Dispatch From LA

happy birthday sister!!!!

i am sitting here sipping spicy christmas coffee.  mmmmm

getting ready to sit down at the art table and put the finishing touches on  my little project.  handpainted labels if you hadn't already guessed.  

it's gonna be a late night here at moss cottage.  music's on.  night sounds are drifting in the open windows.  paint & ink are flying.

i've been in the deep end of the photoshop pool ever since i got CS5.  these little frames are called:  real simple shaped masks by jen allyson.  i got them a little while ago, but hadn't used them.  don't know if they're still available or not, but they're super easy to use.  i added the thin grey outline.

happy friday.  i can't say it enough.  it never gets old.

xo

p.s.  today is my sister's birthday!!!!  monday is my other sister's birthday.  may babies.

dewy sparks

for 48 years i had a love affair with the moon.  but now i like starshine best.  it's hard to choose.  i certainly don't have to. not really.  but when i was in chiapas this past winter, i saw such brilliant stars in that inky black sky and looked at them for so long with such deep wonder and love...  that i knew after that i'd have to break up with the moon.  and marry the stars.

this video has nothing to do with stars but i thought it was exquisite with a capital E.

you will too.  i just KNOW it.

 

and this poem has everything to do with stars. ~

Looking at the Sky

by Anne Porter

I never will have time
I never will have time enough
To say
How beautiful it is
The way the moon
Floats in the air
As easily
And lightly as a bird
Although she is a world
Made all of stone.

I never will have time enough
To praise
The way the stars
Hang glittering in the dark
Of steepest heaven
Their dewy sparks
Their brimming drops of light
So fresh so clear
That when you look at them
It quenches thirst.

 

this & that

it's a cold night here in the city of angels.   if you ever visit in winter your skin might be surprised by how chilly it can feel.  today our high was 59.  which...i must say, thrilled me.  

my crocheted blanket is now 3 inches wide.  my heart grows warm and thumps harder the more i work on it.  my enthusiasm, naturally unrelated to my skill.  i posted a hipstamatic photo on facebook if you wanna see.

 

this video is for my public school teacher friends.  enjoy!

sunday part 1 of 2

I ♥ our prez.  This video inspired and moved me.

 

where i turn my photo booths into a video

5 Years In 5 Minutes from MAM on Vimeo.

5 years.  1500 photo booth photos.  i have no good explanation for this.   except to say... i send my sister LOTS of pics.

 

 

advent calendar gone wild

i started with a photo.  i haven't uploaded any photos from my camera yet so i'm afraid i'm the only subject of my experimentation on my new ipad.  shameful.  yet uproariously fun at the same time.

used tracing paper app

then went into sketchbook xpress app to muck things up a bit.  

a dramatic hairstyle!  

pink lips!  

a lime green chair!  

i simply have no aptitude for realism.

finished things off with a luminance app chaser.  i didn't have a choice really.

p.s.  in my last post i mentioned sketch & draw app.  it's actually sketch & frame app

~

wanna take your regular advent calendar for a spin?  a high voltage, kick in the arse spin? go HERE and just do it.

a sample below.  courtesy of my SISTER!  i was SO doing this in my garage today while i was cleaning it out.  it's my new excercise routine.  play their advent calendar and dance along.

sensible & senseless

we're getting reacquainted, visual journal no. 12 and i.  bonding.  making playdates and keeping them. 

do you have an ipad 2?  have you blogged with it?  traveled with it?  please share.  since i have a laptop i've resisted the urge to plunk down the cash for an ipad, but it's getting harder to resist.  my sensible half doesn't think it's justified.  my senseless half is in a trance.

my inner child is having a party with the pink washi tape.  she can't help it.  no really.  she can't.

i saw this really neato video on one of your blogs a couple of weeks ago, but the old cogs in my memory wheel seem to be stuck and i can't remember where!  

anyway i'd never heard of a murmuration before.  incredible.

 

The Bully Project

Anderson Cooper had a special report on bullying, did you see it?  So sad!  That program led me to this new documentary coming in March of 2012. Too bad being different means being endangered for so many kids.  I was especially heartbroken over the bullying of Alex Hopkins, the young man with asperger's syndrome who endures daily torture on the bus ride to and from school.   I hope his bullies know the eyes of the world are upon them.  Of course even a video camera on the bus didn't seem to deter them.  Hmmmm...maybe school busses need adult bully monitors.

2 more inspiring auditions that I watched 3 or 4 times each.  More X-factor love.  What can I say?

 

 

 

small things that please me

are you watching the x factor?  did you see the burrito slinger fellow sing etta james' at last last night?  did you rewind and watch it over a few times like i did?

 

so good!

i love it when hapless people wander onto the stage and turn out to be shockingly talented.   love it.

and also...

today was a holiday

i got new ikea curtains for my living room {that fill the room with light}

ate huevos del valle de guadalupe at cacao for breakfast

my 29 little monsters are becoming slightly more civilized

tomorrow's friday 

the x factor is on again tonight

the end.

extraordinary

 

 

 

rich.  enchanting.  simple.  traveling.  life.

wouldn't have known about these if not for lisa the magnificent.  thanks lisa!  i just had to share.  especially since i'll be on my own moving, learning, and eating adventure in less than a week.  good-bye summer.  hello budapest.  

Kinfolk

 

Kinkolk: Lunch for Two from andrew+carissa on Vimeo.

Go.  Read.  This.  Magazine.  Thanking my lucky stars I spotted this at Poppytalk earlier today.  Wouldn't have wanted to miss it for the world.  Sublime photos, good reading - a nice article on blogger meetups.  AND.  I adore the couple they meet!   Mr. & Mrs. Globetrot who I discovered this spring because of their amazing Budapest posts.  As I most recently met Chrissy in France, I could especially relate to the nervous apprehension that sat with me as I waited for our date to begin.  It was all for naught.  My instincts were spot-on.  She has a wonderful post up right now about moving to the village of La Borne.

Diary 2010

 

The photojournalist Tim Hetherington died last week in Libya along with Getty photographer Chris Hondros.  In his stirring tribute, Anderson Cooper mentioned this short film Tim made a few months ago, Diary 2010.  I watched this morning while I drank my coffee.  It's 19 minutes long.  I began it reluctantly thinking I couldn't possibly watch for 19 whole minutes.  But I sat here at my computer with the video in full screen and watched.  It's about war obviously, but the way it was shot is so poignant, so raw, so beautiful.  If you ever think about documenting your world via video this film will inspire you.  It is masterfully done.  The NY times' LENS wrote a good article about Diary 2010.  Huffington Post, where the photo below came from, also ran a piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I want to see Restrepo, the critically acclaimed winning documentary he made with Sebastian Junger.  If you don't have 19 minutes I totally get it!  But if you watch Diary 2010 let me know what you think in the comments.  It's the sort of film you want to talk about after viewing.  There's the content, but also the artistry.  Thoroughly engrossing.

last postcard from paris xo

i'm literally dashing out the door.  here is one last video from paris.  i have more and i have MORE paris posts, but they will be broadcast from LA.  see you soon!

goodbye paris.   you have kissed me on both cheeks and for that i THANK YOU.  merci bien,  au revoir.

 

xo,

 

mary ann

we were here.

we rode le métro aérien.  soaring above the city.  then the parisian tom waits boarded.  and began to sing.  we jabbed each other with our elbows at the exact same time.

what i don't have on video is the part where tom started singing TO ME.  and winking.  i'm not kidding or imagining.  he was searching for a face to deliver his funny lines to, and i was the big smiley headlight in the back.   a natural audience participant. 

further walkabouts in paris

paris walkabouts from MAM on Vimeo.

xo from paris

today

the sun shone into the apartment this morning.

i woke early itching to climb aboard some form of public transportation.  i went off in search of le marché aux puces de vanves.  a flea market in the 14th arr.  thanks for not making me show you the ropes since i don't know where they are.  also next time you might want to leave the booth i'm at when you see me ready to ask a really dumb question, or when you see me knock something over.  twice.  

there's a lot to see.  of course there is.  

there are watchdogs to guard it all.  the french pooch let me rifle through the box.  i selected a dozen lovely postcards.  most had writing on them and were addressed to paris.  also found a cool old letter and other assorted ephemera to use in my travel journal.

 green leaves unfurled while i watched.  daffodils held their shining faces up to the sun.  trees blossomed.

carousels spun around.
 

By 2 pm I was home for travel journaling and napping.  you were tired too, but fell asleep with a smile on your face.

We went for dinner on ill saint louis, a lovely island in the seine.

It began to mist, but i didn't care because i'm the owner of a lovely lilac umbrella bought at BHV.  you told me to get the one with the ruffle.  so i did.  i've never had a ruffled umbrella before.  it's pretty, but you keep trying to take it from me.

here's the cheese plate we shared with dinner.  an enormous basket of assorted salamie and a giant knife came before dinner.  i did not embarrass myself or you with my cutting technique.  but i almost did.  also i used a public toilet today and almost got sprayed with disinfectant, but then i didn't.  

I made a little video.

 

Martha Rich

Martha Rich is so awesome & strange I can't stand it!  She is one of my favorite painters.  Just caught this great interview with her on Vimio and wanted to share.  

 

More of Martha's coolness HERE.  Check out her sketchbooks HERE.

Where My Sister Comes For A Visit

Did I mention that my sister is visiting for a few days?

We're just up to our usual tricks.

Oh and..enjoying my respite from cat herding...

Where My Arse Says Thank You

I debated long and hard over buying these chairs, but my arse won out in the end.  And my back.  I know you won't school me on the foolhardiness of having white chairs in a room where I'll be slinging paint.  It would make my arse sad, and its so very very happy. 

And my ears... Oy my ears!  Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven's Door. 

 

Old songs!  I missed you.  I'm listening to the Bob Dylan version, but this one is REALLY good.  Sniff sob.  Thankfully BIG LOVE is reaquainting me with some fabulous music.  I am 100% hooked on BIG LOVE.  wowza.  Mary Kay Place, I forgot how hilarious you are!

Okay, and in between all that I finished one classic and started another.  Bram Stoker's DRACULA.  A real page turner.  Unputdowndable. And free on Kindle!  Don't say I didn't give you anything for Christmas.  Just don't.

Have you heard THIS 3 year old boy reciting Billy Collin's Litany?  I have listened to it 768,456,456 times in the last year and have kept meaning to share.  Clear your calendar it's sort of addicting.

Wanna Dance?

Sunday morning.  There's Groove Armada, there's me, there's hair sticking up.  There is the braless hustle across my wood floors.  That's just crazy stupid wonderful.  Yes it is.

I'm grateful for the dazzling sunbeams on my wood floors this morning.  A flotilla of clouds making their way across the sky.  The air that was cold even in the sunshine.  In Treatment Season 2.  Trader Joe's pumpkin bread mix.   All the big and little trees fluttering outside my window.   Reading.  Listening to the clicks of the hummingbirds.

I'm finding velvety grey so intoxicating.  I stopped in the middle of journal work to translate an idea over to a wood panel.  I don't know how well it will translate, but the process is satisfying.  I will show it to you when I'm finished.  I have the entire week off!  The. entire. week. Wanna dance?

 

Someone Told Someone Who Told Someone

Here.  Have a gander at a few more travel journal pages.  I think I've mentioned...sometimes I like a page with just a photograph.  Plain & simple.

Or an oddly sketched distorted foot.  In a shoe.  With extra toes.  On a plain background.  I need to sketch more.  I look at this and time travel.  Back to the day I was sitting on a hill overlooking one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world - the Temple of Artemis (what's left of it).  It's just my sister and I up here.  And it's cool in the shade.  I can hear drumming in the distance.  It's the last day of Ramadan.  Carol is sketching the hills in the distance.  Olive groves, grape vines, a small fertile valley.  A bucolic scene and I'm right there sketching my foot.  Right there.

Did I mention we swam in the southern Agean Sea?  Sigh.  I want to go to there.

~

Thank you to the nice person who took their ROD journal to Squam By The Sea!  Someone told someone who told someone else and all those someones registered for class this week.  

I mentioned it a few posts back, but it bears repeating.  REMAINS OF THE DAY is officially open indefinitely.  No closure or change of passwords coming down the road.  Your video/class blog access is permanently O P E N.

 

p.s.  someone just walked down the street whistling "I Got A Brand New Pair Of Roller Skates."  i love that!

 

Still lingering over Istanbul.  Sitting tonight in my little cottage in LA thinking about another city and a ride along the Bosphorus with my sister.  Here, this is my favorite video of the trip.

 

 

...the Bosphorus, glimmering like a mysterious sea, changed color with the sunrise.  On misty spring evenings, when not a leaf in the city is rustling, on windless, noiseless summer nights, when a man walking alone after midnight along the Bosphorus shore can hear only the sound of his own footsteps, a moment will arrive... when he hears the happy roar of the current and notices with apprehension the gleaming white foam that seems to have come from nowhere, and he cannot help but wonder whether the Bosphorus has a soul.

 

from Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul:  Memories and The City