Saturday, February 28, 2009

Period Music


'we sat thru all the credits/read all the liner notes/listened and watched period pieces'

do you know this site?

http://mon.thly.info/

it's so good. i like the minimal design. Lisa told me about it. you may already know. it's a good way to track your period....i'm all, '37 day cycle??? what? 22 day???' Who Knew???

it's supposed to generate a monthly reminder email but so many ladies are using it, i dont think the creator's server can field the demand. something like that. so i am sure donations are welcome to this excellent service so that a decent percentage of the world population can receive monthly reminders.

Doctor: "What was the first day of your last period?"

Patient: "What? I don't know".

The photograph above is one I took of a tin i have had since i was 14. I glued that picture of Joni Mitchell to the bottom of it more donkey's years ago. Those cheekbones! Inside the tin i keep things pertaining to the "Monthly Visitor" i entertain whilst surfing the crimson tide.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

These days in the studio....

inspiring watercolour of the Olsen Twins by Brooke Nechvatel
me and my stuff. i have two studios. home and here...and my brain so 3.
i share this studio with shary. that is her porcelain junque. precious!
and here's what's happening on the OTHER side of the studio!

this is a cluster you'll never see together again. just out of the kiln! i love watching it happen.the light in the studio is so good!
ex-squeeze me?
it's so good we need to see it twice
valentine's from brooke and suzy. thank you, my ladyfriends! you made my day!

me busting a move. half those bodies were sewn in mexico! on the beach! it takes me forever to make bunnies. sigh. these ones went to Enfant Terrible. yay.
i'm a surgeon.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

maple keys




here's some Coe and Waito from their Special Projects. 500 press-moulded and hand-sculpted maple keys.
or whirligigs, as i like to call them.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Tattoo Yoo


my mom had that record when i was growing up.
my parents had excellent records and an incredible hi-fi system.

cubby and i would have airbands in the livingroom way before solid gold
cubby liked 'start me up'..i always thought Mick was singing, 'Stormeo'

when darce and i were in the 'horse last year, we went to AQUAFIT and 'start me up' was the first song. obvs. we were the youngest ones there.

back to airbandin':
when cubby and i discovered AC/DC, cubby would use a massive piece of driftwood as a bass for 'girls' got rhythm'.

there are a few folks roaming with tattoooooos of drawings i have done*
the above is the latest.

if you know of any, tell them to send a pick-chur to me!

I myself have no tattoots. My pain threshold for physical pain is very low. I can handle pain but i prefer not to, if you get my drift.

my driftwood. my driftwood bass.

IF and IF i had a tattoo it would probably be a pinprick or a grain of salt or sand cos i'd yell, 'ok stop! stop! Enough!!!'

and that'd be all the tattoo artist wrote.

a grain of salt.

smoochie wooch!
xosonja.

PS i just got back from a nice birthday party hosted by COE AND WAITO my favourite ceramicists in the city. they make beautiful porcelain work. i am fortunate enough to work in their proximity.

more on them to come!

*PS Brooke my main Lady Illustrator Reigns Supreme (recent genius watercolour of the Olsen Twins like siamese twins) tricked me into a tattoo in 2008. She sent an email:

'can you please write out the words: 'and the sky was made of amethyst', scan them and email them to me when you have a chance?

and i had time in the yukon so i did it on the spot...even though it's a courtney love lyric..but really a HOLE lyric from a song i used to love but i DO still listen to it cos that was then when she was good. The song is 'Violet'. Brooke knows how i feel about C. Love. It's huge debate.

so she goes ahead and gets it TATTOOED on her inside forearm. She thought if she told me in advance, I'd be all: NO WAY.

but. it's good. 'i get what i want/and i never want it again/i get/what i want/and i never want it again/go on/take everything/take everything/i dare you...etc'

it's a great song.
I think of this vermeer ALWAYS. this is what i'm usually doing. sitting like that doing that but there are other things in my hands.

it's gonna be ALOT OF THIS over the next month.

i love vermeer. so many paintings of ladies doing things: pouring milk or water, writing a letter, receiving a letter from a servant (slave) whilst wearing a fancy raw silk or velvet (? not sure. his drapery is so masterful) valuable fur trimmed 'day coat', playing a stringed instrument etc.

i got the bike back on the road. big whoop. now i can ride in the wet snow.

i'm turning into a totally trapped urban HIPPAY:

soaking chickpeas, recycling every scrap of plastic to take to the 'plastic bag recycling' at loblaws, taking plastic bags to my favourite health food store (where else does a hippay shop?) on roncesvalles..uh...what else? i have a list. i save every last scrap of angora cos i might make a big ball out of it when THIS IS ALL DONE. ok so my list can and will go on and on and on but that is all that comes to mind right now.

then again: i have a gum chewing habit all of a sudden. a sassy prop, as someone mentioned. see..not very hippie. and listening to some 'gangster' sumthing on itunes..and then metal.
i'm not really a hippie. i'm as unique as an antique!

bet you are, too.


(umm..i promise this will be less boring next time)

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Damages


that is still my favourite show. one of them. rose byrne. 'rose' is my favourite name today and always. one of them.
glenn close is still one of the best. as far as playing a bitch goes.
the ladies on that show - lawyer ladies - are as tough as nails, drink scotch and work HARD.

i just got back from ikea. five hours. how is that possible?
i got lots of ideas for things i have to do like display booths for that One Of A Kind Show i am doing on april fool's day till april fifth.

five keeps coming up.

when the train rolled into montreal i looked up to see the neon red sign: FIVE ROSES.

montreal is such a great city. a beautiful dark lady.
thanks to the Sea Of Tea for being such a good hostess, as always.

i had my mind BLOWN apart by the christian marclay show at the DHC gallery: 'guitar drag' and 'crossfire'. where do i start?

i was born in a crossfire hurricane.

plugging away.

this is just a quickie. to remind myself i am still here.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

i'm going to montreal

That's My Art. I take photographs. Shary's porcelain leg i got for a trade (remember?) and my mouse i never use but still forked over the $75. i love those purchases. now it's just...art on ...my bed.

i just came home from some 'judy chicago' a show titled: WHEN WOMEN RULE THE WORLD. ok. sounds good to me.
it is at the Textile Museum Of Canada ('connecting cloth, culture and art. ok)
woah that was some ....wooo weee...i'll report more on this. I got to listen to Judy talk about the work. It was very: GAIA and GODDESS. Tailend 80s very beginning of the 90s captured in thread!

if this was a paid gig, i'd def edit my writing but i'm just blobbing here. same goes for that 'She's Just not that...' thing i wrote. it's dumb for dumb.

but this is more important!~

i'll upload my judy pics later! i got a sneak preview cos ginger brooks takahashi, my bro, is in the show with her OUTSTANDING QUILTWORK: An Army Of Lovers Cannot Fail. Ginger and I did a show in 2005 with Sarah Cain: Book Of Small in my birth town. That was some crazy cathartic sh*t for me.
some other time.

I got to hear Judy herself talk about the work which is cool.

she is tiny as in madonna/tom cruise tiny and must be in her late 60s i'm guessing but it's hard to tell. she has personal style like gloria steinem has her personal style. Judy Personal Style is lots of make-up..mega...purple/black lipstick, dyed reddish orange hair and frizzed out fried one side clipped back with a flower (very pretty). she loves purple..she wore black satin dress slacks and heels and a jacket and some ornamental choker kinda lacey. she is supremely confident.

that's how you do it. you can make anyone like your work if you are Supremely Confident.
i'll post the pics and you'll see what i mean! tomorrow. i gotta go pack and it's 2 am.

Monday, February 9, 2009

MEXIcola- like a lollipop

Ghetto Leg. Home Decor. Did I or did I not say 'rustic'? Welcome to Mexico !
this is where i slept on the last night. this is Don't treehouse. the 'bed swing' was slightly askew so i felt like i was falling slightly to my right all night. i pretty much wrote an entire screenplay in my dreams. an epic novel. EPIC. Don said at one point he looked down from his perch on top of the treehouse and the bed was doing slow donuts. ya i felt that.
top view. i was coming down with my major head cold and was hopped up on 'mexican medicine'
side view of don's rad 'Pimp Station Treehouse'
the view when i woke up. see, that 'bed' i was sleeping on..i was basically RIGHT beside the jungle trail. i prayed for no prey to pray on me in my sleep.
This is a rock. i love rocks. i left my rock collection in the yukon. i keep rocking. Yelapa is a crazy 45 minute speedboat ride from Puerto Vallarta.
Hidden treasure Yelapa beach!

dogs, dogs everywhere! they would silently sit themselves next to your beach 'bed'. they'd be sitting there for 20 minutes before you knew. they were waiting. i've never met such quiety dogs. like vapours. this one is for darce. she likes to take pics of her dog's paws. this guy's are prehistoric!
these are my paws. this is pretty much the view i looked at for...hours on end. one day i mustered up enough energy to drag my 'beach chaise lounge bed' into the shade. i did paint my toenails red.
this was my favourite lil kid. he was from france. he was always doing something adorable. he has blonde curly hair like a lil cherub. his mom and grandma were nice.
this is charlie the star of the island. ok so i'm at the DISCO and there's this bassett hound cruising the dance floor. i'm all: whose dog is this? he was weaving around, milling about, hanging. 'oh, that's charlie - he just lives here'. ya. this dog just HANGS OUT. someone said he's the 'old fag of the beach'. CHARLIE UPDATE! he has his own website! Here you can learn a lil bit more about YELAPA!
Chuckles living the life.
Clearly, Charlie has more important things to do.
Princess Stella and me half awake/half dead. Good thing Stella's blonde bangs are slightly sweeping into my hair. it was Bad Hair Everyday. Nothing ever dried. I came home with a suitcase of damp dirty clothes and sand and a wet passport (which i almost forgot to pack). Stella found me a copy of the new David Sedaris book and i said, 'i love you'.
Baby Liposuction. The children are having the most fun. it was like watching TV. Thanks, babies!
Thank the lord for an overcast day cos if there wasn't - i'd be in the hospital with 5th degree burns. damn did i get burned!
a beautiful fresh water pool to jump into after being in the super salty ocean
the pool, too. i like to jump into cold water. it takes me 10-15 minutes of standing there working up the courage but it's always worth it. i'm slow. i like the shock.
views from Don's. Ok so Don has been in Yelapa for 17 yrs. He is 64 years old. What a great guy! we stayed at Don's.
my favourite team


welcome to the jungle love!
don johnson's front yard. those copper pipes/rigging are to diffuse the 'chemtrails'. don's into that conspiracy theory. he has lemon, mandarin and avocado trees and clothing lines and towels that never ever dry. i understand why people lie on the beach all day: to dry out and prep for the next 14 hrs of DAMP

elisa rose stopping on the trail. ok so Don's rustic hideaway is a 20-25 minute hike up a MOUNTAIN. in the daytime it is WORK. Hard Work. At nighttime it is double time and a half. At nighttime in PITCHBLACK whilst drunk on mexican moonshine (raicilla) using a cel phone flashlight is total kamikaze. Don said he's crawled up it on all fours. Stella did the trip barefooted with NO flashlight. she said she manifested 'no scorpions'. that friggin hike. i almost blew out my knee one night, begging the others to SLOW DOWN. slipping/skating across rocks in my useless converse. up and down and up and down. elisa would play tunes from her cel phone/ walkman. we sang along to kanye under the beautiful starry night. i felt like i was in army boot camp training for Friday Night Lights and it was GREAT.

lalalala down the mountain
there's Don! Don Johnson. Don Juan. Alla that. He's so cool.
Mystical Rose
27 is still my favourite number. these are some gangster friends. they are nice. dancing is fun. that tube top was the only thing i could wear to accomodate my burns.

some fool's lost birkenstock @ The Yacht Club. where'd the other one? where's the fool? we'll never know
lisa kehler said, 'there's a fairy on you!' that's the sweetest thing ever! i would love that! we were playing with flashlights at my favourite restaurant: Tacos En Masse. I had the best fooooooood. And Dina made margaritas. The sea salt there is something else. I brought a big container home with me. People work for tips (shakes head).
Gilligan's Island but with electricity. Rustic bachelor paddin' it. I pretty much slept outside (under netting). I love to sleep outside. It felt very LOST.
best for last. money shot. this joke went on for hours. we'd been having a discussion about those things...a debate. dear prudence, won't you come out and play-hey hey hey?



it's truly hard to believe i was in mexico 10 days ago. now i am back in WINTER. i wore my summer clothes to the airport and all the way back to minus 12. it was funny. i didn't get home till 4am. i learned that at the airport going to a fun place like mexico means that everyone is happy! i wanted to be wearing a sombrero the whole flight. on the way home people were grumpy. Don told me to call in "WELL" (not 'sick' even though I was sick with a 'stress release' cold). They all told me to extend my trip: stay! stay! I learned a valuable lesson: never plan a winter get-away for seven days. that is just stupid. 10 minimum. 14 days to three months maximum. Six months a year ideal. But try, try, try if you can to go away to somewhere tropical and beautiful in the winter time.

basement studio with monster hiding in the corner

basement studio with monster hiding in the corner

Ahlers

going on about Random Avenue, friends, art (maybe), rock (sometimes), movies, current events, childhood memories & other things like bunnies