It’s fair to say that I love my work. [Some people might suggest it would also be fair to say that I'm a filthy, antisocial art hermit, but we won't listen to them, no.] Painting, drawing, writing, shooting – all of it, love. But making time for actual lifestuff has become a vital aspect of my existence over the past two years. I’m increasingly fascinated with the idea of superior time-management – of finding my ideal balance between work and life and uninterrupted time to be filled with reading, exercise, movies, meditation and whatever else I might want that day. I’m still too busy to journal, for the most part, so I’m taking more care to otherwise document. Here is a resulting collection of non-work moments, people and things that made me happy over the past week or so.

Sunny weekend mornings with Ales and a house that’s finally in order after a month of sick and busy.

Micron and her new observation deck atop a cabinet.

Vivka and

her tiny Tesla.

New Lung Ta flags – a set of three sent in a care package from Tibet.

Hilarious party times that end up in LA Weekly.

And, of course, 4AM Denny’s photoshoots with Clint Catalyst.

The Criterion edition of Videodrome.

Night wine [and rare filet mignon, not pictured] with friends.

                          

Good morning! Closer to noon here, actually, as I’ve managed to inexplicably sleep past 10 for the second day in a row. After several minutes of cold-sweat-panic and confusion, I’m now enjoying it with a mug of homemade mocha and a pile of photos to dig through. First up, a few shots from the Conjoined reception. Above is me with my paintings – don’t let the squintface fool you, it was a super-fun night! To finally finish not one, but two paintings after five [!] years, and to exhibit them in such great company felt fantastic. More shots from the reception below.

Kevin Kirkpatrick’s Beavis and Butthead in Real Life

The Fast Supper by Jason Hite

Actaeon by Michael Shawn McCracken

Sculpture by Meats Meier

Conjoined 2 by Chet Zar

Many, many more photos and an article I wrote about the exhibit are up on Chinashop. LA Weekly has a piece on Conjoined 2 as well, with a few words from Chet Zar, Kevin Kirkpatric and myself.

In all the excitement I ran out of time to document my outfit that night, but it included black Galaxy leggings from Black Milk, Trish Summerville platforms from H & M, the black and grey GHST RDR jacket and milky blue opalite jewelry.

I’ll try to be more vigilant with outfit documentation in the future. For now, I have tattoo commissions and a very serious post office mission to attend to.

                          

I’m taking the day off work to get the home base in some semblance of order. Our being sick and insanely busy this month has it looking like a circus tent exploded on the premises. But first, photos, taken by myself and Stephanie, from a little post-Conjoined afterparty. There was Nancy Reagan’s mac-n-cheese with bacon, wine and introducing friends to the horrors of Visitor Q. Also cheeze piggies and zesty puppies. I have photos and impressions from the show itself to go through, but that will happen later. For now, gaze upon late-night bohemian debauchery, starring Stephanie Inagaki, Ulorin Vex, Ales Kot, Taslimur and Aaron Hawks.

                          

It’s a busy January, between finishing paintings for this Saturday’s reception, working on interviews and photos for ChinaShop, drawings for tattoo commissions and a pinup for Occupy Comics. I’ve also started Spring cleaning early – a few fancies are out on eBay as we speak.

On Monday, I managed to escape the toil and spend a day with my mom.

I love, LOVE ramen. Real Japanese ramen, not the packaged dry sort, and I finally introduced mom to this magical concoction. We had beef curry ramen and pork soy ramen. Mff!

We didn’t have any. I actually despise doughnuts, though I do love bacon.

This happens a lot. When people threaten women that they’ll become their mothers, it should be clarified that it actually means they’re going to constantly dress alike without conspiring to. My mom is wearing an AllSaints coat. Frf.

MOCA is hosting an amazing exhibit right now - Naked Hollywood: Weegee in LA. It’s a massive retrospective of the NYC-crime-scene-photographer-turned-LA-paparazzi who captured some of the most iconic images of the early 20th century. If you’re in town, I highly recommend it. We were enthralled for hours.

There is also a Kenneth Anger exhibition, which we didn’t have much time for, though we did watch an excerpt from Lucifer Rising. I’ll be going back soon.

It was a fun afternoon. I took this self portrait later that evening:

I’ve been collecting them here, if you’re interested.

                          

The past few days have been filled with shoots and interviews and catching up with some of the ridiculously talented people I’m glad to call friends in the midst of it all, while ferociously digging into One Hundred Years of Solitude. On page 180 now. Today I’m diving back into a painting, in hopes of being able to wrap by the 18th. Time for serious caffeination and concentration.

This is from my documentation of the Silverlake Zombie thing a couple of months ago. Maybe the best photo I’ve ever taken.

Art dog, arting.

With miss Slinky Orangina of Bubbles and Frown after exploring her showroom. The photos and our interview are up on Chinashop now!

Purple velvet cupcakes!

Documented LA’s 4th annual No Pants Metro Ride and managed, miraculously, to keep my pants on. Maybe next time! More photos and write-up, here.

Visited the mysterious and baby-hungry Mildred Von Hildegard at Mother of London HQ. Our interview coming soon to a Chinashop near you.

Blue bathroom at Pillarbox Studios.

A miniscule sampling of Tracey and Brian‘s vast vintage robot collection.

A peek at some of the magic that goes into Miyu Decay. Yes indeed, there is an interview in the works!

F

Headdress by Bubbles and Frown.

                          

All I knew about my New Year’s present from Ales was that it was something spectacular. Every time we had guests in December, he’d take them to his laptop and conspiratorially show them, to the sound of inevitable WOWs.

It didn’t arrive -in two big, heavy boxes carried by grumpy UPS employees-  until the two days prior to NYE. Our friends Allan and Ulorin came over for the big reveal, which elevated the suspense to a fever pitch. I battled layers of cardboard and styrofoam in a pair of rather impractical heels until…

…a massive, gorgeous, sparkly-black telescope emerged. The women observed and fetched sustenance while the men labored to construct the beast.

It was all very manly.

I can honestly say this is the best present I’ve ever received and wish The Incomparable Ales lots of luck in topping it. I still squeal with delight every time I feast my eyes upon this glorious machine.

It’s a full moon tonight – hopefully the sky will be clear enough to get a closer look!

                          

Yesterday was the day of Grand Shippening. All of last week’s print orders are off, along with D4RT incentives. If all goes well, said incentives [aside from commissioned drawings] will be with my backers before the end of the year. Calculating postage for 150 oddly-shaped envelopes was rather complicated, but my awesome D4RT intern Celia and I were as diligent as time allowed, so I hope not to have to deal with returns.

Also, if you haven’t spent two hours at the post office during the holiday season, I recommend it – if not for the fast and friendly service, then for the comedy.

Stickers.

Postcards, 4 in each set.

Celia’s pretty grey manicure. I, on the other hand, was in full hobo-mode when she showed up to help, fitted BDUs and baggy sweater UNF.

Address labels.

Buttons.

Legs after an especially strenuous shoot for an iPad magazine. Can’t wait to show you the resulting photos!

My beautiful mother.

A little something I’m working on for the Conjoined show – fast approaching on January 21st.

Green tea cake more of which I require in my life.

Ales-mom on our porch in October.

Micron, pensive as ever.

                          

Our New Year’s tree is now complete and man, does it smell great in here. The massive cookie candle helps, as well.

If you’re a new reader: though I don’t celebrate Christmas, welcoming the New Year is a big deal around here.

Read about Russian New Year’s customs here, toward the second half of the article.

The doll head isn’t a “Russian thing”, by the way – that’s just my special touch.

                          

I took these last Sunday – the final Sunday of the Occupy Los Angeles City Hall encampment, taken over the course of six and a half frenzied hours between 9:30 pm and 4:30am.

Quintus iPhoned that sweet action shot of me. Aww yeeh. View all 61 images in the slideshow below.

                          

On Monday, the first batch of limited edition and other prints is heading out of their dim, inky womb and into your warm embraces.

You have until Sunday night to get your orders in. The next rounds will ship out on the 5th, 12, the 19th and once more some time after the 26th, and then that’s all folks.

Everything you see in the shop now will go away on December 31st to make room.

Small bursts of art, merch, and very limited edition stuff is in the future. Now, we clean house!

                          

I wonder how many of you get a little wistful after Halloween. TV networks stop re-running vintage horror flicks, pumpkins disappear from stoops and seeing ghosts on every other street corner  becomes a rarity once again. This year I’m just going to keep the spooky-time spirit alive and bask in scary movies, pumpkin spiced coffee and candlelight all winter long, while I hole up making new artstuffs.

Not that it’s really winter here, but you know what I mean.

Last week, I asked the willing to share some photos of their versions of calavera makeup, and discovered all sorts of goodness in the comments section today. Check out these cranium cuties:

I painted Alesface before a party on Saturday, too. I’m thinking he needs to add this look into regular rotation.

Admittedly, I was lazy this year and went with a Jill Bioskop “costume“. My costume-planning time was limited and it’s the one look that allows for multiple shades of blue makeup in addition to blue hair and a blue manicure, see:

I do so wish I’d had time to better document the outfit, but it was not meant to be. Here are a couple of ever-awesome agent Yoon’s party photobooth shots, to compensate.

                          

Besides teaching the art workshop, part of my Peru mission was to create a mural at the Yantaló school. Between time constrains, missing paint and enormous, fume-loving flying ants, this was no easy task!

The paint had to be acquired in Lima, before my arrival, by a rep from the Yantaló Peru Foundation, and not everything was available. We scoured the hospital construction site for a primer, walking away with several cans of what turned out to be completely solidified, hard acrylic lumps. This was one candidate, but turned out to be filler. You can understand my momentary confusion, yes?

At the school, we rummaged through leftover paint from another project in search of primer, only to find it a separated, sticky goop.

Exhausting my options, I decided to slightly alter the mural’s color scheme and used one of the main colors to prime the wall.

Annah helped prime and entertained bystanders with phone games.

A couple of days later, once the base was dry, I sketched the mural before a workshop.

Just one day remained to paint!

I began at 6:30AM. Even with all the help, the project stretched until the sun set at 7.

I tend to be hyper-meticulous when it comes to my work, so having to rush and to relinquish control to folks most of whom had never painted before was a significant challenge.

It helped get the job done in the nick of time, though, and was well worth it.

When the sun began to set, we had to stop. Light was fading and by that point I could no longer hold a brush without my hand shaking and cramping up.

It was difficult to walk away without taking an additional three hours for touch-ups, but between the darkness and my physical exhaustion, I had to stop. I asked my assistants to sign the wall, we toasted with a beer which materialized on the scene seemingly out of nowhere, and that was that!

I also left some paint behind, hoping someone will undertake the task of filling in the characters’ skin, but I’m not holding my breath – just know that the kids were not intended to be ghostly mint.

Related articles

• Jungle Citrus
• D4RT Debriefing
• Jungle Orchids and Lost Dogs - Moyobamba to Uantaló and Back
• Dreaming Big in the Amazon - Luis Vasquez and Yantaló Peru Foundation
• D4RT Launches in Yantaló

                          

In Peru, gathering sour-sweet mandarins with Annah before beginning the mura. Mff.

Related articles: D4RT Debriefing

                          

I’ve been back from Peru for just over two weeks, plunging into playing hostess to an important house guest immediately upon my return. Between all the D4RT prep, the epic journey itself and family obligations that followed, it was as good a time as any to put some distance between myself and the internet, plugging in mostly to keep up with current events and reference-hunt for articles. I can’t say that I’m back now – I’m still working out the degree to which I want to return.

Major focus-shifting is happening, big changes which mean a lot of work ahead. All this requires getting a ton of obligations out of the way, drinking gallons of green tea, reading, surrounding myself with inspiration and listening to lots of music – right now I’m submerged in Ólafur Arnalds’s Living Room Songs – which he’s made available for free download here and which our dog hates with the unique spite she reserves for violin music alone. It’s beautiful and you should give it a listen.

Cliff Martinez’ Drive and Contagion soundtracks are both wonderful as well, and get me through task days with speed and efficiency. Aaand one of my favorite defunct groups, The Great Tyrant, have released an incredible EP which I was lucky to receive in Mp3 format, for lack of record player. If you possess such a device, you can listed to There’s a Man in the House the way it was meant to be heard. Excellent October music, actually.

Photos have, of course, accumulated and I’ll be letting them loose here, as time permits. But first, D4RT coverage! I’ve written three articles about this incredible experience, with myriads of my favorite photos from the trip arranged into corresponding galleries:

• Jungle Orchids and Lost Dogs - Moyobamba to Uantaló and Back
• Dreaming Big in the Amazon - Luis Vasquez and Yantaló Peru Foundation
• D4RT Launches in Yantaló

                          

Good morning, universe.

In just four short days I’ll be cramming my cargo into a little rocket and zooming off to Yantaló. The pile of books and supplies at my front door has gone from this:

…to this:

On Monday, I’ll do my best to post photos of the contents. it’s time for some serious suitcase Tetris! And maybe more prickly pear juice.

LA is filled with all manner of cactus and this fruit is fairly easy to find in parks and stores alike. Some troublesome varieties, however, are exceptionally difficult to juice because their delicate pulp is loaded with hard seeds – one literally has to mash the stuff in a net strainer to achieve the above result.

While it was worth it, as soon as Ales and I drank the delicious results, I embarked on a search for a bottled version – somehow to no avail. If anyone here is in the know, please share.

Amidst the D4RT prep, I’ve been whipping the house into shape. It had fallen into considerable disarray while I was busy and it just so happens that, two days after my return from Peru, my mother-in-law is coming to visit for the first time from the Czech Republic. Besides, I don’t come home to a mess if I can help it.

We’ve rearranged the bedroom as part of this process, and purchased my very first [!] dining table, which isn’t here yet.

There were a few moments to visit with friends, too. One is a skilled mixologist and blew my mind with a masterly array of what I affectionately call “old man drinks”.

It’s science!

We also went to FYF, got long-overdue Thai massages, watched lots of movies in bed and spent time with Micron. I got trip vaccinations which made my arm feel like lead for 24 hours, shot a few SG sets and did some other stuff, some of which was documented in the field.

And last, but certainly not least, I have officially reached hair nirvana, thanks to Vivka’s dyeing skills. She did such an incredible job that the process will receive its own post when I have the time. I leave you with this.

Eeee!

                          

Can you believe this is the 80th Photo Flurry already?

Full D4RT Mode is now engaged and my itinerary is making me giddy: I’m flying to Lima on September 13th, then from Lima, I’ll fly to Moyobambo and Yantaló is a short-ish drive from there. Mostly I’m making supply shopping lists, laying down a lesson plan, figuring out how to fit everything into two 50-pound suitcases and commencing the student-wrangling process. The D4RT Kickstarter has a little over a week to go, which means chances of making it to Cambodia with this round are slim, unless we manage to, somehow, get 6k in the next nine days. Either way, Yantaló is ON!

Additionally, I’ve just re-blued my hair into 4 different shades [more to be added] with an amusing starry night manicure to match…

…and finished this tattoo commission. I also went to an artist signing for the Sketch Theatre book, watched witchy cinema, and caught up with friends.

Posting here will continue to be sporadic for the near future. Meanwhile, you can find further fragments on Twitter and Tumblr. Now, some photos to fill the void!

7AM garden view.

Exploring CalTech.

At Figaro Bistrot.

Sweater kitten.

                          

Over the past month I’ve been busy working on D4RT and trying to keep up with commissions, so it’s been a challenge to stay on track with my streamlined routine – I can’t say that there haven’t been days of slipping into the over-caffeinated, under-hydrated work mode, but I’m adapting and managing to squeeze some life and fun in between all that work. Let’s play a game of breakneck catch-up, shall we?

THIS WEEK

On Monday, Cris and I went out to the Venice to photograph life coach and super-inspiration, Carol Segrave.

Cris asked me to do make-up, which is exactly what I did.

I loved being around someone so full of lifezest and amazing stories. Carol’s website is being rebuilt at the moment so I can’t link you yet, but! A sneak peek:

Yes, this woman is 69 years old.

That night, Monday was made complete by an Active Child performance.

One of my favorite musical discoveries this year, alongside The Irrepressibles, and they have an Echo Monday residency all month. Chances are I’ll be going again next Monday and the Monday after that. Here is why:

Tuesday’s tattoo commission:

LAST WEEK

On Monday, Clint, Robert and I went out to Mr. Black for Lina Lecaro’s Wizard-of-Oz-themed birthday and website launch bash.

Between the VIP table [complete with free cocktails] and the sweaty, happy, writhing dance floor, I had an amazing time. Truly, I need more dancing in my life.

With the birthday girl.

Check out Lina’s photos of her magical night.

I’ve been lamenting not having enough friend-time so Ales and I hosted a Saturday garden screening of Videodrome, thanks to a borrowed projector and a sheet hung over our fence. I took exactly zero pictures, but here is an Instragram photo from Jason.

Friends brought chairs and snacks, and I made a massive tub of guacamole, which was miraculously devoured in its entirety.

Further proof:

The last guests left around 4am.

And finally, David Graves has uploaded some infrared portraits he took of me well over a year ago. These two are my favorites.

A good note to end on! Until very soon.

                          

Last week, Lumi and I wandered around a secret ghost town, peeking into dusty windows, twisting rusted doorknobs and climbing crumbling rooftops. We sat under an ancient tree and talked about Buddhism, among other things. We also rolled down a grassy hill, microscopic cuts reminding us of our indiscretion for the rest of the day – a perfect day of stillness and awe. And itchy arms.

                          

This year, I decided to keep birthday stuff low-key, asking friends to contribute to the D4RT Kickstarter instead of gifts. 2011 has been strange and amazing and, at times, very overwhelming – so on my birthday I wanted to do something that would inspire and recharge me. This might become a new tradition.

The Getty center has a few temporary exhibits closing in a few days: Paris: Life & Luxury [closing on the 7th], Gods of Angkor: Bronzes from the National Museum of Cambodia [closing on the 14th], and Fashion in the Middle Ages [also the 14th], which made for an day filled with challenging juxtapositions and superb eye candy. Ales and I arrived at opening with the morning rain, looked at art, devoured crab cakes benedict and toasted honey peppercorn martinis. Proof:

Alespout. It started raining. and we discovered his shoes were holy.

Surprise run-in with Yume and Alcuin.

Even more after the jump.

                          

Me, running on wet sand in Malibu. Photo by Stephanie Inagaki.

My purple make up brushes. Photo by Stephanie Inagaki.

                          

Los Angeles, summer 2011
Models: Michael Hans Schelb and Mark Splatter