iphone art

I heard an item on NPR about a new exhibit of art works created on the iphone by one of my favorite artists David Hockney and was inspired. I downloaded a free version of one of the many image creation/processing apps and have been going to town. It's been fun.


First one that looked halfway decent
iphoneart01


iphoneart02

I did this at the Charleston airport
iphoneart03

Statue in my parents back yard
iphoneart04

iphoneart05

iphoneart06

iphoneart07

iphoneart08

iphoneart09

I call this Yellow Feet
iphoneart10

Yellow Feet as seen on Dad's messed up laptop display
iphoneart11


iphoneart12

Last one in 2010
iphoneart13

Insincere Gay Guy

There is a fun store down in Cleveland Park called Wake Up, Little Suzie. It's been there for over 10 years and I have bought lots of stuff there for myself and as gifts. There are two people who have worked there since it opened - Susan the owner and a guy who we call Insincere Gay Guy. He will greet customers and thank you for buying stuff but that is about all the interaction he will offer. He will speak to customers if spoken to but it is obvious he does not want to and has no interest in what they say. He is not grumpy. He is just a snob. We have just laughed about it over the years.

We dropped by yesterday after not visiting for a couple of years. Susan recognized us, smiled us and said "Hi Guys". Insincere Gay Guy mumbled a greeting. I quickly found a Tshirt I had to have and was forced to ask Insincere Gay Guy if there was a larger size. He somewhat sarcastically showed me the label and explained that the cryptic writing let me know that it comes in Small and Medium and that the Small was there but the Medium was in the back. (he has gotten a little grumpy) I just smiled and asked if I could see the Medium. He said "of course" and went and got it for me. Joe was browsing nearby and said he was glad to see that things have not changed. I suspect that Susan heard at least part of the interaction and came over to tell me about the Tshirt artist and that I could try it on in the back room if I needed to. I bought the shirt and love it.

Here is a pic from the artist's site. The design is called Octopus Robots


octopus_robots

Speaking of art the little girl on the 3rd floor has a new installation up on her door. I am not exactly sure what the point is but had to document it.
dots_art_t

Hearts and Action Figures

For Valentine's Day I made Joe a little heart pillow out of felt leftover from the Christmas Contest. Joe gave me a Shah Rukh Khan action figure (with two outfits!). He will join Jack Bauer in our ever increasing collection (we now have two) of action figures.

Gifts from the heart:

felt heart SRK action figure

The heart is about 4.5 inches tall. SRK is about 12 inches tall.

Halloween and some other stuff

The little girl on the 3rd floor has not put up any artwork on the past couple of holidays so I thought her artistic aspirations were over. I was surprised when I saw something on her door at Halloween but a little disappointed at the uninspired decoration. But then I looked closer and was pleasantly creeped out
.

hallowee2009_apt320door_240 red door decoration


And we saw some nice old school paper Halloween decorations on a walk around the neighborhood.

hallowee2009_porch_240

The fall colors were nice this year. Here are some pics at work and from my balcony.

fallcolors_gsfc_240
At work

fallcolors_mist_240

fall_geranium_240 fall_saraswati_240
At home

The night before Halloween I had drinks with Dana and Tati and Dana's new dancer Hala. Here's Tati and me matching the couch fabric so nicely.

tati_bethesda_hotel_240

And then there was the fun halloween party at Dana's where I dressed up as a 60's go-go dancer. Take a look.

Station Break

I would like to take a break from my Latvia coverage to show you a piece of art that was delivered while I was gone. I was looking at pictures from an art exhibit in one of the Giant Robot stores in California and saw this really nice piece. It was a bit pricey for something I couldn't touch and see but I kept going back to look at it. I finally decided to buy it but I had to wait for the art show to finish. In the meantime I read that the artist Dan-ah Kim had traveled around the world shooting a music video for one of my favorite bands, Death Cab for Cutie. When I opened the box I was not disappointed.

69_treeshowiv

It is about 10x12, mixed medea work nicely matted and framed. I wrote to the artist and told her how I came to buy it and how nice it was. I told her that my initial attraction was the forest that reminded me of the birch forests in Latvia. She wrote me back to thank me and told me that she had see the lanterns in Tunisia when they were filming the video She also said she had always liked birch trees. The work is called "Followed You Here".

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Enjoy a some 3rd Floor door art while I put together pictures of this year's Christmas Contest.

xmasdoorart_t

More Child Art

It's been a while since the little girl on the 3rd floor and Zoe the little girl along Joe's route to work have put any of their art work on display. But luckily they have been inspired recently. I was thrilled to see some Halloween art appear on the 3rd floor door that I pass on the way to the garage. And Joe took a picture of Zoe's sidewalk chalk work. It's been a good week.

thirdfloorart_t zoe_bunny_t


More Beer reviews

Redbach by Rodenbach brewery: I found this in the back of the fridge. It is a cherry flavored Belgium ale . The bottle says it's "kissed by cherries" but the cherry flavor is up front and not subtle. I bought it a while ago and wasn't thrilled with it so I am saving it for a rainy day. Or maybe I will cook with it. I just checked out their website and saw that there are recipes, including a Breast of duck with cherries and Redbach!

beer_redbach_t

Car talk

Today Joe and I were doing our Rockville shopping run - bike shop, container store, frame store, grocery shopping. We get in and out of the car a lot on these trips. In one parking lot I chatted for over ten minutes with a nice Chinese woman about my car. I gave her the usual information - price, MPG, and showed her the trunk. She is a journalist for a newspaper published for the DC Chinese community. Before we said goodbye she gave us some tips on getting discounts at local Chinese restaurants. She says she really wants a Mini but her husband is very skeptical.

Shah Rukh Khan appeared on the front page of the Washington Post Arts section in a bathtub. Apparently there is an unauthorized biography out about SRK. I am there.

My uncle Austin sent me an drawing for my birthday. I am honored.

newlyframed_t austin_inktree_t


When I was on vacation on Edisto my parents' car was hit by a flying tire that flew off a truck that passed them. My parents missed their party and they will be without their "good car" for a while but other than that everything turned out OK.

Here are two pictures. The fireman that was directing traffic reminded me of Vito of the Sopranos.
tiredamage_t carontruck_t

And we've been doing 4-way video chatting on Sunday nights. It's not perfect - there are echos and audio sync issues - but as you can see it is still fun.

Happy New Year

I celebrated the New Year on January 1 (well I managed to stay up past midnight), and then the Russian New Year at a party at Zita's on January 13 and now the Chinese New Year by eating candy with a Chinese friend on Friday and again today eating Chinese food at a little get-together. That's got to bode well for the rest of the year

I have mentioned before that Joe gets to see artwork by talented children on the sidewalks on his way to work everyday. As I drive to work I rarely have anything new to look at although once I did see a milk tank truck driving next to a Dunkin' Donuts truck. Well luckily there is now a little girl exhibiting her art work on a 3rd floor apartment that I walk past every morning on the way to the garage. She celebrated the New Year with a glitter snowman on a paper plate. This week she changed her artwork and I had to take a picture. It is both cute and creepy, my favorite combination.

hen with many eyes


Spring and Cherry Blossoms

There has been some new art work up on the 3rd floor that I enjoy as I walk to my parking space. First it was tulips and then yesterday the Easter-themed art went up.
tulips on the door a bunny welcomes

Last weekend Lenore and Paula visited from Chicagoland. They saw the cherry blossoms without me because it is just too much walking for my sprained ankle. We did all go to Eastern Market together though and to the National Cathedral.

Lyla, Tracy and my parents recently took a trip to Egypt and brought me back some great gifts - beads, jewelry, a beautiful Egyptian cotton towel and a small statue of the god Horus. Here is a little movie (Quicktime 3.7MB) of Horus in action:

TV Season Update
Sons & Daughters: This new show is as quirky as Arrested Development but a bit more real. It is a totally dysfunctional extended family comedy dealing with teenage isolation, stepparents, inter-faith marriage, single-motherhood, parents dabbling in community theater, marriage problems and fun loser ex-husbands. The dialogue is sometimes improvised which I did not think I would like but it fits with the comedy. The young 3 and 4 year olds have some of the funniest lines and the characters are all great. I am sure it will be canceled soon.

A Week In May

It started with Lyla's surprise birthday party a week ago Saturday. Lyla was surprisingly totally surprised. Some of her friends traveled from the northeast and midwest to be there which was great. I caught up with her friends, many of whom I had not seen in 5-10 years.

Wednesday Ben and Dennis came down from Secaucus, NJ to attend the reception of their artist friend Chakaia Booker. She is a very interesting person to look at and she does very interesting work with rubber tires. Her pieces are huge and amazingly graceful. Lyla, Tracy, Austin, William and I attended the reception and then went to dinner with Ben and Dennis at Tabaq in the U Street neighborhood.

This past Saturday Marcia, Brooke and I drove up to Baltimore for a cookout with friends I met through Brooke. The cookout was at the house of Jill and David who live in a beautiful 1950s house. It was a nice night. There were stories of celebrity encounters. Tanya met Paul McCartney and his now estranged wife Heather at an animal rights event in Canada. But even more intriguing to me was Jill and David's story of being at Hunter S. Thompson's memorial party and meeting Johnny Depp. He offered them cigarettes. Someone also knew someone who dated James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) in school. Apparently he was very nice.


Family News (where it's not all about me):


  • Lenore who was diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer this past month will be starting chemotherapy soon. She'll be sporting that Melissa Ethridge look for a time. Maybe she'll take up the guitar.
  • Lynda finished her chemotherapy and is back at work. During her time off she learned Dreamweaver and became a web mistress. I think there's even an outfit that she wears.
  • Lyla and Tracy are getting married, sometime in the fall, somewhere in the US.
  • My parents have started their Spoleto marathon where they try to cram in as much culture as possible in a two week period. It's like a city-wide smorgasbord.
  • Tommy and Sandy will receive a grant to renovate their house with equipment that will help Little T get around
  • Austin made fajitas last weekend.


Here are three slide shows of pictures from my week. I experimented with some new formats. If you have an opinion on them let me know.

lyla with flowers tracy elbows



Some more movie/DVD reviews

Curse of the Were Rabbit Wallace and Gromit are now inventing for their new pest control business and making some money. There is a monster out there eating all the vegetables that may or may not win the Giant Vegetable Competition and they intend to find it and stop it. Very clever and funny.


Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

This movie is a little funny, a little sweet, a little sad. The look and feel is mostly bleak (it is filmed in rainy, cold Scotland) but there are wonderful moments in the film when color is used to highlight an event. And there's this German doctor that has a great face. Another good movie.

Tags: , ,

Happy Thanksgiving

Here's a little turkey courtesy of the little girl on the 3rd floor.
I love the shadows. Cute and creepy. She knows what I like.
Have a great Thanksgiving