studio procrasinating a bit. I have a lot of commissions, and I need to get on them because they're for Christmas gifts. At least I won't be as lame as Amazon. I placed an order today, November 27, and they can't guarantee it to arrive by Christmas. That's with the free shipping of course. Oh well, most of the stuff is for me. Including this gorgeous book. That's the hold-up I think; delivery for that is 3 to 6 weeks.

Other gifts will mostly come from craft fairs and Etsy. My current favorite seller is Paraphernalia. I got a gorgeous goldfish necklace there and I constantly get comments on it. Items come from Australia though and it takes a while. For immediate gratification I will be paying visits to Rare Device, The Curiosity Shoppe, and Stumasa. If there is anyone reading this who has not yet been to Stumasa, get to Cole Valley immediately - it's incredible.

Orange County hottie and friend Suzanne put together some great gift lists, this one and this one and here and here and just a couple more. She has done a lot of work digging out some truly wonderful things. Plus, you should all be reading her anyway. She's brilliant, funny, and sly.

Sly, that's a word I don't use often. I mean it as a compliment. It can be a good thing, right?

Here are some 49 Mile Drive signs in various colors. I love doing these.

(Eric just brushed my cheek with the softest paintbrush ever and told me it was baboon hair. I believed him for a second.)

By Ourselves

After almost a month and a half of houseguests, Eric and I had this weekend to ourselves. We had my Dad, and Amy and Evan for his show, then Amy, Randy, Norton, and Jen for Thanksgiving. Before that, Eric's nephew Matt stayed for a month while he found an apartment in SF. So, we had lovely people around, but it was nice to get back to us.

We went to Target yesterday, and ooh-ed when we saw Amy's in-store installations and products. I wanted to tell everyone, "she's our friend!" When she got that job a year and a half ago, Christmas "07 seemed so far off, so it's incredible to see all her work there, where millions of people can see it.

She said she's getting a few negative comments about "selling out," which is such horseshit. She's the same artist she always was, except she got this wonderful job from Target which allowed her and Randy to open their restaurant. Artists are not required to remain poor; they can become successful and actually start to earn money. Imagine that! Good for you Amy; I hope Barney's comes knocking next and finances a month-long trip to the North Pole.

Today we went to the art store, then had an amazing lunch in The Alembic on Haight Street. What a great spot.

Now we're at home and enjoying a gentle Sunday evening. I'm painting, and Eric is watching TV, and we're both drinking wine!

Here are some new pieces.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I'm at work, but I plan on leaving early. Eric is already at home getting ready for tomorrow's feast. I love Thanksgiving, because it gives my man a chance to shine even more in the kitchen. How lucky am I?

Dad left this morning. We had such a fun visit. Lots of quality time, nice meals, and whiskey!

Here are two girls finished the other night - or is it the same girl?

A Full Day

the Holiday Market was such fun. We had a great turnout, and it was lovely to chat with all the other artistic women. I had never met Kate Durkin before (well I think I did briefly at the Capsule fair earlier this year) so it was nice to get a chance to get to know her, and I brought home one of her darling screenprinted and embroidered handbags. I also couldn't resist the most exquisite tiny fox stitched on paper from an old map, by the talented Dana. Oh and Jenifer and I did a swap and I got three of her gorgeous necklaces, ostensibly for Christmas gifts, but I have a bit of a Sophie's choice because I love them all equally and can't see giving any of them up!

I sold a few bear boxes, and lots of postcards. I recently had a sleuth of bears made into flat cards (see the collective noun? I had to look it up) and I'm selling them in packs of 8. The printing is really nice quality and I'm pleased with them. I also sold several 49 Mile Drive paintings. That's always a popular painting. I've done them in a few different colors, like pink and green, black and white. People like them, but when it comes to buying one, more often than not they go for the traditional colors of pale blue, white, and deep orange.

Here are some shots from the show:

After the show was over, everyone gone, and tons of food put away or given away, I drove home on the motorcycle, relaxed for half an hour and then put on a cute outfit. Eric and I went back across town to Bernal Heights to Shannon and Pierre's baby shower (which was more like a super fun cocktail party in her awesome house). They are expecting twin baby boys and they're very excited. One of the reasons it was so fun was that they dispensed with the usual shower habit of opening all the gifts while everyone sits around watching. I hate that; it's soooo boring, so I was thrilled we didn't have to do it.

Then, it was over to Circolo for Alisha's 40th birthday bash. What a rager. She looked utterly stunning in a strapless blue dress and red heels (she never wears heels). After cocktails and much mingling-chatting-laughing-dancing, Eric and I left with Dan, who was at the party too, and went to a little Mission bar, Homestead, for a last drink where it was quiet enough to talk. The bartender was a bit curt and grumpy, and Dan said, "you can always spot the bartender who wishes he was doing something else."

We bumped into Jen and Jenny of The Candy Store and their friend, who were out celebrating Jen's birthday. It was a fun time. After that, we dropped Dan home and were back in our house around 2:00. It's been a while since we've had such a late night, and it was FUN!

Come to Our Holiday Market

Don't forget this weekend is the first annual 3 Fish Studios Holiday Market.

Join us for music, snacks, and shopping - featuring paper, art, apparel, accessories, home decor and more from Honeycutt Made, Sarah Chase, Charm Foundry, Sprout Studio, Namaste Mofo, Dana Robson, Ashli Reitz, and Kate Durkin!

We are located in the American Industrial Center, which is just south of ATT Park at the foot of Potrero Hill.

The best door to enter is at 610 22nd Street, between 3rd Street and Illinois. Come up to the second floor and find us in Suite 243.

If you get lost, give us a call at 415-865-0420.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The Book

I came home one day last week to discover that Eric had made a book (with iPhoto) of my art. I was so surprised and thrilled, and he wrote the loveliest intro. There are a lot of pages, and he clearly put a lot of time into the layout. He is awesome!

Biron Postcard

Designed by Eric

Soon I will share a surprise Eric put together for me that has made everyone so jealous that he's my husband and not theirs!

Willie

My dad comes tomorrow and I'm excited. We're going to take him to Mendocino. I think he will love the magnificent Pacific coastline on the drive up. I like having my dad here. He's easygoing, fun, loves Eric's cooking, and clearly enjoys spending time with us. He's fond of the little feral cat in our garden we feed every morning too, Willie. I swear he asks about Willie more than about Eric when I talk to him on the phone.

Here are two girls of a strange hue for my next show at Hotel Biron, opening December 5th. It's called The Girls Are Alright and there will be a lot of girls. I have to do more of them facing the other way though. This side has always been easier to draw!

Hurricane Edna

here are some more drawings that Sunday produced:

This is my favorite, Hurricane Edna:

Girls

New drawings:

My Love Affair with Cereal

There were only two kinds of breakfast growing up, hot and cold. Hot was porridge (oatmeal to you Americans) and cold was cereal. Like the clocks going back or forward, my mom switched us from hot to cold and cold to hot once a year, when the weather turned towards winter or summer. It was always a day of joy when cereal and cold milk were waiting for us at the breakfast table.

It wasn't sugary cereal - mainly Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and Weetabix (not common over here, but you can get it in Trader Joes). Once in a while we'd have Frosties or Sugar Smacks, but usually it was the boring stuff, which suited me just fine.

I loved cereal, and would happily have it for every meal. I think all of the Galvin kids were like that growing up. So my mom's rule was cereal only at breakfast, and only one bowl.

She bought us glass bowls just for cereal. They were big and could hold a lot of cereal, so one bowl was plenty. Nonetheless, my bowl of Krispies or Flakes invariably towered like a mountain above the lip of the bowl when I poured my own. My mom, busy with feeding the others, would catch sight of the enormous drift of cereal I was tucking into, and go, "Oh Anne..." I would say defensively, "The milk made it swell up."

My brother John had his way of eating cereal. He only ever wanted "Weetabix-crunched-up-no-milk-only-sugar." This was also the guy who regularly ate a bowl of ketchup with his potato chips, and who ordered "fizzy-orange-in-a-bottle-with-a-straw" when we went to pubs or hotels with our parents. (John and I were also the only ones to have imaginary pet monsters growing up; his was The Crispality, and mine was Skippedy - no wonder we get on so well!)

We were not angel kids; there were plenty of fights and back-talk and sulking, but in general we weren't rule breakers. So I may have gazed at the boxes of cereal longingly after school, but it wouldn't occur to me to break the rules and have some, even if Mam wasn't home (I don't think my dad would have noticed what we were eating.)

Liz and I did break the rules one night though. Mam was out and we got ourselves two bowls of Rice Krispies. But before we could pour the milk, we heard Mam coming in the front door, greeting our brothers. Liz and I looked at each other in horror. I ran out the back door with the two bowls and flung the Krispies out into the dark garden, towards the vegetable patch. I made it back to the kitchen and hid the bowls in time.

Liz and I could barely sleep that night. We were sure that the morning light would reveal a garden covered with tiny yellow lozenges of rice, sure we would be caught and scolded. But morning came and there was nothing there. I guess the dawn birds had eaten it all, or else I overestimated the visibility of Rice Krispies flung into potato plants and lettuce.

Now, years later, I can have cereal whenever I want. But it's dangerous. I can't really have it in the house, because I love it just as much as ever, and when cereal is in the house, nothing else sounds as good, not Eric's risotto, grilled chicken, salmon with roasted fingerling potatoes, nothing.

I was talking about cereal with Evany's boyfriend Marco and he told me that he wasn't supposed to have cereal for dinner either. His mom was still at work when he got home, so he would eat a bowl of cereal, wash and put away the bowl, then dirty another bowl with whatever he was supposed to have, soup or meatloaf or whatever. Then he would get into trouble for not washing that bowl. Such an elaborate ruse, but cereal makes it all worth it.