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"If your nose is really ugly, a doctor may be able to change its shape."
Sniff! Let's leave Kate to enjoy her new instant family, completely free of emotional damage from years of torture and slavery. Now she's pretty (albeit with unfortunate bangs), so everything's OK. Just like real life.
It's cold in Portland. With plenty of clouds:
And blustery gusts:
And new friends to meet:
Kate shows some midriff, and sports some enormous band-aids.
We're off to Portland tomorrow. Amy and Randy's restaurant is opening, so of course we have to be there.
Here is a picture of me at age three. I look a little confused. This is the same look I wear now when designers at work start talking about swf files and Flash actionscripts.
And here is a 1987 photo that Barbara took of me in Waterford. I got that haircut for free in London as a Vidal Sassoon model. I liked it; I remember feeling cute that day.
More "Girl in the Mirror" coming in the next few days. Stay tuned!
Part two, wherein it's discovered that Kate is a "super dancer" despite having been held captive since infancy by a sadistic witch, and having no contact with the outside world besides an old radio.
Oh when will she ever learn? Or...can she find happiness? Tune in tomorrow for more of Kate's sad tale.
As promised, here is the first part of "The Girl in the Mirror" from the 1980 Mandy annual. Click on images to make them big enough to read.
Stay tuned! Will Kate ever discover that she's pretty, or will she have more bizarre incidents where her face is covered, and then it's not, and people are laughing at her for some other reason. "How many of those misunderstandings could possibly happen?" you ask. Hmmmm.
I recently got a bunch of annuals on eBay. Anyone from Ireland and or the British Isles who was a kid in the '70s and '80s knows exactly what annuals are. They were a huge part of childhood.
I loved weekly girls' comics like Bunty, Judy, Tammy, Mandy, and Misty, especially Misty - great scary stories. (When I was 13 or 14, I graduated to Jackie, which had more boy-focused stories and provided makeup and hair tips to prepare us for the terrifying world of teenagerhood.)
Girls' comics were filled with stories of plucky girls who were apprentice vets, amateur detectives, or talented natural gymnasts, ballerinas, or swimmers (usually a cruel aunt or illness was an obstacle to the dream). Plenty of boarding school stories too, which made me long to go away to a school where I would make lots of chums and have midnight feasts. Some of the stories were self-contained in each issue, but many of them were serials, complete with cliff-hangers each week.
At Christmas time, all of these comics published books, called annuals. They contained stories with many of the old favorites, and new characters too. There was always an annual or two in the pile on Christmas morning. And after the school holidays, we would all bring our stash into school and borrow one another's so we always ended up reading them all.
eBay is great for this stuff. And it is so much fun to read the old stories again. There is one in a Mandy annual that had me laughing so hard (although when I was 11 I'm sure I thought it was a very sad poignant story). It's called "The girl in the mirror" and describing it just wouldn't do it justice, so I'll scan it later.
I did a bunch of bears this weekend and they are for sale in my Etsy shop.
We had a wonderful weekend. A very fun dinner party at Margaret and Erik's on Saturday, and today a trip up north to La Crema winery. Carl came too. Steph couldn't because she had to work (which is reason #76 I'm glad I'm not a lawyer). The winemaker, Melissa, was friends with Eric 20 years ago. Several months ago, he saw her name on the back of a bottle of La Crema wine and they reconnected. This was the second occasion I spent time with her and I like her a lot.
We got a private tour, tasting pinot noir in all its stages - grape juice; just beginning to ferment (disconcertingly warm); fermented but pre-aged (tart and cloudy); and finally jewel-red and delicious.
We had a wonderful lunch in Willow Wood Market before heading back to the Bay Area. I loved this weekend.
And a shout-out to Brigid, who moved into her very own place this weekend after years of renting. It's not an easy thing to do in this town. Congratulations Brigid!
As I mentioned before, one day this summer NBC was shooting a scene from the new series Journeyman with Kevin McKidd next to our building. Then this morning the promo came on TV. I Tivo-paused and took a snap, because that is the alley right next to our building!
I work in the building on the left. That's the BofA tower across the street. If you could crawl into the scene and go up to the second floor, you would find me.
Here are some recent paintings, and my calendar of upcoming shows:
Current, until October 16, The Salon, (377 Guerrero @ 16th street)
October 25 opening party, Group Show at The Madrone Lounge, 500 Dividero at Fell. I am excited about this because Madrone is my favorite bar in the city!
October 13-14: Open Studios at our house at 47th and Fulton, as we've done the past two years.
October 27-28: Open Studios at our studio, 3rd and 22nd.
November 17, our holiday Market at the studio. This is going to be great! Confirmed participants so far include: Superhero Designs, Sprout Studio, Honeycutt Made, Charm Foundry, India Rose, and there are several more in the works.
December 5, opening party for my show at Hotel Biron, 45 Rose St. Near Zuni Cafe at Market and Gough.
December 6, Appel and Frank Shopping event, The Regency Center, 1270 Sutter at Van Ness.
January 29 opening party, Group Show at Brown Bear, 289 Divisidero at Page.
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