My Paris Sketchbook (and some news)

This fall has been a flurry of activity and everything is moving way to fast. I have just returned from a much needed vacation in Paris where I spent my time not going to any important tourist sites. Instead I hung around cafes and gardens and met locals and sketched people and things around me. I ate enough pastry that I became a near expert on where to find the best croissants in the city (depending on whether you prefer buttery, flaky or soft croissants. If you're in Paris and in need of croissants, see Eric Kayser.) I made friends, shopped at local markets, explored out of the way neighborhoods, and partied into the night at wine & art festivals while normal tourists were asleep in their beds - butt bags & maps resting on the nightstand. It was a very fun trip and it definitely deserves several posts which hopefully I will get too soon. For now you can see sketches I did there on my flickr site:

PARIS SKETCHBOOK

In other news, I am in the process of starting a new full time job (hooray for income!) and subsequently moving to some sort of apartment closer to my studio & job. It will be a welcome change to have a place of my own and be able to once again get around to most places I need to go to via bike/public transit. I hate driving-- it numbs the mind. Plus it makes me angry and mumble to myself like a nut. I've been driving 60 miles a day for the last 2 years and I am done with cars, traffic, and parking. How do people do this their whole life? I like keeping my life contained in 5-10 square miles, preferably with some bike lanes, farmer's market, and hiking options. It's going to be crazy for the next month or 2 until I find a place and settle in-- but hopefully it will mean that I will be able to focus much more on art, new shows, and more paintings!

As for the fall, my website has been partially updated. It still needs tweaking (I got distracted) but am hoping to finish updating it at some point in the next month or two. I am also reworking artist statements, bios, etc. and hopefully applying to a few things as well as contemplating proposing and curating a group or 2-person show. It will all be a lot of work and I have been thrown off by some of the mundane real world things I have had to do-- but it is on my list and I am planning to make 2011 a year of new paintings and art shows.

This month I will have some paintings published in the October issue of Wild Apples: Dwelling, Refuge, Shelter. I am very excited to be a part of this and hope you will check it out. Wild Apples is a literary & arts publication with a mix of poetry, fiction, and artwork. Here is a better description from their site:

[Wild Apples] seeks to educate the public through the arts about ways to live sustainably on the earth. In pursuit of that goal, our primary activity is the publication of a 48-page, full-color, soft cover arts magazine called Wild Apples: a journal of nature, art, and inquiry. Taking its name and inspiration from Henry David Thoreau's essay, "Wild Apples," the journal brings together the work of artists, writers, and photographers who are connected by the common threads of care for the environment, engagement in social concerns, and commitment to the arts and the way they shape our world. We also engage in outreach activities, which have included art and poetry workshops and presentations at schools, libraries, prisons, museums, and other community venues, and we occasionally publish products of these activities.